If motherboards were broken into economic classes, Asus' $299.99 ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming would be an upper-middle-class striver, driving an imported SUV with golf clubs in the back. This aspirational ATX board is great for gaming and overclocking, even if it can't quite match advanced luxury boards such as Asus' own Maximus XII series motherboards in terms of features. It's priced notably lower, though, and that makes it a prime pick for anyone who wants the impact of a high-end board but doesn't want to pay top dollar for it. Competing with boards such as Asrock's Z490 Phantom Gaming Velocita, however, the ROG Strix will need to work hard if it wants to dominate in this section of the market. Spoiler alert: Hard work pays off.The Board Design Instead of the usual red-and-black Republic of Gamers (ROG) color scheme, the ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming is almost entirely black with few other highlights to break up the look. Once you get this ATX-size board fired up, you'll spot some RGB LE...
At a midrange price, the Asus ROG Strix Z490-E Gaming looks, feels, and operates like a top-end Intel motherboard with just a few of the premium bells and whistles knocked off. It's an ideal-balance ATX board for 10th Generation Intel chips, and it performed flawlessly in our tests.
Top-notch features; Well-built, excellent cooling; Deep rear I/O panel; Easy-to-use BIOS; Reasonably priced for Z490 chipset and feature set
Must remove plastic chipset shroud to access top M.2 heat spreader; Memory-profile option available only in BIOS's EZ Mode