News Asus ROG Z490-I specs revealed

Intresting specs:

• 8+2 phase VRM
• Active VRM cooling
• HDMI 2.0a + DP 1.4
• 2x m.2 2280 "at top"
• Wifi 6 AX201 + Bluetooth 5.1 + 2.5 gig ethernet
• "13" usb ports
• No TB3
• Up to DDR4 4800

 

[ermac318]

So other really interesting thing here is that there are two high-end mATX boards, which is a good sign for fans of mATX.

EDIT: I say "high end" but they don't support SLI. Still, they have USB Type E front connector, 2.5gb ethernet, dual M.2, etc. So still pretty good.

 

[manoueltiger]

Meh....
Just one thing !
Z490 will be more expensive than z390 and you must buy them for the new intel cpu that bring nothing new.
The other issue with this generation is the TDP, unfortunately these cpu need a lot of power

I think this generation of cpu is very bad. You should stay on 9th generation if you make a SFF build with a high end cpu

 

[ParallaxStax]

Meh....
Just one thing !
Z490 will be more expensive than z390 and you must buy them for the new intel cpu that bring nothing new.
The other issue with this generation is the TDP, unfortunately these cpu need a lot of power

I think this generation of cpu is very bad. You should stay on 9th generation if you make a SFF build with a high end cpu

The best (in terms of power consumption) cpu for SFF right now is probally the 3700X. 8 cores/16 threads at only 65W TDP is amazing. Hopefully ryzen 4000 has 12 cores at 65 watts.

 

[IntoxicatedPuma]

The best (in terms of power consumption) cpu for SFF right now is probally the 3700X. 8 cores/16 threads at only 65W TDP is amazing. Hopefully ryzen 4000 has 12 cores at 65 watts.

Fortunately they already do on 3rd gen with the R9 3900 (OEM). Many boards allow you to set a configurable TDP to 65W so you can get a 3900X at 65w that way as well (with some performance loss)

 

[Yugo555]

Z490 is actually presenting nothing newer than 390. I don’t think that people would buy it just for higher RAM frequency which is pointless with current Intel CPUs. I personally wouldn’t invest any money on Intel unless they achieve stg better than 7nm and 65w TDP. It is just a money trap.

 

[ermac318]

We can debate the merits of Intel vs. AMD but I would suggest doing it in another thread. The chips aren't out yet and we don't know how good or bad they will be. Some people are chasing single-thread performance over multiple cores, and for that Intel 14nm is still top dog at the moment. Also remember than 9th gen CPUs are not 95W CPUs but much higher; the rumored 120W TDP of some Comet Lake chips just means their sustained clock will be higher in certain situations which aren't really relevant to enthusiast systems anyway (Because most of us set PL1 and PL2 to hours in length anyway).

And to say Z490 presents nothing over Z390 is presumptuous. It's also disproved by these leaked specs (if accurate). Are there any Z390 mITX boards with dual top-mounted M.2 slots? Any with 2.5 Gb Ethernet? Any with WiFi 6?

Lets wait to see the boards before we start writing anything off.

 

[rcodi]

Active VRM heatsink ? Just charge us more and build a larger passive solution, nobody is buying these boards to meet a budget.

 

[tinyitx]

For the Z490-I Gaming, it says two M.2 at top. I wonder how they find space to accommodate 2 M.2 SSDs? Could it, somehow, they are stacked? This could be an improvement as an M.2 on back usually just does not have much ventilation.

 

[rfarmer]

For the Z490-I Gaming, it says two M.2 at top. I wonder how they find space to accommodate 2 M.2 SSDs? Could it, somehow, they are stacked? This could be an improvement as an M.2 on back usually just does not have much ventilation.

I was wondering that too, I really hope it isn't a SO-DIMM module like the x570 Crosshair.

 

[Revenant]

Hmmm.....knowing how Asus has been doing things, it's probably actually a big 4 phase with doublers. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not as good as a true 8.

 

[tinyitx]

I was wondering that too, I really hope it isn't a SO-DIMM module like the x570 Crosshair.

