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This EVGA Z390 Dark motherboard puts its RAM slots parallel with the top of your chassis

By Koh Wanzi - on 14 Jan 2019, 4:16pm

This EVGA Z390 Dark motherboard puts its RAM slots parallel with the top of your chassis

Image Source: EVGA

EVGA has announced the Z390 Dark, a brand new E-ATX motherboard armed to the teeth with features for overclockers and enthusiasts. 

The company is going after professional overclockers with the Z390 Dark, which may be why it saw fit to do away with two DIMM slots. Instead, the board will only support up to 32GB of dual-channel DDR4 memory.

That said, the DIMM slots are also one of the most distinctive features of the board. They don't run parallel to the board's right edge, as they normally do. EVGA rotated the CPU socket 90 degrees anti-clockwise, thus making room for the memory slots up top. The space on the right that is normally occupied by the DIMM slots is now taken up by a collection of overclocking-oriented switches, including a triple BIOS select switch, a Slow Mode switch, and switches to disable individual PCIe slots during troubleshooting. 

The board is also equipped with a massive 17-phase VRM, which is in turn cooled by a large heatsink. In addition, EVGA is boasting a 10-layer PCB with a gold-plated shielding edge that supposedly improves stability during heavy loads and high overclocks. 

At the top, you'll find ProbeIT connectors for attaching a digital multimeter and monitoring your voltages in real-time. 

There's a good selection of storage expansion options as well, including two M.2 sockets (there's a third Key-E slot also), eight SATA 6Gbps connectors, and one U.2 port. 

Image Source: EVGA

Another thing you'll notice is the right-angled power connectors, where the 24-pin and both 8-pin CPU headers run parallel with the motherboard. The same applies to the fan and USB 3.1 (Gen 1) headers, which should make cable management slightly easier. 

The debug LEDs at the top right of the board can also be configured to display useful information such as temperature or voltages. 

EVGA hasn't skimped on network connectivity options either, and the Z390 Dark has dual Intel Gigabit LAN ports that support teaming and 802.11ac Wi-Fi that's provided by an Intel Wireless-AC 9560 chip.

The Z390 Dark is available to buy now at US$499 on EVGA's website

Source: EVGA

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