The Supermicro C9Z390-PGW Motherboard Review: The Z390 Board With PLX and 10GbE
by Gavin Bonshor on February 1, 2019 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Intel
- Broadcom
- Supermicro
- ATX
- PLX
- PLX8747
- Supero
- Z390
- C9Z390-PGW
- PEX8747
Board Features
The C9Z390-PGW represents Supermicro's flagship entry onto the Z390 chipset. It also represents one of just two Z390 motherboards (one general consumers, one for workstations) to include a Broadcom PEX8747 PLX chip which allows users to use up to four PCIe 3.0 x16 slots. This is useful for users running mutliple PCIe accelerators with full bandwidth available. T
Supermicro C9Z390-PGW ATX Motherboard | |||
Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
Product Page | Link | ||
Price | $371 | ||
Size | ATX | ||
CPU Interface | LGA1151 | ||
Chipset | Intel Z390 | ||
Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 64 GB Dual Channel Up to DDR4-4000 |
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Video Outputs | 1 x HDMI 2.0 2 x DisplayPort 1.2 |
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Network Connectivity | Aquantia AQC107 10G Intel I219 V 1 G Intel 9560 802.11ac 2T2R |
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Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220 | ||
PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 4 x PCIe 3.0 x16 | ||
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x1 | ||
Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/5/10 | ||
Onboard M.2 | 3 x PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA, RAID 0/1 | ||
Onboard U.2 | 2 x U.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 RAID 0/1 | ||
USB 3.1 (10Gbps) | 3 x Type-A Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Rear Panel 1 x Type-C Header |
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USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) | 2 x Type-A Rear Panel 2 x Type-A Header |
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USB 2.0 | 2 x Header | ||
Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin ATX 1 x 8pin CPU |
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Fan Headers | 1 x CPU (4-pin) 1 x 12 V pump (4-pin) 3 x System (4-pin) |
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IO Panel | 3 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A 1 x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A 2 x Network RJ45 5 x 3.5mm Audio Jacks 1 x S/PDIF Output 1 x PS/2 combo port 1 x HDMI 2.0 2 x DisplayPort 1.2 2 x Intel 9560 Antenna Ports |
It's no secret that the Supermicro C9Z390-PGW motherboard is one of the most expensive Z390 motherboards on the market with a hefty price tag of $371 at Newegg. There's a host of high-quality features such as the included PLX chip, the Aquantia AQC107 10G NIC port and even the Intel 9560 Wi-Fi adapter which is one of the better ones currently available. There is plenty of USB 3.1 Gen2 connectivity with a total of nine available with up to seven Type-A and two Type-C supported; one of the Type-C is via a front panel header along with four Type-A. Storage capability is offered via two M.2 slots, two U.2 ports and six SATA ports.
Test Bed
As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
While we have been able to measure audio performance from previous Z370 motherboards, the task has been made even harder with the roll-out of the Z390 chipset and none of the boards tested so far has played ball. It seems all USB support for Windows 7 is now extinct so until we can find a reliable way of measuring audio performance on Windows 10 or until a workaround can be found, audio testing will have to be done at a later date.
Test Setup | |||
Processor | Intel i7-8700K, 65W, $300, 6 Cores, 12 Threads, 3.7 GHz (4.7 GHz Turbo) |
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Motherboard | MSI MEG Z390 ACE (BIOS Version 7B12v12) | ||
Cooling | Corsair H100i V2 | ||
Power Supply | Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1200W Gold PSU | ||
Memory | 2x16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-2400 Ran at DDR4-2666 CL16-18-18-35 2T |
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Video Card | ASUS GTX 980 STRIX (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
Case | Open Test Bed | ||
Operating System | Windows 10 RS3 inc. Spectre/Meltdown Patches |
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
New Test Suite: Spectre and Meltdown Hardened
For the start of our Z390 reviews, we are using an updated OS, updated drivers, and updated software. This is in line with our CPU testing updates, which includes Spectre and Meltdown patches.
42 Comments
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colonelclaw - Wednesday, February 6, 2019 - link
For the last 12 years or so I've been exclusively buying Asus motherboards for desktop machines, and Supermicro motherboards for servers & rendernodes. Very roughly 25 of the former and 30 of the latter. So far I've had zero failures. The older of the Supermicro boards have seen 24/7 use for about 8 years!althaz - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
Their build quality remains excellent. Their efforts in VRMs in recent times (if you're in to heavy overclocking) are a different story though. Gigabyte's range is utterly dominant there at the moment (although their UEFI really sucks in terms of UX).Personally, Asus have usually been the boards I've ended up opting for. Gigabyte's boards are better overclockers and have better power delivery and NOBODY has worse service...but they just nail everything else.
That said, I'm planning on a new build later in the year (hopefully with Zen 2/Ryzen 3000, but let's see how it turns out first) and am currently leaning towards a Gigabyte board.
Questor - Thursday, February 7, 2019 - link
I have been using EVGA motherboards for some time now with excellent results. What can I say? I run away from the crowds.Big problem now is, I want to build a Ryzen system with the upcoming CPUs. I am going to have to return to the mainstream 4. It scares me.
bunnyfubbles - Tuesday, February 5, 2019 - link
Supermicro has been known for server and workstation motherboards, so the idea is that they are obviously going after the common "work hard, play hard" manifesto that has been around for agesCoryS - Friday, February 1, 2019 - link
THis has everything I would ever want in a board. I even like the styling (after that dumb tag lien is covered up by components). Except it doesn't have Thunderbolt 3. Why is this so hard to find in a desktop system? Surely they could had dropped some USB 3.1 ports for at least one?GreenReaper - Friday, February 1, 2019 - link
Licensing it probably comes with a covenant not to sue Intel.Freeb!rd - Friday, February 1, 2019 - link
Actually, Intel dropped licensing on Thunder turd 3... probably because no one would pay for it... and they didn't want the turd to shrivel up and die, yet.GreenReaper - Sunday, February 3, 2019 - link
No, they stopped *charging* for it, per-item. It's royalty-free and non-exclusive but still licensed.We don't know the exact terms under which that license is granted, but I wouldn't be surprised if certification was required and that the license might be revoked if action was taken against Intel.
One interesting fact from https://thunderbolttechnology.net/tech/certificati... - "Peripheral devices are certified to be compatible with specific operating systems and *the devices are not end user upgradeable* for additional operating system compatibility." Not sure if this is just Intel covering their ass for incompatibility or an actual restriction on licensees providing user-upgradability.
Tecnoc - Friday, February 1, 2019 - link
As far as I know while the PLX chip allows for x8/x8/x8/x8 SLI is not supported. Does SLI have to be officially supported to work?blppt - Friday, February 1, 2019 - link
The truly bizarre thing about this motherboard's existance is that SLI and CF are seeing little support in new titles lately, and last I checked you have to get hacked nvidia drivers to support more than 2 cards in SLI for the 10+ series anyways.Might have been useful 5-10 years ago when AFR mGPU support didn't stink so much.