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ASRock Z490 AQUA

Black Haru

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Joined
Feb 24, 2010
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Indiana
ASRock is back with another rendition of their ultra premium AQUA motherboards, this time for Z490! The ASRock Z490 AQUA has it all: a powerful VRM, a monoblock to cool it, and stylish looks to boot. Is this what peak performance looks like?

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Joined
Apr 29, 2014
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4,290 (1.11/day)
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Texas
System Name SnowFire / The Reinforcer
Processor i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2
Motherboard Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720)
Cooling RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock
Memory Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb
Video Card(s) GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector)
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Case Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case
Audio Device(s) Realtec ALC1150 (On board)
Power Supply Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Logitech G19S
Software Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016
Cool board, but man that price is a little too steep in my book. I mean I was expecting around 500-800 dollars, but 1100 is a bit out there even with the premium features and water cooling.
 
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System Name Ciel / Akane
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Useless goddess.
 
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Processor Intel i9-12900KS: 50x Pcore multi @ 1.18Vcore (target 1.275V -100mv offset)
Motherboard EVGA Z690 Classified
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S, 2xThermalRight TY-143, 4xNoctua NF-A12x25,3xNF-A12x15, 2xAquacomputer Splitty9Active
Memory G-Skill Trident Z5 (32GB) DDR5-6000 C36 F5-6000J3636F16GX2-TZ5RK
Video Card(s) ASUS PROART RTX 4070 Ti-Super OC 16GB, 2670MHz, 0.93V
Storage 1x Samsung 970 Pro 512GB NVMe (OS), 2x Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB (data), ASUS BW-16D1HT (BluRay)
Display(s) Dell S3220DGF 32" 2560x1440 165Hz Primary, Dell P2017H 19.5" 1600x900 Secondary, Ergotron LX arms.
Case Lian Li O11 Air Mini
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Mouse Zowie EC3-C
Keyboard Vortex Multix 87 Winter TKL (Gateron G Pro Yellow)
Software Win 10 LTSC 21H2
$800 extra to possibly get 100 MHz.
 
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System Name H7 Flow 2024
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Motherboard Asus X570 Tough Gaming
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Memory 32 GB DDR4
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Storage Crucial P5 Plus 2TB.
Display(s) AOC 24" Freesync 1m.s. 75Hz
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If they are going to call it Aqua, at least include some Barbie Girl stickers. :roll:
 
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System Name ❶ Oooh (2024) ❷ Aaaah (2021) ❸ Ahemm (2017)
Processor ❶ 5800X3D ❷ i7-9700K ❸ i7-7700K
Motherboard ❶ X570-F ❷ Z390-E ❸ Z270-E
Cooling ❶ ALFIII 360 ❷ X62 + X72 (GPU mod) ❸ X62
Memory ❶ 32-3600/16 ❷ 32-3200/16 ❸ 16-3200/16
Video Card(s) ❶ 3080 X Trio ❷ 2080TI (AIOmod) ❸ 1080TI
Storage ❶ NVME/SSD/HDD ❷ <SAME ❸ SSD/HDD
Display(s) ❶ 1440/165/IPS ❷ 1440/144/IPS ❸ 1080/144/IPS
Case ❶ BQ Silent 601 ❷ Cors 465X ❸ Frac Mesh C
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Software ❶ Win 11 ❷ 10 ❸ 10
Benchmark Scores I have wrestled bandwidths, Tussled with voltages, Handcuffed Overclocks, Thrown Gigahertz in Jail
£1000.... for god sake! The enticing images and built-in liquid cooling face-lift "PULLED ME IN" and the horrendous price "KICKED ME OUT". A constant reoccurrence nowadays... oh well, back to boring air coolers and AIOs for me.

AQUA my bottom!!! Rebranded: "ASRock Z490 EMPTY YOUR WALLET UNGREEN"
 
Joined
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Messages
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Do you guys ever take the "advanced" settings into account when overclocking? I see just the voltage and multiplier being ramped up, while alot of more "tweaks" such as VRM switching frequency and such could be adjusted. Just that alone could lower the required overall core voltage into an OC. Just saying. If your buying a board like this you gotta know what todo with it.
 
Joined
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Processor Intel Core i9-13900K
Motherboard ASUS ProArt Z690-CREATOR WIFI
Cooling Custom water
Memory G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB 32GB DDR5-6400 CL32
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Storage Sabrent 1TB Rocket 4 Plus
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Case Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL (Dark Tint)
Power Supply SAMA XP1000W
Mouse DAREU EM901
Keyboard RK ROYAL KLUDGE RK100 (white with blue switches)
If they are going to call it Aqua, at least include some Barbie Girl stickers. :roll:
Come on, ASRock, let's go party! (ah ah ah yeah)
 
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Benchmark Scores no
I'd love to see this board without waterblock branded as the Z490 OC Formula, at at least $600 less.
That would be pretty nifty.
 
Joined
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System Name BUBSTER
Processor I7 13700K (6.1 GHZ XTU OC)
Motherboard Z690 Gigabyte Aorus Elite Pro
Cooling Arctic Freezer II 360 RGB
Memory 32GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB DDR4 4800MHz 2x16GB
Video Card(s) Asus GeForce RTX 3070 Super Dual OC
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Power Supply Corsair AX 850 Titanium
Mouse Corsair Gaming M65 Pro RGB + Razr Taipan
Keyboard Asus ROG Strix Flare Cherry MX Red + Corsair Gaming K65 lux RGB
Software Windows 11 Pro x64
z490 is history in a couple months intel is drowning folks
 
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Benchmark Scores Classified
i have to say, the board itself looks pretty good but i agree the tag is kinda pretty high
 
Joined
Aug 5, 2020
Messages
199 (0.13/day)
System Name BUBSTER
Processor I7 13700K (6.1 GHZ XTU OC)
Motherboard Z690 Gigabyte Aorus Elite Pro
Cooling Arctic Freezer II 360 RGB
Memory 32GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB DDR4 4800MHz 2x16GB
Video Card(s) Asus GeForce RTX 3070 Super Dual OC
Storage Kingston KC 3000 PCIE4 1Tb + 2 Kingston KC 3000 1TB PCIE4 RAID 0 + 4 TB Crucial gen 4 +12 TB HDD
Display(s) Sony Bravia A85 j OLED
Case Corsair Carbide Air 540
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar Essence STX II
Power Supply Corsair AX 850 Titanium
Mouse Corsair Gaming M65 Pro RGB + Razr Taipan
Keyboard Asus ROG Strix Flare Cherry MX Red + Corsair Gaming K65 lux RGB
Software Windows 11 Pro x64
1000 dollars for a motherboard as it seems no upgrades insight not soon anyway
 
Joined
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The Washing Machine
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Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse Steelseries Aerox 5
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W11 IoT Enterprise LTSC
Benchmark Scores Over 9000
ELEVEN HUNDRED.

By the time you're done counting that money at the cash register, the next Intel socket is out.
 
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