ASUS ROG Strix Z790-I Gaming WiFi Intel® Z790 LGA 1700 Mini-ITX motherboard, 10 + 1 power stages, DDR5, two M.2 slots, PCIe® 5.0, WiFi 6E, Thunderbolt™ 4, and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C®

Product Information

Starting in the left corner, we see the required 8-pin EPS connector just above the heatpipe connecting the two VRM heatsinks. The left VRM bank has three slots cut out at the top to help get fresh air over the tiny fan hidden below. The fan makes noise when under heavy loads by default, but you can adjust the BIOS to mitigate that potential concern. You want PCIe 5.0 x4 support: Although PCIe 5.0 x16 modes and a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot come alongside the motherboard, I think PCIe 5.0 M.2 x4 support would have been appreciated instead of PCIe 4.0 x4. What Makes It The Best High-End Z790 Motherboard? Immersive Gaming Audio: ALC4050 with ESS ® SABRE 9260Q DAC, along with DTS ® Sound Unbound and Sonic Studio III

Form factor: The form factor of a motherboard is its size and shape. The most common form factors for desktop computers are ATX, microATX, and mini-ITX.

Z790 LGA 1700 Motherboards

The ROG STRIX Z790-I Gaming Wi-Fi motherboard cuts down on size, not features. You get 2x DIMM slots with support for a maximum of 64GB DDR5 memory up to 7600MHz, a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot for your graphics card, one M.2 slot with PCIe Gen 5 speeds, another M.2 with PCIe Gen 4 speeds, 2x SATA ports, and 2x Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports for dual bidirectional fast data transfer. Oh, and there’s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 built right into the board, with support for 2.5GbE LAN.

If you want a well-rounded motherboard that doesn’t break the bank, the Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX makes a ton of sense for your latest 13th-Gen Intel CPU. It features 4x DIMM DDR5 slots rated for a maximum capacity of 128GB and speeds of 7600MT/s. There’s one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot for the GPU, 2x M.2 slots running at PCIe 4.0 speeds, six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, plenty of USB ports and headers (up to USB 3.2 Gen 2×2), 2.5GbE LAN, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3.

However, DDR5 fails to match or surpass DDR4 in terms of CAS Latencies and RAM Timings. Even high-end DDR5 Kits struggle to achieve CL numbers below 30, while mainstream DDR4 RAM often achieves CAS Latencies between CL 14-18. With over twelve years of experience in the technology and gaming industry, our stalwart team has been refined persistently to produce a potent group of cultivated individuals who are known to relay the most accurate information to our valued consumers, thanks to the extensive research and thorough reviewing we conduct before we publish every piece of journalism. However, Z790 motherboards are the best choice since they support faster DDR5 RAM speeds, have more high-speed USB ports, and are compatible with Raptor Lake CPUs without any extra tinkering. Q: What Motherboard Do You Need for 13th-Generation Intel Processors?