ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming

Black Haru · May 20, 2020

Our first look at ASUS's Z490 lineup, the ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming features a powerful VRM, optional active VRM cooling, lots of connectivity, and of course some killer good looks. If you are searching for a board that can do it all, the ASUS ROG STRIX Z490-E Gaming is a good place to start.

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Assimilator · May 20, 2020

Interesting that ASUS can get away with 50A power stages and no VRM fan and only hit VRM temps of ~70°C, while competitors need 90A power stages or 50A power stages + fan to get similarly acceptable thermals. IMO ASUS should get a point in the + column for this plain better engineering.

In unrelated news, I have a massive amount of respect for the Intel engineers who somehow manage to keep squeezing performance out of 14nm. Whatever Intel is paying them, it ain't nearly enough.

EarthDog · May 20, 2020

I saw this from the ASRock boards to Gigabyte.... (though the latter uses 90A and no fan, the former 50/60A and fans).

meatwar · May 20, 2020

Another new generation...or not, and still no angled ATX, USB...as standard, lets see with 12VO when it comes.

Nihilus · May 21, 2020

Mother board reviews. Neat.

DarthFK · May 23, 2020

Nice review. The no-fan VRM testing is self explanatory. The prices however... I would be looking forward for reviews for $200 or under to understand what's the minimum VRM board that could OC 10900k and consequently everything under that CPU. A sort of a price/performance value board. Hope you can do that.

Sabishii Hito · Jul 11, 2020

DarthFK said:
Nice review. The no-fan VRM testing is self explanatory. The prices however... I would be looking forward for reviews for $200 or under to understand what's the minimum VRM board that could OC 10900k and consequently everything under that CPU. A sort of a price/performance value board. Hope you can do that.

Check some of Buildzoid’s videos on YouTube (Actually Hardcore Overclocking channel) as he goes in depth on the VRMs of most Z490 boards and often groups them by price.

DarthFK · Jul 11, 2020

Sabishii Hito said:
Check some of Buildzoid’s videos on YouTube (Actually Hardcore Overclocking channel) as he goes in depth on the VRMs of most Z490 boards and often groups them by price.

Yeah, I already have, as well as the Hardware Unboxed, who also did some testing specifically in that segment.

Th3pwn3r · Jul 19, 2020

My main reason for wanting this board over some others is the bios flashback button when something goes wrong

Tom Sunday · Dec 29, 2020

Looking for Mobo deal at the computer show this past weekend the boys from Varanasi told me that certain Z490 buyers have been experiencing problems in getting their LAN to work. ASUS cannot help and is basically all talk. Not even a new BIOS update, driver hotfixes and new cables will help. Even INTEL updated drivers are not working. It appears that there are problems with the I225-V (LAN Chip) and Asus wants to keep this issue hushed. Simply this being a hardware problem and no software or driver updates can permanently fix it. What has been done to date is only bandaging the problem. Many new Mobo purchaser's in frustration (disconnected their onboard NIC) and installed a new PCIE NIC and gotten it to work without a hitch! But its another $50 or so out of pocket to simply forego valuable downtime, promised driver fixes, hanging on the telephone and difficult RMA's. Will the new Z590 Mobo's in early 2021 get a new NIC chip? Anyway, the best advice is probably to stay away from purchasing any (2020) Z490 leftover boards using the embedded I225-V Ethernet controller and buy in a few weeks time a Z590 MOBO. Any thoughts or experience on this delimma?

EarthDog · Dec 29, 2020

Tom Sunday said:
Looking for Mobo deal at the computer show this past weekend the boys from Varanasi told me that certain Z490 buyers have been experiencing problems in getting their LAN to work. ASUS cannot help and is basically all talk. Not even a new BIOS update, driver hotfixes and new cables will help. Even INTEL updated drivers are not working. It appears that there are problems with the I225-V (LAN Chip) and Asus wants to keep this issue hushed. Simply this being a hardware problem and no software or driver updates can permanently fix it. What has been done to date is only bandaging the problem. Many new Mobo purchaser's in frustration (disconnected their onboard NIC) and installed a new PCIE NIC and gotten it to work without a hitch! But its another $50 or so out of pocket to simply forego valuable downtime, promised driver fixes, hanging on the telephone and difficult RMA's. Will the new Z590 Mobo's in early 2021 get a new NIC chip? Anyway, the best advice is probably to stay away from purchasing any (2020) Z490 leftover boards using the embedded I225-V Ethernet controller and buy in a few weeks time a Z590 MOBO. Any thoughts or experience on this delimma?

