Board Layout

The ASUS TUF Z390-Pro Gaming has a black PCB with extensive printing on it. Three gray digital cameo sections are printed diagonally over the board, with yellow accents thrown in for contrast. The rear I/O shield and chipset shield are a gray plastic with white lettering and yellow accents—the ASUS TUF Z390-Pro Gaming is a quintessential TUF Gaming design.

The back of the board, despite going unseen in the majority of builds, is also masterfully printed with lines of gray digital cameo over the gloss black PCB. I like the attention to detail ASUS has put into this design.


The CPU socket is open enough to accommodate most coolers, and the brushed black VRM heatsink looks quite capable.


There are two M.2 sockets on the ASUS TUF Z390-Pro Gaming: one just beneath the CPU socket and another right below the chipset shield. The second socket has an aluminium heatsink with a printed digital cameo pattern that accents the board very well.


The ASUS TUF Z390-Pro Gaming has three PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, with the first steel-armored to help support a heavy GPU, as well as three PCI Express 3.0 x1 slots. There are six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, of which four are at the bottom of the board and two are angled 90 degrees and placed within a cutout along the side to add clearance for cable management. The cutout is a pretty ingenious addition and adds a bit of visual flair as well as functionality.


The rear I/O on the ASUS TUF Z390-Pro Gaming is mostly standard, if a bit sparse. A Type-C port is sorely missed, although there are two USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A ports. Also absent are wireless antennas—this is the first Z390 board I have looked at with no native Wi-Fi support.

• 1x HDMI port
• 1x DisplayPort 1.2
• 1x PS/2 keyboard and mouse combo connector
• 4x USB 3.1 Gen1 Type-A ports
• 2x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A ports
• 1x RJ-45 LAN ports
• 1x Optical SPDIF out port
• 5x 3.5 mm audio jacks

Networking on the ASUS TUF Z390-Pro Gaming is handled by an Intel I219V.