INTRODUCTION

    With roughly a week left before everyone learns what the latest Intel® Core Ultra 200S Series Processors (and the Z890 LGA1851 motherboards) are capable of I decided to take a step back and test one of the latest Intel Z790 motherboards to hit the market. Yes, the unfortunate voltage issue of both the 13th and 14th Intel Core generations has been a rather significant problem but since not all batches have been affected by it (for example my i9-13900k test rig has been working fine since May last year) and also since new motherboards (and old due to microcode updates) are basically free of it (not to mention the number of people who own one such CPU) it's certainly worth testing new models. So as the review title clearly states I’m of course talking about the ASRock Phantom Gaming Z790I Lightning WiFi model which also happens to be the very first mini-ITX model I've reviewed in a very long time.

    Phantom Gaming (PG) is a gaming product line of ASRock, aiming to provide top of the gaming product line to gamers, professionals, and PC enthusiasts. Phantom Gaming is dedicated to developing the gaming products combine the necessity of performance, quality, stability, compatibility and durability with unique design. The design of exterior, feature, technology, and material is based on Phantom Gaming philosophy, which is “Fast, Mysterious, and Unbeatable.” Every Phantom Gaming product needs to be validated beyond the industry standard, to ensure the product is able to meet the ruthless challenge from the user. Meanwhile, Phantom Gaming works closely with the partners to fine-tune the products, and to ensure every product can deliver outstanding gaming experience.

    The Phantom Gaming Z790I Lightning WiFi by ASRock is based on the the Intel Z790 chipset (compatible with Intel's 12/13/14th generation LGA1700 CPUs - unfortunately not the refreshed version) and follows the mini-ITX form factor. It features a 16-phase (14+1+1 / 110A SPS) digital VRM with an 8-layer 2oz copper PCB, fully supports DDR5 RAM (two DIMM slots up to 128GB clocked at 8600MHz and above) and sports a single PCIe 5.0 x16 slot (EMI shielded and reinforced). ASRock has also equipped it with a total of two PCIe 4.0 Gen4 M.2 sockets, 3 native SATA 6Gb/s ports (support RAID 0/1/5), two 5V ARGB ports, Realtek Dragon RTL8125BG 2.5GbE Ethernet port (0/100/1000/2500Mb/s), Intel AX201 Dual-Band WiFi 6E/BT 5.3 wireless adapter and the Realtek ALC897 7.1 onboard sound card (Nahimic audio). As for connectivity the PG Z790I Lightning WiFi comes ready with a single DP v1.4 DSC port, single HDMI v2.1 TMDS port, 2 USB 2.0 ports (internal header), 6 USB 3.2 Type-A Gen1 ports (4 at the rear, 2 via internal header), USB 3.2 Type-C Gen1 port (internal header), USB 3.2 Type-A Gen2 port, USB 3.2 Type-C Gen2 port (all USB ports feature ESD protection), 2.5GbE RJ45 port and the Realtek ALC897 High Definition Audio onboard audio ports. It's been way too long since I had a mini-ITX motherboard in my hands so let's see what the Phantom Gaming Z790I Lightning WiFi by ASRock is really capable of.