Overclocking and Conclusion

Overclocking

To give a feel for the overclocking performance potential of the TUF Z390 Pro Gaming motherboard, we attempted to push it to known CPU-supported performance parameters with minimal tweaking. At the stock base clock speed of 100Mhz, we pushed the CPU to 4.9GHz with a 4.7GHz ring bus and 4000MHz memory speeds. This was done at a 1.275V CPU voltage and a 1.35V memory voltage with all other values left at default settings. All overclocking sessions remained stable for over 4hrs. System stability was tested running the AIDA64 stability test in conjunction with EVGA's OC Scanner X graphical benchmark running at 1280×1024 resolution and 8x MSAA in stress test mode. Note that 8GB (2 x 4GB) of Corsair Dominator Platinum DDR4-4000 memory modules were used for the overclocking tests.

100MHz Base Clock Stats with 4.9GHZ CPU speed and 4000MHz memory speed

Note that this is is meant only as a quick preview of the board's performance potential. With more time to tweak the settings to a greater extent, pushing to a higher base clock and ring bus speed may have been achievable, in addition to an overnight stability run without issue.

Pricing

As of February 02, the ASUS TUF Z390 Pro Gaming motherboard was available at Amazon.com for $157.71 with Prime shipping. The board was also available from Newegg.com for $158.45.

Conclusion

ASUS took a toned down approach with the TUF Z390 Pro Gaming motherboard in comparison to previous revisions of the board. The board features a gray scale-type approach, going with a muted black, grey, and white camouflage-style aesthetic with even the all metal parts done in a black chrome style. Honestly, this allows the board to have a much more enthusiast gamer appeal than previous iterations, and should find its way into many more mainstream gamer builds as a result. Their inclusion of RGB, while many are not a fan, gives the board a further degree of integration freedom to meld itself into many builds where the old-style TUF design may not have fit as well. Plus, the integrates RGB LEDs are done tastefully and tactfully, so as to not dominate the board's styling. ASUS integrated a balanced amount components into the board to further its appeal, while not elevating the price to the degree that it remains unapproachable for many builds. Both at stock and overclocked speeds, the board excels and should be a match for whatever you decide to throw its way.

Strengths

  • Stock performance potential
  • Overclocking performance
  • Gamer-friendly board aesthetics, layout, and design
  • Price
  • UEFI BIOS design and usability
  • Storage offerings – dual M.2 ports and SATA ports
  • Configurable board-integrated RGB LEDs using Aura Windows app
  • Multiple 12V RGB LED headers

Weaknesses

  • CMOS battery placement
  • Lack of UEFI RGB LED configuration

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