SuperO C9Z390-PGW Motherboard Review – Server Level Design & More PCIe Lanes on a Gaming Motherboard

SuperO C9Z390-PGW Motherboard - Features

The SuperO Z390 motherboard lineup is made of three full-sized ATX and a single ITX board. The three main areas that SuperO has really put attention to is providing users with 24/7 Reliability, a server grade quality, and power efficient design. Following are the four motherboards that will be offered in the SuperO Z390 family.

• SuperO C9Z390-PGW
• SuperO C9Z390-CG-IW
• SuperO C9Z390-CGW
• SuperO C9Z390-CG

Looking at the flagship SuperO C9Z390-PGW, this motherboard comes with the LGA 1151 socket that is designed to support a higher TDP of 140W for maximum overclocking potential. We can tell that there's a 10 phase VRM on the board that is powered by a single 8-pin power connector. The board features four DIMMs slots that can house up to 64 GB of memory at speeds of up to 4000 MHz (OC+). In addition to that, there are four PCIe 3.0 x16 expansion slots, a single PCI-e 3.0 x1 slot and two M.2 slots that are hidden beneath the massive M.2 heatsinks that extend over from the PCH heatsink.

SuperO C9Z390-PGW Motherboard Specifications:

• Intel 8th/9th Generation Core i9/Core i7/Core i5/Core i3/Pentium/Celeron series Processor., Single Socket LGA 1151 supported, CPU TDP support Up to 140W
• Intel Z390 Express
• Up to 64GB Unbuffered non-ECC UDIMM, DDR4-4000MHz (O.C), in 4 DIMM slots
• 4 PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots (16/NA/16/NA or 16/NA/8/8 or 8/8/16/NA or 8/8/8/8),
  1 PCI-E 3.0 x1
  M.2 Interface: 2 PCI-E 3.0 x4, RAID 0 & 1 and 1 CNVi
  M.2 Form Factor: 2260/2280/22110, 2260/2280, 2230
  M.2 Key: M-Key, M-Key, E-Key (RAID 0,1 support)
  M.2-M1 port shares PCI-E link with U2-1 port;M.2-M2 port shares link with SATA port4 and port5; M.2-E1 port pre-installed one 802.1ac WiFi+BT5.0 module
  U.2 Interface: 2 PCI-E 3.0 x4 and PCI-E 3.0 x4
• 2 DP (DisplayPort) ports, 1 HDMI port,
  Display port up to 1.2, HDMI up to 2.0
• Intel Z390 Express controller for 6 SATA3 (6 Gbps) ports; RAID 0,1,5,10
• Single LAN with Intel single Ethernet PHY i219V
  Single LAN with Aquantia AQC107 10G Ethernet Controller

SuperO C9Z390-PGW Motherboard Gallery:

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Storage options include six SATA III ports, two U.2 ports and we can find some nifty overclocking and tuning buttons on the top right corner of the board too. SuperO is using metal shielding on the DDR4 DIMM and PCIe 3.0 x16 expansion slots while the top I/O cover is placed right over the aluminum heatsink that rests over the VRMs. One thing to note here is that SuperO is using the Broadcom PEX8747 switch that offers higher PCIe lanes than the standard count. This is essential for powering the insane amount of expansion available on this motherboard. This offers an x8, x8, x8, x8 configuration on all four PCIe x16 slots available on the board.

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I/O includes an M.2 E-Key for WiFi module, 2 Display Port 1.2, 1 HDMI 2.0, a 10 GB Aquantia AQC107 Ethernet LAN, a single Gigabit Intel i219V LAN port, 5 USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports and 2 USB 2.0 ports. There's a Realtek ALC1220 powered 7.1 channel HD audio jack too.

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9.4

WCCFTECH RATING

The SuperO C9Z390-PGW is really a server-grade board designed for both, the gaming and entry-level workstation builders, providing one of the best OC support, a large number of PCIe lanes for additional graphics cards or storage and an impressive list of features which only a flagship tier motherboard could provide.

Pros

• Support for Intel 8th and 9th Generation Coffee Lake CPUs
• Up To 8 Core Processor Support
• Excellent Overclocking Support on Unlocked Intel CPUs
• Excellent Design Scheme With Solid Heatsink Solution
• Excellent Build Quality With High-Quality VRM and PCB
• Broadcom PLX PCIe Switch For 16 Extra PCIe Lanes
• Aquantia 10Gb Ethernet LAN Port
• 10 Phase Server-Quality Grade VRM
• Tons of Connectivity Options
• Tons of USB 3.1 Gen 2 and Gen 1 Ports
• Intel Wireless-AC 9560 With 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac WiFi + Bluetooth v5.0 Support
• Up To 4000 MHz (OC+) DDR4 Memory Support
• Dual M.2 Slots With full coverage heatsinks
• Lots of Software Support

Cons

• Extremely Expensive Motherboard ($374.99 US)
• Very Generic BIOS layout
• Only Two M.2 slots

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