Gigabyte Lists White Micro ATX Z890M Board at $209

Gigabyte has placed its Z890M Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice motherboard on the market with a list price of $209. The Micro ATX board is designed for Intel processors and carries over most features from the full-size ATX variant into a smaller form factor. It is currently available on Amazon.

The board is tuned for Intel's Core Ultra 200S Plus processors. It includes three M.2 sockets and four SATA ports for storage. Networking features consist of 2.5 GbE Ethernet and Wi-Fi 7, although the wireless chip is limited to 160 MHz channels. Audio is handled by a Realtek ALC897 codec.

Heatsink coverage distinguishes this model from many rivals in the budget class. The design covers the lower half of the board and uses a large heatsink on the primary M.2 socket. Two RGB lighting zones are included, one near the voltage regulation modules and one under the chipset heatsink. Six 4-pin fan headers provide up to 2A or 24W each.

The primary M.2 socket connects via the CPU at PCIe 5.0 x4 speeds. The other two sockets connect through the chipset at PCIe 4.0 x4, with one accepting modules up to 110mm. RAID0, 1, 5, and 10 are supported for NVMe drives. The board has two full-length PCIe slots: a reinforced CPU-fed slot at PCIe 5.0 x16 and a chipset-fed slot at up to PCIe 4.0 x4.

Power delivery features 15 phases, with 12 dedicated to the core voltage. It uses dual 8-pin EPS connectors and 60A DrMOS parts, totaling 720A. This configuration supports the Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, Core Ultra 5 250K Plus, and Core Ultra 9 285K. The review advises caution with heavy overclocking on the higher-end chips and recommends good case airflow.

Memory support is rated up to DDR5-9200 in overclocking mode. Testing showed that a kit rated DDR5-8800 did not work properly, while a DDR5-8200 kit ran without issues. The reviewer recommends using the memory QVL for best results. Rear I/O includes nine USB ports and a single USB4 Type-C port at 40 Gbps.

In performance tests, the board performed well in 3DMark and real games. It supports AI Perfdrive, which offers customizable BIOS presets for one-click CPU improvements. The box includes two white SATA cables, a rubber pad, an extra M.2 thermal pad, an EZ front-panel connector, and an installation guide.

Gigabyte markets the board's appearance as its primary strength for white-themed builds. The compact design targets users who want full-size features in a smaller case. The $209 price point positions it as a budget option with comprehensive thermal management.