1 Preface 13th-generation Core Z790 chipset explanation
Preface
Last year, the 12th-generation Core brought "king-like" performance. With the strong combination of the Intel7 process and the powerful performance of Golden-Cove, AlderLake asymmetric architecture and multiple technologies, the 12th-generation Core has a veritable performance leap. Whether it is a gamer who pursues extreme performance or a content creator who pursues excellent experience, the 12th generation Core is definitely a major upgrade that cannot be missed.
and Intel has a nickname called " toothpaste factory ". The reason why it is called this is because Intel's performance per generation is only a little stronger than the previous generation, so everyone thinks that the 12th generation processor has strong performance, so the 13th generation Core is likely to be "squeezing toothpaste". Under the high expectations, Intel officially released the new 13th generation Core processor, and also brought many new features.
Now, Intel has finally officially unbanned this year's blockbuster new products: the 13th-generation Core processor and the Z790 chipset motherboard. Let’s see if this year’s toothpaste factory can squeeze toothpaste like last year.
3 generation Core processor
13 generation Core architecture has been upgraded from the previous generation AlderLake to the RaptorLake architecture. If the previous generation AlderLake architecture introduced a hybrid architecture for the first time, the focus is on the scheduling of large and small cores. After solving the scheduling of large and small cores, this generation of RaptorLake focused on performance improvement after solving the scheduling of large and small cores.
This time, the 13th generation Core has been improved in many aspects. First of all, with the help of the advanced Intel7 process, the 13th generation Core processor can achieve a turbo frequency of up to 5.8GHz. Faster frequencies, naturally better performance.
Secondly, the performance core P-Core was upgraded from the original GoldenCove architecture to the RaptorCove architecture. The energy efficiency core E-Core is created by the upgraded GraceMont architecture. At the same time, the energy efficiency core E-Core has doubled compared to the previous generation. i9-13900K directly comes to 24 core 32 threads.
13 generation Core also significantly improved the size of the second-level cache. Each P core has 2MB of upgraded cache and adopts a new dynamic read-out method to obtain higher cache capacity and main frequency improvements. The i9-13900K has a L2 cache of up to 32MB, while the 12th-generation Core i9-12900K has a L2 cache of 14MB. The former's second-level cache is 18MB more than the latter, which can bring higher task processing efficiency.
has higher energy consumption ratio! The core basic power consumption of the 13th generation Core is the same as the previous generation, and is still 125W. However, the 13th-generation Core processor can obtain the same frequency as the 12th generation at a lower voltage, so we can see that in terms of the maximum turbo frequency, the entire 13th-generation Core series has a significant improvement compared to the 12th generation. The i9-13900K has a 600MHz increase compared to the i9-12900k, and the maximum turbo frequency reaches 5.8GHz.
In addition to the architecture and process upgrades, the 13th generation Core has also further improved its support for high-frequency DDR5 memory. The 13th generation Core series can support up to DDR55600MT/s memory specifications. According to the official introduction, the memory level alone can bring a 5% performance improvement.
The protagonist of this time - i9-13900K, consisting of 8 performance cores P-Core + 16 energy-efficiency cores E-Core, with specifications of 24 cores and 32 threads. The basic frequency of P-Core is 3.0GHz, the turbo frequency can reach 5.8GHz, the basic frequency of E-Core is 2.2GHz, the turbo frequency can reach 4.3GHz, and it has 32MB L2 cache and 36MB L3 cache. There are 6 models released in the first batch of
, including i9-13900K, i9-13900KF, i7-13700K, i7-13700KF, i5-13600K, and i5-13600KF.
Intel Z790 chipset
So-called good horses need to be equipped with a saddle. After Intel launched the 13th generation Core RaptorLake desktop processor, it also officially announced the matching motherboard chipset Z790. Since the 13th-generation Core and the 12th-generation Core use the same LGA1700 package, the Z790 motherboard can be used with the 12th-generation Core processor, while the Z690 or other 600 series motherboards can also support the latest 13th-generation Core processors through BIOS upgrades.
