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Limited to 999 pieces: ASRock presents the Z490 Aqua

ASRock also had last Thursday the Z490 motherboard portfolio officially launched, but there was no information on an aqua model that day. To date, because the product page for the Z490 Aqua, which has been equipped with a pre-installed CPU and VRM water cooler, is now publicly available on the official ASRock website. Becomes the Z490 Phantom Gaming 4SR with the new ATX12VO power connector added, ASRock now comes with the Z490 Aqua on twelve Z490 boards.

ASRock already offered this for current Ryzen processors limited to 999 pieces X570 Aqua (hardware luxx test) whose water cooler not only keeps the AM4 processor and voltage converters, but also the X570 chipset at the right temperature. ASRocks Z490 Aqua is therefore a counterpart model for Intel’s new Comet Lake S processors. However, due to the lack of PCIe 4.0 support, the Z490-PCH does not require extended cooling, so that the water cooler on the ASRock Z490 Aqua concentrates purely on the LGA1200 CPU and the power supply. The latter consists of 16 coils and also 16 DrMOS converters with 90A and are powered by two 8-pin EPS12V power sockets.

The LGA1200 platform itself allows up to four DDR4 UDIMM slots, which of course can be found on the ASRock Z490 Aqua and can hold up to 128 GB RAM. According to ASRock, the effective memory clock should be able to be driven up to 4,700 MHz depending on the DIMMs. Three mechanical PCIe 3.0 x16 and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots enable general system expansion. In connection with the Comet Lake S successor Rocket Lake S, the board is also prepared for PCIe 4.0 use on the top two x16 slots. Three M.2 M-Key (explicitly as PCIe 3.0 x4 version) and a total of eight SATA sockets allow the connection of storage devices.

Also on board is some onboard convenience, such as a power, reset, BIOS flashback and CMOS clear button as well as a debug LED. A small highlight, however, is the small OLED display, which in addition to the POST codes can display further information such as CPU temperature, voltage and the clock. The current fan speeds can also be read. In the USB area, however, there are eight USB 3.2 Gen1 (5 GBit / s), two USB 2.0 and four USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 GBit / s). If the two Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 3.0 support (40 GBit / s) are added, the ASRock Z490 Aqua even comes with six USB 3.2 Gen2 interfaces. The premium board only lacks a USB 3.2 Gen2x2 connection with 20 GBit / s.

The network segment is also luxurious with a 2.5 GBit / s RJ45 port (Realtek RTL8125BG), a 10 GBit / s RJ45 connection (Aquantia AQtion AQC107) and alternatively wireless via Intel’s Wi-Fi 6-AX201-CNVi module including Bluetooth 5.0 support. Two mini DisplayPort inputs are also available on the I / O panel for their first use. Finally, there is the onboard sound with Realtek’s ALC1220 codec, the ESS-Sabre9218-DAC and seven audio and four WIMA capacitors.

All buyers receive free WaKü fittings

ASRock also equips all 999 buyers of the limited Z490 Aqua with a free “Aqua Water Cooling Pack”, which consists of several fittings with G1 / 4 thread. From there, no price is known for the ASRock Z490 Aqua, but if you keep in mind the high price of the X570 Aqua of more than 900 euros, a price of 1,000 euros is not unlikely. However, it is questionable whether the ASRock Z490 Aqua will be available at the market launch.

The data of the ASRock Z490 Aqua in the overview
Mainboard format E-ATX
Manufacturer and
designation
ASRock
Z490 Aqua
CPU socket LGA1200 (for Comet Lake-S)
Power connections 1x 24-pin ATX
2x 8-pin EPS12V
Phases / coils 18 pieces (16x for CPU, 2x for RAM)
Price probably around 1,000 euros
website ASRock Z490 Aqua
Southbridge / CPU features
Chipset Intel Z490 Express chipset
Memory banks and type 4x DDR4 (dual-channel), max. 4,700 MHz
Memory expansion Max. 128 GB RAM UDIMM Non-ECC
SLI / CrossFire SLI (2-way), CrossFireX (3-way)
Onboard features
PCI Express

2x PCIe 4.0 / 3.0 x16 (electrical with x16 / x8) via CPU
1x PCIe 3.0 x16 (electrical with x4) via Intel Z490
2x PCIe 3.0 x1 via Intel Z490

PCI
SATA (e), SAS and
M.2 / U.2 interfaces

6x SATA 6 Gbps via Intel Z490
2x SATA 6 Gbps via ASMedia ASM1061
3x M.2 with PCIe 3.0 x4 via Intel Z490 (M-Key, 32 GBit / s, shared)
1x M.2 with PCIe 3.0 x1 via Intel Z490 (E-Key, occupied)

USB

4x USB 3.2 Gen2 (3x external, 1x internal) via Intel Z490
8x USB 3.2 Gen1 (4x on external, 4x internal) via Intel Z490
2x USB 2.0 (2x internal) via Intel Z490

Graphic interfaces 1x HDMI 1.4b
WLAN / Bluetooth WiFi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ax Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, dual-band, max. 2.4 Gbps, Bluetooth 5.1
Thunderbolt 2x Thunderbolt 3.0 USB Type-C
LAN

1x Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5 Gbps LAN
1x Aquantia AQtion AQC107 10 Gbps LAN

Audio codec
and connections
8-channel Realtek ALC1220 codec
ESS Sabre9218 DAC
5x 3.5mm audio jacks
1x TOSLink
FAN header

1x 4-pin CPU FAN header
1x 4-pin CPU / water pump header
6x 4-pin chassis FAN / water pump headers

LED lighting 2x 4-pin RGB headers
2x 3-pin ARGB headers
Onboard comfort Power button, reset button, BIOS flashback button, CMOS clear button, debug LED

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