GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Master Review: Soaring High With Rocket Lake

Conclusion

To get the most out of Intel's unlocked 11th generation Rocket Lake processors (K/KF), the best platform to go with is the latest Z590 chipset. Last April, when Intel unveiled its Z490 chipset for 10th generation Comet Lake, some of the focus from the vendors was on advertising its future-proofing capabilities for Rocket Lake and the PCIe Gen 4 it would bring to the table. Now that Rocket Lake is finally out in the wild, certain elements make Z590 the go-to chipset for the best experience and performance, including double the bandwidth from the CPU to the chipset (DMI x8, previously x4), and USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, as well as a new geared integrated memory controller for even higher memory overclocks than ever before. 

One of the higher-end options on Z590 is undoubtedly the GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Master, with its eclectic controller selection and a wide range of features that should satisfy users on multiple fronts, including gaming content creation and enthusiasts looking to push the limits of Rocket Lake. Not deviating much from the design of the previous Z490 Aorus Master, the latest Z590 Aorus Master uses a similar black and grey design, with swathes of PCIe armor M.2 heatsinks and a chipset heatsink that molds into the board's design. This gives the Master a clean look, and despite the aggressive styling on the rear panel cover, which includes integrated RGB LEDs, there's some in the chipset heatsink which highlights the Aorus Falcon logo.

Being a model based on its gaming series, the Z590 Aorus Master has plenty to push frame rates with two full-length PCIe 4.0 slots operating at x16 and x8/x8, but it also has another full-length slot which is electronically locked down to PCIe 3.0 x4 from the chipset for add-in cards. The integrated audio solution is premium, too, with a Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio codec and an ESS Sabre ESS9118 DAC, which provides plenty of power to drive high impedance headphones. The only negative here is that some vendors are still insisting and utilizing the Microsoft Store to download the Realtek application, which allows customization, which vendors opting for other options such as Nahimic are more favorable and accessible audio control out of the box. 

There's plenty of storage support available, too, with three M.2 slots, including one PCIe 4.0 x4 slot (top) with two PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA M.2 slot and six SATA ports. One interesting thing to note is that none of the M.2 and SATA ports share any bandwidth, which means all six SATA ports and both PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA M.2 ports can run without limitations; something that's been somewhat of a hidden issue on a lot of motherboards of the last couple of years. GIGABYTE is also packing a decent I/O on the rear panel, with one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports. Networking is another selling point with an Aquantia AQC107 10 GbE controller and Intel's latest AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi covering both areas of connectivity with the most premium solutions currently available. 

In our performance testing, the Z590 Aorus Master performed well in all of our system tests, with some of the quickest POST times of any Z590 model we've managed to test thus far. With vendors doing their own thing regarding power limits on Rocket Lake, GIGABYTE's default settings are very competitive with the other brands regarding compute and gaming performance, with no anomalies found.

The GIGABYTE also did well in our overclock testing with very tight VDroop control when compared to the CPU VCore variables we ran every 100 MHz stepping from 4.7 GHz to 5.2 GHz. Unfortunately, 5.3 GHz wasn't stable, and this has been the case for all models tested so far with our Core i9-11900K chip, so it's certainly not a detriment. The only negative was in the firmware's OC mode, which wasn't stable, despite it supposedly being the solution for users looking to let the hardware decide for itself the best possible overclock. This may be revised as the firmware matures, and we certainly hope so. The board includes a large 19-phase power delivery which was acceptable in our thermal VRM testing and didn't do itself a discredit when compared to the ASRock Z590 Taichi, which uses an actively cooled design compared to the passive design of the GIGABYTE.

Final Thoughts

The GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Master is available at Amazon for $410. Despite not including Thunderbolt 4 like the ASRock Z590 Taichi ($430), it shines above in other areas such as power delivery, networking support, and other rear-panel USB connectivity. At its current price tag, the Z590 Aorus Master is a solid option for users looking to avoid paying flagship prices. It has a 19-phase power delivery with high-quality components, 10 gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E, triple M.2, and support for fast DDR4-5400 memory. This puts it as a very premium offering, but more than worth the cost if that's what you're willing to spend.