The Intel LGA 1700 platform was launched three years ago in 2021 and it has since seen a total of 3 generations of CPUs, Alder Lake (12th Gen), Raptor Lake (13th Gen), and Raptor Lake Refresh (14th Gen). We have seen at least three generations of motherboards, first with the 600-series which had Z690 as the top SKU, and then two generations of 700-series based on the top Z790 chipset which included a soft refresh for the 14th Gen lineup.
Intel has now introduced its next-generation 800-series chipsets and with the Core Ultra 200S CPU series, the company is also launching a brand new socket called LGA 1851. Today, we will be taking a look at the latest motherboards based on the Z890 chipset.
Gigabyte Z890 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 DDR5 LGA1851 ATX Motherboard.
We received a load of motherboards from various manufacturers so let's start by taking a look at these updated designs. For this review, we will be testing Gigabyte's latest Z890 AORUS Master motherboard which is priced at $1000.00 AUD.
Gigabyte Z890 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 DDR5 LGA1851 ATX Motherboard.
The 800-series chipsets will include several SKUs but the one we are getting today is the top-tier Z890. This platform offers a total of 48 PCIe lanes of which 20 are PCIe Gen 5.0 and these come from both the CPU and the PCH. The Z890 PCH features up to 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes, up to 4 eSPI, up to 10 USB 3.2 ports including 5 20G, 10 10G, and 10 5G options, up to 14 USB 2.0 links & up to 8 SATA III links.
The new platform is further enriched with the latest features which include:
Integrated I/O:
Up To 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports
Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E (Gig+)
Bluetooth 5.3 (LE)
1 GbE
Discrete I/O:
Up To 4 Thunderbolt 5 ports
Intel Killer Wi-Fi 7 (5 Gig)
Bluetooth 5.4 (LE)
2.5 GbE
In terms of memory support, the new Z890 motherboards will offer up to DDR5-6400 (native) capabilities and expanded speeds over 8000 MT/s with XMP. The platform will support up to 48 GB DIMMs in the dual-channel mode for up to 192 GB capacities in UDIMM, CUDIMM, SODIMM, and CSODIMM flavors.
Lots of Goodies For Overclockers!
Finally, we have the new overclocking goodness which comes in the form of new functionalities for tuners with fine grain control.
These features include:
Granular core clock - Top turbo frequency in 16.6 MHz steps for P-Cores and E-Cores
Dual base clock - Run an independent BCLK for SOC and compute tiles
Tile-to-Tile & fabric OC - Can apply a static/BIOS ratio and supports dynamic ratio changes for fabric
DLVR bypass - Bypass the internal voltage management using an external supply for extreme OC
Intel eXtreme tuning utility - New features including automated OC enhancements
Memory overclocking - New memory controller supports new XMP and CUDIMM DDR5
P & E-core overclocking - P-core per-core V/f control, and E-Core per cluster V/f control
Low-temperature overvolting - Increasingly bypass voltage limits as the chip gets colder
The cooler operation of the chips also provides higher headroom for over clockers. As for the TJmax, Arrow Lake-S "Core Ultra 200S" will have a peak operating temperature of 105C.
Cooler Compatibility With LGA 1851 Socket
The Intel LGA 1851 socket is compatible with LGA 1700 socketed coolers though some coolers might require an offset kit for proper thermal load balance. The new socket also has a revised ILM called RL-ILM which uses a spacer between the loading mechanism to ensure proper pressure for the new Arrow Lake CPUs.
Intel Desktop Platform Chipset Comparison
Chipset Name | Arrow Lake-S (ARL-S) PCH / 800 Series (Z890) | Raptor Lake-S (RPL-S) PCH / 700 Series (Z790) | Alder Lake-S (ADL-S) PCH / 600 Series (Z690) | Rocket Lake-S (RKL-S) PCH / 500 Series (Z590) | Comet Lake-S (CML-S) PCH / 400 Series (Z490) | Coffee Lake S (CFL-S) PCH / 300 Series (Z390/H370, B360, Q370, H310) | Coffee Lake S (KBL-R) PCH / Z370 Platform |
Process Node | 7nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 14nm | 22nm |
Processor | 24C, 20C, 14C, 12C, TBD) | 24,16C,12C,10C,6C,4C | 16C,12C,10C,6C,4C (Full corporate/consumer SKU stack at launch) | 8C, 6C (Full corporate/consumer SKU stack at launch) | 10C, 8C, 6C, 4C, 2C (Full corporate/consumer SKU stack at launch) | 8C, 6C, 4C, 2C (Full corporate/consumer SKU stack at launch) | 8C, 6C, 4C (6 Consumer SKUs at Launch) |
