Top 5 Best Z490 Motherboards

[@iSwoRn7]

Honestly, these have to be the most helpful videos on youtube when it comes to choosing a motherboard. Allows us to choose a product that most fits our needs and with complete peace of mind. Just great consumer advice and we really appreciate it. Keep it up Hammer on Box !

[@jedijeff]

If you are lazy to go through the videos, this is the summary: Best Value Z490 (ATX) Motherboards: Asus Prime Z490-P & MSI Z490-A Pro Best Mid-range (around $200): MSI Z490 Tomahawk & Gigabyte Z490 Vision G Best mATX Z490 Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix Z490-G Gaming Wi-Fi Best Mini-ITX Z490 Board: MSI Z490i Unify & Gigabyte Z490i Aorus Ultra Best High-end Z490 Board: Z490 Godlike

[@Doyyumhwaji]

Yay, Harvard Unboxed is back.

[@GamePat96]

I already feel much smarter after watching this Video from Harvard Unboxed. So the name is real, no gimmick haha

[@earllemongrab7960]

That is *Professor* Harvard Unboxed for you Sir. Where is your respect?!

[@d00dEEE]

@@earllemongrab7960 That's Doctor Harvard Unboxed! He didn't go to Unboxed Medical School for four years to be called "professor".

[@keeganb3763]

According to KZbin it's called hammer on box

[@calvinspires1220]

I'm so proud of them gaining this higher education

[@AliciaCLR]

ASUS Best Value World is Ending

[@mrx168]

They did that for the X570 as well when the Tuff x570 1st came out...

[@Nekotaku_TV]

Asus is always awesome.

[@Baalaaxa]

They haven't always been overpriced

[@oneonone8855]

ASUS makes amazing computer components. Really hope they will continue like this and tops the chats with their ROG and Crosshair motherboards for Ryzen 5000. I really hope they test their stuff so there aren't problems with their stuff like ASrock that failed overclocking the 10700k. I really enjoy the competetion between ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte that should change their name to Terabyte or Petabyte.

[@RandemGamorUK]

After after TWO faulty GPU's from Asus (RTX480 8GB which was overheating from day 1, returned for refund and bought a Nvidia GTX 1060S. - lasted all but 2 years on low usage before completely dying one day without warning. Not good at all. Plus 2 dodgy monitors (out of 3) and a mouse that died prematurely I definitely wont be buying anymore of their hardware. I'm sticking with Gigabyte. \o>

[@jordibt1789]

05:06 USB 3 point 2 gen 2 times 2, how that's not dumb naming scheme ? even Steve sighs before pronouncing such a name

[@YayDanMan]

Blame the USB forum for deciding they needed to kill off USB 3.0 and 3.1 branding and roll it all into the 3.2 family 🤣 (Unless there was some sneaky tweaks to the USB standards in there)

[@stalematesteven7251]

USB 3 point 2 gen 2 times 2 gaming warlord juicer

[@MakoRuu]

I did not see the MSI MPG z490 Gaming Plus on this list. How does it fair against these boards? I'm considering getting one for my 10600kf.

[@cheezndoodlezgamin1l650]

we almost have the same build lol I just have the regular i5 10600k

[@MakoRuu]

@@cheezndoodlezgamin1l650 I went with the k as well. The MPG z490 has been amazing.

[@TheMsr47gaming]

@@MakoRuu just got it, i9-10850k with a 1080 feels different.

[@MakoRuu]

@@nikazanguri4522 I'm still using it a year later with an i5 10600k, and it's been really good. Though the RPG Controller for my fans is really low on the bottom of the mother board, that was kind of hard to plug in. Otherwise stellar board.

[@MattZildjian]

patiently awaiting the z590 version of this video :)

[@ForAnAngel]

Me looking at my $50 motherboard: Please don't die!

[@drakegostream]

Well... we’re in Harvard Unboxed today

[@kasuraga]

You guys seriously have the BEST motherboard reviews of any channel I've watched. Genuinely your video's have helped me make choices on motherboards for different platforms. Helped out a TON recently cause I just ordered a new pc this week.

