The Intel Z490 Overview: 44+ Motherboards Examined
by Gavin Bonshor on April 30, 2020 10:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE Z490 Aorus Elite AC
Moving onto the entry-level Aorus branded model, the GIGABYTE Z490 Aorus Elite AC, it includes a standard Intel 802.11ac wireless interface with Realtek's 2.5 G ethernet controller, and three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots. This model is also available without Wi-Fi, and uses a direct 12-phase power delivery and comes with a more simplistic look from other Aorus Z490 models. This is the only model from GIGABYTE's Z490 Aorus line-up to use a Realtek 2.5 G opposed to the rest of the stack which uses Intel's I225V 2.5 G controller.
Opting for a basic look, the GIGABYTE Z490 Aorus Elite AC benefits from three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, with the bottom two coming with its own heat sink for use with hot running NVMe based drives. It has six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 arrays, and provides support for up to 128 GB of DDR4-4800 memory. For the power delivery, the Z490 Aorus Elite and Elite AC use a 12-phase power delivery for the CPU, with 60 A power stages and an ISL69269 PWM controller. Providing power to the CPU is an 8-pin and 4-pin 12 V ATX CPU input pairing. There is also two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which operate at x16/+4, with three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots.
On the rear panel is two USB 3.2 G2 10 Gbps Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and four USB 2.0 ports. On the AC model, GIGABYTE includes an Intel 802.11ac wireless interface with BT 5.0 support, while both models come included with a Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5 G Ethernet controller. The five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output are powered by a Realtek ALC1200 HD audio codec, while the board also includes a single HDMI video output.
The GIGABYTE Z490 Aorus Elite and Z490 Aorus Elite AC both target the mid-range Z490 motherboard segment and is represented with an MSRP starting at $219. It includes a basic set of features, two PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots with heatsinks, with a third without, and six SATA ports which is standard for an ATX sized model. It neglects any USB Type-C connectivity, which other vendors have included from top to bottom (MSI), but this makes for a lower cost product. It also uses a slightly lesser spec HD audio codec to most boards in its product stack, but still provides support for 7.1 HD audio.
This page will be updated when more information becomes available to us.
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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.