INTRODUCTION

   One of the very first PC hardware that drew my attention were in fact motherboards/mainboards. I still recall opening the horizontal case of my 80386DX system (my first one was actually based on a Cyrix CPU and not an Intel one) and staring at the motherboard to try and make out what each component was responsible for. Back then however i was almost 9 years old so even though i knew what the Sound Blaster 16 and Trident TVGA8800 cards did (audio/video) the only other things i could make out on the motherboard were the CPU (with its heatsink) and the single RAM module. Needless to say, that motherboards are still amongst my favourite hardware components for the PC and so since two years ago i decided to focus my reviews on Intel models the current consumer flagship Z490 couldn't be left out and so today I’ll be testing the Z490 DARK by EVGA.

   EVGA is the #1 NVIDIA authorized partner in channel sales throughout North America. Based on the philosophy of intelligent innovation, market knowledge, and the real time operation, EVGA continues to identify the need in the market place and providing the solution to that need. By offering product differentiation, a 90 day Step-Up program, and other customer focused programs, EVGA is a clear leader in all categories: etail, retail, distribution, and system builders. With headquarters in Brea, CA, EVGA's global coverage includes EVGA GmbH in Munich, EVGA LATAM in Miami, and EVGA Hong Kong. For further information online about EVGA, visit https://www.evga.com.

   The Z490 chipset was officially unveiled early last year with the first motherboard models getting announced in May (officially released a couple of months after that) so yes it did actually take some time for me to get the Dark model here. Now there are some differences between the Z490 and the Z390 chipset (or more accurately between the Intel Series 300 and 400 chipsets) the most significant being the new socket type (LGA 1200) which although compatible with LGA 115x coolers it requires one of the new Intel Comet Lake (or 10th generation) CPU's like the 10700/10900 models. There are however smaller differences present like the higher supported JEDEC RAM speeds (2666/2933MHz - which in turn means Z490 motherboards can support higher frequency RAM), 2.5GbE connectivity (Intel i225V NIC), Dual-Band WiFi 6/BT 5.1 connectivity (AX201) and finally PCIe 4.0 support (this however is not available on all Z490 motherboards). As for the Z490 DARK well it features all of the above (minus PCIe 4.0 support) plus an 18-phase digital VRM design, two DIMM slots (dual-channel configuration) which can support to 64GB of DDR4 RAM at speeds surpassing 4800MHZ, two large aluminum heatsinks, three full-length EMI shielded (and reinforced) PCIe 3.0 slots (x16/x8-4/x4), single PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, two M.2 SSD slots (up to 110mm long models - these share bandwidth with the U.2 port and the PCIe 3.0 x4 slot), six native Intel SATA 6Gb/s ports (support RAID 0/1/5/10), two ASMedia (ASM1061) SATA 6.0Gb/s ports, single U.2 NVMe port, dual probelt connectors, two RGB connectors and right angled power connectors. Just like the Z390 Dark the Z490 Dark also shares several innovative features including PCIe disable switches (allow the end user to disable PCIe slots for troubleshooting), CPU slow-mode switch (can be used to change the CPU ratio on-the-fly to minimum), safeboot button (boots directly into the BIOS without changing your settings - handy if your system will not boot with those settings) and the triple-bios selection switch. In terms of connectivity things haven't changed much here either so once again we find a mini DisplayPort output, six USB 2.0 ports (via 3 internal headers), 4 intel USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports (2 external & 2 internal), 6 external USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (5 Type-A and 1 Type-C), Intel i225V 2.5 GbE (10/100/1000/2500) Ethernet port, Intel i219V Gigabit (10/100/1000) Ethernet port, AX201 Dual-Band WiFi 6/BT 5.1 (2x2 antenna based), NU Audio amplifier (for stereo speakers and headphones/headsets) and the Realtek ALC1220 High Definition Audio onboard audio card. So, let's see what the new Z490 Dark is capable off and of course just how it compares to its predecessor.