These take “robust” to a whole different level.Thank you for signing up to Tom's Hardware. Its VRM isn’t as strong as the other boards in the test and it’s perhaps a BIOS update away from feeling really polished.
Does any Z490 motherboard have a genuinely better VRM?I cannot pretend that this makes any sense from a rational standpoint, y'know, one where money actually exists and comes in finite amounts. You will receive a verification email shortly.Perhaps the only drawback, and honestly it’s hard to even call it that when the differences are so small, was that performance tended to trail the pack in many cases. One of the areas the Intel Z490 chipset might be seen as lacking in is official PCIe 4.0 support, something which is present on AMD’s competing X570 platform. Its Godlike boards have really cemented the idea of the ultra-enthusiast motherboard which cost, if you'll pardon the redacted expletive, f*** you money. This color OLED display is used to display system information, including CPU temperature and speed, even showing BIOS flash status and error messages. This is a great value add for those trying to push the limits or for those who may want to know exactly how much voltage is going through each of those power domains, since software is notorious for being inaccurate.
For the money, it’s clear the Master is a lot of motherboard.
If the second (middle) slot is not in use, the primary slot (top) receives all 16 lanes, otherwise it will split to x8/x8. Everything you get with the Maximus XII Extreme is useful for a super high-end Comet Lake build, from the extra fan controller, DIMM.2 storage expansion, to the Thunderbolt card. The power delivery system is something that's going to get seriously stretched by the Comet Lake architecture, and with 16 phases and 90A Smart Power Stage the Godlike has been designed to maintain a steady supply no matter what the Core i9 10900K wants to draw through it. Another top board from MSI, the Z490 Ace looks great with its subtle gold highlights and metallic elements. This includes ground and read points for Vcore, VccSA, VccIO, and DRAM. We’re not dealing with quad channel memory or a ton of PCIe lanes, but these monstrous ~$800 motherboards have everything else thrown at them. The Asus ROG boards have always been high-end offerings—though there are lower-spec options here in this guide too—but I do feel that MSI has been the enabler. The performance of the Taichi was interesting. Due to this overbuilding, all of these boards are capable of overclocking the i9-10900K using sub-ambient cooling methods as well.
Don't necessarily let that put you off, it’s still a board we’d be proud to own. If you are using more than three M.2 modules or plan on moving to next-gen CPUs and PCIe 4 based NVMe drives, the M.2 expander is a nice value add to the included accessories. MSI includes applications designed for a variety of functions, including RGB lighting control, system monitoring, overclocking and more. The mirrored power arrangement uses Intersil ISL6929 Digital PWM controllers (8+1) that feed 16 90A Intersil ISL99390 smart power stages and 16 Titanium chokes. However, users will have to wait for PCIe 4.0-capable CPUs from Intel side in order to utilize that bandwidth on this board. After the arbitrarily priced £777 X570 Godlike, Asus has obviously decided it has carte blanche to charge whatever it likes.And it does an incredible job with the power you give it too.
Below is a complete list from left to right.Get instant access to breaking news, in-depth reviews and helpful tips.While other boards have capable VRMs, all three of these models (and the Aqua) go overboard implementing some of the most robust power delivery sections for this platform. Join us as we take a close look.
The top M.2 socket is easily accessible via two screws, but in order to access the bottom two M.2 sockets, the entire plate (four screws) has to be removed.
Dragon Center does a good job of combining functions into one utility while the Nahimic software worked well adjusting the system audio. The brushed-aluminum finish extends to the PCIe area as well, with the large shrouds doubling as heatsinks for the M.2 modules and chipset hidden below. The ROG Maximus XII Extreme will be Asus’ flagship Z490 motherboard.