The Ultimate Z590 Motherboard Guide

Gigabyte AORUS

AORUS are the flagship enthusiast division of Gigabyte, offering the best the brand has to offer in terms of features and performance. That being said, they’re also the more expensive, and if previous generations are anything to go by, they’ll be some of the best (and most expensive) options out there. However, for the must-have enthusiast, it’s hard not to fall in love with them.

Their flagship is the Z590 AORUS XTREME Motherboard, which will satisfy the overclocking enthusiasts with 20+1 Phases Digital VRM, Fins-Array II Heatsink, Direct-Touch Heatpipe II, and their custom NanoCarbon Baseplate. Of course, you get all the other luxurious, such as Intel® Thunderbolt 4, ESSential USB DAC, AORUS PRO Gen4 AIC Adaptor, Intel® WiFi 6E 802.11ax, AQUANTIA® 10GbE LAN. Basically, this board has the best-of-the-best, and it’s all armoured, powered, and cooled to the XTREME!

The boards that are likely more attainable in terms of cost and requirements still come with some very impressive VRM configurations. All of these boards should be able to get the best out of the latest Intel CPUs. However, the XTREME is likely the most dialled in for enthusiast liquid cooling and LN2.

Connectivity, cooling, and design look strong throughout the entire range! However, as we’ve seen with other brands, no mATX options here and only a single mini-ITX. The Z590I AORUS Ultra may be smaller but still comes with a Direct 10+1 Phases Digital VRM Design, Advanced Thermal Solution, Intel® WiFi 6 802.11ax, Intel® 2.5GbE LAN, HDMI 2.0, RGB FUSION 2.0.

Check out the AORUS Z590 official product page here.

Z590 AORUS XTREME

Features

• Supports 11th and 10th Gen Intel^® Core™ Series Processors
• Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
• 20+1 Phases Digital VRM Solution with 100A Smart Power Stage and Tantalum Polymer Capacitors Array
• XTREME MEMORY with SMT DIMM and Shielded Memory Routing
• Thermal Reactive Armor with Fins-Array II Heatsink, Direct Touch Heatpipe II and NanoCarbon Baseplate
• Intel^® Thunderbolt™ 4 Onboard
• Onboard Intel^® WiFi 6E 802.11ax 2T2R & BT 5 with 2X AORUS Antenna
• Exclusively bundled ESSential USB DAC
• 127dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with High-End ESS SABRE 9018K2M DAC, LME 49720, OPA1622 and WIMA Audio Capacitors
• AQUANTIA^® 10GbE BASE-T LAN and Intel^® 2.5GbE LAN with cFosSpeed
• Exclusively bundled AORUS PRO Gen4 AIC Adaptor
• Triple Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0*/3.0 x4 M.2 with Thermal Guards II
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Support Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 6 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP and Noise Detection
• Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS without Installing the CPU, Memory and Graphics Card

Z590 AORUS MASTER

• Supports 11th and 10th Gen Intel^® Core™ Series Processors
• Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
• Intel^® Optane™ Memory Ready
• 18+1 Phases Digital VRM Solution with 90A Smart Power Stage and Tantalum Polymer Capacitors Array
• Shielded Memory Routing to Avoid Interference
• Advanced Thermal Solution with Fins-Array II, Direct Touch Heatpipe II and NanoCarbon Baseplate
• Onboard Intel^® WiFi 6E 802.11ax 2T2R & BT 5 with AORUS Antenna
• 125dB SNR AMP-UP Audio with High-End ESS SABRE 9118 DAC, ALC1220 and WIMA Audio Capacitors
• AQUANTIA^® 10GbE BASE-T LAN with cFosSpeed
• Triple Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0*/3.0 x4 M.2 with Thermal Guards II
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Support Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 6 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP and Noise Detection
• Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS without Installing the CPU, Memory and Graphics Card