From the table, it can be seen that the Z790 chipset has readjusted the specifications of the PCIe channel, and supports more PCIe4.0 compatible channels than the previous chipset.The previous generation of Z690 chipsets support up to 12 PCIe.0 channels, and up to 16 PCIe3.0 channels; and with the rapid popularity of PCIe4.0, the Z790 chipset supports up to 20 PCIe4.0 channels and up to 8 PCIe3.0 channels on it.
, and the processor supports 16 PCIe5.0 channels and 4 PCIe4.0 channels, which are no different from the previous generation. The chipset and the previous channel are still DMI4.0x8, equivalent to PCIe4.0x8, and the bandwidth is 128Gbps in one-way. Another difference is the USB interface, the number of USB3.2Gen2x220Gbps has been increased from 4 to 5. At the same time, there are still 10 USB3.2Gen15Gbps, 10 USB3.2Gen210Gbps, and 8 SATA6Gbps interfaces.
13 generation Core still uses a hybrid architecture of large and small cores, but the process technology has been optimized, and the cache and core number have been increased. The game performance has been significantly improved, regaining the title of the strongest game processor. At the same time, the comprehensive performance of content creation has also reached the first-class level of consumer-grade platforms. However, in order to make its performance stable, it requires a reliable Z790 motherboard support. As one of the core partners of Intel, Gigabyte has also launched many Z790 motherboards, among which the Gigabyte Z790 AORUSMASTER motherboard, which has fierce material and extreme workmanship, is the best choice for building a "Galaxy Battleship".
2 Gigabyte Z790 AORUS MASTER motherboard appearance
motherboard appearance ornamental
Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER As a high-end Z790, in terms of specifications and stacking materials, AORUSMASTER is naturally not behind. The Z790AORUSMASTER is a standard-sized E-ATX motherboard, which is quite thick and solid overall, and it seems that the configuration is quite luxurious. In terms of appearance,
continues the design of the previous generation. There are a lot of oblique tangents on the cooling armor, and the color matching has changed to the previous iron gray, but has changed to a more textured silver, which has a stronger three-dimensional sense. It can be said to be the best-looking generation since the birth of the AORUSMASTER series. The back of
is designed with a metal back plate. On the one hand, it protects the power supply components on the back, and on the other hand, it connects the power supply components to assist in heat dissipation. At the same time, it also increases the overall integrated look of the motherboard. And everyone knows that the graphics card is becoming more and more like a brick, and the support of the metal back panel can prevent the motherboard from being bent.
Full coverage cooling armor
Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER is called super carving. In terms of configuration, it can be said to be piled up to the extreme, and the VRM cooling module is quite "substitute".
In order to cope with the huge power consumption of the 13th generation flagship processor, this motherboard is equipped with a nano-carbon coating third-generation stacked heat sink fin . The coating material covers the entire fin radiator, with a cooling rate of 10%, and the heat dissipates faster.
and the third generation stacked heat sink fins greatly increase the surface area by filling all available space with extended irregular fins, thus providing strong thermal performance. The surface area of a third-generation stacked heat dissipation fin alone reaches 1678mm², which is equivalent to the area of 2 full-size ATX motherboard PCBs, greatly improving thermal efficiency and heat exchange performance.
After removing the VRM heat dissipation module, you can see that there is a direct touch heat dissipation tube at the bottom, and then use high-efficiency thermal conduction gaskets to assist the DrMos chip in heat dissipation, which has higher heat dissipation efficiency.
In addition, there is also an LCD screen on the VRM cooling module. The lighting effect can be customized through the GCC control software, which is very playable.
Socket-LGA1700 socket
Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER CPU socket is still SocketLGA1700, so this motherboard not only supports the latest Intel 13th generation Core processor, but is also compatible with the old 12th generation Core processor.
DDR5 memory slot
motherboard is equipped with 4 DDR5 memory slots, the slots have metal reinforced armor design, a maximum support for 32GB of single slots, and a maximum support for 128GB of capacity when filled with four slots. Memory overclocking can reach DDR5-8000MHz and above, which is much higher than the previous generation DDR5-6400MHz.
and this generation of motherboards supports Intel's XMP and AMD EXPO dual modes. Users can accelerate the DDR5 memory frequency with one click in the BIOS to improve performance. The actual measured four memory lines of DDR5-6000MHz can run stably.
