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Mother Lode! The Hottest Motherboards From CES 2019

No new chip platforms spurred motherboard makers to revamp their lines, but that didn't stop Asus, Gigabyte, and Asrock from rolling out intriguing—and in some cases, borderline bonkers—boards.

By John Burek
January 12, 2019
Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme: A Drier Version of the Waterforce

The two major PC-tech trade shows, CES and Computex, tend to be the venues at which Intel and AMD launch new CPU platforms. And that usually means, at the same time, motherboard makers roll out fresh motherboards based on a new supporting chipset or chipsets.

CES 2019 saw its share of CPU action, especially around AMD's announcement of coming third-generation Ryzen desktop processors, but the timelines are in the distance. That meant the motherboard action was light.

Still, that didn't stop three of the major makers from showing a bunch of very recent boards, some value-oriented (B365 and B450 chipset), some in odd sizes, and a few that were utterly audacious (ranging from Extreme to Xtreme, Alpha to Omega). These are the most intriguing ones we saw.

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce: The Ultimate Enthusiast Motherboard

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce: The Ultimate Enthusiast Motherboard

Gigabyte actually rolled out this board in the last weeks of 2018, but CES was our first opportunity to ogle its $900 beastie. What you are seeing here is an Extended ATX board with a gigantic built-in CPU waterblock that also encompasses liquid cooling for the Z390 chipset

Now, you ask, why would anyone pay this kind of money for a board that's not even on the high-end-enthusiast X299 (Intel Core X-Series) or X399 (AMD Threadripper) platform? Good question, but the Waterforce is a command performance of all the things that modern motherboard design can offer: RGB all over, Thunderbolt 3 and 10-gigabit Ethernet (powered by an Aquantia controller and supplemented by an Intel one), twin BIOS, and shielding, bracing, and connectivity galore.

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce: The Cooling 'Monoblock'

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce: The Cooling 'Monoblock'
Gigabyte dubs the huge cooler that sprawls across the center of the board a "monoblock," sort of the unibrow of liquid coolers. It courses over the CPU die area and the PCH. Obviously, this board is only workable with liquid cooling, so only hardcore tweakers need apply.

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce: The Chipset

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce: The Chipset

The chipset cooling over this area is as much a design element as a practical necessity for most DIY-ers. Also under a cooling/heatsink cover is a trio of PCI Express M.2 slots.

Beyond that, more of a justification for the price tag: You get tons of potential for board-controlled cooling and lighting. Among that complement? Eight fan headers, a host of temperature-sensing points and sensor attachments, and four headers for RGB light strips (with two supporting addressable RGB strips). The board also supports a dual-BIOS arrangement for inveterate tweakers.

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce: The I/O

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce: The I/O
Here's a quick look at the I/O panel, which is about as packed as you'll see on any flagship board. That's in part because the board has to factor in the possible use of the chip's integrated graphics processor, unlike on the X299 or X399 platforms. Note the antenna connection points for built-in Wi-Fi (which works with cutting-edge Intel CNVI), the Thunderbolt 3, and the dual Ethernet jacks. Also note that the I/O plate is part and parcel of the board, and it lights up in RGB splendor.

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme: A Drier Version of the Waterforce

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme: A Drier Version of the Waterforce
Next to any board but the Waterforce, the Z390 Aorus Xtreme would be a pinnacle board. This $289.99 flagship for Z390 (it's probably more accurate to call the outlier Waterforce board a mothership) is also an extra-good value relative to its Waterforce sibling. It actually offers most of the same connectivity (including the 10-gig Ethernet, Thunderbolt 3, and integrated I/O), just without the integrated waterblock.

ASRock Z390M-STX MXM: Micro-STX Soldiers On

ASRock Z390M-STX MXM: Micro-STX Soldiers On

Now here's a complete departure from the above. This board makes use of an unusual motherboard format called Micro-STX, which you'll need to mount in one of SilverStone's purpose-built Micro-STX cases. (It's a far from common format.) But it is intriguing, in that the platform has graduated here to Z390; this time last year, it had just moved to Coffee Lake/Z370. This extremely niche platform soldiers on, now with support for the Core i5, i7, and i9s on the 9th Gen Core line.

The MXM portion, meanwhile, refers to the graphics cards this board accepts. MXM is a standard for graphics modularity in laptops, essentially a stripped-to-a-PCB mini version of a desktop graphics card. In a unique arrangement, ASRock will sell you the MXM module with the board purchase, as it is tricky for end users to land these by themselves. You can get the MXM in GeForce GTX 1060 and GTX 1080 flavors.

ASRock A300M-STX: A Tiny Ryzen

ASRock A300M-STX: A Tiny Ryzen

This is, according to ASRock, the smallest AMD Ryzen-compatible motherboard you can buy. The CPU socket you see is the AM4 and is rated to work with chips up to the Ryzen 5 (65 watts max). You'd need to choose a chip with on-chip graphics, such as one of the "Bristol Ridge" or "Raven Ridge" APUs here, as there is no provision for a video card. Also note that the board, like the one above, uses laptop-style SO-DIMMs, not longer desktop memory.

Employing the basic A300 chipset, this board also is Micro-STX and is geared more toward productivity in a small box than toward graphics. ASRock offers this in a chassis with the option for a low-profile cooler, the whole bare-bones system dubbed the DeskMini A300 or A300W (the latter with Wi-Fi, the former without). It's a surprisingly powerful and flexible little potential build, with two M.2 PCI Express slots (one on the board top, one on the bottom).

