Gigabyte's $209 Z890M board adds full heatsinks to a white Micro ATX design

Gigabyte has listed the Z890M Aorus Elite WiFi7 Ice on Amazon for $209. The Micro ATX motherboard targets Intel Core Ultra 200S Plus processors and aims to replicate the feature set of larger ATX models in a compact white chassis. The board is currently available for purchase and has begun appearing on retail test benches.

Storage and connectivity options include three M.2 sockets and four SATA ports. The primary M.2 slot connects directly to the CPU at PCIe 5.0 x4 speeds, while the remaining two connect through the chipset at PCIe 4.0 x4. One of the chipset-fed slots accepts modules up to 110mm in length. The board supports RAID configurations for NVMe drives. Networking features include 2.5 GbE Ethernet and Wi-Fi 7, although the wireless chip is limited to 160 MHz channels.

Power delivery consists of 15 phases, with 12 dedicated to the Vcore. These are fed by dual 8-pin EPS connectors and utilize 60A DrMOS parts for a total capacity of 720A. This setup supports the Core Ultra 9 285K, Core Ultra 7 270K Plus, and Core Ultra 5 250K Plus. Reviewers noted that heavy overclocking on the top two chips requires careful airflow management. Memory support extends to DDR5-9200 overclocked, though testing found that a DDR5-8800 kit failed while a DDR5-8200 kit operated without issues.

The design prioritizes thermal management with full heatsink coverage on the lower half of the board, a feature often omitted by competitors in this price range. A large heatsink covers the primary M.2 socket. Two RGB zones are located near the VRMs and under the chipset heatsink. Six 4-pin fan headers provide up to 2A or 24W each. The audio solution uses the Realtek ALC897 codec, which is considered adequate for general use but not for professional audio production.

Rear I/O includes nine USB ports: four USB 2.0, four USB 3.2 Gen 1, and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A. A single USB4 port operating at 40 Gbps provides the only Type-C connection, alongside a DisplayPort 2.1 output. A front-panel HDMI port is also available for secondary displays. The board includes two full-length PCIe slots, with the primary reinforced slot running at PCIe 5.0 x16. The secondary chipset-fed slot runs at up to PCIe 4.0 x4, though large graphics cards may physically block it.

Performance testing described the board as average, with strong results in 3DMark and real-world gaming scenarios. The package includes two white SATA cables, a rubber pad, an extra M.2 thermal pad, an EZ front panel connector, and an installation guide. Tool-free mounting features for M.2 drives and front panel headers are included. The board is compatible with AI Perfdrive, a feature that offers customizable BIOS presets for CPU performance tuning.