# EVGA Z390 Dark Overview / Overclocking Guide



## ITAngel

Very nice! Thanks!


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## bluedevil

Great guide buddy! :thumb: Would love to get my hands on this monster.


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## Hydroplane

Nice board but way, way too expensive for what it is. The EVGA X299 Dark is less than $300 right now, for comparison.


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## tatmMRKIV

Jedson3614 said:


> *VCore Vdroop (LLC):* Vdroop allows your voltage levels to drop while under load conditions. Depending on your overclock this can be bad because it can lead to instability. I recommend
> "-25% - Less droop" because it allows a good balance of target voltage (VCore) and temperatures. While under load it will only drop a small amount and help keep healthy voltage levels. I normally set my VCore a little higher than what the CPU is stable at so that the drop in voltage can stay within stable parameters. In my case, my 9900K is stable at 4.8GHz around 1.265V. I set 1.28V on VCore so that even a small drop stays around or above 1.26V.
> 
> *VSA (System Agent):* This is important because it handles the IO between the CPU and other domains. For overclocking, this can help stabilize higher memory frequencies. I want to point out, 1.2 is a good starting point for a 3600MHz kit. If possible, do not go outside of 1.35V as a maximum.
> 
> •*DDR4 frequency range:* DDR4-2133 - DDR4-2800 | *Required CPU VCCIO Voltage range:* 1.05V - 1.15V | *Required CPU System Agent Voltage range:* 1.05V - 1.15V
> •*DDR4 frequency range:* DDR4-2800 - DDR4-3600 | *Required CPU VCCIO Voltage range:* 1.10V - 1.25V | *Required CPU System Agent Voltage range:* 1.10V - 1.30V
> •*DDR4 frequency range:* DDR4-3600 - DDR4-4266 | *Required CPU VCCIO Voltage range:* 1.15V - 1.30V | *Required CPU System Agent Voltage range:* 1.20V - 1.35V
> 
> 
> 
> “A1 or older style like lower freq and tight timings”.
> 
> The way the board is laid out helps with the cooling process because air will move over the top of the power connectors, memory, CPU, and rear panel heatsink.
> 
> 
> .




IMPORTANT NOTE: EVGA e-leet is the only way to monitor voltages everything else does VID

Id say to throw cinebench r15 and geekbench in there, as well as XTU(since evga themselves said thats what you should test stability on on this board)
cinebench is really a really good quick test that will help you chasedown the vcore you need.
geekbench3 modded to 64bit is also very good.
I find if you can't pass these you won't be long term stable. if you can you almost definitely will be.. also they take alot less time then you can try your long benches

And I dont know why anyone recommends P95 its hitter than every other test and I can't see anyone outside of editing and hardcore computing that would run into those situations... I mean you can get an additional multi usually if you ignore prime95... it doesn't make you more stable... if anything it degrades your IMC on this Gen because they arent supposed to be exposed to extreme heat



VCCSA and vccio were 1.4vdmm and 1.42vdmm for trident royale 4600


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## wwxww

IMHO, this board is not the best Z390 board out there. I have lived with this board for about a month, now. It is much more show than go. Do not believe the hype. This board will not improve your scores or overclocking. My scores went lower on this board and was not able to clock what my other board was able to clock at. Your Pro's for this board are Unique layout, which if you are using a PC case, may find it very difficult to work around the 90 degree connectors, the Vrm design, and temperature. What about performance? That is what this board is being advertised as for performance and for "Extreme Overclockers." Running this board with an AIO for testing and imply that if better cooling was used this board may improve performance? Of course it may. Where are the bench test results from people with this board? It would seem some people would love to show off some scores if the board produces as advertised. This board runs fine on a modest overclock. That's it. It's a good board. Nothing special except the nice VRM design and the Unique layout, which sounds cool in theory. As for price, it is not worth 500USD, unless charging this much because other board companies are charging about this much for they're top tier board, than yeah. Extreme Overclockers need not apply, nor enthusiast for that matter. I had really high hopes and lots of time spent on this board and it did not deliver. It does look cool and I really like the DARK Z390 image at post and other things.


