The Intel Z490 Overview: 44+ Motherboards Examined
by Gavin Bonshor on April 30, 2020 10:00 AM ESTColorful iGame Z490 Vulcan X V20
Colorful usually targets its motherboard models for release in the Asian market. it has announced that it intends to release two ATX sized models for Intel's 10th generation processors. The first of the two is the iGame Z490 Vulcan X V20 which has an aggressive RGB inspired styling, with black and grey heatsinks, on a black and grey printed PCB. Some of its core features include two PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, six SATA ports, with an Intel 2.5 G Ethernet controller and a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec.
Looking at an overall view of the board, the Z490 Vulcan X V20 has plenty of integrated RGB LED lighting with zones in the rear panel cover, the chipset heat sink, underneath the top M.2 heatsink, and along the right-hand side of the board. At the bottom is three full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which run at x16, x8/x8, and x8/x8/+4, with three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. For storage, there is two PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, with six SATA ports that support RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. Each M.2 slot has individual heatsinks, while an overclocker's toolkit is located in the top-right hand corner. This consists of a power button, a reset button, and a three-digit LED Debugger. Colorful is advertising a 12+2 power delivery, with memory support for up to 128 GB of DDR4-4000 memory across four slots.
On the rear panel are three USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, one USB 3.2 G1 Type-C, and two USB 2.0 ports. Powering the boards five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output is a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec, while the networking is handled by a single Intel I225-V 2.5 G Ethernet controller. A DisplayPort and HDMI pair of video outputs provide support for Intel's integrated graphics.
Overall, the Colorful iGame Z490 Vulcan X V20 looks flashy, but stylish at the same time. Colorful hasn't specified which markets this model will be released in, nor has it shared any pricing information.
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Andrew LB - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
So these boards bring Wifi6, PCI-Express 4.0, gigabit 2.5, and for people like myself who are upgrading from a Z87 board.... just about everything is a huge leap.... yet you think there is just 'more of the same'? I guess if you're one of those idiots who buys a new CPU every year, then clearly this is not the release for you. Nor would AMD's latest offerings if that same metric is applied.So what's your problem with Capitalism? Do incremental design improvements offend you? Or is it profit that does? Hate to break it to you, but its profit motive that fuels innovation. Collectivism is a cancer and by its very nature hinders progress due to it not rewarding exceptionalism. It's why countries like China don't innovate. Otherwise they wouldn't need forced technology transfers from those who manufacture goods in their country.
Zenzdeluxe - Wednesday, September 2, 2020 - link
Thanks for that. The hypocrisy of these people. Imagine imbibing in the fruits of the capitalist system which besides continuing innovation, provides more spoils at lower price points for everyone than ever before. The audacity of such entitlement and seemingly collectivist / marxist based criticism is mind boggling. Cognitive dissonance off the scale indeed.ilkhan - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
Details page for GIGABYTE Z490 Aorus Pro AX (copy and paste because who can keep them straight otherwise) makes a big deal of no usb-C, but it's there in the picture...ecjp - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
Yeah, I noticed that too. Gigabytes site shows same picture and lists "1 x USB Type-C™ port on the back panel, with USB 3.2 Gen 2 support" in the specs, so I assume its an error in the article.gavbon - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
Thanks for picking that up. I must have been writing about the wrong board. Apologies, it's updatedregsEx - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
"Integrated into the Z490 chipset is an Intel Wi-Fi 6 CNVi which allows motherboard vendors to integrate its AX200 wireless solutions directly from the chipset with a CRF module."CNVi is an old generation 802.11ac controller. Here it is CNVio2. CRF module is AX201. AX200 is a standalone controller that can work on any system. X570 motherboards with 802.11ax support, for example, packs with AX200 card.
lunaticbunny - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
There are no boards under $200. Seems like this Z490 chipset got the X570 inflation treatment as well.drexnx - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
just like the X570 boards, they've all got seriously beefed up VRMsand maybe the pcie4 tax wasn't just a cash grab? we'll really see when AMD B550 comes out, where those board prices land
Andrew LB - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link
Plenty of boards under $200.ASUS Prime Z490M-PLUS
GIGABYTE Z490 AORUS Elite
ASUS TUF Gaming Z490-Plus
ASUS TUF Gaming Z490-Plus wifi
GIGABYTE Z490 UD
MSI Z490-A PRO ProSeries
A bunch of Asrock boards will be under $200 as well. You can see many prices already on Amazon.
dgingeri - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
It looks like, potentially, at least Gigabyte has decided to include a decent number of USB ports. I can't tell with the Asus board, but all the rest look to have only 6 USB ports, an annoyingly small number. I have been really annoyed with the lack of USB ports on boards for the last 5 years. Heck, with the old 440BX boards, we had 2 ps2, 4 or 6 USB, 1 or 2 serial, and a parallel port. We've lost the other ports, and internal drives in most computers, and not gained USB ports to compensate for it. External hubs aren't going to do it, either, as those stupid things keep dying in a matter of months.