The Intel Z490 Overview: 44+ Motherboards Examined
by Gavin Bonshor on April 30, 2020 10:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE Z490 Vision G
Eagled eyed users will see that a regular mainstay of GIGABYTE's motherboard series is missing from the launch of Z490, the Gaming SLI. Rebranded with a new look and higher-end feature set to boot, the new GIGABYTE Z490 Vision G adds some class to its gaming-focused models with a very clean and crisp silver and black aesthetic. Some of its core features include a 12-phase power delivery for the CPU, three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, and an Intel 2.5 G Ethernet controller.
Using Intersil 50 A power stages for the power delivery, the GIGABYTE Z490 Vision G is using a 12+1 design which is driven by an ISL69269 PWM controller. There are three full-length PCIe 3.0 slots which run at x16, x8/x8, and x8/x8/+4, with two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. For storage, there are three PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slots, with six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. Only two of the three M.2 slots come with a heat sink, with the design very futuristic and elegant with its silver and black heatsinks, with Vision branding and purple accents. A total of four memory slots provide support for up to DDR4-4400 and can accommodate up to 128 GB.
On the rear panel is a single Ethernet port powered by an Intel I225 2.5 G Ethernet controller, with five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output which are powered by a Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio codec.
Still fundamentally a Gaming SLI board in all but name and design, it caters to users looking for a more modest cost, but with striking and natural silver and black aesthetics, and purple edging which makes it pop. The GIGABYTE Z490 Vision G has an MSRP of $199 which puts it in a highly competitive entry-level to the mid-range segment, and for the price looks a solid option.
This page will be updated when more information becomes available to us.
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plonk420 - Sunday, May 3, 2020 - link
noice! thanks for the VRM information! amusingly (to myself), i look at VRM stuff before i look at I/O :Dkwinz - Monday, May 4, 2020 - link
I genuinely don't know why this new chipset exists. It bringa virtually nothing new. DMI 3.0 in a new chipset is a disgrace.Oxford Guy - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
"I genuinely don't know why this new chipset exists."Smoke and mirrors is fun?
Landfills are hungry?
mrvco - Monday, May 4, 2020 - link
Gotta keep those mobo mfgs busy I guess. Hopefully Intel’s Groundhog Day antics don’t distract them too much from the B550 boards I’m waiting patiently on.MadAd - Monday, May 4, 2020 - link
Not again, yet another tired selection of ATX clunkers, with a few mandatory ITX thrown in .When on earth are we/the industry going to move on from this prehistoric outdated form format!AdditionalPylons - Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - link
Very glad to see 2.5GbE finally becoming more common. Hopefully this convinces network switch manufacturers to get out some cheaper 2.5+ GbE switches soon.DarkAndHungryGod - Thursday, May 7, 2020 - link
The Intel Smart Sound support is duplicated in the first table, Intel Chipset Comparison, and there is one difference between both entries.duploxxx - Friday, May 8, 2020 - link
conclusion: an amazing high count of motherboards for a wasted CPU generation….who ever believes that this is a platform to buy think twice. Knowing Intel I would not fall into the Multi generationCPU / chipset support..... i am sure the super turbo will look nice from benchmark perspective….
nonoverclock - Thursday, May 21, 2020 - link
I'm upgrading from an i7 4770 and want to get the latest, so for me, I'm quite interested in this gen.joshw351 - Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - link
I like how these mobo manufacturers think they can charge 1k for a motherboard when you can throw a 150-200$ waterblock from EK on a regular mobo.