Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Our test system uses an updated W10 64-bit OS (1909 as of 4/20/2020) with all threat mitigations applied. The motherboard BIOS used is the latest non-beta available to the public unless otherwise noted. The hardware used is as follows:
Test System Components
| CPU | Intel i9-10900K | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z Neo 2x8GB DDR4 3600 (F4-3600C16D-16GTZNC) | Row 1 - Cell 2 |
| Memory 2 | G.Skill Trident Z Royale 4x8GB DDR4 4000 (F4-4000C18Q-32GTRS) | Row 2 - Cell 2 |
| GPU | Asus ROG Strix RTX 2070 | Row 3 - Cell 2 |
| CPU Cooler | Corsair H150i | Row 4 - Cell 2 |
| PSU | Corsair AX1200i | Row 5 - Cell 2 |
| Software | Windows 10 64-bit 1909 | Row 6 - Cell 2 |
| Graphics Driver | Nvidia Driver 445.75 | Row 7 - Cell 2 |
| Sound | Integrated HD audio | Row 8 - Cell 2 |
| Network | Integrated Networking (GbE or 2.5 GbE) | Row 9 - Cell 2 |
| Graphics Driver | GeForce 445.74 | Row 10 - Cell 2 |
For this review, we’ll be comparing the Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Master ($389.99) to the ASRock Z490 Taichi ($369.99), Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero ($399.99), and the MSI MEG Z490 Ace ($399.99) as these are all quite close in price in the upper mid-range segment.
GSkill provided both RAM kits for this review platform.
Benchmark Settings
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | Header Cell - Column 1 |
|---|---|
| PCMark 10 | Version 2.1.2177 64 |
| Row 1 - Cell 0 | Essentials, Productivity, Digital Content Creation, MS Office |
| 3DMark | Version 2.11.6866 64 |
| Row 3 - Cell 0 | Firestrike Extreme and Time Spy Default Presets |
| Cinebench R20 | Version RBBENCHMARK271150 |
| Row 5 - Cell 0 | Open GL Benchmark - Single and Multi-threaded |
| Application Tests and Settings | Row 6 - Cell 1 |
| LAME MP3 | Version SSE2_2019 |
| Row 8 - Cell 0 | Mixed 271MB WAV to mp3: Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s) |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 1.2.2 |
| Row 10 - Cell 0 | Sintel Open Movie Project: 4.19GB 4K mkv to x264 (light AVX) and x265 (heavy AVX) |
| Corona 1.4 | Version 1.4 |
| Row 12 - Cell 0 | Custom benchmark |
| 7-Zip | Version 19.00 |
| Row 14 - Cell 0 | Integrated benchmark |
| Game Tests and Settings | Row 15 - Cell 1 |
| The Division 2 | Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080 |
| Forza Horizon 4 | Ultra Preset - 1920 x 1080 |
MORE: Best Motherboards
MORE: How To Choose A Motherboard
MORE: All Motherboard Content
