Intel Z490 Motherboards For Intel 10th Gen Desktop CPUs Now Available For Pre-Order at Various Retailers – Z490 Motherboard Prices Detailed

The Intel Z490 chipset based motherboards from various manufacturers are now available for pre-order at various retail outlets. Featuring support for Intel's 10th Generation Desktop CPUs, the new Z490 motherboards are accompanied by the latest LGA 1200 socket which allows full compatibility with Intel's latest Comet Lake CPU lineup.

The introduction of Z490 marks the end of the Z390 and Z370 series. While those chipsets featured inter-compatibility with 8th and 9th Generation CPUs, the Z490 chipset only supports the 10th Gen lineup for now. The new chipset adds in a range of features that expand upon from the Z390 PCH and can also handle increased I/O. So it isn't just a new chipset follow up for a new line of CPUs but its actually slightly more, something that I'd personally call an evolution of the Z490 platform in all the best ways possible.

Intel Z490 Platform Features:

The 10th gen desktop platform has a range of new features that mainly include:

Following is the list of all the Z490 motherboards from various manufacturers that are available for pre-order along with their respective links.

ASUS Z490 Motherboards (Full Roundup Here):

ASRock Z490 Motherboards (Full Roundup Here):

MSI Z490 Motherboards (Full Roundup Here):

Gigabyte Z490 Motherboards (Full Roundup Here):

As mentioned earlier, LGA 1151's reign is finally over and the LGA 1200 socket is here now. The new socket definitely adds more pins to the socket but the dimensions and most of the physical looks of the socket remain unchanged. The new LGA 1200 socket does offer more pin connections to the CPU, allowing for more communication channels with the board itself and accommodate electrical pin configurations that are required to support 10th Gen CPUs.

While the LGA 1200 socket has the same dimensions as the LGA 1151 socket (37.5mm x 37.5mm), the socket keying has shifted to the left side and Comet Lake is no longer electrically or mechanically compatible with Coffee Lake motherboards. So this is some bad news for those who may try to put an LGA 1151 CPU on the LGA 1200 socket for science! Some details of the new LGA 1200 package and socket for Comet Lake:

You can expect full reviews on the Z490 motherboards to go live on the 20th of May along with the respective 10th Gen Desktop CPUs.