[@HisNameIsRobertPaulson01]

Does the ASRock Taichi suffer the same VRM problems as the lower priced boards? I'm a bit confused when you said all the higher priced boards are good, but then you said you wouldn't recommend anything from ASRock. Are you saying the Taichi is no good?

[@bananya6020]

probably saying they're decent but not a first choice.

[@BlackHoleForge]

I'm actually in the market to build an AMD computer. But I enjoy your content so much, that I'll even learn a little bit more about Intel.

[@jake152]

Got the MSI Gaming Edge Wi-Fi and like it a lot, wanted the Tomahawk but Newegg had a bundle that was $20 off so it was actually cheaper than the Tomahawk and it's one step above it too.

[@mikoangelo5957]

what processor?

[@RandemGamorUK]

I recently went with the Gigabyte Aorus Pro AX board for my new build. With the Intel i9-10850k cpu and I'll be putting in my Gigabyte Aorus RTX 2060S 8GB GPU. That along side a 1TB M.2 Gigabyte SSD, 64GB ddr4 3200mhz corsair vengeance ram and a Corsair RM850 PSU. My question is.. I shouldn't have any issues with power delivery for the CPU or GPU should I? Factory clocked for now, probably wont overclock the CPU unless I absolutely needed the extra power for video rendering. Hope you're able to reply and help :) Thanks ! \o>

[@doogle4144]

Yay! so happy to hear a “Zed 490” instead of “Zee 490” 😁

[@adilakhtar007]

We want to see best B550 Motherboards please

[@SealDoggo]

Glad to see MSI bouncing back strong after failing big time on X570. These boards look sweet

[@itsthefreakinbat8308]

I wish i could give this video a like more than one time! keep up the amazing work.

[@ankitnegi9713]

best b550's please

[@kazzz2765]

ankit negi

[@JayzBeerz]

B550 Tomahawk

[@jagsfanrick]

@@guesswork stay away from Asus, Bad video card and MB.

[@mr.br4dga279]

@@jagsfanrick The Asus x570 TUF is really good and you can get it sometimes for around 160$

[@errorcode503]

Hammer on Box doing a great job once again!

[@50H3i1]

Best one is prime z490-p . Cause it isn't worth paying more than that for this platform. Unless you wanna build an overkill gaming 10900K system

[@szpynda]

@Alistair Are you looking at the monitor or the motherboard?

[@bsnkbznk]

prime z490-p still best when I go 10900k right?

[@50H3i1]

@@bsnkbznk then you should have good airflow on VRMs

[@ozzyloaded]

Can you test the LG 48inch CX tv. It's geared towards gamers and uses gsync as a strong advertisement. Heard it has blazing fast response times as well. Would be useful for some PC users.

[@I_ammm_mojojojo]

how would you compare the Vision D (ATX) vs the Asus Z490-G (M-ATX) in terms of handeling the OC'ing? trying to decide between an ATX & MATX build

[@TechnoSiD25]

What do you think about Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Master? Planning to get it tomorrow.

[@simonupstone4924]

Thanks Steve. Your opinion on a few Micro ATX boards really appreciated - its my preferred mid-size form-factor. Asus Strix -G is good if you've got the budget and aspire to the i9. For me the i7 has all I need and some good future proofing I reckon. My rig is for Office work and gaming @ 1440p 60Hz, and no more, maybe 4k in a few years time. I really don't see a big benefit to oc the CPU, but oc RAM seems to be a no-brainer. Maybe the Asus Z490M-Plus (with a PCI card to add more USB I/O) is all I need.

[@Yelkwood9]

The z490m gaming edge may have the same config as the a-pro but the cooling solution for said vrms looks much better. I would be interested to see how it actually performs temp-wise OCing a 10900k.

[@blackmennewstyle]

That's a lot of motherboards despite the fact it's only half of the entire lineup :O

[@MrReese]

I am wondering why the Gigabyte Z490 Gaming X was not mentioned when it comes to best value? Gigabyte's mainboards are mentioned to be avoided but not recommended, even though the Gaming X really performed properly in your previous VRM tests.

