The Gigabyte Z890 UD WIFI6E is a budget-friendly Intel Z890 motherboard that strips away the bells and whistles while retaining features that matter, such as a decent VRM setup, PCIe 5.0 support for a GPU and a M.2 drive, and even a USB4 Type-C port.

On 10 October 2024, Intel officially announced its next-gen Core Ultra 200S series of processors (codenamed "Arrow Lake-S") and the accompanying Z890 chipset. As the successor to Intel's 14th Generation "Raptor Lake Refresh", could "Arrow Lake-S" be just what Intel needs to fend off the onslaught from AMD's Ryzen 9000 and 7000 series of processors?

In the lead-up to the Core Ultra 200S's availability at retail, likely by the end of this month (October 2024), ALKtech takes a look at an interesting budget-friendly Intel Z890 motherboard that does away with bells and whistles (such as WIFI 7, aesthetic bling etc), but still retains enough features to power perhaps, a mid-to-high-end Intel Core Ultra 200S processor - the Gigabyte Z890 UD WIFI6E. Read on to learn more about this motherboard!

Summary of Specifications

Processor Support: Intel Core Ultra 200S Series
Chipset: Intel Z890
Memory: 4x DDR5 slots, max 256GB, up to DDR5 8800 (OC) support (as of October 2024), CUDIMMs supported
Audio: Realtek ALC897 audio codec
LAN: Realtek RTL8125D 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet
WIFI: Intel AX211 WIFI 6E module with Bluetooth 5.3 support (for Revision 1.0); Realtek RTL8852CE WIFI 6E module with Bluetooth 5.3 support (for Revision 1.1)
Expansion Slots: 1x PCIe 5.0 x16, 1x PCIe 4.0 x16 (operates at x1 mode), 2x PCIe 4.0 x16 (both operating at x4 mode)
Storage: 4x SATA III, 1x PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2, 2x PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2
Form Factor: ATX
Official Product Page: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z890-UD-WIFI6E 

Packaging & Contents

The Z890 UD WIFI6E comes in a box that sports a black and orange colourway with a UD graphic splashed across the front. Over on the rear of the box, we get the usual summary of specs and features that this board comes with.

The board comes with the following accessories:

• WIFI antenna
• 2x SATA III cables
• 2x M.2 drive scews
• I/O shield
• Multilingual installation guide
• Regulatory information leaflet

Board Aesthetics

In terms of aesthetics, we see that Gigabyte has gone for a black and grey aesthetic with some stripe-like motifs for the PCB. As a budget motherboard offering, the board doesn’t come with an integrated I/O shield, nor does it come with any built-in RGB LED accents (the board does still come with plenty of onboard RGB headers).

Unsurprisingly, there's nothing much going on over on the rear of the board; we don’t get any fancy motifs like those that you tend to find on higher-end motherboards.

The Z890 chipset has a single-chip design and is cooled by a small passive heatsink as pictured above.

A clear indication of the Z890 UD WIFI6E's budget pedigree is the fact that Gigabyte has included heatsink coverage for just the lone PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot that this motherboard comes with.

VRM & Memory Support

For memory support, the board comes with 12+1+2 power stages rated for up to 60A, and sports four DDR5 slots with a dual-tabbed design that as of the time of writing this article, support a maximum of 256GBs of RAM and the DDR5 8800 standard when overclocked. The board also supports the latest DIMM format on the block, Clocked Unbuffered DIMMs, (CUDIMMs), which come with a clock driver on the memory module to improve signal stability, thereby paving the way for even higher operating frequencies.

Front Panel USB Headers

For front panel USB connectivity, the Z890 UD WIFI6E comes with a USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C front panel header near the RAM slots, as well as a single USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A front panel header along the long edge of the board; the said Type-A header provides support for up to two front panel USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports.

Rounding up this section on front panel USB connectivity are two USB 2.0 front panel headers found along the bottom edge of the board, with each of these headers providing support for two front panel USB 2.0 Type-A ports, for a total of four ports.

Expansion Slots & Storage Options

The Z890 UD WIFI6E comes with a single PCIe 5.0 x16 slot for a graphics card, where the said slot features Gigabyte's "UD Slot" design that helps reinforce the slot for use with heavy graphics cards. The slot also comes with the PCIe EZ-Latch feature, which is essentially an oversized retention tab that helps make removing a graphics card from the slot less of a painful affair.

