The Intel Z490 Overview: 44+ Motherboards Examined
by Gavin Bonshor on April 30, 2020 10:00 AM ESTWorking directly with extreme overclocker Vince ‘K|NGP|N’ Lucido, EVGA has some of the most sought after graphics cards and motherboards in the industry by enthusiasts and gamers alike. Usually turning up later than other vendors to the launch party, EVGA plans to launch two new models designed for Z490. Typically aimed at enthusiasts and gamers with its models and assisted by its EVGA ELEET x1 overclocking utility, EVGA has found success in the components market with its Intel and NVIDIA based products.
EVGA Z490 Dark
Starting with EVGA’s premium Z490 model, the Z490 Dark, it has a lot of bells and whistles with some interesting design choices. The most notable of those is it has just two memory slots on its E-ATX sized 10-layer PCB. It follows a simplistic black and gunmetal grey theme, with a large rear panel cover which doubles up as part of the power delivery heatsink, which forms an L-shape around the LGA1200 socket. Included are two PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, a single U.2 port, with support for up to DDR4-4600 and up to 64 GB of capacity.
One of the most prominent aspects of the EVGA Z490 Dark is its unconventional desktop design. Typically the memory slots would sit along the right-hand side, but EVGA has placed them along with a transposed LGA1200 socket. This is designed and optimized for extreme overclockers. At the right-hand side are a pair of 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU and a 24-pin 12 V ATX motherboard power inputs with right-angled designs for easier installation. EVGA is advertising an 18-phase power delivery on the Z490 Dark, which looks to be impressive.
For storage is a pair of PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, with a single U.2 port and eight SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. There are three full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which operate at x16, x8/x8, and x8/x8/+4, with a half-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot. In the very top right-hand corner is two 2-digit LED panels which monitor CPU voltage and temperature, with a power and reset button also added.
On the rear panel are two USB 3.2 G1 Type-C, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. Offering support for integrated graphics is a single mini DisplayPort video output. In contrast, the boards five 3.5 mm audio jack and S/PDIF optical output is controlled by a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec, with an EVGA NU Audio SV3H615 headphone amplifier. Also featured on the rear panel is an Intel I225-V 2.5 G Ethernet controller which powers one port, while the other is provided from an Intel I219-V Gigabit controller. Also offering wireless support is an unspecified wireless interface, while the rear panel has a small red clear CMOS switch. Last but not least, there are a PS/2 keyboard and mouse combo port.
The EVGA Z490 Dark represents a small overclocking based market but has enough features onboard to cater to enthusiastic audiences too. With an Intel 2.5 G and Gigabit Ethernet combo, two PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots and with single, yet rare U.2 port, it has plenty to divulge on. The two memory slots are designed to improve memory latencies when overclocking, something breaking overclocking records depend on these days. Living up to its Dark moniker, the EVGA Z490 Dark will be available at launch, but at present, there is no information on pricing.
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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.