Question 1

This supports 9th gen cpus too, right? Do I need a bios update?

Accepted Answer

Wrong! This motherboard required a BIOS update before it worked with a 9900K.

Question 2

I see a fellow owner in the reviews has managed to get  a Noctua NH-D15 to fit. How so? I bought the Chromax version and it blocks the first x16 slot. Also tried to use an NH-u14s and still blocks the x16 slot.  Very frustrating and poor pcie layout by Asus.

Accepted Answer

You have to get the offset version of the D15. If you go to the fit guide on the Noctua site, it will tell you that.

Question 3

I'm confused about the 6-pin EATX12V_3 connection called out on page 1-20 of the manual.  This is for supplemental power to the PCI-E slots and it's keyed like a regular 6-pin PCI-E power supply connector but, according to the manual, the ground and +12V wires are reversed just like a typical 4-pin or 8-pin EPS connection.  I'm guessing this is for a standard PCI-E power connector and that the manual is incorrect.  I'm 90% sure this is the case but I'd hate to plug in a cable and fry the motherboard if I'm wrong.  Either that or this is using some highly unusual connector that doesn't come on any Power supply I've looked at and I can't find any molex adapters to that connection either and it doesn't look like this adapter comes with the motherboard either.  Can anybody confirm which is correct?

Accepted Answer

My power supply had 8-pin and 6-pin 12V connectors. I plugged the 8-pin into EATX12V_1 and the 6-pin into EATX12V_3 and everything is fine. The 6-pin EATX12V_3 connector on the motherboard is exactly the same as 6-pin connectors on high-power graphics cards. Any adapter suitable for graphics cards should work. The connectors are keyed, making it impossible to plug the wrong plugs into these sockets.

Question 4

The picture states the HDMI port  on the back is HDMI 1.4, but the specs on Asus' website state it's HDMI 2.0.  Please verify and update or correct?

Accepted Answer

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us in regards to your question.

The best way to confirm specs is actually by checking the manufacturer's website (that's where we get them). With many of our products you can click on the "Warranty & Returns" tab and you will find the Manufacturer's contact info, including the manufacturer's website.

Thank you, 
Newegg Support

Question 5

This is a really niche question, but if I wanted to run a pair of SLI'd GPUs for certain tasks and a third, separate and stronger GPU for other tasks simultaneously, would I connect the two SLI cards in slots 1 and 2 and the third in slot 3? Or would I connect the SLI cards in slots 1 and 3 and connect the third card in slot 4?

Accepted Answer

For running a pair of SLI GPUs and a third separate GPU, you would connect the SLI cards in slots 1 and 2 and the third card in slot 3. This configuration will allow the SLI cards to work together while the third card operates independently.

Question 6

In order to make use of the x8x8x8x8 PCI lanes, what CPU would be recommended?

Accepted Answer

Hello JOE DOWNING,

Thank you for contacting us in regards to your question.

I would highly recommend going with an i7 or i9 CPU.

Thank you, 
Newegg Support

Question 7

Will the PLX help if I want to run 1 GPU + 1 or more SSDs on the CPU lanes?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely. But note that like the other Z390 board with the same 8747 switch, the Supermicro C9Z390-PGW, since the four slots  connect to a 32 lane upstream switch, they can run x16/x16 or x16/x8/x8 or x8/x8/x8/x8 on the four PCIE x16 slots, and not full x16 across all four cpu connected lanes, but still much better than without the switch.

You still have the pcie 3.0 x4 connected to the PCH too. Also note that one of the M2 slots, if populated, sacrifices a pair of SATA ports. The other M2 slot is ok and won't sacrifice SATA ports if you use pcie/nvme M2

Questions & Answers