The Intel Z490 Overview: 44+ Motherboards Examined
by Gavin Bonshor on April 30, 2020 10:00 AM ESTMSI MEG Z490 Unify
Coming later on during the X570 product cycle, MSI debuted the Unify series catering to enthusiasts and gamers with an all-black aesthetic and improved power delivery. Now a staple range in its arsenal, the MSI MEG Z490 Unify is part of its MEG range of enthusiast and premium desktop models. It includes an RGB-less all-black design, with a 16-phase power delivery for the CPU, three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, and a Realtek 2.5 G Ethernet controller.
Looking at the design of the MSI MEG Z490 Unify, it has a regimented all-black design with no RGB LEDs for users that don't care for flashy styling. It has an elegant MSI Dragon embossed onto the rear panel cover, with black metallic heatsinks, on a black PCB. For expansion cards, there are three full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which operate at x16, x8/x8, and x8/x8+4, with two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. A total of three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots each with heatsinks, and four SATA ports make up the storage, with four memory slots with support for up to 128 GB of DDR4-4800 memory. It uses a beefy 16-phase power delivery for the CPU, with ISL based 90 A power stages, with two 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power inputs.
While it has an enthusiast-level flavor, it has plenty on the rear panel for gamers and content creators. The rear panel has a single Realtek RTL8125B 2.5 G Ethernet port, connectors for the Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 and BT 5.1 wireless interface, and a BIOS Flashback and CMOS reset button pairing. There 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 two USB 2.0 ports. For onboard audio, the Z490 Unify is using a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec which powers the five 3.5 mm audio jacks and the S/PDIF optical output.
The MSI MEG Z490 Unify represents its enthusiast Z490 product stack. With a Realtek 2.5 G Ethernet controller, Wi-Fi 6 support and three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, it has plenty for users to sink their teeth into that are looking for a more modest and simplistic design. The large 16-phase power delivery will please users looking to push Intel 10th generation Comet Lake desktop processors through overclocking, and its design makes it one of the best-looking motherboards on the Z490 chipset without RGB LEDs. At present MSI hasn't provided pricing information.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
52 Comments
View All Comments
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.