[@manueltomatillos3348]

Can I pair the i5-10600K with the Gigabyte Z490 AEROUS ELITE and 3200 ram?

[@peterlmad]

Definitely missing the asus rog Z490 extreme that’s the one I went with and I love it

[@veraxsdc1313]

Got the Asus z490 Apex. Huge fan of the Apex boards for overclocking. Was hoping to see it in the video, but I understand why you didn't, since it fits in that price range you said was pretty much all good, just a matter of preference. Originally wasn't even going to get z490 or gen 10 Intel... but I couldn't help myself. So the gaming PC is getting an update this week as soon as I can get to it. Still really excited for Ryzen 4000 and may be updating my workstation with that later next year when it's out. It's going to be in need of an upgrade.

[@victorfernandes7423]

Rog Strix Z490-G without wifi, TUF Z490 wifi or MSI Z490A pro? Which one should I buy for a core i5 10400?

[@cornevangulik6166]

Currently doubting between three boards and I'm not sure which one I should pick and why. The choices are: msi mpg z490 gaming plus msi mag z490 tomahawk asus prime z490-a

[@vigers6164]

Wow , I’m actually like u but instead of the MSi gaming plus I’m thinking gigabyte Z490 Aorus elite ac . Did u buy or still liking ? If so , what did u buy ?

[@cornevangulik6166]

Vigers I haven’t bought anything yet however the tomahawk is kinda where I landed on, because after doing some research and reading reviews the tomahawk was mentioned the most therefore I figured it would be the best. Although, I reckon buying any of these boards won’t set you back or anything.

[@mentalasylumescapee6389]

msi mpg z490 gaming plus = have used it for a year now, didn't cost too much, works perfect, can select a wide variety of RAM speeds, works well with my rtx3080 , no problems at all and highly recommend.

[@sikharoy3239]

Sir please give me advise which Z490 motherboard is better for premium performance...aorus master or Asus rog maximus hero xii.....sir please help me.. which one I should buy..

[@marcomongke3116]

how is MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Plus?

[@jlgroovetek]

I'm a little confused. The Z490/Z490M Gaming X both may use the same VRM as the Z490/Z490M UD but have beefier heatsinks/cooling right? How did the 10700K and 10900K actually fail during testing?

[@alviahmednehal2857]

Its good to see u on hammer unvoxed.loved this video😌

[@HapsterHap]

It’s good to see MSI back as top pick after seeing their failure with X570s.

[@scottmagee3113]

Hi thanks for great videos. Have you got a video about Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Master motherboard. I’ve just bought one and would love to hear your opinions about it.

[@senpaiy0982]

Best value B550 mobo now please 😍

[@harrisoncao8917]

I was wondering how the MSI MPG Z490M feared against the z490m-plus as I'm planning an rgb build with z490

[@elirantuil5003]

This is a fantastic video. Thank you.

[@UltraDXSASC]

That vision G is looking goooooood

[@TechnoFreak-IN]

damn, Tomahawk series boards are legendary

[@Darkswordz]

I'm enjoying my Z490 Unify. =)

[@pascalfilion3518]

Darkswordz me too . This is my first non asus board and I’m in love with it :)

[@pascalfilion3518]

Random KZbin Watcher I’m actually only using 3 port so not a problem for me .(mice ,keyboard and printer) I have no idea why you would be needing 10 ports . I have xbox controller connected via Bluetooth from mobo antenna . The motherboard is amazing.

[@krishsatpati2476]

In the ~200 dollar value, you forgot to mention the MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Edge Wifi, as it Also has the features of the Tomahawk, but with Wifi 6 and I guess a total of 7 USB Type A Ports and a 20Gbps USB Type C Port

[@BrentTravelz]

Can these boards support a 3080 graphics card? I’m new to this

[@Xx760ImpactxX]

@@BrentTravelz yes

[@BrentTravelz]

Team Honda ayyyy I ride a 08 Honda CBR 1000rr 😌

[@norbertrick]

Thank you very much for your video, this helpt me wich board to get.

