GIGABYTE Z390M Gaming - Intel Z390 Motherboard Overview: 50+ Motherboards Analyzed

GIGABYTE Z390M Gaming

The Z390M Gaming as it stands is the only mATX motherboard from GIGABYTE at the launch of the Intel 9th generation processors and shares a similar design to the Z390 Gaming SLI and Z390 Gaming X with a grey and black color scheme which has a red accent on the power delivery heatsink. Like the other pair just mentioned, the Z390M Gaming has dual CPU 12 V ATX power inputs (8 and 4-pin) and looks to have a 12-phase set up like the ATX sized gaming boards. Memory support is much the same too as the Z390M Gaming has four available RAM slots with a support for up to and including 64 GB with a published list of supported memory speeds currently unknown.

In terms of PCIe slots, the Z390M Gaming has two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which operate at x16 and 4x respectively, with the top slot featuring metal slot reinforcement. The board also includes two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots and the board itself supports up to two-way CrossFire multi-graphics card configurations; virtually the same as the bigger ATX sized Z390 Gaming X. Similar to the aforementioned bigger sibling, the Z390M Gaming has six SATA ports with two right-angled ports and four straight-angled connectors located just below the 24-pin 12V motherboard power input. The board offers two M.2 slots which have support for both PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA based drives.

On the rear panel, the mATX Z390M Gaming includes two USB 3.1 Gen2 (Type-A and Type-C) and four USB 3.0 Type-A ports. The board has two video outputs which consist of a DVI-D and HDMI port, and also includes a PS/2 combination keyboard and mouse port. A single LAN port is also present which is powered by an Intel I219V Gigabit controller and the six 3.5 mm audio jacks take their direction from a Realtek ALC892 HD audio codec.

The Z390M Gaming looks set to retail for $145 which is a similar price as the Z390 Gaming X ($150), which seems to be its shorter twin sibling and looks to give users looking to build a mATX gaming system an option to consider. Those looking to run two-way SLI on the smaller mATX form factor though will have to look elsewhere due to bandwidth constraints (x4) on the second full-length PCIe 3.0 slot.

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