PCIe slot
As a new generation motherboard, the Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER motherboard has 3 PCIe slots, all of which have metal reinforced designs to improve load-bearing capacity and cope with the trend of high-end graphics cards becoming heavier and heavier. It also comes with a PCI-EEZ-LatchPlus quick disassembly design to easily remove the graphics card.
3 PCIe slot, the first supports PCIe5.0x16 rate, provided by CPU, while the second and third roots are provided by PCH South Bridge, which is PCIe3.0 rate.
M.2 interface
5 set of M.2 slots are all hidden under the thick cooling armor. The first one close to the CPU is the PCIe5.0 rate M.2 slot. In order to cope with the terrifying heat generation of PCIe5.0 solid-state drive , Z790AORUSMASTER equipped it with independent third-generation cooling armor, and this slot has the meaning of "fighting the future" and supports 25110-length solid-state drives.
3rd generation M.2 heat dissipation armor
5 M.2 slots
The other four M.2 slots are PCIe4.0 rates under the heat dissipation armor with a larger area and wider coverage. The above two groups support 22110-length solid-state drives, and the following two groups support the common 2280-length solid-state drives, where slots numbered M2M_SB can also use the SATA interface module.
In addition, Gigabyte also designed EZ-LatchPlus quick loading and unloading design designed for DIY assembly players, so that the M.2 solid-state drive is disassembled and installed without using screws.
SATA and USB extension port
After talking about storage, let’s take a look at the interface configuration. The Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER supports up to 4 front USB2.0, 4 USB3.2Gen1Type-A, and 1 USB3.2Gen2x2Type-C. It is fully calculated and has up to 9 front USB expansion ports.
USB2.0 pin
USB3.2Gen1Type-A and USB3.2Gen2x2Type-C pin
Although few people use SSD of the SATA interface now, the motherboard still provides 4 horizontal SATA interfaces on the lower right side. Supports the construction of RAID0, RAID1, RAID5 and RAID10 arrays.
I/O interface
Under the gorgeous I/O aluminum upper cover, in addition to the adjustment of USB configuration, some materials have also been changed. From left to right, there are the unchanging Q-FlashPlus and CMOS clear buttons that remain unchanged for thousands of years, followed by four USB3.2Gen1 Type-A interfaces (blue), and 7 USB3.2Gen2 Type-A interfaces (red), and 3 USB-C interfaces, two of which are 20Gbps, one is 5Gbps and one DP interface. The rich interfaces can easily meet the connection needs of various devices in daily use by players.
3 Gigabyte Z790 AORUS MASTER motherboard disassembly
motherboard disassembly Appreciation
Remove the metal backboard at the bottom and remove the front heat dissipation armor, you can see the true appearance of this motherboard. It is worth noting that the motherboard is equipped with a reinforced design of 2 ounces of copper and 8-layer PCB. The thickened copper foil has good thermal conductivity, so that the motherboard PCB can also be used as part of the heat dissipation system to assist in heat dissipation, further reducing the temperature of the whole machine.
power supply module
Although the 13th generation Core uses the optimized Intel7 process, the energy consumption is significantly improved compared to before, the flagship processor also has a low requirement for motherboard power supply, so this generation of motherboards has also improved in terms of power supply.
Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER motherboard adopts a 20+1+2 phase power supply design, with 20 phases powering power supply to the CPU core, 1 phase power supply to the VCCGT core display, and 2 phases power supply to the VCCInAUX. The 20-phase core power supply is composed of DrMos + fully enclosed inductor + solid-state capacitor, providing sufficient and stable current supply for the performance release of the 13th generation Core processors.
Each phase core power supply uses Renesas' RAA220105 chip, with a maximum continuous output current of 105A. The PWM master is also Renesas' RAA229131. This master and DrMos are a common power supply chip combination on the Z790 motherboard.
Renesas RAA220105 chip
Renesas RAA229131 main control
1 phase core display power supply is also used for the same RAA220105 chip, while the 2-phase VCCInAUX power supply is ONNCP303160 chip, direct drive design, with a 60A current output capability, and the power supply component is M2940A of MPS.