[@eduaet]

Hi, can i make u a question, of this 2 models MSI A-Pro Z490 or Asus TUF Plus Wifi Z490 which one you think is better?

[@kozel7876]

I'd be going with the MSI MAG Z490 tomahawk.

[@kylerobinson6102]

I was considering getting this one however it does not have wifi or bluetooth.

[@marclim552]

@@kylerobinson6102 what did u get then?

[@googlewolly]

@@kylerobinson6102 Wifi wouldn't be recommend for online gamine, though.

[@SHUTENSEPC]

You guys always make me wake up every time i open your video :P

[@SiMeTiMe]

not sure if if should go for msi z490a pro or msi tomahawk...

[@udishuker1]

Thank god i found this vid ... And thank you for making it

[@TheSosmb]

So, about the gigabyte z490 gaming x. i undertsand that you recomend to avoid it but in the charts it comes well placed. May you please clarify that to me? thanks!

[@Hardwareunboxed]

Z490"M" Gaming X

[@TheSosmb]

@@Hardwareunboxed so you recomend to avoid the micro atx gaming X, not the regular full ATX gaming X. OK, think i got it now. Thanks!

[@Hardwareunboxed]

@@brdon2099 This will be your last and only warning regarding the use of racial slurs here, do it again and you will be shadow banned.

[@Vikrampareek92]

My 5 days of struggle is over just by watching this video. This is the only video on internet which can actually help in choosing and differentiating motherboards. I highly appreciate your work. Thanks a lot.

[@Challechallechalle]

I AM LOVING MY VISION G.

[@rohirrim7]

Why is the Gigabyte Z490 Gaming X to be avoided when it performed better in the earlier vid 'VRM Temp Test, Sub $200 Roundup' ? Did something change? In the graph in the earlier vid it had 5.1GHz for 10900k at 81, while asus had 89 and msi 90.

[@ayrton3494]

Is this supported?? Corsair Vengeance 16GB 2x8GB RGB Pro Gigabyte Z490 Vision G Intel Core i7-10700k Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 Seagate BarraCuda 3.5" 2TB SATA 3 Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB SSD NVMe M.2 Corsair hydro series H100i pro Thermaltake 750W 80 Plus Gold

[@privacyprivacy8206]

Aorus élite have 12 phases and Tomahawk only 6... WHY you prefer tomahawk? WHY? THANK

[@Hardwareunboxed]

It just uses phase doublers, they have the same number of powerstages.

[@bluetwilightpiano]

MSI mpg z490 gaming plus s 1200 or MSI z490-a pro?

[@Edua1111]

It's little late to the party, but what about the Gigabyte Z490M (ultra durable series). It seems to have really "modest" VRM - but there is hardly any reviews about it. What can it handle?

[@andrejtrajkovski7469]

Is the z490 aorus pro ax and the i5 10600k a good combo?

[@somaganguly8529]

will the asrock z490 pro4 be enough with an i5 10400 at with 3200mhz ram?

[@lucaasgevaerd]

I beg for help, the doubt is killing me ... Which one has more quality, MSI Z490 Gaming Edge Wifi or Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Elite AC? Please ... 🙏🏼🙏🏼 I'm sorry for my bad English.

[@bloodygekkon]

gigabyte have very bad Bios

[@bloodygekkon]

and MSI doesnt have PCIE-4 or somekind shit for the future

[@CaptainScorpio24]

@@bloodygekkon then which msi board has pcie 4 in z490

[@ravneiv]

After watching this I orderd a Prime Z-490-P that unfortunately had DoA PCIEx16. RMA'd for an Aorus Elite coming tomorrow. The lack of built in USB ports on the Asus I wasn't too happy with.

