The ASRock Z490 PG Velocita Motherboard Review: It Means SPEED
by Gavin Bonshor on September 21, 2020 9:00 AM ESTBoard Features
The ASRock Z490 PG Velocita is an ATX-sized offering catering to the mid-range which is targeting gamers. The PG stands for Phantom Gaming which is one of ASRock's premium gaming series, with the Velocita coming from the Italian word for speed. It uses a typical mid-range feature set which includes dual PCIe 3.0/SATA M.2 slots, with eight SATA ports, six from the chipset with RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 support, and two from an ASMedia SATA controller. The board has four memory slots with supported speeds of DDR4-4666 and a total capacity of up to 128 GB. In the middle section of the board are two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots that run at x16/+x4, with three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Located around the board are seven 4-pin fan connectors, with one dedicated to a CPU, one for an optional CPU fan and water pump, and five for chassis fans.
ASRock Z490 PG Velocita ATX Motherboard | |||
Warranty Period | 3 Years | ||
Product Page | Link | ||
Price | $260 | ||
Size | ATX | ||
CPU Interface | LGA1200 | ||
Chipset | Intel Z490 | ||
Memory Slots (DDR4) | Four DDR4 Supporting 128 GB Dual-Channel Up to DDR4-4666 |
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Video Outputs | 1 x HDMI 1.4 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 |
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Network Connectivity | Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5 GbE Intel I129-V GbE |
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Onboard Audio | Realtek ALC1220 TI EN5532 Amplifier (Front Panel) |
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PCIe Slots for Graphics (from CPU) | 1 x PCIe 3.0 (x16) | ||
PCIe Slots for Other (from PCH) | 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4 3 x PCIe 3.0 x1 |
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Onboard SATA | Six, RAID 0/1/5/10 (Z490) Two, (ASMedia) |
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Onboard M.2 | 2 x PCIe 3.0 x4/SATA | ||
USB 3.1 (20 Gbps) | N/A | ||
USB 3.1 (10 Gbps) | 1 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 1 x USB Type-C (Rear panel) |
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USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) | 4 x USB Type-A (Rear panel) 4 x USB Type-A (Two headers) 1 x USB Type-C (One header) |
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USB 2.0 | 4 x USB Type-A (Two headers) | ||
Power Connectors | 1 x 24-pin Motherboard 2 x 8-pin CPU |
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Fan Headers | 1 x 4-pin CPU 1 x 4-pin CPU/Water pump 5 x 4-pin Chassis |
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IO Panel | 1 x PS/2 Mouse/Keyboard 1 x HDMI 1.4 output 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 output 1 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-A 1 x USB 3.2 G2 Type-C 4 x USB 3.2 G1 Type-A 1 x RJ45 (Realtek) 1 x RJ45 (Intel) 5 x 3.5 mm audio jacks (Realtek) 1 x S/PDIF Optical output (Realtek) |
The ASRock Z490 PG Velocita omits any form of a wireless interface, which is a little disappointing given some models it competes with include Wi-Fi 6. Focusing on what's included, is a pair of USB 3.2 G2 ports (Type-A and Type-C, with four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports. Users looking to use integrated graphics can make use of the HDMI 1.4 and DisplayPort 1.4 video output pairing, while the board includes a premium Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec with a TI NE5532 headset amplifier to bolster the quality of the front panel audio. Networking wise, the PG Velocita has two Ethernet ports, with one powered by a Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5 G Ethernet controller and the other by a standard Intel I219-V Gigabit controller.
Test Bed
As per our testing policy, we take a high-end CPU suitable for the motherboard that was released during the socket’s initial launch and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the processor maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
Test Setup | |||
Processor | Intel Core i7-10700K, 125 W, $374 8 Cores, 16 Threads 3.8 GHz (5.1 GHz Turbo) |
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Motherboard | ASRock Z490 PG Velocita (BIOS 1.50) | ||
Cooling | Corsair H115i RGB Pro XT 280 mm AIO | ||
Power Supply | Corsair HX850 850 W 80 PLUS Platinum | ||
Memory | G.Skill TridentZ DDR4-2933 CL 14-14-14-34 2T (2 x 8 GB) | ||
Video Card | MSI GTX 1080 (1178/1279 Boost) | ||
Hard Drive | Crucial MX300 1TB | ||
Case | Corsair Crystal 680X | ||
Operating System | Windows 10 1909 inc. Spectre/Meltdown Patches |
Readers of our motherboard review section will have noted the trend in modern motherboards to implement a form of MultiCore Enhancement / Acceleration / Turbo (read our report here) on their motherboards. This does several things, including better benchmark results at stock settings (not entirely needed if overclocking is an end-user goal) at the expense of heat and temperature. It also gives, in essence, an automatic overclock which may be against what the user wants. Our testing methodology is ‘out-of-the-box’, with the latest public BIOS installed and XMP enabled, and thus subject to the whims of this feature. It is ultimately up to the motherboard manufacturer to take this risk – and manufacturers taking risks in the setup is something they do on every product (think C-state settings, USB priority, DPC Latency / monitoring priority, overriding memory sub-timings at JEDEC). Processor speed change is part of that risk, and ultimately if no overclocking is planned, some motherboards will affect how fast that shiny new processor goes and can be an important factor in the system build.
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Chaitanya - Monday, September 21, 2020 - link
Yay, one more example of lazy engineering: slapping multiple tiny fans with proprietary connectors on VRM heatsoak and calling it a day.rahvin - Monday, September 21, 2020 - link
Why would you test non-UEFI boot times? Is anyone still using legacy Bios?JanW1 - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
That title makes me wanna stop reading Anandtech. How stupid is that for a motherboard review !? This wouldn't even be good marketing, it just sounds immature. As others have pointed out, speed is not a main reason for MB buying decisions, design, build quality and reliability is.PeachNCream - Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - link
While I can imagine the quality of tiny fans has improved significantly over the years, I would still not want anything to do with a motherboard festooned with three of them. There are lots and lots of alternatives at all sorts of price points that do not have or require active cooling of any sort.Archer_Legend - Friday, September 25, 2020 - link
There are several mistakes in the article, as you can see on the box it is written velocità not velocita.javedhashmi - Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - link
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