NCP303160 chip
MPSM2940A chip
In order to provide sufficient power supply to the motherboard, the motherboard is equipped with a 24Pin power supply design, and the CPU power supply is a dual 8Pin interface, which is wrapped with metal armor, which has a good reinforcement effect.
CPU dual 8Pin power supply interface
Motherboard 24Pin power supply interface
PCH South Bridge
M mains board lower right part of the motherboard is Nanqiao's VRM cooling module. After removing the black and heavy heat dissipation module, you can see the PCH chip of the motherboard. This motherboard uses a Z790 chipset, which is mainly responsible for the control of some peripheral interfaces such as I/O interfaces and providing some PCIe channels. Compared with the previous generation, this generation of Z790 chipset has re-planned PCIe channels, supporting up to 20 PCIe4.0 channels and up to 8 PCIe3.0 channels.
Audio and network
and Z790AORUSMASTER generally focus on overclocking, while Z790AORUSMASTER is unique and is particularly outstanding in sound design and network support. The audio circuit of the
motherboard is arranged in an independent PCB interval and uses a RealtekALC1220-VB sound card, which supports 120dBSNR stereo output and 113dBSNR audio input.
Not only that, the motherboard is also equipped with a dedicated WIMA audio capacitor, optimized for high-end audio applications, providing clear and balanced sound to satisfy the most picky enthusiasts.
rear output also has an ESSES9118 integrated DAC chip, which provides better audio output. When playing sound effects, it can subtly present various details of the track, with a dynamic range of up to 127dB. More mature and stable tuning allows the ears to enjoy the auditory feast.
network performance is also an important part of examining motherboard performance. Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER integrated AQtionAQC113C10GbE network chip, 10GbE network port, faster connection speed, meeting various network needs.
In addition, Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER also supports Wi-Fi6E network and Bluetooth 5.3. wireless network card is the latest IntelKiller Wi-Fi6EAX1690. Since the Wi-Fi6E network adopts a special 6GHz frequency band, it can bring network speeds up to 2.4Gbps, with less interference, effectively improving the e-sports experience.
fan and water pump interface
Z790AORUSMASTER has a large number of interfaces in fan water pumps, with a total of as many as 10, namely 1 CPU fan interface, 1 CPU water-cooled fan interface, and 8 chassis fan /water pump interface.
In terms of support for RGB lighting effects, in addition to setting up "AORUS" LOGO lights on the full coverage heat sink, Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER also provides 2 sets of digital (controllable) LED light strip powered sockets and 2 sets of RGBLED light strip sockets, which facilitates players to expand the RGB light strips to improve the appearance of the entire host.
4GCC Control Center BIOS Experience
Featured software - GCC Control Center
and Z790 motherboard also arrive together with the newly designed GCC Gigabyte Control Center. This management platform reintegrates and streamlines APPCenter and related applications, integrating all Gigabyte software into one. The software includes RGBFusion, FANControl and performance control, and also has driver installation and other functions. One GCC can meet the daily control functions of players' computers and seldom occupy system resources.
can realize the overclocking function in the GCC control center. The options are very convenient. You can set the CPU frequency multiplication, external frequency, memory frequency, preset XMP configuration and voltage, etc. It can be said that it is a one-click overclocking that novices can also learn.
play with lights is also one of the essential functions. After all, RGB effectively improves performance by 200%. In the GCC control center, the motherboard, memory, graphics card and other hardware can turn on the light synchronization function, but there is no common rainbow mode in the lighting effect selection, which is a bit regrettable.
motherboard lighting effect settings
memory lighting effect settings
graphics card lighting effect settings
fan speed can also be adjusted in the software. There are 4 gears by default for fan adjustment, namely mute, normal, full speed and manual mode. Setting the threshold can balance the entire machine between cooling efficiency and mute.
graphics card cooling fan can also adjust the curve in the software, which not only ensures the complete release of performance, but also controls fan noise.
If the graphics card you use has an LCD display, it also supports customization in the software. It can be used to display graphics card speed, temperature, occupancy rate and other information, and always pay attention to the hardware status.
finally has the commonly used driver update function, which is simple and convenient to operate.