The information about overclocking in this review is much more impressive than the board itself.


edit: This a very well put together review, thank you


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## Jedson3614

wwxww said:


> IMHO, this board is not the best Z390 board out there. I have lived with this board for about a month, now. It is much more show than go. Do not believe the hype. This board will not improve your scores or overclocking. My scores went lower on this board and was not able to clock what my other board was able to clock at. Your Pro's for this board are Unique layout, which if you are using a PC case, may find it very difficult to work around the 90 degree connectors, the Vrm design, and temperature. What about performance? That is what this board is being advertised as for performance and for "Extreme Overclockers." Running this board with an AIO for testing and imply that if better cooling was used this board may improve performance? Of course it may. Where are the bench test results from people with this board? It would seem some people would love to show off some scores if the board produces as advertised. This board runs fine on a modest overclock. That's it. It's a good board. Nothing special except the nice VRM design and the Unique layout, which sounds cool in theory. As for price, it is not worth 500USD, unless charging this much because other board companies are charging about this much for they're top tier board, than yeah. Extreme Overclockers need not apply, nor enthusiast for that matter. I had really high hopes and lots of time spent on this board and it did not deliver. It does look cool and I really like the DARK Z390 image at post and other things.
> 
> 
> The information about overclocking in this review is much more impressive than the board itself.
> 
> 
> edit: This a very well put together review, thank you


Hey, thank you for your input. I personally think this board is great but I can see where your coming from also. Price is pretty high for a Z390 board. 

Update: I am able to get 4000MHZ on my RAM with 1.4V on VDIMM (18-20-44 timings). I may be going back in the review here shortly to update and throw in cinebench tests. I did have to set SA to 1.25 and VCCIO to 1.3.


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## Jedson3614

tatmMRKIV said:


> IMPORTANT NOTE: EVGA e-leet is the only way to monitor voltages everything else does VID
> 
> Id say to throw cinebench r15 and geekbench in there, as well as XTU(since evga themselves said thats what you should test stability on on this board)
> cinebench is really a really good quick test that will help you chasedown the vcore you need.
> geekbench3 modded to 64bit is also very good.
> I find if you can't pass these you won't be long term stable. if you can you almost definitely will be.. also they take alot less time then you can try your long benches
> 
> And I dont know why anyone recommends P95 its hitter than every other test and I can't see anyone outside of editing and hardcore computing that would run into those situations... I mean you can get an additional multi usually if you ignore prime95... it doesn't make you more stable... if anything it degrades your IMC on this Gen because they arent supposed to be exposed to extreme heat
> 
> 
> 
> VCCSA and vccio were 1.4vdmm and 1.42vdmm for trident royale 4600


Hey, thank you for commenting here. Love to interact with you guys and appreciate the feedback. I am going to update the article becuase I did get 4000MHz with 1.4V at 18-20-20-44 timings. 

I am also going to add in cinebench runs and may move away from these hotter tests. I cruelly have been using PowerMax by CPUID nd like that but it also run hot.

It good when people actually comment on what tests they want to see rather than complain with no suggestions.

E-Leet is not fully functional for me as a platform. I can open it and monitor stuff just fine but it freezes my PC anytime to make any voltage adjustments. 

Has nothing to do with my overclock. It happens at stock too. I feel the latest UEFI BIOS may have some bugs to work out. 

I have VDROOP set close to max (75%) with little drop and my VCore and VID shoot past what I manually set. With 1.25V I see 1.28 under load. It’s acting like adaptive even though I set manually. There is a disable VDROOP but I havn’t tested what that actually does. Seems it may actually allow a static voltage but I havn’t tried it yet.