Is that SO-DIMM module design a bad thing? How so? I am not familiar with it. Pls elaborate.

 

[rfarmer]

Is that SO-DIMM module design a bad thing? How so? I am not familiar with it. Pls elaborate.

It's the height, over 80mm making it bad for SFF.

 

[manoueltiger]

We can debate the merits of Intel vs. AMD but I would suggest doing it in another thread. The chips aren't out yet and we don't know how good or bad they will be. Some people are chasing single-thread performance over multiple cores, and for that Intel 14nm is still top dog at the moment. Also remember than 9th gen CPUs are not 95W CPUs but much higher; the rumored 120W TDP of some Comet Lake chips just means their sustained clock will be higher in certain situations which aren't really relevant to enthusiast systems anyway (Because most of us set PL1 and PL2 to hours in length anyway).

And to say Z490 presents nothing over Z390 is presumptuous. It's also disproved by these leaked specs (if accurate). Are there any Z390 mITX boards with dual top-mounted M.2 slots? Any with 2.5 Gb Ethernet? Any with WiFi 6?

Lets wait to see the boards before we start writing anything off.

That’s why I’m telling this...
I don’t want to create a debate, I’m warning you.
Motherboards appeared for 2 days and tech spot told that MB will be up 70% more expensive ... youhouuuu

and I don’t have plutonium for a new intel pc

 

[ParallaxStax]

Pictures have been leaked!

 

[ermac318]

Neat! So good news:

• There is no DIMM.2 card sticking off the board. They must be doing double-stacked M.2s under that heat spreader, which does say on top of it "DUAL M.2" so they probably have one header going East-West and the other going West-East at different z-heights.
• There are 3 fan headers - two at the top and one at the very bottom in between what look like HD Audio and USB2.0 headers.
• There's Temp Sensor headers in the bottom left!
• There's a Type-E USB (USB-C Front IO) Header! In addition to a 19-pin USB3 header.
• There's both 12v and 5v RGB headers.
• Top right has what look like Debug LEDs.
• Tons of rear-USB
• What looks like Bios Flashback on the rear as well.

Bad news:

• No Toslink (unless there's an optical/3.5 combo jack), poor rear audio in general.
• Not sure if there's a Type-C on the rear I/O (can't tell). Maybe there's one below the Network port?
• No Thunderbolt, nor any Thunderbolt header on the board it seems.
• Really tall heatsinks all around the socket that may cause problems with air coolers.

 

[tinyitx]

Interesting to see various manufacturers use different onboard M.2 design.
One of the 2 Asrock Z490 ITX manages to put two M.2 socket side by side on the top.
(https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/asrock-z490-motherboards-revealed.13108/)

Now, Asus uses this 'one-on-top-of-the-other' stacked approach.

MSI's is here:-

https://bbs.nga.cn/read.php?tid=21533167&rand=231

Gigabyte's is here:-

供电强化、强化网络和扩展接口：技嘉Z490四大家族全部新品配置用料前瞻_主板_什么值得买

昨天业内曝光了即将到来的技嘉Z490新主板，一共多达14款，不过只有四款旗舰谍照被曝光，而其余版本并没有看到。不过没有不透风的墙，尽管有保密协议束缚

post.smzdm.com

Looks like these two use the traditional design (one one top and the other one on the mobo bottom). Pics look blurry but it looks like that to me.

And, seems most use tall heatsink + beefy rear IO shield. I hope my TR SA130 can fit onto the Asus one. Read that these mobos will hit retail by end of May.

 

[Glint]

Optimum Tech shows off the Asus Z490-I in his most recent video:

 

[smitty2k1]

Anandtech has a Z490 roundup: https://www.anandtech.com/show/15723/the-intel-z490-motherboard-overview

My god the mITX motherboards are all going to be expensive.

 

[ParallaxStax]

My god the mITX moterboards are all going to be expensive.

Just like the X570 ITX motherboards. This seems like a trend. *sigh*