Also included is a full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot that operates at x1 mode, and two full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slots that operate at x4 mode.

For one's legacy storage and optical drives, Gigabyte has included four SATA III ports, with all ports in a right-angled configuration so as to aid with cable management.

In terms of M.2 drive support, the Z890 UD WIFI6E comes with a single PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot and two PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots - of the two Gen 4 M.2 slots, slot M2M_SB supports both M.2 SATA and NVMe drives, while the other M.2 slots support NVMe drives only.

Audio & Internet Connectivity

As a budget-friendlier motherboard offering, no surprises here that Gigabyte's included a run-of-the-mill audio codec in the form of Realtek's ALC897.

For wired internet connectivity, we've got Realtek's RTL8125D LAN controller serving up support for 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet...

...while wireless internet connectivity is powered by a WIFI 6E module that supports the Bluetooth 5.3 standard; which model of WIFI 6E module included is dependent on which motherboard revision that one has. For Revision 1.o (the board featured in this article), Gigabyte has included an Intel AX211 module, while Revision 1.1 comes with a Realtek RTL8852CE module instead.

Fan & RGB Headers

The Z890 UD WIFI6E comes with six fan headers:

• 1x CPU_FAN
• 1x CPU_OPT
• 2x SYS_FAN
• 2x FAN_PUMP

Although the Z890 UD WIFI6E might not come with built-in RGB LED accents, fans of RGB lighting effects can rest assured that the board still comes with plenty of RGB headers, where Gigabyte's included three addressable RGB headers and a single 12V RGB header.

Other Features

Kicking off the list of special features that the Z890 UD WIFI6E comes with, are a set of power, reset and Q-Flash Plus buttons located near the top edge of the motherboard. As their names imply, the power button, as you might have rightfully guessed, allows end-users to power on the PC, while the reset button allows end-users to do a hard reset of the PC. Do note that the reset button is also what Gigabyte terms a multi key button - the said button can be reprogrammed from within the BIOS to serve other purposes. The Q-Flash Plus button on the other hand, allows end-users to update the board's BIOS without needing to install a CPU, RAM or graphics card.

A handy quality-of-life feature to have, the Status LEDs pictured above can help with troubleshooting PC startup issues.

Over at the bottom edge of the board, is a serial (COM) port header that is likely targeted at business users that might still be using legacy hardware in their day-to-day operations.

Also included is a TPM header for an optional discrete Gigabyte TPM module.

Seeing as the board does not come with on-board Thunderbolt ports, Gigabyte's included a set of Thunderbolt add-on card headers that are to be used with an optional Gigabyte Thunderbolt add-on card.

Closing off this section on special features is a Clear CMOS header, as well as a reset header that allows end-users to hook up their PC case's front panel reset button to the motherboard.

Rear I/O

The Z890 UD WIFI6E comes with the following ports on the rear I/O:

• 4x USB 2.0 Type-A ports
  
• 1x PS/2 mouse/keyboard combo port
• 1x DisplayPort 2.1 port (supports a maximum display resolution of 3840x2160 at 144 Hz)
  
• 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports
  
• 1x USB4 Type-C ports (supports DisplayPort Alternate mode with a maximum display resolution of 3840x2160 at 144 Hz)
  
• 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port
  
• 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet port
  
• WIFI antenna connector (WIFI EZ-Plug)
  
• Audio jack connectors

Conclusion

To sum up, I do think that the Z890 UD WIFI6E is an interesting motherboard offering, in that it serves up higher-end features in a package that does away with the typical bells, whistles and bling associated with high-end motherboards, making this a motherboard well-suited for a high-performance office productivity PC or a mid-to-high-end gaming PC that gets the job done without any frills. While it does away with niceties such as WIFI7, onboard RGB LED accents, an integrated I/O shield and some of the latest quality-of-life features that Gigabyte touts for its pricier motherboard offerings, the Z890 UD WIFI6E still retains the features that matter; we're talking about things such as a decent VRM setup (that should perform well with higher-end processors such as a Core Ultra 7 and maybe even the Core Ultra 9), PCIe 5.0 support for a graphics card and M.2 drive, USB4 support and a decent enough assortment of USB connectivity options.

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The motherboard featured in this article was a review unit provided on loan from CDL Trading Pte Ltd, an authorised distributor for Gigabyte in Singapore.