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## tatmMRKIV

Jedson3614 said:


> Hey, thank you for commenting here. Love to interact with you guys and appreciate the feedback. I am going to update the article becuase I did get 4000MHz with 1.4V at 18-20-20-44 timings.
> 
> I am also going to add in cinebench runs and may move away from these hotter tests. I cruelly have been using PowerMax by CPUID nd like that but it also run hot.
> 
> It good when people actually comment on what tests they want to see rather than complain with no suggestions.
> 
> E-Leet is not fully functional for me as a platform. I can open it and monitor stuff just fine but it freezes my PC anytime to make any voltage adjustments.
> 
> Has nothing to do with my overclock. It happens at stock too. I feel the latest UEFI BIOS may have some bugs to work out.
> 
> I have VDROOP set close to max (75%) with little drop and my VCore and VID shoot past what I manually set. With 1.25V I see 1.28 under load. It’s acting like adaptive even though I set manually. There is a disable VDROOP but I havn’t tested what that actually does. Seems it may actually allow a static voltage but I havn’t tried it yet.


Yeah I only use e-leet for monitoring, and other people have also had issues with making adjustments from it.

you should check out the evga forum for info on the vdroop. the evga bios is not like other setups.


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## elmor

I'm sure this is a great board by EVGA, they've certainly put much effort into making the board. However, to state "I think this is the best Z390 motherboard you can get" without testing the competition for comparison is taking quite some liberty.


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## Jedson3614

elmor said:


> I'm sure this is a great board by EVGA, they've certainly put much effort into making the board. However, to state "I think this is the best Z390 motherboard you can get" without testing the competition for comparison is taking quite some liberty.


Good point! I’m going to reword it to the best one I’ve tested becuase I’ve only tested a few. I will reword it and update the article. Thanks for your input. I think the point I was trying to make was I love the layout and I’ve had better successful memory overclocks with this board. I’m over 4000MHz. I am going to add in an update soon.

I can add in results from the other boards I’ve used for comparison. What tests would you like to see? I’m trying to add more value to my reviews and like anything it’s a process. Every audience can be tricky!


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## Jedson3614

tatmMRKIV said:


> Yeah I only use e-leet for monitoring, and other people have also had issues with making adjustments from it.
> 
> you should check out the evga forum for info on the vdroop. the evga bios is not like other setups.


Yeah, I can! Since I'm testing it though and supposed to learn and be the expert on it, I may just play around with it. I've looked into it and worked with EVGA on it. I think normal believe it or not may be my best bet but I don't mind the voltage overshooting a little bit. I'm trying to get my voltage as static as possible to my manual input.


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## elmor

Jedson3614 said:


> Good point! I’m going to reword it to the best one I’ve tested becuase I’ve only tested a few. I will reword it and update the article. Thanks for your input. I think the point I was trying to make was I love the layout and I’ve had better successful memory overclocks with this board. I’m over 4000MHz. I am going to add in an update soon.
> 
> I can add in results from the other boards I’ve used for comparison. What tests would you like to see? I’m trying to add more value to my reviews and like anything it’s a process. Every audience can be tricky!


I appreciate the way you received my feedback. Of course it's fine to say that you like the board and that it's the best you've tested.


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## Jedson3614

elmor said:


> I appreciate the way you received my feedback. Of course, it's fine to say that you like the board and that it's the best you've tested.


When reviewing items you kind of have to accept constructive criticism. I don't mind when people have issues and they offer a solution or suggestions. It's when people complain but don't offer any value. That never helps the reviewer grow.


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## tatmMRKIV

elmor is an asus rep... I think he wants you to give the new apex some attention... Sadly the good asus OC boards aren't available in the US


I just mean on the forum someone, has gone through and found out what voltage ranges the LLC settings do. you should hunt for that...

really the LLC is the most difficult part of this board


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## Atlantida

Great Guide. I was actually looking at this board and noticed the price. I think I'll just continue to look at it, until the price drops. I do appreciate their attention to simplicity and stability over bling and aesthetics, though I think this board looks amazing. But the price and availability is just too much.


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## FlanK3r

Good article, nice to see Steponz guy in review 

I like my Apex as enthusiast OC board. Only XP support ismissing on Apex XI (but could be added with unofficial BIOS?). But Dark is one of the best OC boards, thats true (in TOP5 for LGA1151)


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