R E V I E W // Z 3 9 0 A O R U S X T R E M E
screen can now give you details
regarding what you changed and
how it was changed before you save.
Just for that last minute confirmation
before you commit to settings which
may render your system unable to
post. A small change, but one that I do
appreciate.
The UEFI in general is simplified
which makes it the best UEFI
GIGABYTE has ever produced - ever.
Some ways to go still (especially
compared to what ASRock offers which
is the best in the business right now)
but certainly an improvement and more
should follow.
AUDIO
May be an odd thing to many but
GIGABYTE could for many generations
have argued for providing the best
audio solutions out of all the competing
motherboards. Not a claim any vendor
would make, but certainly one that
would be warranted. From hardware
Creative audio solutions of old, to what
we have here, Gigabyte has always
done particularly well with audio
solutions on their premium
motherboards and the Xtreme is no
different.
32 The OverClocker Issue 46 | 2019
In fact or on paper at least, this is the
best audio solution GIGABYTE has ever
produced. Just the component list is
worth paying attention to and of course
things get better when you actually
experience the on-board audio.
The RightMark Audio Analyzer result
can’t quantify or contextualize the
auditory experience, but simply put
– it’s wonderful. The only thing better to
ever come with a motherboard is
literally a USB DAC which of course
can’t be compared to what has to share
power and so many other components
with the rest of the motherboard. Even
then, I’m not sure it’s appreciably better
at all for everyday listening.
Just in case you’re not going to read
the spec sheet, what this audio solution
is comprised of course the Realtek
ALC1220 Codec, around which
GIGABYTE has seen fit to add various
audiophile grade components and on
paper this is the best audio component
selection on any Z390 board I’m aware
off. How much that means to you is
subjective of course, but it is highly
appreciated,
USER EXPERIENCE
Okay, so this is where things get a
little tricky for the Z390 AORUS Xtreme.
Given all the above and more, this
motherboard is truly impressive. It’s as
almost everyone involved came to the
party and I do mean almost as therein
lies the issue. Almost everyone came to
the party and you can see this in the
‘App Centre’ which isn't the greatest
but certainly something you can live
with.
It's everything else though that
doesn’t seem to work visually. Simply
put, the software package presentation,
let alone usability is compromised by
little things such as a font that’s difficult
to read, fixed skin colours, all of which
do not make the text any more legible.
No window can be resized and
of course neither can the text or anything
else for that matter. This software is the
single most underwhelming part of this
motherboard, even more so than the
questionable DRAM overclocking of A0
PCB B-die memory (at least the kit I
used). You’d not expect the interior of a
1995 Subaru Impreza inside a 2019
Bentley Mulsanne yet that's precisely