Z590 AORUS ULTRA

Features

• Supports 11th and 10th Gen Intel^® Core™ Processors
• Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
• Intel^® Optane™ Memory Ready
• Direct 16+1 Phases Digital VRM Solution with 90A Smart Power Stage
• Shielded Memory Routing for Better Memory Overclocking
• NanoCarbon Fins-Array II Heatsink and Direct Touch Heatpipe II
• Onboard Intel^® WiFi 6 802.11ax 2T2R & BT5 with AORUS Antenna
• AMP-UP Audio with ALC4080 and WIMA for Rear 120dB SNR
• Blazing Fast Intel^® 2.5GbE LAN with cFosSpeed
• Triple Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0*/3.0 x4 M.2 with Thermal Guards II
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Support Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 6 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP and Noise Detection
• Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS without Installing the CPU, Memory and Graphics Card

Z590 AORUS PRO AX

• Supports 11th and 10th Gen Intel^® Core™ Series Processors
• Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
• Intel^® Optane™ Memory Ready
• Direct 12+1 Phases Digital VRM Solution with 90A Smart Power Stage
• Shielded Memory Routing to avoid interference
• Advanced Thermal Solution with Fins-Array II Heatsink, Direct Touch Heatpipe II and Thermal Guard II
• Intel® WiFi 6 802.11ax 2T2R & BT5 with AORUS Antenna
• AMP-UP Audio with ALC4080 and WIMA for Rear 120dB SNR
• Blazing Fast Intel® 2.5GbE LAN with cFosSpeed
• Triple Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0*/3.0 x4 M.2 with Thermal Guards II for extreme RAID Performance
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Support Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 6 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP and Noise Detection
• Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS without Installing the CPU, Memory and Graphics Card

Z590I AORUS ULTRA

• Supports 11th and 10th Gen Intel^® Core™ Series Processors
• Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 2 DIMMs
• Intel^® Optane™ Memory Ready
• Direct 10+1 Phases Digital VRM Solution with 90A Smart Power Stage
• Fins- Array II and Multi-Layered PCH / M.2 Heatsink with Two Heatpipes
• Blazing Fast Intel^® 2.5GbE LAN with cFosSpeed
• Intel^® WiFi 6 802.11ax 2T2R & BT5 with AORUS Antenna
• AMP-UP Audio with ALC1220 for Rear 120dB SNR
• HDMI 2.0 supports Premium 4K
• Dual Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0*/3.0 x4 M.2 with Thermal Guard
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Support Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 6 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP and Noise Detection
• Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS without Installing the CPU, Memory and Graphics Card

Z590 AORUS ELITE AX

• Supports 11th and 10th Gen Intel^® Core™ Series Processors
• Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
• Direct 12+1 Phases Digital VRM Solution with 60A DrMOS
• Shielded Memory Routing for Better Memory Overclocking
• Fully Covered Thermal Design with High Coverage MOSFET Heatsinks
• Onboard Intel^® WiFi 6 802.11ax 2T2R & BT5 with AORUS Antenna
• AMP-UP Audio with ALC1220 and WIMA Audio Capacitors
• Fast 2.5GbE LAN with Bandwidth Management
• Triple Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0*/3.0 x4 M.2 with Thermal Guards
• SuperSpeed USB 3.2 Gen2x2 TYPE-C^® delivers up to 20Gb/s transfer speeds
• Pre-installed IO Shield for Easy and Quick Installation
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Support Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 6 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP
• Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS without Installing the CPU, Memory and Graphics Card

Z590 AORUS ELITE

• Supports 11th and 10th Gen Intel^® Core™ Series Processors
• Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
• Direct 12+1 Phases Digital VRM Solution with 60A DrMOS
• Shielded Memory Routing for Better Memory Overclocking
• Fully Covered Thermal Design with High Coverage MOSFET Heatsinks
• AMP-UP Audio with ALC1220 and WIMA Audio Capacitors
• Fast 2.5GbE LAN with Bandwidth Management
• Triple Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0*/3.0 x4 M.2 with Thermal Guards
• SuperSpeed USB 3.2 Gen2x2 TYPE-C^® delivers up to 20Gb/s transfer speeds
• Pre-installed IO Shield for Easy and Quick Installation
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design, Support Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 6 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors, Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP
• Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS without Installing the CPU, Memory and Graphics Card