Review : ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming Wifi D4

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ROG Strix Z790-A D4:

The bundle of this Z790-A D4:

A little tour through the bundle of this ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming Wifi D4 to see if it benefits from “special items”. Overall, we find a fairly standard bundle with the traditional SATA cables, the Wi-Fi antenna, stickers, the motherboard manual, the various screws, etc.

The only goodies that stand out from the crowd is a black and white ROG key ring. It’s a logical bundle and quite comparable to what we’ll find in the competition and in the same price range.

Architecture:

This ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming Wifi D4 is architected around the new Z790 chipset, which is an evolution of the Z690 and will notably retain the LGA-1700 socket. This is good news because this Z790-A will be backward compatible. It will therefore be able to accommodate 12th generation Intel processors. Conversely, the Z690-A will be compatible with future 13th generation processors.

The Z790 chipset obviously supports PCIe 5.0, although no components are currently compatible with this standard. The first SSDs should arrive soon. Intel will still keep DDR4 support on this chipset but certainly for the last time. The final migration to DDR5 is planned for the next generation (2024).

The different heat sinks:

The dimensions of the board are 305 mm x 244 mm, which corresponds to the ATX format. The dominant colors on the PCB are grey and white. The design is easily identifiable since it uses the usual codes of the brand on this series. It also has an air of resemblance with the Strix Z690-A D4 of the previous generation.

Let’s start the owner’s tour with the radiators, of which there are three!
First of all, the two radiators located on the top of the motherboard and which cover the power supply stage. These two radiators are independent and are not connected together by a heat pipe. The plastic cover, with a very very light RGB backlight. We are here on a completely passive system.

The third covers the chipset and has a large surface but low height to allow easy placement of graphics cards. We find a series of small ROG logo and the name of the Strix series.

No less than 4 SSD slots:

Three gray aluminum plates whose cutouts perfectly match the one on the chipset, covers the four M.2 type SSD slots on the PCB. This gives you a very large storage area. All four slots are wired in PCIe Gen4.

Only the first SSD has a thermal pad to optimize dissipation on both sides. Do not forget to remove the protective plastic film before installing your SSD. Asus offers on this model the “Q-Latch” quick release. No more need to fix a screw, you just have to rotate the latch to lock the SSD.

The socket and PCIe :

The space around the socket is pretty clear and it comes with LGA-1200 and LGA-1700 mounting holes. This ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming Wifi D4 can accommodate a maximum of four DDR4 memory sticks. It supports dual channel memory kits up to 5333 MHz (OC) and a maximum of 128 GB.

There is a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, two PCIe x16 4.0 and a PCIe x1 3.0. To power all this little world, the card has a 24-pin connector and two 8-pin located next to the power stages.

You will also have noticed a button called Q-Release. When a card is plugged into the first PCIe slot , pressing this button opens the retention system and releases your graphics card. Simple and effective.