Just a quick suggestion for the author--your twin photos of the motherboards are very nice--and publishing the photos eliminates any need for exhaustive text outlining the purely cosmetic differences. You should also include photos of the back of the motherboards, too--which I don't believe you commented on at all in the article. Main thing is cosmetics are entirely superficial--article text should be reserved for describing the hardware differences between them, if any.
I was very surprised to see that even in $1k motherboards supporting Intel's latest chipsets and CPUs that the Intel chipset isn't close to supporting a system-wide PCIe4 bus. It's more reminiscent of AMD's B5xx's value line in that regard--part PCIe4; part PCIe3. My 19-month-old x570 Aorus Master supports PCIe4 throughout the entire system bus, AFAIK. Intel must be concerned with keeping power/heat levels down, etc. The price is certainly Godlike, no question of that...;) Unreal.
Intel's chipset doesn't speak PCIe4, only the CPU itself, until that changes it won't matter how crazy expensive the OEMs make the mobo; they can't add PCIe4 where it doesn't exist.
it does feel a bit dated today; but on account of Intel's ongoing manufacturing snafus, this chipset was probably due out a few years ago where a top to bottom half and half setup would have been a reasonable initial offering. Especially since with the chipset DMI widened from 4 to 8 lanes of PCIe3 equivalent multiple SSDs should be much less of an IO bottleneck than in the past.
I was wondering how the new Rocket Lake CPU's will run on a Z490 board? Perhaps issues with getting actual mature versions of BIOS for Z490 with Rocket Lake and PCIe 4.0? Then very possible overall system performance degradation? But those who would be planning to use a Z590 board with a Comet Lake processor would not get the benefit of PCI-E 4.0 and no HDMI 2.0. Thoughts?
Yes--I'm still struggling with "Godlike"--except where the price is concerned. Based on what this costs versus what it supports, "Godlike" really fits the price tag even if not much else...;)
I was looking at all boards for the modded drivers Win7, this one has CNVi, so that eliminates both these ones, so AX210 is CNVi. Damn it. I have to check for all the boards on X570 and Z590 to see which one has AX200 instead so that I can remove that and install any Intel 7xxx or Killer series which has Win7 drivers.
Also wtf is the pricing ? $1000+ for an EOL board and last DDR4 board, this is insane ripoff. On top if you consider the SMT performance Ryzen 5000 absolutely decimates Intel completely. I'm hoping for a 7nm EUV refresh for the Ryzen 5000, if Alderlake drops in Q4. That will put Intel in their place for the performance.
I'm wondering how ASUS APEX and Z590 Dark will compete. Both will be cheaper than this, although Dark will be superior in all cases maybe even cheaper ?
"The rear panel of the MSI MEG Z590 Godlike includes dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C with two mini-DisplayPorts inputs for video capabilities, with one DisplayPort 1.4 video output."
I don't see a DP port anywhere on the back panel picture, and the table below it doesn't list DP output either. There's 2x TB4 ports and 2x Mini-DP-in ports. But no full-size DP port anywhere.
The two mini DP ports are just to the left of the Wi-Fi antenna connectors, and just to the right of the two thunderbolt 4 ports. Very useful so you can pipe DisplayPort output from your video card into the thunderbolt bus... so you can directly use your video card, rather than the iGPU, via thunderbolt.
Can someone please explain to me why desktop TB3/4 ports like these aren't able to receive DP signals over PCIe from the GPU like in laptops? Any GPU is able to output its video signal over PCIe and have it output by another GPU after all (like when outputting a picture using an iGPU but setting a dGPU to be the one doing the rendering). So why can't TB3/4 chips just get these signals internally?
"Any GPU is able to output its video signal over PCIe and have it output by another GPU after all"
Not any, and it's far from a simple process, or one free of issues (can eat up to 32Gb/s of PCIe bandwidth, or potentially 25% of your PCIe x16 slot bandwidth, if you just copy the buffer across), and adds latency overhead. It also required the CPU connected to the TB host chip to also have two DP outputs tied up with Thunderbolt. A direct DP jumper avoids all of that.
Hmm... how does a 20+0 VRM layout work? Does this board not provide an uncore/SoC voltage rail? That doesn't sound right. Also, are there any 20-phase VRM controllers on the market?
I'm not so much interested in the raw performance of the 4082 as I am in the quality of the sound it produces.
