An ATX motherboard for Intel's 10th-Generation "Comet Lake-S" processors, Asus' Prime Z490-A sits apart from the company's ubiquitous Republic of Gamers (ROG) family of components and has a wholly different, less edgy look and feel—one meant to attract a more professional audience with a cooler aesthetic. Priced at $229.99, it also undercuts some of Asus' ROG boards. The Prime would work fine as the foundation for a new gaming PC, but this motherboard is also a fitting solution for shoppers who want to build or upgrade to a powerful productivity computer or a Core- rather than Xeon-based workstation.The Board Design The Prime Z490-A features a black PCB with white strips running across it. The rear I/O shield, as well as the chipset heatsink on this board, are also colored white. The bright, contrasting color on this otherwise dark component is eye-catching and draws your attention to these two areas on the board. Other than that, the board isn't particularly decorative. The rear...
The Asus Prime Z490-A is a stable and worthwhile ATX board to build an Intel 10th Generation Core system on, but you can find better buys in its price range.
Well-rounded feature set; Easy-to-use BIOS; Flawless setup and install process in our test build
Slightly high pricing for the feature set