Memory | Up To DDR5-6400 (Native) | Up To DDR5-5600 (Native) Up To DDR4-3200 (Native) | Up To DDR5-4800 (Native) Up To DDR4-3200 (Native) | Up To DDR4-3200 (Native) | Up To DDR4-2933 (Native) | Up To DDR4-2666 (Native) | Up To DDR4-2666 (Native) |
Media, Display & Audio | eDP / 4DDI (DP, HDMI) Display Capabilities | eDP / 4DDI (DP, HDMI) Display Capabilities | eDP / 4DDI (DP, HDMI) Display Capabilities | DP 1.2 & HDMI 2.0, HBR3 HDCP 2.2 (HDMI 2.0a w/LSPCON) 12-bit AV1/HEVC & VP9 10-bit Enc/Dec, HDR, Rec.2020, DX12 Integrated Dual-Core Audio DSP With USB Audio offload SoundWire Digital Audio Interface | DP 1.2 & HDMI 1.4 HDCP 2.2 (HDMI 2.0a w/LSPCON) HEVC & VP9 10-bit Enc/Dec, HDR, Rec.2020, DX12 Integrated Dual-Core Audio DSP SoundWire Digital Audio Interface | DP 1.2 & HDMI 1.4 HDCP 2.2 (HDMI 2.0a w/LSPCON) HEVC & VP9 10-bit Enc/Dec, HDR, Rec.2020, DX12 Integrated Dual-Core Audio DSP SoundWire Digital Audio Interface | DP 1.2 & HDMI 1.4 HDCP 2.2 (HDMI 2.0a w/LSPCON) HEVC & VP9 10-bit Enc/Dec, HDR, Rec.2020, DX12 Integrated Dual-Core Audio DSP |
I/O & Connectivity | Integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20G) Integrated Intel Wireless-AC (Wi-Fi6E/ 7 BT CNVio) with Gig+ Integrated SDXC 4.0 Controller Thunderbolt 4.0 | Integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20G) Integrated Intel Wireless-AC (Wi-Fi6E/ 7 BT CNVio) with Gig+ Integrated SDXC 4.0 Controller Thunderbolt 4.0 | Integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20G) Integrated Intel Wireless-AC (Wi-Fi6E/ 7 BT CNVio) with Gig+ Integrated SDXC 4.0 Controller Thunderbolt 4.0 | Integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20G) Integrated Intel Wireless-AC (Wi-Fi6E/ BT CNVi) Integrated SDXC 3.0 Controller Thunderbolt 4.0 (Maple Ridge) | Integrated USB 3.2 Gen 2 Integrated Intel Wireless-AC (Wi-Fi / BT CNVi) Integrated SDXC 3.0 Controller Thunderbolt 3.0 (Titan Ridge) w/ DP 1.4 | Integrated USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) Integrated Intel Wireless-AC (Wi-Fi / BT CNVi) Integrated SDXC 3.0 Controller Thunderbolt 3.0 (Titan Ridge) w/ DP 1.4 | Integrated USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) Thunderbolt 3.0 (Alpine Ridge) |
Storage | PCIe 5.0 (CPU Lanes), 8x SATA 3.0 | Next-Gen Intel Optane memory PCIe 5.0 (CPU Lanes), 6x SATA 3.0 | Next-Gen Intel Optane memory PCIe 5.0, 6x SATA 3.0 | Next-Gen Intel Optane memory PCIe 4.0, 6x SATA 3.0 | Next-Gen Intel Optane memory PCIe 3.0, 6x SATA 3.0 | Next Gen Intel Optane memory PCIe 3.0, 6x SATA 3.0 | Next Gen Intel Optane memory PCIe 3.0, 6x SATA 3.0 |
Max PCH PCIe Lanes | Up To 24 (Gen 4) | Up To 20 (Gen 4) Up To 8 (Gen 3) | Up To 12 (Gen 4) Up To 16 (Gen 3) | Up To 24 (Gen 3) | Up To 24 (Gen 3) | Up To 24 (Gen 3) | Up To 24 (Gen 3) |
Max CPU PCIe Lanes | Up To 20 (Gen 5) Up To 4 (Gen 4) | Up To 16 (Gen 5) Up To 4 (Gen 4) | Up To 16 (Gen 5) Up To 4 (Gen 4) | Up To 20 (Gen 4) | Up To 16 (Gen 3) | Up To 16 (Gen 3) | Up To 16 (Gen 3) |
Max USB Ports | Up To 5 (USB 3.2 Gen 2z2) Up To 10 (USB 3.2 Gen 2x1) Up To 10 (USB 3.2 Gen 1x1) Up To 14 (USB 2.0) | Up To 5 (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2) Up To 10 (USB 3.2 Gen 2x1) Up To 10 (USB 3.2 Gen 1x1) Up To 14 (USB 2.0) | Up To 4 (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2) Up To 10 (USB 3.2 Gen 2x1) Up To 10 (USB 3.2 Gen 1x1) Up To 14 (USB 2.0) | Up To 3 (USB 3.2 Gen 2x2) Up To 10 (USB 3.2 Gen 2x1) Up To 10 (USB 3.2 Gen 1x1) Up To 14 (USB 2.0) | Up To 10 (USB 3.2) Up To 14 (USB 2.0) | Up To 10 (USB 3.1) Up To 14 (USB 2.0) | Up To 10 (USB 3.0) Up To 14 (USB 2.0) |
Security | Intel TET Intel Boot Guard | N/A | N/A | N/A | Intel SGX 1.0 | Intel SGX 1.0 | Intel SGX 1.0 |
Power Management | C10 & S0ix Support for Modern Standby | C10 & S0ix Support for Modern Standby | C10 & S0ix Support for Modern Standby | C10 & S0ix Support for Modern Standby | C10 & S0ix Support for Modern Standby | C10 & S0ix Support for Modern Standby | C8 Support |
Launch | 2024 | 2022 | 2021 | 2021 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
Gigabyte Z890 AORUS ELITE WIFI7 DDR5 LGA1851 ATX Motherboard.
CPU & VRM Temperatures
The Intel Core Ultra 200S "Arrow Lake" Desktop CPUs come with a slightly modified IHS which is equipped over the tiled CPU die. This IHS is soldered with gold plating underneath to ensure good heat dissipation and thermal conductivity. The socket also features a revised ILM mechanism called RL-ILM (Reduced-Load) to provide optimal pressure for the socket and the CPU.
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