Gigabyte Z890 Eagle Wifi 7 Plus Motherboard Review

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The Gigabyte Z890 Eagle Wifi 7 Plus is a new motherboard designed to work with Intel’s newest processors. It’s part of Gigabyte’s Eagle series, meaning it’s a great value option – not their most high-end board, but still packed with features at a more affordable price.

Watch this review below:

Despite its positioning, this motherboard still includes all the features you’d expect from Intel, such as a robust 14+1+2 power design, four M.2 slots, Wi-Fi 7, and USB 4. It performs surprisingly well and doesn’t feel like a basic model.

I’m testing the Gigabyte Z890 Eagle Wifi 7 Plus motherboard with an Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus processor. I’ve installed everything in a new computer case from APNX – specifically, the first version of that case, known as the V1 model.

I recently built a new PC with the APNX LC1D-360 cooler, one of the brand’s newer models. It has 32GB of fast 6000MTs DDR5 RAM, along with a 1TB SSD, and I installed my NVIDIA RTX 5080 graphics card.

This PC uses a Gigabyte Gaming 850GM PG5 power supply, which I’ve also reviewed on my channel. You can find a link to that review in the description below.

All the visuals you’re seeing come from the Gigabyte MO27Q28G OLED gaming monitor. I’ve also posted a detailed review of it on my channel, and I think you’ll really like it. You can find a link to the review in the description below.

Before I get into the details of the Intel board, let’s quickly cover the basics of this case. The APNX V1 is a really attractive mid-sized case that exceeded my expectations. The wood trim on the front looks fantastic, and the way it’s designed to channel airflow is very effective.

I had a great time building my PC in this case. I particularly appreciated the well-designed cable management system on the back, which features a magnetic door that neatly hides all the wires. I was also surprised and pleased to find the power supply slot located right behind the CPU – that was a new design feature for me.

Building this PC was surprisingly simple and straightforward – definitely one of the easiest I’ve ever done. I was really happy with how clean the cable management turned out, and the final result looks fantastic. The case is roomy, offers plenty of options for cooling setups, and a clever adjustable bracket lets you mount the motherboard lower to give you more space for cables and fans around the CPU.

I appreciate that this case has a subtle, refined design rather than being overly showy, and I’m very happy with how the finished build looks.

The Gigabyte Z890 Eagle Wifi 7 Plus motherboard is designed to be a simple and budget-friendly choice. It has a sleek look, featuring a graphite black color scheme with touches of grey.

The board features two RGB lights – one positioned under the EAGLE logo and the other under the controller’s heatsink. Speaking of cooling, the board has several heatsinks throughout. A large heatsink cools the main PCIe 5.0 SSD slot, and another covers the remaining three PCIe 4.0 SSD slots. These SSDs can be easily removed thanks to a tool-less design – just flip a latch to unlock and remove the holder.

This motherboard has three PCI-Express expansion slots. The top slot is the newest PCIe 5.0 version and offers the fastest speeds. Gigabyte has reinforced this slot with a special Zinc alloy design, claiming it can handle significantly more weight and stress. The two lower slots are PCIe 4.0, but operate at a slower x4 speed.

The back panel features a variety of ports, including one USB 4 Type-C, one USB 3.2 Type-C, five USB 3.2 Type-A, and four USB 2.0 ports.

On the back, you’ll find a DisplayPort, plus connections for the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas. There’s also an Ethernet port, two audio jacks, and an optical audio output. The front includes a power button, a reset button, and a button for Q-Flash.

The board includes standard power connectors for the motherboard and CPU, along with headers for one CPU fan, one CPU fan or water cooling pump, and three system fans. It also supports water cooling pumps with a dedicated header. For lighting, there are three connectors for Gen 2 ARGB LEDs and one for standard RGB LEDs. Other connections include front panel audio, a USB Type-C port with USB 3.2 Gen 2 support, one USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, and two USB 2.0 ports.

This motherboard is compatible with the GIGABYTE Thunderbolt 5 add-in card, allowing you to add more Thunderbolt ports to your computer. The card is sold separately and installs into a PCIe 4.0 slot.

I really like the overall look of the Gigabyte Z890 Eagle Wifi 7 Plus Motherboard. It’s not overly flashy, but the understated design is effective. It features large heatsinks covering the M.2 slots and substantial heatsinks on the VRMs. Installation into the APNX V1 case was straightforward. I used the case’s lower mounting option to create extra space above the board for the CPU power cables.

After installing Windows 11, I immediately updated it to the newest release. I then used the Gigabyte Control Centre to update all the drivers and also made sure the BIOS was current. The BIOS itself is similar to those found on other Gigabyte motherboards, offering both a simple ‘Easy Mode’ and a more detailed ‘Advanced Mode’ for different user preferences.

Easy Mode provides a clear, simplified view of your system with just a few essential settings. You can quickly switch between Intel performance modes using Gigabyte PerfDrive, and DDR5 Auto Booster effortlessly increases RAM speed. It also lets you easily select XMP profiles directly within the tool.

I adjusted settings in the BIOS to maximize performance, including enabling XMP and removing CPU thermal limits. After making these changes, I ran some tests. Here’s a list of the components in the full PC build.

  • APNX V1 Case
  • APNX L1CD Liquid 360 Cooler
  • Western Digital 1TG Gen 4 SSD
  • 32GB Kingston Fury 4800MTs RAM
  • Gigabyte RTX 5060 Ti
  • Intel Core Ultra 5 250K CPU

Benchmarks

  • CPUZ
    • Multi-Core – 14143
    • Single-Core – 832
  • Cinebench R24
    • Multi-Core – 1593
    • Single- Core – 131
  • Geekbench
    • Single-Core – 3019
    • Multi-Core – 16946
  • 3D Mark CPU Profile
    • Max Threads – 15368
    • 16 Threads – 14510
    • 8 Threads – 8722
    • 4 Threads – 5060
    • 2 Threads – 2557
    • 1 Thread – 1282

In our testing, the Gigabyte Z890 Eagle Wifi 7 Plus motherboard kept its components cool under stress. During a 30-minute test, the CPU temperature reached a maximum of 66°C, while the VRM and CPU socket peaked at 32°C and 47°C respectively. The CPU used 155W of power and reached a maximum core clock speed of 4935MHz. This indicates the Intel Core Ultra 5 250K processor is relatively efficient, producing moderate heat and power consumption. When idle on the desktop, the board uses around 80W.

The temperature readings weren’t exceptional, but this board really delivers when it comes to keeping cool and performing well.

The Gigabyte Z890 Eagle Wifi 7 Plus is a solid motherboard. While it doesn’t have a lot of extra bells and whistles like fancy lighting, it performs very well and handled everything I tested it with. It does have a few limitations – the variety of M.2 slots is somewhat limited, and the Wi-Fi 7 speed is capped at 160MHz instead of 320MHz. However, it still benefits from the reliable technology Gigabyte offers, and its competitive price makes it a great choice, especially for those new to building PCs.

Visit the Gigabyte website here for more information on the Z890 EAGLE Wifi 7 Plus.

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2026-05-04 11:45