Here are some of the first pictures of the MAG Z490 Tomahawk and MEG Z490 ACE motherboards by MSI. The Tomahawk brand of motherboards by MSI strike a chord with value-conscious gaming PC builders, and the MAG Z490 Tomahawk appears to live up to that. The board offers an impressive 14-phase CPU VRM that pulls power from a 8+4 pin EPS power input. The CPU socket is wired to one PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. Other expansion slots include an x16 (gen 3.0 x4 electrical) slot, and a couple of x1 slots. You get two M.2 slots, both with heatsinks. The enlarged PCH heatsink on the MAG Z490 Tomahawk is studded with RGB LEDs, while it also includes a few upscale features such as a rear I/O shroud and an integrated I/O shield. On the connectivity front, we spy two wired networking interfaces, from which one is 2.5 GbE and the other 1 GbE, and an ALC1200-class CODEC based audio solution.

The MEG Z490 ACE is positioned at least two segments above the Tomahawk (it's positioned higher than the entire MPG family, including the Gaming Pro Carbon), and only a notch below the MEG Z490 GODLIKE. An elaborate 17-phase VRM powers the CPU, pulling power from a pair of 8-pin EPS connectors. Unless we're horribly mistaken, the board appears to feature PCI-Express gen 4.0 preparation (switches, re-drivers). It won't give you gen 4.0 with 10th generation "Comet Lake" processors, but perhaps you'll have better luck with its 11th gen successor. There are at least three M.2 slots, reinforced DIMM and PCIe x16 slots, and metal shrouds that span not just the front, but also the back of the PCB. Connectivity includes 802.11ax WLAN, two wired interfaces that include a 2.5 GbE, USB 3.2x2, etc.

Here are some of the first pictures of an Intel B460 chipset motherboard, the B460M iCraft by Chinese company MAXSUN, which is mostly available around the Greater China region. What caught our eye are the board's various features geared toward CPU overclocking, including buttons on the rear I/O that apparently give you CPU overclocking (cycling through presets). This makes us wonder if Intel is giving the B460 some form of CPU overclocking capability, even if not to the level of the Z490. Intel's rival AMD, has been offering full CPU overclocking capability on its middle-of-the-market B350, B450, and possibly its upcoming B550 motherboards, which, coupled with AMD enabling unlocked multiplier across its Ryzen desktop processor family, brings tremendous value to the table. The MAXSUN B460M iCraft is equipped with elaborate shrouds over the PCH and VRM heatsinks. It also offers two reinforced PCI-Express x16 slots, from which the top one is gen 3.0 x16, and the bottom one likely gen 3.0 x4. We also find two M.2 NVMe slots, both with heatsinks.

Turkish tech publication PC Hocasi posted marketing pictures of the entire lineup of GIGABYTE's Intel Z490 chipset motherboards. These include the four recently leaked to web. The vast selection of boards includes the Z490 Vision G and Z490 Vision D targeted at creators. The company's mainline Ultra Durable (UD) and Gaming series includes the likes of the Z490 Gaming X and Z490M Gaming X, and of course the company's AORUS Gaming lineup we detailed in the older article.

An interesting trend with these boards is that GIGABYTE appears to have indeed given them PCI-Express gen 4.0 preparation, which extends across most SKU, including the entry-level UD series. These boards will not provide gen 4.0 with 10th gen "Comet Lake" processors, but the gen 4.0 preparation is reserved for its successor, the 11th gen "Rocket Lake," whenever it comes out. This is a costly design choice which rides on the assumption that "Rocket Lake" will introduce gen 4.0 to the LGA1200 socket (and not the fabled future LGA1700 socket). "Rocket Lake" is expected to come out towards the end of 2020 or early 2021, and will be Intel's response to Ryzen 4000 "Vermeer" processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture.

Earlier this week, a small selection of MSI's upcoming socket LGA1200 motherboards based on Intel Z490 chipset were leaked to the web, along with pricing for the entire series. The company posted teaser pictures of one of the motherboard models that was missing from that picture leak - the Z490 Gaming Pro Carbon, which MSI refers to as the "next Carbon." The pictures suggest a premium-looking ATX motherboard with an elaborate PCH heatsink that extends into heatsinks for 2-3 M.2 slots; studded with RGB LEDs, and an elaborate rear I/O shroud that extends into the CPU VRM heatsink, with more LED embellishments. The Gaming Pro Carbon is still slotted in the company's MPG (MSI Performance Gaming) family, and positioned a notch above the MPG Z490 Gaming Edge WiFi, and below the MEG Z490 Unify.

Earlier today we brought you pictures and specs sheets of ASUS' top-tier ROG Maximus XII family of socket LGA1200 motherboards based on the Intel Z490 chipset. The rest of that slide-deck was leaked to the web by VideoCardz, revealing some fascinating specs common across the series. Apparently, a 6 PCB layers is the bare minimum for ASUS' lineup, which probably contributes to the elevated prices across the board. Some of the cheaper 300-series chipset motherboards make do with just 4 PCB layers.

The CPU VRM solutions are a definitely step up from the previous generations, designed to cope with rising electrical requirements of the 14 nm 10th gen Core processors. For the ATX and M-ATX models, 12+2 phase solutions appear to be the bare minimum for the ROG Strix Z490 series, and 9-phase for the cheapest Prime Z490 series. The ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming, which leads the ROG Strix Z490 series, tops the chart with a 16-phase solution that's probably similar to the one on the Maximus XII Hero. There's also a big innovation with memory optimization, series-wide. With its Z490 motherboard series, ASUS is transitioning from T-topology to daisy-chain, across the board. This is combined with the company's Optimem III automated memory optimization feature on select models, which enables you to populate all four slots on your motherboard with dual-rank DIMMs, and yet achieve frequencies as high as DDR4-3600, with timings as tight as CL16.

