The Intel Z490 Overview: 44+ Motherboards Examined
by Gavin Bonshor on April 30, 2020 10:00 AM ESTASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4SR
One of the most fascinating Z490 models is the ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4SR, which is also the first Z490 motherboard to feature the ATX12VO standard. This removes the clunkier ATX12V power connector and opts for a smaller ATX12VO connector which supplies just 12 V into the motherboard, with a lot of 5 V and 3.3 V standards which are rarely used nowadays. On top of this, the Z490 Phantom Gaming 4SR includes a single PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot, four SATA ports, and two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots, with an Intel Gigabit Ethernet port too.
The ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4SR is basic in design, with silver heatsinks on a black PCB, and is advertised as featuring a 10-phase power delivery. The lower portion of the board includes two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which run at x16/+4, with three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, and has a solitary PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot. There are also four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 arrays, with four memory slots with support for up to 128 GB of DDR4-4000. Providing power to the board is an ATX12VO set of connectors including a 10-pin, 8-pin, and 6-pin power input trio, with a single 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU input providing power to the processor.
On the rear panel is a single USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. Powering the three 3.5 mm audio connectors is a Realtek ALC1200 HD audio codec, while a single HDMI video output and PS/2 combo port add additional connectivity. The ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming 4SR also features a Wi-Fi 5 wireless interface with support for BT 4.2 devices.
Pricing on the ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming isn't currently known, but it's not likely to be expensive. It also marks the introduction of ATX12VO onto a mainstream socket. Current availability isn't known at this time, but it could be a case of waiting for power supply vendors to respond with consumer options.
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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.