Which MB would you buy? ASUS Z390 MAXIMUS XI HERO or GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS MASTER?

[monsta]

Want peoples opinion on these boards for the 9900K, the ASUS has lower VRMS but the GIGABYTE has a terrible bios, which one would you get?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Gigabyte despite the lackluster BIOS.

 

[monsta]

Yeah that's what I was thinking , the Gigabyte has a lot more features and a much better VRM count.
My last 2 ASUS mobo's have had failures

 

[demon_king]

I will recommend Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master because it has more vrm's which means better stability when overclocking & also recently hardware unboxed did a video in which he exposed that Asus Maximus XI Hero has 4 phase vrm's . He also found that Aorus Z390 Master has better vrm cooling due to fin array heatsink & its bios is not a problem when you will get better used to it .

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Yeah that's what I was thinking , the Gigabyte has a lot more features and a much better VRM count.
My last 2 ASUS mobo's have had failures

My last ASUS Hero board died too after only 3 months.

 

[faalin]

I would go with the Asus

Have a x58 rampage 3 extreme that i use for work every day running 980x @ 4.0Ghz and 3 780TI classifieds
2 z77 hero boards 1 running a 2500k @ 5.2 Ghz the other a 2600k @ 5.0Ghz. 2500k gets used every day by my mother, 2600k is my lan rig used on most weekends
1 z97 maximus vii hero i5-4670k @ 4.9Ghz Brother uses this as his everyday computer
1 z370 maximus x hero i7 8700k @ 5.1Ghz Is my every day computer

Non of them have given me issues and are still running just as strong as the day i bought them. I guess i just have good luck with Asus's ROG boards.

 

[3nn10]

I've been researching the same thing. ASUS's XI hero boards don't seem to be as good as their other hero boards. Seems shady, their marketing ploy, and they are even using some lower quality chips on the board when compared to their older flagships! watch https://youtu.be/6lAE3PgWoRc and many other reviews for much more detail.

I'm currently weighing the Taichi Ultimate and the Aorus Master. I'll let you know which I chose, but I'm leaning toward the Aorus Master

 

[monsta]

Thanks for all your input guys, I've always gone Asus, my Z77 Saber-tooth pci-e slot went faulty, shame cos I loved that board.
My Asus Z97 now is unstable with frequencies on the CPU even at stock.
I watched the videos you have suggested and I am quite surprised at the VRM count and their marketing with the Hero.
I'm just thinking it over as I've never had a Gigabyte board before and I'm so used to using the Asus bios and features.

 

[demon_king]

Go with Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Master it will not disappoint you & coming to bios Gigabyte has improved it with bios update version f5 . It didn't have features like AI Overclocking but most people will do it manually to squeeze some extra performance & decrease voltage required for overclocking as AI Overclocking consume some extra voltage compared to manual overclocking .

 

[ohenryy]

I would do Gigabyte, they seem to have a solid line up for these new mobos. But the only problem is, their oc bios is very poor, if you want to overclock I would rather go for the Z390 Taichi, great motherboard with excellent bios if you like to overclock.

 

[vMax]

Just to throw my hat in the Gigabyte Aorus Master would be the one. It has been reviewed very with probably the strongest VRM setup and overclocking especially on the 9900K will be a better bet. The BIOS has improved a lot as I use the Z370 Gaming 7 from Gigabyte and I have had no issues running to 5GHz stable on the 8700K....You do get a lot for the money and they have toned down the RGB....Mine is the Disco light show compared to the Master...

 

[The Original Ralph]

I would do Gigabyte, they seem to have a solid line up for these new mobos. But the only problem is, their oc bios is very poor, if you want to overclock I would rather go for the Z390 Taichi, great motherboard with excellent bios if you like to overclock.

i think i just bricked my Taichi Z390, flashing the latest BIOS - and only reason i flashed it, they indicate it removes a power limit and improved OC performance - yep, took me straight to an OC of 0.0. And i flashed it via USB stick, which is supposed to be the safest way.

