The Intel Z590 Motherboard Overview: 50+ Motherboards Detailed
by Gavin Bonshor on January 19, 2021 10:15 AM ESTMSI MAG Z590 Tomahawk WIFI
The Tomahawk series has been well regarded as one of the most cost-effective boards when considering both features and price points. For Z590, MSI looks to have gone a slightly different route and equipped it towards the mid-range, with plenty of competitive controllers and specifications. The MSI MAG Z590 Tomahawk is advertised with a large 16-phase power delivery and follows a black and dark gray color scheme throughout. MSI has gone as far as numbering its M.2 heatsinks, which resembles a militaristic theme that is fitting, as it hails from its Arsenal gaming series.
The MSI MAG Z590 Tomahawk's features include two full-length PCIe slots, with one full-length PCIe 4.0 x16, a second full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Similar to its MPG series of boards, the Z590 Tomahawk WiFi has three M.2 slots, each with heatsinks, and includes one PCIe 4.0 x4 and two PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA slots. MSI splits up the location of the SATA ports, with four right-angled connectors in an X-shaped cutout on the PCB, with two straight-angled ports located at the bottom. All six of the SATA ports include support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. Memory support is impressive, with speeds of up to DDR4-5333 and up to 128 GB of capacity across four memory slots.
The MSI MAG Z590 Tomahawk WiFi includes one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. MSI includes a premium Intel pairing with its latest AX210 Wi-Fi 6E interface and a single I225-V 2.5 GbE controller for networking. Onboard audio is powered by an unspecified Realtek HD audio codec, with five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output included. Two video outputs include one DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0b. Finishing off the rear panel, which includes a pre-attached I/O shield, is a tiny BIOS Flashback button.
MSI has set an MSRP of $239 for the MAG Z590 Tomahawk WiFi, which is more than it was for the launch of Z490. Despite this, the Tomahawk is no longer a bridge between the entry-level and the mid-range; it's a solid mid-range model. It has plenty to offer for the price, including premium 2.5 GbE and Wi-Fi 6E networking, as well as three M.2 slots and USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C.
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lmcd - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
8 cores is plenty for this generation of memory bandwidth. The problem is that Intel's next gen will have "16" processors where 8 are full cores, while AMD will have a full 16 cores with all that bandwidth. This generation, Intel is competitive but late.rahvin - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
Is this an attempt to be funny?pman6 - Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - link
meh. show me the $80 b560 boards.this is overkill for me.
Geef - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
Why is Intel always behind the game with memory speeds? 3200 is just a basic speed nowadays. Its great if your running CAS 14 chips but not many are. Why haven't they set a speed up to 4000 or 5000? They can keep XMP going just fine but wouldn't it be better to have systems automatically go that fast if they can?Deicidium369 - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
JEDEC tops out at 3200 - the fastest OFFICIAL speed it 3200. I have Gskill DDR4 4133 on my Gigabyte Z390 / i9900Kand JEDEC speeds are the same for AMD and Intel
Duncan Macdonald - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
For most games the 5800x is the sweet spot due to only having one CPU chiplet so no communication between chiplets. The 5900 and 5950 with two chiplets lose on many games due to the cost of inter chiplet communications exceeding the benefits from the extra cores.The 5900 and 5950 are best in programs that can make good use of all the cores (eg some video editing programs). For any game player with a 5900 or 5950, it might well be possible to get higher game performance by limiting Windows to only the first chiplet (using the numproc boot parameter).
Makaveli - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
I agree with you however the 5800X is really overpriced right now. So when you only have to pay abit more for the 5900X its looks like a far better deal. I think once Rocket lake is out we should see a price correction on the 5800X so the time to buy those will be in March.yeeeeman - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
This....this is wasted resources IMO. There was no need to make another platform on 14nm when they have the 10th gen which is just fine. I mean, the 10900k/10700k are great CPUs still, even compared to 5000 Ryzen series, so I don't know...they should've focused the efforts on bringing Alder Lake and its successor platforms forward.Hope Pat will make a bit of order here and make the schedules and ambitions of Intel a bit more daring, cause Bob just...milked it like there is no tomorrow. Refreshes after refreshes and refreshes.
Makaveli - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
That's what happens when you have a finance guy running the company he is just going to keep the wheels turning and not be aggressive. The new guy is an engineer and I believe he will push the pace which is what Intel needs now.Oxford Guy - Thursday, January 21, 2021 - link
Well, the world really needed a stack of 15 boards from just one motherboard company, too.