BIOS Experience
Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER motherboard's BIOS style is similar to before, and is still divided into simple mode (EASYMODE) and advanced mode (ADVANCEDMODE). For beginners, overclocking the memory can be done directly in simple mode.
After pressing F2 to enter advanced mode, the first page contains the basic overclocking functions and common functions, processor frequency multiplication, XMP, voltage-proof, memory frequency multiplication, CSM support, etc.
can overclock the CPU, memory and other hardware on the Tweaker page. In this test, we directly read the memory XMP, set it at DDR5-6000MHz, and the timing is CL36-38-38-80.
This time, the BIOS of the Gigabyte motherboard also updated a very practical function. As we all know, the memory contains SPD information, which records the XMP configuration file. After the user is on the computer, he can overclock to the XMP preset frequency with one click.
Now, when you connect the memory to Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER, you can copy the homework with one click and write the SPD preset by other users into your own memory. You can save up to two SPD configuration files. Simple operation, and you can also have super-performance memory.
You can also see system parameters in the BIOS, such as BIOS version, processor model and memory capacity. This test has upgraded BIOS to the latest 8ARPT003 version.
In addition, in the BIOS settings page, we can also set and adjust the connection speed of LEDs and PCIe, and in I/O, we can set whether the kernel display needs to be automatically turned on, etc.
In addition, Re-SizeBAR is enabled by default in the BIOS of Gigabyte motherboard. In this test, we will also enable the Re-SizeBAR function of the graphics card to perform tests to ensure the complete release of performance.
5 test platform introduction theoretical performance test
test platform introduction
In order to match the top motherboard of Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER, the test platform also uses the current top hardware to match it to achieve strong performance. The
processor is the 13th generation Core i9-13900K. The graphics card uses the current consumer-grade card RTX4090, which is paired with high-frequency and low-time DDR5 memory. The four pieces are plugged in a total of 64GB. Let’s take a look at how this configuration performs on the Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER motherboard.
Theoretical Performance Test
After assembling the top-level equipment, let’s first see what surprises the 13th generation Core can bring to us. According to convention, we first ran the 3DMark test. After actual testing, the overall performance increased by about 20% compared with the previous i9-12900K. In the FireStrike test, all the CPU frequency exceeded 5w mark. During the CPUPROFILE test, the maximum CPU frequency reached 5.8Ghz, the maximum thread score was 16,500, 8 thread scored 8,630, and a single thread scored 1213. This score is already comparable to the 7950X next door. After
13 generation Core added P-Core and E-Core, the multi-threading performance has been greatly improved. In the multi-core test of CPU-Z, the i9-13900K scored a high score of 17010. Compared with i9-12900K, the multi-core performance has increased by 50%. However, the increase in the number of cores also brings considerable power consumption. When testing CPU stability, the i9-13900K requires 274W of power consumption to increase the multi-core score to above 17000 points.
AIDA64 test
13 generation Core supports higher memory bandwidth and can also have lower memory latency. We used AIDA64 for testing, and tested DDR5-6000MHz, with 16G memory with timing of CL36-38-38-80 to form a dual-channel 64G. The reading, writing and copying speeds are 91187MB/s, 89839MB/s and 90404MB/s respectively, which is slightly improved compared to the 12th generation.
, thanks to the 13th generation Core increasing the total amount of L2 cache from 14MB to 32MB, and the total amount of L3 cache from 30MB to 36MB. The I9-13900K has nearly doubled performance improvement compared to the previous generation in the L2 and L3 tests.
As for the processor's computing power, the i9-13900K is far ahead. When paired with the stronger DDR5 memory, the computing power is super strong, and the overall performance is as much as 45% higher than the i9-12900K.
6 Creative Game Performance Test
Content Creative Ability Test
Content Creative Ability Test Here we are divided into three parts. One is the PCMARK10 test, which simulates the comprehensive performance of daily office software OFFICE, PS, PR, and game performance. The other is a simulation test for productivity application software represented by PugetBench and ULProcyon, and finally, a render-based creation software test such as V-Ray and Blender.
