Which Z490 for meets my needs?

Askeptic

n00b
Joined
Jul 31, 2011
Messages
27
Hello,

I am in the process of purchasing the last few parts for a new build. Like a lot of people, I can't find a 5900x on sale anywhere, so I am going to roll with the 10900k instead.

I am one of those people who won't use all the power in most cases, but enjoying building a PC every few years and knowing it is very capable. With that said, I am trying to choose a motherboard that best suits my needs. I only build every 4-5 yrs, so I am not very familiar with which boards better than others, hence reaching out to the gurus.

Parts -
10900k (I wont be manual overclocking. I go with the K version mainly for the "out of the box" OC)
RTX 3090
32 or 64 Gb RAM
At least two M.2 NVME 2280 (Key-M) slots
Good VRM (I know some cheaper Z490 boards are trash in this area)

The most important thing to me is reliability and as many rear USB ports I can get. I would of loved two USB 3 headers on the board, but not something I often see. I won't be overclocking the CPU any further than it comes out of the box.

I prefer Asus or MSI personally, but am open to Gigabyte. My budget is $150 - $325. I don't need to pay for stuff I don't want, but also do not want to save so much money I get a board that is known for issues or lack of power. The two I was eyeing but not sure about was the Asus Z490-E gaming (or -a for the white) & the MSI Unify which both are currently sitting around $300.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
I think either of those options would be fine. I've personally used the Asus Z490-G (mATX ROG board) and it was fine, and I've also used several generations of the Prime Pro boards. They all worked great for me.

I haven't used an MSI board in a while, but I've heard good things about the Unify boards.
 
Thanks man! That Z490-G mATX from Asus has nothing but high praise. I was seriously considering it but needed (wanted) more M.2 ports.

Sounds like either board will do the trick and the VRM should be good. May just come to which is cheaper.
 
I reviewed the GIGABYTE Z490 Aorus Master and had a pretty good experience with it. I can also recommend ASUS' Maximus XII Extreme, but it is well beyond the stated budget.
 
I have the MSI Z490 Unify. It's a good board, but only has 7 rear USB instead of Gigabyte's 9 rear USB.

Currently, the Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Master is $299.99 after rebate. The reviews are a little worrisome though.
 
I have the Gigabyte Vision G board and it's been rock solid for me so far.
 
Just shear curiosity, what do you need that amount of rear USB ports for?

In my case I have
2x Keyboard
1x Mouse
1x Arcade Stick
1x Xbox controler wifi adapter
1x 8bitdo controller
1x DAC
3x VR items

I only got everything on the board I have via PCIE cards.
 
I have the msi z490 unify, that's been great, no complaints, got it for $225 on cyber Monday. I was originally going to get the Tomohawk until I saw the deal on the Unify. After having an amd x470 Taichi, it was a very pleasant surprise. Very stable and just works.
 
Back
Top