The Intel Z490 Overview: 44+ Motherboards Examined
by Gavin Bonshor on April 30, 2020 10:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE Z490 Aorus Master
Sitting just below the flagship Z490 Aorus Xtreme, the GIGABYTE Z490 Aorus Master still represents itself as one of its premium offerings. Featuring the same shielded memory routing and a 14-phase power delivery with 90 A power stages and tantalum polymer capacitors, this enthusiast offering includes an Intel 2.5 G Ethernet controller and Intel Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface. It also includes triple PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, six SATA ports, and support for up to DDR4-4800 memory.
It follows a clear Aorus inspired design with a funky rear panel cover, armor around the PCIe slots for a cleaner look, with three PCIe 3.0 x4 slots each with its own individual heatsink. GIGABYTE is using three full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which run at x16, x8/x8, and x8/x8+x4. Other storage options include six SATA ports with RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 array support. A total of four memory slots include support for up to DDR4-4800, with a maximum capacity of 128 GB, operating in dual channel. The 14-phase power delivery is cooled by a pair of aluminium fin array heat sinks, with two 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power inputs designed to deliver power to the processor.
On the rear panel is a single USB 3.2 G2 20 Gbps Type-C, three USB 3.2 G2 10 Gbps Type-A, two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and four USB 2.0 ports. There is a single Ethernet port powered by an Intel i225 2.5 G controller, with antenna ports for the Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface which also includes support for BT 5.1 devices. The onboard audio consists of five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output and is powered by a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec and ESS 9118 DAC. A clear CMOS button, HDMI video output, and a BIOS Flashback button which allows users to update the firmware without memory, CPU, and graphics card finish off an impressive rear panel offering.
The GIGABYTE Z490 Aorus Master has an MSRP of $389 which is reasonable for the level of features and support on offer. Aimed at gamers and enthusiasts with features including triple PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2, 2.5 G Ethernet, and plenty of USB connectivity, the GIGABYTE Z490 Aorus Master is another example of good value, even in the mid to high-end market segment. The Z490 Aorus Master also benefits from future PCIe 4.0 support with Intel's Rocket Lake processors when they eventually do land, which adds some extra longevity to Z490.
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Tomatotech - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
Get better hubs then. At least mains powered hubs.I understand not everyone has wifi/ ethernet printers, bluetooth / radio mouse / keyboard / headset, or usb hubs in their monitors, but there does seem to be slightly less need for lots of USB ports compared to a few years ago.
Beaver M. - Saturday, May 2, 2020 - link
Not an option due to several reliability issues and issues recognizing claimed "better hubs" in the first place. Even well known big companies produce crappy USB hubs.As a normal user I have
a printer
a mouse
a keyboard
a gamepad with USB dongle
a USB headset
an external HDD
several external USB ports for USB sticks, temporary Bluetooth dongles, charging devices, etc., which can be up to 4 at a time
Specialized
things:
a joystick
a USB microphone interface
Not really unusual.
Add webcams, card readers, Wifi adapters and many other not really unusual stuff and you still wont have anything rare.
Lots of USB ports are important. Period. And it doesnt even matter if its an ATX board or a NUC. They are always very important.
duploxxx - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
wow so many USB that you need in the back, how long have you been searching on the internet to find all of these? You can buy cases that also serve USB, or backend brackets….a printer : wireless
a mouse - keyb sure
a gamepad, connected from the back? often to short cable
a USB headset ---- audio connection which you can link with USB mic….
a USB External HDD.... zzz one that you can put away for backup or just horrible initial design from storage perspective
several external USB.... all front unless you Always use your usb dongles and put them in the back "loooooool"
joystick.... yeah use gmaepad and joystick at the same time. same as the gamepad regarding cable length
webcam... easy connection in monitor hub
card readers... again in the back used all day right....
USB wifi adapters? really are you joking?
in other words lots of pathetic feedback... learn to design a desktop computer
Beaver M. - Saturday, May 2, 2020 - link
Low USB port count has been a problem far longer than 5 years.Only Asus seem to have gotten the hint at some point, but Asus is crappy quality and CS.
Seeing Gigabyte adding enough now is a good sign, because they usually were the ones having the least amount of them.
I agree on the hubs. Not only do they die, some of them even nuke your mainboards USB ports through feedback loops. Not to mention they always either have connection problems or issues with sleep or hibernation.
Chaitanya - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
Whats wierd is most of the boards from Asus and Asrock have multiple 40mm fans to cool VRMs while they seem to stick solid slabs of Aluminium and calling it a day unlike Gigabyte and Msi(on top end atleast) who have proper finned heatsinks.Deicidium369 - Friday, May 1, 2020 - link
The only reason people think Asus are a high end manufacturer is their price and the truckloads of equipment they give to anyone with more than 10 subs on Youtube. Gigabyte or go home.Beaver M. - Saturday, May 2, 2020 - link
Agreed. Same with ASRock and their crappy customer support and massive USB issues.Gigabyte always tried to add important features. Remember when they added their "extra ounces" of copper? All other manufacturers whined that it doesnt do anything and Gigabyte should stop because its a "waste of resources". LOL!
Now they all do it because it makes the mainboard much more reliable.
Sure, they dont have the best OC boards, but in the last few years OC has become very niche, because you cant really OC CPUs well anymore, unless you want to use LN or custom liquid coolers.
Andrew LB - Sunday, May 10, 2020 - link
I've been building/repairing/upgrading computers for people for close to 30 years and I've had more problems with Gigabyte than any other current major brand. Abit was even worse but they're long gone. I'm willing to bet that those of you who say a company has bad customer service was due to you contacting them via e-mail. Pickup the phone next time and i bet it will go much easier.Best CS from my experience is EVGA.
taz-nz - Saturday, May 2, 2020 - link
To many board still don't have attached back plates, should be standard now.Nice to see gigabyte bring proper finned heatsink to Mid range board, pity so many other boards still have cosmetic lumps of aluminum, instead of proper VRM heatsinks, and worse that so many still choose to cover the those so called heatsinks with cosmetic plastic covers that only reduce airflow and hurt thermal performance more, while also interfering with large air cooler fitment.
Oxford Guy - Saturday, May 2, 2020 - link
"What's interesting is how similar the Z490 and Z390 chipsets are in terms of specifications, which adds the question of why Intel has opted for a new socket, on what is effectively a refresh of its 14 nm process node."Baffling is a better word than interesting.
If AMD weren't so competitive then it would make more sense to paint oneself into a corner even more.