The Intel Z590 Motherboard Overview: 50+ Motherboards Detailed
by Gavin Bonshor on January 19, 2021 10:15 AM ESTASUS Prime Z590-A
ASUS's Prime series of models have been around for multiple generations, and it's designed to offer users high-performance, with elegantly light-themed aesthetics. The ASUS Prime Z590-A ticks both of these boxes with its stunning aluminum themed design, with holographic styling on the rear panel cover and chipset heatsink. ASUS is advertising a 16-phase (14+2) power delivery and includes three M.2 slots.
The Prime Z590-A includes three full-length PCIe slots, with the top two operating at PCIe 4.0 x16 and x8/x8, with one operating at PCIe 3.0 x4. In between the two full-length slots at the bottom is a half-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot. For storage, the board has one PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot, with two PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA M.2 slots, and six right-angled SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. Only two out of three of the M.2 slots include a heatsink, with the middle slot reliant on good passive airflow. Prime by name, Prime by nature, as it includes a 14+2 phase power delivery with DrMOS power stages, with a large silver power delivery heatsinks and a pair of 12 V ATX CPU power inputs, one 8-pin and one 4-pin.
ASUS has included plenty of connectivity options, including a USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, three USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and four USB 2.0 ports. Networking options are limited to an Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller, while an unspecified HD audio codec powers the five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output. Users looking to benefit from Intel's integrated HD graphics can do so with a pair of video outputs, including one DisplayPort and one HDMI.
The ASUS Prime Z590-A looks set to cost $336, which is where mid-ranged Z590 models are expected to sit. It offers a variety of features and premium controllers, including three M.2 slots, USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, and an Intel 2.5 GbE controller. It's not a bad price, but pricing between the time of writing and release could differ slightly.
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James5mith - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
Awesome, Multi-GbE this generation! Remind me again which company sells Multi-GbE switches for less than $20/port?Tilmitt - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
We live in joyful hope.dtexo - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/compar...AX210 doesn’t seem to be CNVi, but PCIe+USB
dtexo - Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - link
Same with Killer Wi-Fi card(s)https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/produc...
Oxford Guy - Thursday, January 21, 2021 - link
So Intel can marry its "Killer" ethernet port to its skull-bearing SSDs for maximum performance in Edge.Harry Lloyd - Thursday, January 21, 2021 - link
The price of the PRIME Z590-A cannot be right. That has always been the fully-featured variant of an entry-level Z-chipset model. The Z490-A costs just over 200 $ now. Is this because of the VRM setup? Who needs 16 phases on a board like this? You will not buy this for extreme overclocking anyway.All these ASUS prices seem ridiculous.
Targon - Thursday, January 21, 2021 - link
And I thought the X570 chipset boards were a bit crazy when it comes to prices, these are off the rails on the crazy train! I am all for having a POST code display, but OLED screens to see on the motherboard what this or that is also seems like a waste of money. If you can get the machine to POST in the first place, going to the BIOS to get data about what is going on with this or that is enough. A waterblock for those who plan to use liquid cooling will also add to the price, no question, and it isn't a bad idea, but some of these other things that just add to the price without adding functionality is what I have a problem with.PaulHoule - Friday, January 22, 2021 - link
Ugh.I've never found motherboard reviews that helpful and the last article I read on this site makes me feel worse about it because now I know the performance of a system I build might depend more on the turbo behavior of the motherboard than on the CPU.
I've often found that getting a motherboard is a crap shoot and frequently you find that a particular motherboard has limitations on what you can do with the PCI lanes, or a component that had 35 db of noise for the reviewer has 50 db of noise for me and so forth. I see that $1800 motherboard and I ask myself, "do they make enough of these that they really know that the analog audio path is clean?" and such.
Last time I built a system I had to replace about half of the components at least once to get something I was happy with.
These days I'm inclined to go to a system builder just to have somebody to RMA it to, but if reviews were useful I might go back to building a system myself.
Ghostline91 - Tuesday, January 26, 2021 - link
How's the Biostar Z590 board? It looks like they're going back to more high-end specs and this one might be a good one to try out. When will we see reviews?vinicici22 - Wednesday, January 27, 2021 - link
do you guys know if the z590-a rog strix out yet? or it's just already sold out on every sites?