[@Souleman561]

To make this easier you need to make categories, i.e. a.i.o cooling or clc boards, top end aio/fan cpu board and then med to low end , as the board at the 500 and above are design for clc and shouldn't be compared to boards that are expected to be used for aio or pure air

[@jmizzbeatsj-jigga7888]

What do you suggest I get for pro audio production got a pointment tomorrow at geek squad. I'm upgrading by getting a new mother board with new tenth gen Intel I9 cause I need more processing power. What do you suggest I get.

[@luisbautista5176]

What do think of using an MSI Z490 - A - PRO with a TUF 3080 and i9 - 10900k ?

[@googlewolly]

The A Pro is actually decent for the Z490 with respect to VRMs, I believe, but I don't know why you'd put in the lowest-end MSI Z490 in such an otherwise high-end rig. Get the Tomahawk or something similar (or better).

[@prathamkaushik1895]

ah yes, another anticipated Hammer on box video.

[@n1kobg]

What about AsRock Extreme 4? Ive used z68 Extreme 3 and z270 Extreme 4 boards and they are very good overclockers. I wonder if z490 Extreme 4 is the same? I think it has 11 Power Stages. Plan to get 10700k

[@miniweeddeerz1820]

All asrock z490 suck.

[@DrearierSpider1]

I wonder how many people are going Intel simply because getting an AMD motherboard at MSRP is next to impossible right now.

[@DrearierSpider1]

I got my X570 board based on these videos, easily one of your best series!

[@leo_mas_922]

Z490 Godlike coming soon 😎💪🏻

[@YAAMW]

Great Harvard Unboxed video. BTW, since you mentioned BuildZoid, he absolutely TRASHED the ASRock Z490 PG Velocita so that's one more ASRock board to avoid when it comes to Z490. Really just do yourself a favor and avoid ASRock Z490 boards altogether.

[@meccu19]

Can you review Vision D please? lack of info about this board.

[@raymondtailorssharighor9677]

Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Elite AC Motherboard overclo What can be done?

[@kdnation5629]

Hey bro. How is it Gigabyte 490 UD AC motherboard 🙏

[@Melo1140]

would you recommend gigabyte z490 vision d so.1200 atx

[@genshininsufficientrewards533]

Is z490 steel legend atx good for a 10700/10700f?

[@ggwp7144]

What is the best motherboard for intel F series? Like i5-10400F and i7-10700F

[@q3mago]

Hey Tim, would u consider doing eSport games benchmarks in this method? Method: cap the fps to 144fps/240fps and getting the average fps for each game / CPU also add section to see how much apps in the background impacting that average like Geforce shadow or instant replay of AMD or OBS, Streaming the idea behind it is without capping the fps, the high fps in small rooms or in good cases like without many explosions in game would offset the average quite much so this cap avoid it and really given the right distribution of the fps while eSport gaming TYVM

[@fredrik2008]

Im thinking MSI MPG Z490 GAMING PLUS, its about the same as A pro in price here, but I wonder if its as good vrm wise, its too new to find any information

[@lTornadoI]

Выбираю материнскую плату под i5 10600k процессор,, какую плату посоветуете??

[@alexaellis3209]

Hi there, I am trying to purchase a motherboard for my boyfriend so he can he start his pc build. The primary function for the PC is to stream as he wants to take his streaming more seriously. I was looking at the MSI z490 tomahawk, Msiz490 a pro and the Asus prime z490M- plus. Which one do you think is best?

[@CaptainScorpio24]

tomahawk

[@bwooty87]

Can we get a lg 34gn850-b review? Please!!!

[@Anatley]

I was just disappointed with the ASUS Z490-p 's IO shield. Not coated, just plain peace of aliminium? Muy old H170 gaming moba from 2016 has a much nicer IO shield. Does it really cost that much to just coat it?

[@FlyTUG]

and the GIGABYTE Z490 AORUS PRO AX ?

[@marcogutierrez6626]

I'm new to PC and I'm having a hard time choosing a motherboard. I don't understand the difference between z490, b450, x570 boards. I get that the b550 would be the new model and the next inline after the b450 same for the x570 the x470 would be the older model. What's the difference between the z,b and x mother boards? Are the x models better than the other 2?

