The Intel Z590 Motherboard Overview: 50+ Motherboards Detailed
by Gavin Bonshor on January 19, 2021 10:15 AM ESTMSI MEG Z590I Unify
One of MSI's premium ranges is the Unify, with subtle and classic all-black aesthetics that omit integrated RGB lighting. The smallest of its trio of Unify boards is the MSI MEG Z590I Unify with its mini-ITX form factor, with plenty of premium features, including a 10-layer PCB. It uses all-black heatsinks, with a black dragon embossed onto the rear panel cover, and has a combination M.2 and chipset heatsink.
Due to its mini-ITX form factor, the board has a single full-length PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, but it is also equipped with two M.2 slots, one operating at PCIe 4.0 x4 and another with support for PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA drives. Along the right-hand side is four straight-angled SATA ports, which sit next to two memory slots with support for up to DDR4-5600 memory and up to 64 GB of capacity. MSI is advertising a direct 8+1 phase power delivery, with premium 90 A power stages throughout, with a single 8-pin 12 V ATX CPU power input delivering power to the CPU.
On the rear panel, the MSI MEG Z590I Unify includes two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports with two mini-DisplayPort video inputs, two USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. Powering the networking side is an Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller and Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi, while the three 3.5 mm audio jacks are driven by a Realtek ALC1220P HD audio codec. Finishing off the rear panel is a clear CMOS button and a pair of video outputs, including one HDMI 2.0b and one DisplayPort 1.4. output.
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Gastec - Sunday, January 24, 2021 - link
Well, if you don't understand these prices, then you are not a good consumer. The more you buy the more we profit! It just works! Be a good chap and CONSUME!edzieba - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
ASRock ol' buddy ol' pal, you're breaking my heart here with the lack of SFF boards! The Z590I Vision D looks intriguing with the external DP injector for Thunderbolt transport, though.Dumping the ASMedia USB controller is fantastic news, this looks like a good platform for me to move onto.
RealBeast - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
Nice summary, although my eyes are still watering from a couple of the top model prices. ;)shabby - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
Yup pretty funny, i have to pay almost 1200 to get 10g network, thanks for the laughs asus.Kuifje76 - Thursday, January 21, 2021 - link
Have a look at the Gigabyte Aorus Master Z590, it has 10g network :)Beaver M. - Thursday, January 21, 2021 - link
Not for ASRock boards, since the ASMedia USB controllers were much more reliable and stable than the ones on chipset. Only an ASRock, though, and have been for almost 10 years now. IDK what they are doing.Extend a cable on a chipset ASRock board USB port or use a longer cable, and you will get random disconnects. No matter the cable quality.
Silver5urfer - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
Can you guys please do an article like this for Z590 and X570 with Ryzen 5000 ?www.anandtech.com/show/11182/how-to-get-ryzen-working-on-windows-7-x64
If we search for "X570 Windows 7" on youtube there's a video showing MSI Ace X570 able to run it with Ryzen 3000. And I saw one person on a forum with notebooks where his Z490 Dark mobo was able to run Win7 except for the AX200 WiFi. Every piece of the board got the Drivers for the Win7, a small observation Z490 has ASMedia controller so it works with Win7 but this Z590 damn has that native bs meaning Intel will not provide the drivers for that USB3.2 for Win7..sad
Z590 Dark is coming I hope it's not this BS expensive, wtf is $1000 for a mobo for the dead end platform, MSI and ASUS insane pricing, esp MSI for it's Godlike having that tag, No matter what EVGA Dark will be the king in the OC and better support too.
In before someone reeeing over Win7. nope. Not interested in the bs talk, Win10 is a privacy nightmare even if I use WUB, O&O, Defender Blocker, WinAero, AeroGlass, Classic Shell and more it remains a stupid OS because of permanent Beta status. The 6 month releases cycle is complete BS. And on top unwanted unstable crap updates. I know how to get a Win10 stable with Enterprise and other modifications to remove useless components and unwanted bs like Defender etc. It never beats Win7 in UX and weight of the OS, too much bloatware esp that Xbox crap comes.
JfromImaginstuff - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
Well then, install linux.Also it will work on windows 7, there are generic drivers that will allow the card to function, but eh function well is a different issue altogether.
Also, if you're not using linux and hating on windows like this and your not tied to the Mac ecosystem, give Linux a go, you might like it, plenty of choice if one doesn't quite meet your fancy. Just please don't use win 7, for your own online safety and stuff........
Silver5urfer - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
Yeah Linux will be installed But I want a proper Stable Windows. Why do you think online safety ? Do you know that MS provides support, extended support updates are available plus even the best you can choose which of them to install and even have a pack made which removes all telemetry garbage CU updates that M$ pushes onto Win7, and with 8.1 also you can select and update what you want unlike Win10 BS. Oh and gaming with Proton on Linux I know but I want modding and all proper settings that I can enjoy for all the old fantastic games of the past decade. If there are any good games in future with DX12 only I will install Win10 Ent with all modifications. But that's not what I wanted, which only Win7 gets.Also on a side note, no top SKU has 8 SATA ports WTF ? Not even Extreme, Godlike, Xtreme. There's only one which is EVGA Z590 Dark. Stupid bs this is from all the OEMs esp the X570 got all the x8 SATA ports for top mobos.
supdawgwtfd - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
If you want all that then use windows.Expecting support and help on a discontinued product is ridiculous.
If you don't like the telemetry you know you can block it all with a firewall right?