Introduction

After almost a decade of total market dominance, Intel has spent the past few years on the defensive. AMD's Ryzen processors continue to show improvement year over year, with the most recent Ryzen 5000 series taking the crown of best gaming processor: Intel's last bastion of superiority.

Now, with a booming hardware market, Intel is preparing to retake some of that lost ground with the new 11th Gen Core Processors. Intel is claiming these new 11th Gen CPUs offer double-digit IPC improvements despite remaining on a 14 nm process. The top-end 8-core Intel Core i9-11900K may not be able to compete against its AMD rival Ryzen 9 5900X in heavily multi-threaded scenarios, but the higher clock speeds and alleged IPC improvements could be enough to take back the gaming crown. Along with the new CPUs, there is a new chipset to match, the Intel Z590. Last year's Z490 chipset motherboards are also compatible with the new 11th Gen Core Processors, but Z590 brings some key advantages.

First, Z590 offers native PCIe 4.0 support from the CPU, which means the PCIe and M.2 slots powered off the CPU will offer PCIe 4.0 connectivity when an 11th Gen CPU is installed. The PCIe and M.2 slots controlled by the Z590 chipset are still PCI 3.0. While many high-end Z490 motherboards advertised this capability, it was not a standard feature for the platform. In addition to PCIe 4.0 support, Z590 offers USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 from the chipset. The USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 standard offers speeds of up to 20 Gb/s. Finally, Z590 boasts native support for 3200 MHz DDR4 memory. With these upgrades, Intel's Z series platform has feature parity with AMD's B550. On paper, Intel is catching up to AMD, but only testing will tell if these new Z590 motherboards are up to the challenge.



The Vision line from Gigabyte is targeted at content creators with a focus on connectivity, performance, and durability. The Gigabyte Z590 Vision G features a direct 13-phase VRM for clean power delivery. An ample helping of USB ports as well as 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet and four M.2 slots promote superior connectivity while the white aesthetic lends visual flare. Let's see how the Gigabyte Z590 Vision G stacks up against the competition.

Specifications

Packaging and Contents

The front of the Gigabyte Z590 Vision G box features a white background with a gold pattern. "Z590 Vision G" is printed in white, with the brand badging on the right.

The back of the box has all the highlights: a top-down shot of the board, several panels detailing prominent features, a shot of the rear I/O, and the specifications list. The box design is well executed and matches the board perfectly.


The accessories are standard-fare; the full list of accessories includes:

• Manual and support DVD
• 4x SATA 6 Gb/s cables
• Noise detection cable
• 4x M.2 mounting hardware

Board Layout

The Z590 Vision G features a black PCB with black and silver heatsinks and white shrouds.


The CPU socket is open enough for most air coolers. The VRM features a finned heatsink design to maximize the surface area.


There are four M.2 slots on the Gigabyte Z590 Vision G. All four slots feature full-coverage heatsinks. Note that the top M.2 slot is PCIe 4.0 compliant and will only function when an 11th Gen CPU is installed.


The Gigabyte Z590 Vision G offers three steel-reinforced PCI Express x16 slots. The top slot is PCIe 4.0 compliant, while the bottom slots is PCIe 3.0 only. The board has a total of six SATA 6 Gb/s ports on the side, angled 90 degrees from the board.


The Gigabyte Z590 Vision G has a fair I/O offering, the full list includes:

• 2x USB 2.0/1.1 ports
• PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
• 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports
• DisplayPort In port
• HDMI port
• 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports
• USB Type-C® port, with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2
• USB Type-C® port, with USB 3.2 Gen 1
• RJ-45 port
• 6x Audio jacks

Networking on the Gigabyte Z590 Vision G is handled by an Intel 2.5 Gb/s controller.