Verdict and Conclusion
All said and done, the ASRock Z790 PG SONIC motherboard offers similar performance to ASRock’s other Z790 motherboards. The only difference of course is its unique looking heatsinks with Sonic the Hedgehog design and the unique hologram showing the iconic golden ring on the I/O hood. It’s perfect for any system builder, modder and of course Sonic the Hedgehog lovers.
Other features include the 14 + 1 + 1 power phase design with Smart Power Stage (SPS), Polychrome Sync, auto driver installer, 7.1 HD Nahimic audio, Dr. MOS, 2oz copper PCB, and ASRock’s Polychrome Sync.
You also get 1 x PCIE 5.0 x16 slot supporting all the latest next-gen graphics card and features surface mount technology, which gives it better strength and stability. While the 4 x DDR5 DIMM slots can now support memory speeds of up to DDR5-7200+ OC, with a total capacity of up to 192GB (with the latest BIOS update).
The motherboard also comes with the Killer E3100G 2.5G LAN but sadly no WiFi 6. For that you’ll need to get the optional M.2 Wifi add-on module supporting WiFi 6E. For storage, you get a total of 8 x SATA ports, 1 x Blazing M.2 (PCIe Gen5x4), and 4 x Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4x4) slots, which is more than enough for most users.
During our tests, we used an Intel 13th Gen Core i9-13900K processor, along with 32GB of Patriot Viper Gaming DDR5-6200 ram and a GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card. We managed to get some pretty decent scores in all of our benchmarks, including a Cinebench R23 scores of 34,360 (multi core) and 2,250 (single core). For PCMark 10, we got a score of 9,828, and a score of 11,971 for PassMark9.
For UL’s Procyon Photo Editing Benchmark, we got a score of 9,996 and 9,235 for the video editing suite. For 3DMark Speed Way and Port Royal, we got a score of 5,233 and 12,838 respectively. And finally, for Timespy and Firestrike, we got decent scores of 19,397 and 39,320 respectively.
The only thing lacking with this motherboard is onboard WiFi. I think ASRock really should have included it. Other than that, it’s a pretty decent performing motherboard with great aesthetics with Sonic the Hedgehog design and will be much loved by any Sonic fans out there.
You can buy the the ASRock Z790 PG SONIC motherboard for around USD $295 (reduced) from Amazon – https://amzn.to/3WnhAOs
Pros:
- Sonic the Hedgehog design
- Very good performance
- Intel Z790 chipset
- Supports Intel 13th Gen / 12th Gen processors
- Supports PCIE 5.0 x16 for GPU
- Supports DDR-7200+ O.C.
- Support for PCIE Gen5x4 SSDs
- Killer E3100G 2.5G LAN
Cons:
- No WiFi 6e support
Final Words:
If you don’t like Sonic the Hedgehog, then look away. This motherboard is not for you. But for all you Sonic fans out there, the ASRock Z790 PG SONIC is an amazing looking motherboard that offers decent performance and features. It looks stunning with its unique design, and is perfect for system builders, modders and gamers who love Sonic the Hedgehog.
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