In the PCMark10 test, the i9-13900K scored 14666, which was a 5% performance improvement compared to the previous generation. It scored 20777 in digital content creation, and compared to the previous generation's 17726 points, the performance improvement was as high as more than 17%.
. In the creative productivity software mainly based on Adobe, i9-13900K has also seen a huge increase in content creation performance with its strong performance of 24 cores and 32 threads, which has a performance improvement of 14-33% compared to i9-12900K.
Professional architectural design users often use rendering software such as V-Ray or Blender. Many poor performance machines take more than ten hours or even longer to render pictures. As the saying goes, time is money. If you want to improve rendering efficiency, you must not miss the i9-13900K. Under the same configuration, the performance of the i9-13900K is nearly 50% higher than the previous generation.
080P game performance test
has tested the theoretical performance and productivity. Most users are most concerned about the gaming performance of the 13th generation Core. We have selected many popular 3A masterpieces for testing. In order to better play the performance of the CPU, the game resolution is set at 1080P, and the picture quality is the highest picture quality of the game, and vertical synchronization is turned off.
Through the test results, we can see that the i9-13900K is paired with a powerful RTX4090 graphics card, which kills 99.9% of the games on the market with 1080P image quality. In actual test "F122", after turning on ray tracing and DLSS, the frame rate exceeded 200FPS. For other 3A masterpieces such as "Horizon 5" and "Cyberpunk 2077", the i9-13900K also has a 13% increase compared to the previous generation.
In addition, for e-sports online games like "CS:GO", the powerful CPU performance of i9-13900K directly breaks through 900FPS, and thousands of frames of the game are just around the corner.
7FPU Single Baking Summary
FPU Single Baking Test
Finally, FPU Baking Machine. At room temperature 24 degrees, use AIDA64 software to perform StressFPU stability test, which can consider the CPU performance release effect and the stability of the power supply module.
i9-13900K was stabilized at 280.22W power consumption after baking alone for 25 minutes. The P cores are all above 5GHz, and the E cores are also maintained above 4.25GHz. At this time, the CPU voltage is 1.26V and the temperature is 100 degrees. During the test, the 360 integrated water-cooled radiator has been used. I would like to remind everyone that if you want to play the i9-13900K flagship processor, you must do enough heat dissipation.
checks the sensor temperature read by the monitoring software. At this time, the temperature of the PCH south bridge on the motherboard is 34 degrees, the temperature of the PCIe slot is 32 degrees, and the temperature of the VRMMOS of the power supply module is 44 degrees. Overall, the motherboard temperature control is good.
evaluation summary
12 generation Core was launched, which can be said to have squeezed toothpaste. As the successor of the 12th generation, the 13th generation continued to develop the x86 high-performance hybrid architecture, with a single-threaded performance improvement of up to 15%, and a multi-threaded performance improvement of up to 41%. The flagship i9-13900K's highest turbo frequency is even as high as 5.8GHz, which is 100MHz higher than the Ryzen97950X of Su Ma's next door. It easily surpasses AMD and ends the CPU performance throne that AMD has been sitting in less than a month.
If you want to play the flagship performance of the i9-13900K, the motherboard power supply is a big challenge. The Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER motherboard reviewed today is quite rapid in power supply specifications, with a 20-phase core power supply, and a super DrMos of 105A, providing surging current to the CPU, which also confirms this in actual measurement. The i9-13900K performed well on the Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER motherboard. The turbo frequency of 5.8GHz has not yet reached the end of this generation. With the strong heat dissipation and power supply of this motherboard, 6GHz is just around the corner.
In addition, the E-ATX large board model also provides the basis for the upgrade of this generation of Gigabyte Z790AORUSMASTER motherboard, 5 M.2 hard disks, full-speed USB3.2 Type-A interface, PCIe 5.0 channel, and Wi-Fi6E wireless support. It is much stronger than the previous generation in terms of expansion, and many hardware specifications are quite "fighting the future".
In general, if you buy i9-13900K, if you are just a shortage of a large plate with a luxurious material or a host platform with excellent performance release, compared to the Z790 super flagship that costs 7,000 or 8,000 or 10,000 yuan, Gigabyte Z790 AORUSMASTER can indeed consider it.
