Overclocking

We haven't run in to any serious issues yet as far as overclocking goes with our Core i9-9900K, with every board managing a solid 5GHz with Intel's mainstream flagship. The Z390 I Aorus Pro WiFi needed 1.28V, which is slightly higher than the 1.26V needed with the MSI MPG Z390I Gaming Edge AC, but it was a stable overclock nonetheless with no hint of overheating VRMs or CPU throttling. You can see detailed information of Gigabyte's latest EFI and software here.

Performance Analysis

As usual we're not looking at massive differences between boards in our benchmarks, although the slightly wonky stock sped all-core boosting on the MSI MPG Z390I Gaming Edge AC did hand the Z390 I Aorus Pro WiFi a lead in HandBrake and Cinebench, although that was solved by applying a manual overclock. It had advantages in other areas, though, such as M.2 temperatures, as our Samsung 960 Evo hit a delta T of 46°C on the MSI board, with the Gigabyte board's heatsink lowering this to a healthier 32°C. 

This didn't result in noticeably faster read or write speeds, though. Audio performance was average for the Realtek ALC1220 codec but still better than the ALC892 codec used on the MSI board, which lagged behind in every test - again, a lot will depend on your audio setup and needs as to whether this will be an issue. If you're using a half-decent set of headphones, you probably won't see any benefit, while those that dabble with audio production or have high-end speakers and headphones may benefit, especially as the Gigabyte board has a smart headphone amplifier and high-end audio capacitors.

Conclusion

Below the Z390 I Aorus Pro WiFi's price tag of around £160, you only really have the MSI MPG Intel Z390I Gaming Edge AC WiFi when it comes to mini-ITX on the Z390 chipset. Gigabyte's own Z370N WiFi is still available and is compatible with Intel's 9th generation CPUs, but we haven't tested the two so can't guarantee you'd see the same sort of results either at stock speed or when overclocking. 

Compared to the MSI board, Gigabyte's mini Z390 board just has more pizazz from head to toe, with the only exceptions being an extra USB port and a slightly slicker EFI in MSI's favour. That compares to a swanky M.2 heatsink, RGB lighting, USB 3.1 support, and various higher-quality components being used for features such as the onboard audio. These combined with the stock speed boosting issues on the MSI board when we tested it make the Z390 I Aorus Pro WiFi a more desirable product and ultimately worth the extra £25-£30 or so; it's definitely the best Z390 mini-ITX board south of £170.