It seems everyone is talking about AMD right now, but there are still a lot of people buying Intel processors, especially if you are building a machine purely for gaming. With all of these new X570 motherboards with the newest features it is kind of a bummer looking at Z390 boards that have been out for almost a year now. Well ASRock wants to help you out and has recently introduced their Z390 Phantom Gaming X motherboard. This board is loaded with features like a 14 phase VRM, integrated rear I/O shield, 2.5G LAN, WiFi 6, and a metal backplate. ASRock has also designed the board much like their new X570 boards with the bottom half of the board being a large heatsink for the M.2 slots. This board looks it might be one of the best Z390 boards that ASRock has released, let’s jump in!
Special thanks to ASRock for providing us with the Z390 Phantom Gaming X Motherboard to review.
Features
– Supports 9th and 8th Gen Intel® Core™ processors (Socket 1151)
– Intel® 2T2R Dual Band Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) WiFi (2.4/5GHz)
– Supports up to 2.4Gbps wireless network and BT v5.0
– Phantom Gaming 2.5 Gigabit LAN, Dual Intel® Gigabit LAN
– Digital PWM, 14 Power Phase design
– Supports DDR4 4266+(OC) MHz
– 3 PCIe 3.0 x16, 2 PCIe 3.0 x1
– NVIDIA® Quad SLI™, AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™
– Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort
– 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec)
– Supports Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 5
– 8 SATA3, 3 Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3)
– 5 USB 3.2 Gen2 (1 Front Type-C, 1 Rear Type-C, 3 Rear Type-A)
– 8 USB 3.2 Gen1 (4 Front, 4 Rear)
– ASRock Polychrome SYNC
– Hyper BCLK Engine II
Packaging
The Z390 Phantom Gaming X comes in a large box that has the Phantom Gaming logo on the front and lets us know that we do indeed have the Z390 Phantom Gaming X. Flipping over to the box some of the features of the board are detailed and we have a run-down of the specifications and rear I/O ports.
As you open the box up it says “Fast, Mysterious, Unbeatable”. As far as accessories go you have 4 SATA cables, SLI HB bridge, WiFi antenna, a screwdriver for the large heatsink on the board, screws for the M.2 slots, a software & driver CD, ASRock case badge, a software setup guide, and a quick installation guide.