I must have flashed my last ASUS board 20 times, and never a problem

the frustrating part, while they have a backup BIOS chip, you can only access it via the BIOS, but if you can't get into POST, you aren't going into BIOS

my last Asrock board, X99, had a mechancal switch to change over to the backup BIOS - you just turned everything off, moved the switch, and you were back in business. But they probably saved 3.5 cents eliminating that switch

the reports on the Asus board haven't been that good, but at least they've got a BIOS flashback button on the rear I/O stack

That gigabyte board does look good, and does have the backup BIOS switch.

 

[Repo79]

Just to throw my hat in the Gigabyte Aorus Master would be the one. It has been reviewed very with probably the strongest VRM setup and overclocking especially on the 9900K will be a better bet. The BIOS has improved a lot as I use the Z370 Gaming 7 from Gigabyte and I have had no issues running to 5GHz stable on the 8700K....You do get a lot for the money and they have toned down the RGB....Mine is the Disco light show compared to the Master...

Would the z390 be good with the 8086k?

 

[vMax]

Just to throw my hat in the Gigabyte Aorus Master would be the one. It has been reviewed very with probably the strongest VRM setup and overclocking especially on the 9900K will be a better bet. The BIOS has improved a lot as I use the Z370 Gaming 7 from Gigabyte and I have had no issues running to 5GHz stable on the 8700K....You do get a lot for the money and they have toned down the RGB....Mine is the Disco light show compared to the Master...

Would the z390 be good with the 8086k?

Absolutely it would and it would get the very best out of the 8086K...And in the future, you can just slot the 9900K in....

 

[luckymatt42]

I'm also on the fence about which z390 to buy...but let me play a bit of devils' advocate here just to try to tease out some facts.

Many of you have probably seen Buildzoid's XI Hero review where he talks about the "4-phase" vrm. Looks like at 200a, which is where a big "ambient" overclock would fall, the vrm is at 26w of heat output. You're hitting CPU temp/power limits WAY before your're hitting VRM issues (which as I understand can run at 110c or more 24/7 without batting an eye). (edit-I know that 26w doesn't = temperature, but 26w seems to fall in the range of other boards' vrm heat output)

Based on what reviews/comparisons are out there, the Hero XI is usually near the top of every category, including overclocking. So if it's at the top range of these metrics...why are folks saying the VRM is "bad"?

I'm not an electrical engineer...and neither are most of the folks complaining about the VRM. They just hear "more vrm = good", without knowing why that is, or other methods that the career engineers at ASUS may have used to implement what they thought was a good VRM. ASUS design achieves what it sets out to do...to be at or near the top of the range in most categories. I don't care frankly if it's a one phase vrm if it gives me good results.

Again, I'm just trying to form an opinion...tell me where I'm wrong or missing something.

 

[The Original Ralph]

well, i ordered the Gigabytes AORUS Master Z390 board while the Asrock Taichi Z390 was winging it's way home.

Just on a visual inspection, the GB AORUS Master shows, to me, higher quality in the execution - i'm not electronics literate enough to criticize it, but i am retired from a lifetme of making metal chips. Especially the VRM heat sink impressed me while Asrock seemed to simply be using the mass of the aluminum block for a heat sink with minimal machined cuts to vent the heat off.

THe backup BIOS mechancial switches work a littler different than they did on the earlier Asrock X99 mobo, two switches, one "on/off" switch for each (the main and the backup BIOS). But interesting, you can operate with both on, so basically a DUAL BIOS mode - i suspect it drops into the AMI plan where the second BIOS automatically kicks in in the event of any failure in the primary BIOS.

The graphics on the Taichi, up close in person, frankly look a little tacky or tackily executed - kind of a simplistic gear / sprocket design silkscreened onto the metal plates covering the chipset.

I'll be able to give a better impression of the GB board when my CPU arrives - the other one is heading back to the UK under RMA