Here are some of the first pictures of the ASUS' high-end Republic of Gamers (ROG) Maximus XII family of socket LGA1200 motherboards based on Intel Z490 chipset. The lineup consists of an impressive 5 SKUs: ROG Maximus XII Extreme and Extreme Glacial (M12E); ROG Maximus XII Formula (M12F), ROG Maximus XII Hero WiFi (M12H), and the ROG Maximus XII Apex (M12A). The Maximus XII Extreme leads the pack with its 16-phase VRM that probably uses 90 A power stages. It includes Thunderbolt 3 and 10 GbE support. The Glacial version is possibly a combination of cosmetic- and functional changes (such as preparation for sub-zero cooling).

The Maximus XII Formula is the go-to board for overclockers with elaborate liquid-cooling setups. The board comes with liquid-cooling ready VRM heatsinks. Compared to the Extreme, the Formula loses out on Thunderbolt, but retains 10 GbE. The Maximus XII Hero (WiFi) is next in line, and somehow better endowed than the Maximus XII Apex, in featuring an 8-layer PCB like the Extreme and the Formula; and a combination of 5 GbE and 1 GbE networking. The Maximus XII Apex comes with a 6-layer PCB, a single 2.5 GbE connection, but somehow a similar CPU VRM configuration to the Extreme. This is probably how the Apex could end up pricier than the Hero. Find specific details in the specs sheet below.

AMD is reportedly looking to launch their B550 mainstream motherboards this coming June 16th, with an announcement being pegged for May 21st. WCCFTech, quoting industry sources, says these motherboards will now finally be released to the public, nearly a year after the launch of AMD's Ryzen 3000 series and accompanying X570-based motherboards. This will mark the first time PCIe 4.0 will be available in a mainstream-geared platform and chipset; until now, users looking for more cost-effective builds to support their Ryzen CPUs had to make do without PCIe 4.0 support with a motherboard from previous generations, since the feature was only available on the (more expensive) X570 motherboards.

The B550 chipset should thus become the new choice for users looking to build new systems on a budget; and part of the reason for AMD delaying the launch of this chipset as much as it has could certainly be an effort to increase revenues due to the X570's higher ASP. It's expected that B550 motherboards will be had for higher pricing than AMD's previous mainstream B450 motherboards, though, due to increased costs with improved I/O and the additional requirements for PCIe 4.0 wiring. Considering AMD's X570-based motherboards can be had from the $150 barrier upwards, it's likely (via an educated guess only) that B550 will occupy the $90-$150 range.

AMD's upcoming Ryzen 4000 series "Vermeer" lineup of CPUs based on the new Zen 3 core is slated to launch sometime in late 2020, and we have information about the chipset support of 4th generation of Ryzen CPUs. The laptop manufacturer XMG, known for its crazy Apex 15 laptop with 16 core AMD Ryzen 3950X CPU inside, has posted a Reddit thread about its new laptop. In the thread, XMG has listed specifications of the laptop, and in one point it mentions support for Ryzen 4000 series of CPUs. XMG has written that the B450 motherboards will be supporting the next generation CPUs simply by microcode updates AMD will push to OEMs. XMG uses the B450 chipset in its laptops, so they are presumably going to offer some configurations with Ryzen 4000 CPUs in the future. This information is good news for everybody who has a motherboard with a B450 chipset as they can get a bit more mileage out of it.

Intel has reportedly split the launch of its upcoming 10th generation Core "Comet Lake-S" processor into two unusually distant dates, April 30 and May 27, 2020. It was earlier believed that the processors would be announced on April 30, with availability "shortly after," (read: within 10-14 days of launch). According to a WCCFTech report, the launch is planned such that April 30 will only see product announcements - the processors themselves, motherboards based on Intel 400-series chipset, and OEM desktops based on the platform. Later on May 29, the processors, desktops based on them, and DIY motherboards, are expected to be available in the retail channel. May 27 will also be the date when reviews of the processors and motherboards go live.

A report via DigiTimes paints a bleak image on shipments for motherboards and GPUs. According to the publication, citing sources close to motherboard makers, the initial impact of the outbreak severely affected production - and the entire supply chain ecosystem needed to ferry these across the world. Alongside reduced demand in China (reported to be down 50% YoY and unlikely to pick up until July at the earliest) and other countries, the stage is set for a record low in some of our most favored hardware pieces.

Market observers had expected a seasonal increase in demand entering Q3 2020 which may never come to fruition, as DigiTimes also mentions AMD, Intel and NVIDIA as being unlikely to achieve their target sales for this time period. The reduced demand could see prices come down on components and various hardware pieces, should it linger for longer than the fabrication bottlenecks factories are currently facing. Some publications are pointing towards this drop in demand as a reason for NVIDIA to delay their expected GTC announcements, which the company's CEO, Jensen Huang, has already come out saying "Could wait".

COVID-19 has brought many industries in the world to an almost standstill as quarantine mechanisms are put in place in both public and private sectors. The economic impact of the - now declared pandemic by the World Health Organization - outbreak will likely be felt for years to come. Thank to that globalization and the interconnectedness of various markets, including the global supply chain.

In light of this, MSI has decided to extend the warranty period for products falling in the categories of desktops, motherboards, AIO computers, PC cases and monitors (this excludes graphics cards and laptops, which are also quite important in the overall companies' outlook). Furthermore, this warranty extension is limited to countries that have been the most affected by the recent outbreak - U.S., Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.