NZXT Announces the N7 Z590 Motherboard

[btarunr]

NZXT, a leading designer of computer hardware, software, and services for the PC gaming community, today announces the release of the NZXT N7 Z590 motherboard, their latest Intel-based ATX motherboard with both the features and seamless aesthetic that builders love.

The NZXT N7 Z590 brings the sleek design and simplified building experience to Intel's newest chipset, supporting Intel's 11th generation Rocket Lake CPUs, PCIe gen 4, and the latest wireless connectivity standards which includes Wi-Fi 6e and Bluetooth V5.1. Community feedback was the inspiration for adding additional rear I/O, as well as improved thermal performance with more power phases and layers to the printed circuit board.



N7 Z590 Features
Intuitive Controls:
The N7 Z590 includes key features from our RGB and Fan Controller, allowing intuitive control of four RGB lighting channels and seven fan channels through CAM. Lighting accessories from all manufacturers are supported.

Stunning Craftsmanship
The metal cover is available in white or black for a seamless look that blends into the background of any NZXT H Series case for a clean aesthetic.

Building Made Easier
The N7 Z590 includes Wi-Fi 6e connectivity and utilizes all PCI express lanes available from the CPU and chipset. The N7's layout streamlines installation with an integrated rear I/O shield and optimally placed headers for easier setup.

• Designed with Intel Z590 Express Chipset
• Compatible with Intel 11th Generation Core i9, Core i7, Core i5, and Core i3 processors
• 12+2 DrMOS Power Phase Design
• Intel Wi-Fi 6E wireless connectivity and Bluetooth V5.1
• Two M.2 connectors for storage devices
• Multi-GPU support with AMD CrossFireX Technology
• Supports memory overclocking speeds of up to 4600 MHz and Intel XMP 2.0
• 8-channel high-definition audio

MSRP: USD $279.99.

For product specifications, visit this page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Valantar]

Those VRMs look like they are of the extra toasty variety.

 

[PilleniusMC]

Welcome to a board just being a PG Velocita

EDIT: Sorry, the Z590 is a Steel Legend

 

[mharbinger]

Was fully expecting a Mass Effect N7 logo

 

[Space Lynx]

Was fully expecting a Mass Effect N7 logo

same lol

that being said this mobo looks kind of ugly to me... I don't mind the dust shrouds for the entire mobo, Asus TUF series does it better though and is cheaper to boot.

 

[PLAfiller]

Looks clean and smexy alright, but can't help think MOBOs became like cars....a bunch of hazardous sound proof material around the engine, to make it quiet....as if cars didn't run fine without it for 60 years before that. Let the capacitors stick man

 

[freeagent]

I wonder if they chose white because it is a cool color? The opposite of orange..

After watching those videos I don't think I could ever give them my money.

 

[bonehead123]

*if* they would've made the entire board white, instead of just the cover plate, then I might have considered it for my next rig.

But as it is, no, just no....

but hey, at least they skipped those stupido ps/2 & serial ports on the back, so there's that, hahahaha

 

[Gmr_Chick]

Yawn.... NZXT has become a one trick pony at this point. If they weren't already.

They slap shrouds all over the board because they don't want you to see what's underneath, I bet. Because underneath all that suffocating crap is, well, a pretty standard-looking board.

 

[Caring1]

Welcome to a board just being a PG Velocita

How so, they look nothing alike, the Velocita has no shrouds, and has a fan on the chipset and gaudy colours, as well as different slot placement.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

The port selection and board layout actually are not bad. Not sure how it does "crossfire" when it has just one x16 slot, but given dual GPU is dead, having a x4 and three x1s and having room for a triple slot GPU on top of it is probably the best modern PCIe design.

That VRM heatsink design though. oooof. Was that designed by the guy in charge of the H1 case? All I can see there is "molten silicon".

 

[Gmr_Chick]

How so, they look nothing alike, the Velocita has no shrouds, and has a fan on the chipset and gaudy colours, as well as different slot placement.

My B550 PG Velocita finds your lack of faith disturbing

The z490 PG Velocita, however, did kinda suck. I have a broken one. Has 3 of those tiny fans on it - one hidden inside the I/O shroud and two sandwiched behind the top VRM heatsink.

 

[WhitetailAni]

Ew. It looks like NZXT slapped the H510 onto a motherboard, which is NOT something I like - I prefer bare PCBs on my motherboard. GPU I like to look clean since the back doesn't look great, but the motherboard looks better bare.

Not sure how it does "crossfire" when it has just one x16 slot, but given dual GPU is dead, having a x4 and three x1s and having room for a triple slot GPU on top of it is probably the best modern PCIe design.

That VRM heatsink design though. oooof. Was that designed by the guy in charge of the H1 case? All I can see there is "molten silicon".