Random thread for this post/question...

Not sure what the new boards will have. Likely something updated if it's that big a problem. The boards I have these are all still working last I checked.

System Name	Firelance.
Processor	Threadripper 3960X
Motherboard	ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming
Cooling	IceGem 360 + 6x Arctic Cooling P12
Memory	8x 16GB Patriot Viper DDR4-3200 CL16
Video Card(s)	MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Ventus 2X OC
Storage	2TB WD SN850X (boot), 4TB Crucial P3 (data)
Display(s)	Dell S3221QS(A) (32" 38x21 60Hz) + 2x AOC Q32E2N (32" 25x14 75Hz)
Case	Enthoo Pro II Server Edition (Closed Panel) + 6 fans
Power Supply	Fractal Design Ion+ 2 Platinum 760W
Mouse	Logitech G604
Keyboard	Razer Pro Type Ultra
Software	Windows 10 Professional x64

System Name	ROG
Processor	i5-11400F
Motherboard	ROG Strix Z490-H Gaming
Cooling	Be Quiet Pure Rock (BK009)
Memory	Kingston Fury RENEGADE KF3600C16D4/16GX (2x16Gb)
Video Card(s)	MSI GTX1060 6Gb AERO ITX OC
Storage	NVMe WD Black SN750 ; Samsung EVO 840 SSD and Mechanical TBs...
Display(s)	iiyama Black Hawk G-Master GB2745HSU
Case	Cooler Master HAF X (Asus Front Panel, Icy Dock MB971SP-B, Pioneer BD-RW)
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha DTS AV, Creative DTT2200
Power Supply	Corsair RM1000
Mouse	SteelSeries Rival
Keyboard	MS Sidewinder X6
Software	Windows 10/11

System Name	Allaround
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600x
Motherboard	MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
Cooling	Cougar Helor 240mm AIO with 2150rpm Gentle Typhoons
Memory	Adata XPG 16Gb 3600CL17
Video Card(s)	PowerColor Red Devil RX5700 - flashed to 5700XT vBIOS
Storage	WD SN750 1Tb nvme
Display(s)	AOC 24" 1080p 144Hz
Case	Fractal Design Define C
Power Supply	EVGA 850 P2
Mouse	Pictek T7
Keyboard	Corsair k70 RGB low profile
Software	Win10Pro
Benchmark Scores	No idea

System Name	Allaround
Processor	Ryzen 5 3600x
Motherboard	MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
Cooling	Cougar Helor 240mm AIO with 2150rpm Gentle Typhoons
Memory	Adata XPG 16Gb 3600CL17
Video Card(s)	PowerColor Red Devil RX5700 - flashed to 5700XT vBIOS
Storage	WD SN750 1Tb nvme
Display(s)	AOC 24" 1080p 144Hz
Case	Fractal Design Define C
Power Supply	EVGA 850 P2
Mouse	Pictek T7
Keyboard	Corsair k70 RGB low profile
Software	Win10Pro
Benchmark Scores	No idea

System Name	(2008) Dell XPS 730x H2C
Processor	Intel Extreme QX9770 @ 3.8GHz (No OC)
Motherboard	Dell LGA 775 (Dell Propiatary)
Cooling	Dell AIO Ceramic Water Cooling (Dell Propiatary)
Memory	Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB (4 x 4) DDR3
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 980ti 6GB (2016 ebay-used)
Storage	(2) WD 1TB Velociraptor & (1) WD 2TB Black
Display(s)	Alienware 34" AW3420DW (Amazon Warehouse)
Case	Stock Dell 730x with "X" Side Panel (65 pounds fully decked out)
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-FI Titanium & Corsair SP2500 Speakers
Power Supply	PSU: 1000 Watt (Dell Propiatary)
Mouse	Alienware AW610M (Amazon Warehouse)
Keyboard	Corsair K95 XT (Amazon Warehouse)
Software	Windows 7 Ultimate & Alienware FX Lighting
Benchmark Scores	No Benchmarking & Overclocking