The Intel Z590 Motherboard Overview: 50+ Motherboards Detailed
by Gavin Bonshor on January 19, 2021 10:15 AM ESTBiostar Z590I Valkyrie
Another from its new Biostar's Valkyrie series is a premium mini-ITX model. The Biostar Z590I Valkyrie follows a similar design to its larger ATX-sized counterpart with gold and pink accents on black heatsinks. The Z590I Valkyrie includes support for DDR4-5000 memory, 2.5 GbE networking, as well as dual M.2 slots, and four SATA ports.
Located along the bottom of the Z590 Valkyrie is a single full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, with two M.2 slots, one operating at PCIe 4.0 x4 and a second PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA slot. The Valkyrie has four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. When using a SATA based drive in the second M.2 slot, it does share bandwidth with the SATA slots. Biostar also includes a Key-E M.2 slot, which is populated with an Intel CNVi wireless interface, although there is no telling which CNVi it is based on the specifications we have. The board includes two memory slots that can hold up to 64 GB, with supported speeds up to DDR4-5000.
On the rear panel, the Biostar Z590I Valkyrie includes one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, two USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, three USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. To the far-left hand side are a DisplayPort and HDMI 2.0 video output pairing, with a PS/2 combo keyboard and mouse port. For networking, there's a single Ethernet port driven by a Realtek RTL8125B 2.5 Gb controller, with two unspecified Wi-Fi antenna ports at the right. Finishing off the rear panel is three 3.5 mm audio jacks powered by a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec, while it also includes a pre-attached I/O shield.
At the time of writing, Biostar hasn't given us any indication on pricing.
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WaltC - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
If my x570 Aorus Master fan is "active", it has sure fooled me...;) It is not audible.Makaveli - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
I'm on a Asus Prime X570-Pro for just over a year now and I've not heard the chipset fan once totally overblown issue. Drama queens!Samus - Thursday, January 21, 2021 - link
I think it's impressive Intel kept a PCIe4.0 chipset down to 6w TDP. Definitely doesn't need active cooling.Slash3 - Sunday, January 24, 2021 - link
The chipset isn't Gen4.Spunjji - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
Not surprised if they're expecting users to overclock chips that will exceed 200W at stock settings. 😬YB1064 - Thursday, January 21, 2021 - link
Is it just me or are the MSRPs listed utterly insane? Intel has been relegated to a poor man's AMD, yet these crazy prices? As they say, a fool and his money are soon parted.Samus - Saturday, January 23, 2021 - link
I don't think it's actually the chipset costs that are inflating the price of the boards, but the ridiculous power circuit and components required to deliver over 200w of power to the CPU's in order for these board makers to take advantage of PL2.fundead - Wednesday, August 4, 2021 - link
I thought the active fan is for the 10 gig networking chip. It is facing that heatsink which is right next to the vrm heatsink.damianrobertjones - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
Looking at the prices, I'm really, REALLY glad that I bought an AORUS Z490 Elite (£154, new) from eBay. I just don't understand the prices.aidan - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
I've just done exactly the same, no regrets whatsoever