MSI MEG Z490 Godlike review -
Introduction
MSI MEG Z490 GODLIKE review
Not a god just yet, but certainly heavenly.
In this review, we look at the E-ATX form factor based MSI MEG Z490 Godlike. Priced at $749 MSI delivers where most premium Z490 motherboard that has been loaded with features and then some. Animated OLED screen, 10 Gbit LAN, 2.5 Gbit Lan, AX WIFI, and looks that make this board seem like James Bond himself. MSI motherboards these days are sorted into four categories: the MEG series, MPG series, MAG series, and there's a PRO series as well. The MEG being short for 'MSI Enthusiast Gaming'. This MPG board is positioned in the mainstream to a higher-end region of the DIY PC desktop segment.
That and some pretty fancy design choices from an aesthetic point of view. Ready for 10h Gen processors this board is about performance and aesthetics, the CPU socket has dual 8-pin ATX power connectors. The pin connectors indicate a strong VRM, and this motherboard as such has 16 CPU phases backed by 90A power stages.
MSI applies a super nice dark-colored PCB. It has hidden/cooled M2 slots, three of them but includes an add-in card for more M2 pleasure. The motherboard has been fitted with the usual suspects and then more extras, including a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet (Realtek), and then Aquantia AQC107 10 G Ethernet and then WIFI6 in the form of AX. When it comes to the audio you will run into a Realtek ALC1220 Codec + ESS SABRE9018Q2C combo DAC.
With the new Comet Lake-S you can expect a handful of K model processors predominantly become popular in demand for the PC gamer, as each and every one of the processors will offer proper gaming performance if your graphics card is fast enough. Intel is able to boost the Turbo frequencies towards that 5.3 GHz domain for the flagship processor, the Core i9 10900K. Intel is releasing these series processors initially with a spread of CPU core choices:
- Core i5-10500K (4 Core / 8 Threads)
- Core i5-10600K (6 Core / 12 Threads)
- Core i7-10700K (8 Core / 16 Threads)
- Core i9-10900K (10 Core / 20 Threads)
Form factor | E-ATX (SSI EEB) |
---|---|
Chipset | Intel Z490 |
VRM | 10 real phases (8+2), 18 virtual phases (16+2), PWM-Controller: ISL69269 (max. 12 phases) |
MOSFETs CPU | 16x 90A ISL99390 |
MOSFETs SoC | 2x 90A ISL99390 |
RAM | 4x DDR4 DIMM, dual PC4-40000U/DDR4-5000 (OC), max. 128GB (UDIMM) |
Extension slots | 3x PCIe 3.0 x16 (1x x16, 1x x8, 1x x4), 1x PCIe 3.0 x1, 2x M.2/M-Key (PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA, 22110/2280/2260/2242), 1x M.2/M-Key (PCIe 3.0 x4, 2280/2260/2242) |
External connectors | 2x USB-A 3.1 (Z490), 4x USB-A 3.0, 2x USB-A 2.0, 2x Thunderbolt 3 (Intel JHL7540), 1x 10GBase-T (Marvell AQtion AQC107), 1x 2.5GBase-T (Realtek RTL8125B-CG), 5x jack, 1x toslink, 1x PS/2 Combo |
Internal connectors | 1x USB-C 3.1 Key-A Header (Z490), 2x USB 3.0 Header (4x USB 3.0), 2x USB 2.0 header (4x USB 2.0), 6x SATA 6Gb/s (Z490), 1x TPM-Header, 1x Chassis Intrusion-Header |
Header Cooling | 1x CPU fan 4-Pin, 8x fan 4-Pin, 1x pump 4-Pin, 2x Thermal-sensor, 1x flow rate-sensor |
Header Lighting | 1x RGB-Header 4-Pin (5050), 2x RGB-Header 3-Pin (WS2812B), 1x Corsair-RGB-Header |
Buttons/Switches | Power-Button (internal), Reset-Button (internal), SafeBoot-Button (internal), Retry-Button (internal), clear-CMOS-Button (external), USB BIOS Flashback (external), LED switch (internal) |
Audio | 7.1 (Realtek ALC1220), DAC (ESS E9018 Sabre) |
RAID level | 0/1/5/10 (Z490) |
Multi-GPU | NVIDIA 2-Way SLI (x8/x8), AMD 3-Way-CrossFireX (x8/x8, x8/x8/x4) |
Power connections | 1x 24-Pin ATX, 2x 8-Pin EPS12V, 1x 6-Pin PCIe |
Graphics | not available |
Lighting | RGB, 3 zones (chipset cooler, I/O cover, emphasis right) |
Special features | audio+solid capacitors, Diagnostic LED (segment indication), Diagnostic LED (LED indicators), I/O-shield integrated, Backplate, 3x M.2-passive cooler, voltage measurement points, Bluetooth 5.1 + WLAN 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax (2x2, Intel AX201) |
Is this the best card in the deck? The MSI MEG Z790 ACE is one of MSI's best motherboards for the Z790 platform. It has a strong 24+1 VRM design and PCI Express 5.0 lanes, as well as a lot of M2 slot...
MSI MEG Z690 Unify review
MSI has returned with a motherboard that is completely black, it does not apply RGB. And that's something we appreciate. This Z690 Alder Lake-ready motherboard features five M2 slots, WIFI6e, and a p...
MSI MEG Z590 ACE review
We peek at the all-new MSI MEG Z590 ACE motherboard, this socket LGA1200 and Z590 chipset-based product offers an updated infrastructure for your Comet Lake (10th gen) or Rocket Lake (11th gen) Intel ...
MSI MEG X570 Unify review
In this review, we look at the MSI MEG X570 Unify. Priced at $280 MSI delivers an all dark X570 motherboard that has been loaded with features like 2.5 Gbit LAN and AX WIFI, and looks that make thi...