It has 2 physical x16 slots, and likely splits them out to 8x/4x. Crossfire only requires 8x/4x and can communicate over PCIe, unlike SLI who "needs" 8x/8x (regardless of PCIe revision) and their stupid little SLI bridge.

 

[Synthwave]

Nice link to the Z490 spec sheet at the end. : D

 

[Arcdar]

On a board for nearly 300€ only 4 Sata ports? Really?

Yeah, I get it. most people use NVME as main drive and then add only 1-2 data grave's to it.... but there are still enough people having 4-5 drives which still run well and we'd love to keep...

Being that limited on a modern board in that price-range (where even boards in the age of 2500k cpu's had 2 sata6 and 4 sata3 ports already) is a bit .... strange for me.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Why all the mobos manufacturers are starting to ditch full PCI-E slots?!? WTF? I need at least 3: Video Card, Sound Card, Expansion Card.
And why are so expensive nowadays???

 

[Valantar]

Why all the mobos manufacturers are starting to ditch full PCI-E slots?!? WTF? I need at least 3: Video Card, Sound Card, Expansion Card.
And why are so expensive nowadays???

Is your sound card PCIe x16? If not, it should fit fine in one of the three x1 slots on the board (unless it's x4 for some weird reason). If it's the Creative X-Fi Titanium PCIe listed in your system specs, that's an x1 card, which means there are five possible mounting points on this board for that. Of course installing it in one of the two x16 slots would be rather silly, but it will obviously work, as would the x1 slots. I don't know what "expansion card" means (expansion of what, exactly?), but there's an extra x16 (x8 electrical, shared with primary GPU slot) if you need that, or another two x1 slots. If you need more PCIe lanes (e.g. x16+x16 electrical, rather than x8+x16), then you need an HEDT platform, as MSDT platforms simply don't have that many lanes available.

 

[bonehead123]

And why are so expensive nowadays???

WORD 1: 'RONA

WORD 2: Shortages..

WORD 3: Scalpscum....

Face it, EVERYTHING is moar expensive now than before last march.... and if you think that prices are gonna go back down anytime soon, well then, I have some prime beachfront property you can buy for cheap....

p.s it's in north dakota, hehehehe

 

[Valantar]

WORD 1: 'RONA

WORD 2: Shortages..

WORD 3: Scalpscum....

Face it, EVERYTHING is moar expensive now than before last march.... and if you think that prices are gonna go back down anytime soon, well then, I have some prime beachfront property you can buy for cheap....

p.s it's in north dakota, hehehehe

Plus most motherboards these days are much more complicated, have more layers, etc. Wiring for an ever increasing amount of high bandwidth interconnects (USB 3.2, PCIe 4.0, NVMe increasing the amount of PCIe, ever faster DDR4) and ever increasing power delivery requirements means base BOM costs as well as development costs of boards rise noticeably.

 

[bonehead123]

Plus most motherboards these days are much more complicated, have more layers, etc. Wiring for an ever increasing amount of high bandwidth interconnects (USB 3.2, PCIe 4.0, NVMe increasing the amount of PCIe, ever faster DDR4) and ever increasing power delivery requirements means base BOM costs as well as development costs of boards rise noticeably.

Yea, this true to some extent at the beginning, but all of those costs are quickly recovered as production & sales ramp up on the new boards, and the older ones are depreciated/EOL'd and moar & more production lines are switched over to making moar & moar of the new boards....

However, rising component costs, due to supply constraints, added to the scalping/bot bulk buying & reselling for way over MSRP, those are anutha story altogether....

 

[Valantar]

Yea, this true to some extent at the beginning, but all of those costs are quickly recovered as production & sales ramp up on the new boards, and the older ones are depreciated/EOL'd and moar & more production lines are switched over to making moar & moar of the new boards....

However, rising component costs, due to supply constraints, added to the scalping/bot bulk buying & reselling for way over MSRP, those are anutha story altogether....

Nah. An 8-layer board will always cost more than a 6-layer board, which in turn costs more than a 4-layer board, etc., etc. Given that production of low layer count PCBs are extremely optimized for scale already, you're not getting down to the same base cost no matter what you do. BOM costs obviously increase by a fraction, but production requires more steps, more time, more processing - and you can't optimize that away. And the added layers necessitate more engineering work for trace routing etc. - not more than if you tried to squeeze those same traces into less layers, of course, but more than a simpler layout without the wealth of high bandwidth interconnects of today. So the increase in base motherboard costs we've seen in recent years ($70 motherboards used to be a thing, but now most lines start at $120 or so) is almost entirely attributable to increased base level board complexity. Of course shortages and covid-related issues compound on top of this, but we're never getting back down to early to mid 2010s levels of motherboard pricing.