[@bananya6020]

Naming scheme list for AMD: A = Entry level, no overclocking on cpu but can use RAM XMP profiles. B = Mid level, can overclock. X = "Enthusiast" (High-tier) boards, have extra features such as SLI. The A/B/X 3xx series boards were the first to be released along with zen 1 (ryzen 1st generation), the B/X 4xx series boards released with zen+ (ryzen 2nd generation), and the B/X 5xx series released (or were supposed to release) with the zen 2 / ryzen 3rd gen. (zen is the architecure codename, ryzen is the product name). B/X 5xx series boards get PCiE5.0. There is also a planned A520 for 3rd gen, but there is very little information on it right now.

[@bananya6020]

Intel naming scheme: H: Entry level, no overclocking for RAM or CPU B: Basically a better-built H-board. Z: "Enthusiast" tier of boards. very well-built (usually) and have overclocking support for CPU and RAM. X: "Extreme"/High-end Desktop parts. These generally don't even fit the same CPUs as the H/B/Z lineups, and are reserved for Xeon-like expensive chips that aren't for consumers.

[@xaviistoroben6805]

thanks for the clip, i ended up with the vision g, just because white-ish.. i wish there were a couple other white motherboards

[@panagiotisgiannopoulos4992]

Will msi z490 a pro support 11th gen?

[@axe407]

Has anybody ever tried EVGA Z390/490 Dark Series Motherboards? Their layouts looks decent, but seems only very few people share some deep dive user experiences.

[@Tomaszt-se6uf]

You forgot about z490 Gaming X from Gigabyte(earlier test). MSI Z490 gaming plus also is a good choice(and better audio than a-pro).

[@unassailable6138]

I think msi A looks better

[@adilakhtar007]

B550 MOBO ♥️

[@deathsightgq1]

Asus what about the z490-e what you think

[@mentalplayground]

Yeey Boxes on Hardware Unboxed :))))

[@NoBodysGamer]

What was missing here is affordable Home server/NAS/unRAID/FREENAS or workstation board, i recommend the ROG STRIX Z490-H GAMING. Why? Its one of few boards that splits its PCIe from CPU to x8/x4/x4 so you have x3 full sized slots, + it has from chipset two x1 slots and one x4 slot [connected at x2 speed] since most home servers have no need for GPU, you have CPU routed PCIe for SAS cards, 10G lan etc. I have single 10G lan [x4], one SAS card [x8] and still have x4 and x2 slot for extra stuff in the future. If you need GPU to encode video, then still its great since you have x8 slot for GPU and two full sized x4 slots + x4 sized x2 slot for SAS card and 10G Lan and capture card. Also it comes with 2.5G Intel [I tested it works fine, but all Intel 2.5G NICs on z490 mobos that come with Intel 2.5G must be firmware updated first, files are available from mobo download section]

[@zodwraith5745]

I've been procrastinating for a year on a needed gaming-only build. At first I was going 9700k, then 3900x, then 10700k, then waiting for Zen3, and finally got fed up. I've watched too many videos and read too many reviews to where I couldn't make up my mind. I realized all the indecision has simply left me on an old platform from 2014 for another year when I could have been enjoying modern nvme and such for all that time. So I said screw it and ordered a full 10700k/tomahawk platform. If Zen3 beats it, it will be by small margins to the point I wouldn't even notice. I need to stop fearing buyer's remorse because it's inevitable in the PC hardware space.

[@epsilon7780]

Still wait for round up all b550 especially Strix f

[@merlin8208]

It is very kind of you to make content for the three people that will buy Intel this generation.

[@bananya6020]

turns out the number increases a lot with micro center open box deals...ok maybe only like by 50ish but still!

[@Scarletpimpanel73]

Well I went for an Asrock Mini ITX board - standard/ not pro, but starting to wish I'd seen this first ...

[@kenviolet4610]

Nice! Do the same for B550, please!

[@NoBodysGamer]

Not worth it