Review on 🎮 ROG Strix Z590-I Gaming WiFi 6E LGA 1200: Mini-ITX Gaming Motherboard with Thunderbolt 4, PCIe 4.0, and 2X M.2 Slots by Matt Reid

Dunno how to rate this board. In some respects I really like him, in others I would like to deduct a few stars. First of all, the first one I received had a defective RAM slot. Every time I put RAM in this slow module (closest to the CPU) the board didn't post. I ordered a replacement through Revain which came in about a week but the issue was resolved. I don't use a defective board in my evaluation as this can happen with any board and it may even happen that I have an uneven CPU set. I used it to build an I9-9900K system with a Noctua NH-U9S cooler. The cooler fits on this board and the fan shroud barely touches the first stick of RAM, but that's not a problem. So let's get to the board. I like the layout of the ports for all the devices. I've used other boards with some poorly spaced slots, but all the slots on this board are well spaced. I like using a dual stack for two M.2 drives, it's a good way to make good use of the space. The stack is a little finicky at first, but if you're just fitting an M.2 drive in the top slot, it's not too bad. This board comes with a handy little adapter that allows you to plug in any front panel connectors. to the adapter, as long as you can hold it and read the labels, then you just plug this little adapter into the board. I wish every motherboard had this, and I think it solved one of the toughest problems I've had building a PC. I had a gigabyte board with it 10 years ago but haven't seen it on the board since. Asus has to sell this small adapter separately, since basically all front panel connections are standardized. My biggest criticism of this board on the hardware side is the USB ports on the back. You get one of "all kinds" (except USB 2.0 which you get 4) as well as a Thunderbolt. So variety is good, but I wish there were more USB 3.x Type A ports - there are only USB 3.0/3.1 (5Gbps) and USB 3.2 (10Gbps) for Type A ports. You also get two Type-A C ports: one is 3.2 Gen 2 (20Gb/s) and the other is Thunderbolt. Network port 2.5G. That's why I find the back wall a bit sparse. If you intend to use this to build a Windows computer, you should wait and see if this support improves (maybe with Windows 11?). This board makes me feel like I'm going back to the old PC build days when the first thing you had to do when installing windows was download and install all the drivers. The network port on this card is not supported by the standard Windows installation (if you go to the Windows installation (21H1) it will not see a network). This is good if you want to avoid having to sign into a Microsoft account as it's easy to just create a local account. But it's been a very long time since I installed Windows and the network wasn't immediately detected. After installing Windows, a popup appears saying the network drivers are being loaded, so they must be somewhere on the board, in the BIOS or something. You don't need to install anything - just click to download and they'll be installed (along with Asus Utility software). However, Asus did not automatically install some of the newer hardware drivers and I had to go to other manufacturers' websites to find them. For the past few years my experience has been to install windows and forget about finding and installing drivers, but this board is going back to the old ways. My other problem with Windows is sound and I've seen other people have similar problems with this or similar boards. I was using HDMI audio and when I ran the audio test, the sounds were delayed, the beginning was cut off and/or there were pops. I use the same video cable and monitor with all my other systems and I don't have this problem. Both the first board I had with a bad RAM slot and the replacement show this behavior. I hope this is just a BIOS/driver fix, but I've updated everything I could find and it didn't fix it. I had the exact same issue with a Dell 7710 laptop 5 years ago and an update finally fixed it so I'm hoping that gets fixed. My main use for this board is building a Plex server running Linux. After initially testing Windows, I gave up Windows in favor of Linux. I installed Debian and the install went fine, unlike some other boards I've used lately that didn't detect the network. Ironically, Linux supports this NIC by default while Windows doesn't, but other newer boards have Windows networking support but no built-in Linux support. In any case, Debian doesn't seem to natively support Intel's onboard graphics acceleration, which I need for Plex hardware transcoding (this isn't the board's fault, it's something Debian built into their distribution). I installed Ubuntu 21.04 and it installed without any problems and immediately gives me the Intel graphics support I need. I have to say that I haven't tested all USB and Thunderbolt functionality on Linux, so I can't report if all of these ports work properly on Linux. For me the board does what I need and I enjoyed building it. System - this was one of the easiest builds I've ever done (except I had to rebuild it due to a bad RAM slot). The reference guide is excellent and the board is made with quality components and you feel like you're getting your money's worth. PROS: * High build quality * Great internal connector layout * Has a Thunderbolt 3 connector * Has all the different USB connectors (2.0, 3.0, 3.2, etc.) * Comes with a handy front panel connector adapter * Good documentation * Convenient use Space with M.2 layer design, better than M.2 at the bottom of the board * All these features in Mini-ITX - AmazingCONS * Poor Windows driver support * HDMI audio output issues * No built-in Windows 21H1 Network support for initial installation * Not as many high-speed USB Type-A ports on the back, but 4 USB 2.0 * A bit pricey