ASRock B450M Steel Legend

ASRock B450M Steel Legend
This ATX board is designed as a cost-effective Ryzen AM4 board for PC builders who aren't interested in advanced overclocking tools but do want a spiffy-looking board that can punch up the appearance. (The B450 chipset is a step down from the enthusiast X470 platform.) The board sports a nifty digital camouflage pattern, and nice metal heatsinks over the chipset and the power-delivery components. It also comes in a MicroATX version.

ASRock B365 Phantom Gaming Series

ASRock B365 Phantom Gaming Series
Along the same lines of the B450M Steel Legend, we have here the new B365 Phantom Gaming line in ATX, MicroATX, and Mini-ITX, left to right. B365 is a minor evolution of the step-down B360 chipset that works with latest-gen Intel chips. The B365/B360 difference simply comes down to a process-technology switch that Intel made in the manufacture of these chipsets last year.

ASRock B365 Pro4 Series

ASRock B365 Pro4 Series
The B365 chipset also features in these new Pro4 boards. (ASRock also offers Pro4 boards in Z390 chipset form for the same Intel CPUs.) More conservative-looking than the Phantom Gaming, these boards based on B365 are meant for power users and mainstream builders who are not looking to overclock.

Asus ROG Dominus Extreme

Asus ROG Dominus Extreme

Now here's a monster mobo that was making the CES rounds! This 14-by-14-inch server-grade enormity is designed for Intel's 28-core Xeon CPU teased in mid-2018. Deep details on the part, the Xeon W-3175X, as well as official pricing, remain undisclosed, despite some ostensible pricing leaks that put it in the $4,000-to-$5,000 zone.

This board was being shown in several mods and venues with the proviso that much detail about the chip not be shared. Needless to say, given the massive DIMM banks and profusion of power delivery real estate (just look at the size of the heat dissipation hardware along the top edge of the board!), it will be far from cheap.

Asus ROG Dominus Extreme (RAM in Detail)

Asus ROG Dominus Extreme (RAM in Detail)
Here's a close-up of the 12 RAM banks from a different angle. Note also the status screen that will adorn the top of the I/O shield. This board will support a staggering 192GB maximum of memory across its banks, and the PCI Express slots are spaced out to take up to four dual-slot cards. You might not see much room for other connectivity on board, but it is there: two U.2 ports for SSDs, plus support for twin "DIMM.2" modules (basically, Asus-specific vertical riser boards onto which you can mount two M.2 SSDs each), among much else.

Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha

Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha

Could this be the beginning and the end for high-end X299 and X399 boards? The ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha clearly can't take another superlative, so it has to be the first and last word in high-end desktop (HEDT) boards. It's part of a twin pair of boards dubbed the Alpha and the Omega.

The Alpha board is built for X399/AMD Threadripper and packs monitoring points and other features meant for extreme overclockers, including competitive types pushing the envelope on liquid nitrogen, as well as a software suite that includes a mode for auto-tuning an overclock without tedious manual workups. The board features extra active fans for the power-delivery components, which is key for liquid-cooled system designs that reduce the actual airflow around the CPU zone. You also get a Fan Extension card that adds a load of extra temperature mounting points and fan headers for truly extreme buildouts.

Asus ROG Rampage VI Extreme Omega

Asus ROG Rampage VI Extreme Omega
Of course, where there is an Alpha there is an Omega. On the Intel X299 flavor of this board, the feature set is much the same, with the expected variance in the chip socket and the PCI Express lanes. But in essence, as we dubbed the duo in naming these boards our Best in Show motherboard, they are not twins but rather "brothers from another board mother": the Dominus Extreme.

Asus ROG Rampage VI Extreme Omega: The Slots and Shielding

Asus ROG Rampage VI Extreme Omega: The Slots and Shielding
One thing to note is that the Omega has one less PCI Express x16 slot. In most other respects the boards are much alike, with slight variances in SATA ports, M.2 slot count, and USB ports. Both boards should roll out in Q1. If they turn out to be the last word in X299 and X399 HEDT, the platforms will have gone out in style, to be sure.

And How About Some Wicked Mods?

Above, check out a recap some of the hottest PC mods we saw at the show.

The Best of CES 2019

The Best of CES 2019
For the best of everything, check out our picks for best in show.

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About John Burek

Executive Editor and PC Labs Director

I have been a technology journalist for almost 30 years and have covered just about every kind of computer gear—from the 386SX to 64-core processors—in my long tenure as an editor, a writer, and an advice columnist. For almost a quarter-century, I worked on the seminal, gigantic Computer Shopper magazine (and later, its digital counterpart), aka the phone book for PC buyers, and the nemesis of every postal delivery person. I was Computer Shopper's editor in chief for its final nine years, after which much of its digital content was folded into PCMag.com. I also served, briefly, as the editor in chief of the well-known hardcore tech site Tom's Hardware.

During that time, I've built and torn down enough desktop PCs to equip a city block's worth of internet cafes. Under race conditions, I've built PCs from bare-board to bootup in under 5 minutes.

In my early career, I worked as an editor of scholarly science books, and as an editor of "Dummies"-style computer guidebooks for Brady Books (now, BradyGames). I'm a lifetime New Yorker, a graduate of New York University's journalism program, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

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