Closer Look
ASRock Z790 PG-ITX/TB4 motherboard arrived in a retail package which is well described as all ASRock motherboards. The box is quite small but thick, like most packages of high-end ITX motherboards.
Inside the box are a motherboard, user’s manual, SATA data cables, cable stripes, M.2 screws, a WiFi antenna, a set of SSD thermal pads, and a keycap. It’s everything we may need for the installation, and even some more.
The motherboard has a slightly refreshed design, but it’s still kept in the dark colors with dominating black. I like the fact there are no tall heatsinks or additional fans as the motherboard is perfect for SFF PC, and we are free to use pretty much every cooler. There can still be limitations if we decide on the largest coolers, so I recommend checking compatibility before the purchase.
Below is our unpacking video, which tells more than photos, so enjoy.
The motherboard supports all the latest standards, including PCIe 5.0 (not available for M.2 sockets), Thunderbolt 4, DDR5 RAM up to 7000MT/s+, fast USB 3.2 ports with charging support, and what most important for most users, we can install highest Intel Core i9 processors that will be fully compatible as this tiny motherboard also has a strong power design.
The motherboard has a 10+1+1 power phase design with 105A phases, so it’s the best we can get on such a small motherboard.
The Z790 PG-ITX/TB4 has a pre-installed IO shield. It’s already a standard in higher gaming series motherboards. On the back, we will find eight USB ports, from which two are USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 and support fast charging. There are also audio ports, WiFi antenna connectors, HDMI and DP ports for the integrated graphics, and a 2.5GbE LAN port.
I’m glad that ASRock decided to use premium audio components with the latest ALC4082 codec. Most competitive motherboards have older codecs from the ALC1200 series or older, which is quite strange on new and very expensive motherboards.
With the latest BIOS, we can count that the Z790 PG-ITX/TB4 will support up to 96GB RAM in two 48GB memory modules. However, we can’t test that as we don’t have the new 24GB and 48GB modules. Hopefully, samples will start appearing soon.
One more great feature is ASRock’s BIOS/UEFI, which I will describe on this review’s next page.
