what you imagine you're experiencing
when using the AORUS software. This
is quite apparent when you contrast it
with software of identical functionality
from the competition. They suffer many
some of the pitfalls RGB Fusion does
for example, but the difference is the
AORUS software suffers from all of
them - simultaneously. It’s what results
in the entire experience not coming
together as it should and you can’t
really avoid it as that’s the only way to
configure the lighting on the board.
The RGB Commander unit for
example has a white LED AORUS motif,
but permanently on, with one colour
(white) and will literally break your
colour scheme if it’s to be displayed
behind a glass panel for instance. It’s
just one of the things which is an
oversight which ultimately doesn’t live
up to the promise of what the hardware
offers.
PERFORMANCE & CONCLUSION
As with most motherboards,
performance variation between boards
for gaming is within the margin of error.
The Xtreme against another board,
would not yield any noticeable
differences. However, that doesn’t
mean overclocking will be the same.
This is where you’ll either love this
board or have a tough time with it. Stick
to the DRAM on the QVL and you’ll have
an amazing overclocking experience
(I’ve seen 4,500MHz C17 with A2 PCB
and four sticks of memory). However if
you don’t have specifically supported
memory (as in this case) you’ll struggle
with the 3,733 setting. Again, it’s down
to the board and DRAM combination,
but consider that this kit does 4,500Mhz
on several other boards, it doesn’t
inspire confidence in the Xtreme.
Another issue, which one may
face is M.2 drive compatibility where
installing specific drives into socket one
and three for instance will result in one
or both drives not registering on the
system. The drives in question were the
Samsung 960 EVO and another ADATA
drive. It was either one drive or the
other. It’s these little things that can
serve as detractions from what is
otherwise a compelling board.
Outside of these hiccups, the 5Ghz
all core clock frequency is as real as
you’d expect. The power delivery circuit
on this board is phenomenal (16 phase
VRM) and you’d do well to once again
reference BuildZoid's Video above on
the matter as he details this model's
power delivery system.
I did not do any sub-zero overclocking
on this board and as such I can’t speak
to that, but what one can say is that as a
piece of kit to build your gaming rig
around. The Z390 AORUS Xtreme works
quite well. Feature support is
phenomenal and for all intents and
purposes is a complete offering that
justifies its high retail price somewhat.
As a packaged offering, it’s good,
but compromised by a
few rough edges preventing it from
being great. Especially concerning
considering that the standard isn’t
high to begin with. All that said, I still
believe this one is worth your
consideration or at least curiosity.
[ The Overclocker ]
Issue 46 | 2019 The OverClocker 33