The one thing I noticed about the Ryzen Godlike from MSI was that it was exactly the same as MSI's ~$200 mboards, Gaming Pro Carbon, etc. It supplied only the RealTek 1220, with a software DSP program called Nahimic. I was stunned to see the Ryzen Godlike @ ~$700 featuring exactly the same sound hardware (with Nahimic) as what MSI installed on the ~$190x 370 & x470 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboards I owned before buying the x570 Aorus Master 19 months ago! The x570 Master includes not only the 1220VB, but also a hardware DAC (a SABRE 1118), and a hardware three-position earphone amp. Running the phones from the front-panel HD earphone jack the combination just blew away the MSI 1220 & software DSP--huge difference in sound quality! I'd compare the output with a $100+ Creative Labs card (or others) any day. It's the very best onboard sound circuitry I've seen on any motherboard. I don't know how these motherboard companies get by with charging so much for supposedly premium motherboards that go el cheapo on their sound support. The premium cans sound support on the Master was one of this mboard's selling points for me--before I even heard it. AT ~$330 these days the x570 Aorus Master is ~33% the cost of the MSI Godlike, and when I want 10G I'll buy a 10G adapter--same with TB, etc. Rev 1.1/1.2 of the x570 Master include a motherboard TB header, as well.
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24 Comments
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WaltC - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
Just a quick suggestion for the author--your twin photos of the motherboards are very nice--and publishing the photos eliminates any need for exhaustive text outlining the purely cosmetic differences. You should also include photos of the back of the motherboards, too--which I don't believe you commented on at all in the article. Main thing is cosmetics are entirely superficial--article text should be reserved for describing the hardware differences between them, if any.I was very surprised to see that even in $1k motherboards supporting Intel's latest chipsets and CPUs that the Intel chipset isn't close to supporting a system-wide PCIe4 bus. It's more reminiscent of AMD's B5xx's value line in that regard--part PCIe4; part PCIe3. My 19-month-old x570 Aorus Master supports PCIe4 throughout the entire system bus, AFAIK. Intel must be concerned with keeping power/heat levels down, etc. The price is certainly Godlike, no question of that...;) Unreal.
DanNeely - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
Intel's chipset doesn't speak PCIe4, only the CPU itself, until that changes it won't matter how crazy expensive the OEMs make the mobo; they can't add PCIe4 where it doesn't exist.it does feel a bit dated today; but on account of Intel's ongoing manufacturing snafus, this chipset was probably due out a few years ago where a top to bottom half and half setup would have been a reasonable initial offering. Especially since with the chipset DMI widened from 4 to 8 lanes of PCIe3 equivalent multiple SSDs should be much less of an IO bottleneck than in the past.
Tom Sunday - Monday, February 8, 2021 - link
I was wondering how the new Rocket Lake CPU's will run on a Z490 board? Perhaps issues with getting actual mature versions of BIOS for Z490 with Rocket Lake and PCIe 4.0? Then very possible overall system performance degradation? But those who would be planning to use a Z590 board with a Comet Lake processor would not get the benefit of PCI-E 4.0 and no HDMI 2.0. Thoughts?boozed - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
Products targetted at "gamers" have the silliest names.WaltC - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
Yes--I'm still struggling with "Godlike"--except where the price is concerned. Based on what this costs versus what it supports, "Godlike" really fits the price tag even if not much else...;)mrvco - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
'Godlike' seems like a typo, should probably be 'Gudlike'.QChronoD - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
Looking at the logo on the board itself, I think most people would read it as "GooLike".Silver5urfer - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
I was looking at all boards for the modded drivers Win7, this one has CNVi, so that eliminates both these ones, so AX210 is CNVi. Damn it. I have to check for all the boards on X570 and Z590 to see which one has AX200 instead so that I can remove that and install any Intel 7xxx or Killer series which has Win7 drivers.Also wtf is the pricing ? $1000+ for an EOL board and last DDR4 board, this is insane ripoff. On top if you consider the SMT performance Ryzen 5000 absolutely decimates Intel completely. I'm hoping for a 7nm EUV refresh for the Ryzen 5000, if Alderlake drops in Q4. That will put Intel in their place for the performance.
I'm wondering how ASUS APEX and Z590 Dark will compete. Both will be cheaper than this, although Dark will be superior in all cases maybe even cheaper ?
dtexo - Thursday, February 11, 2021 - link
AX210 is not CNVi, from AX2xx family only AX201 is (if i remember correctly)https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/w...
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/w...
Anandtech do not bothered to check and got it wrong in few articles.
phoenix_rizzen - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
From the article:"The rear panel of the MSI MEG Z590 Godlike includes dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C with two mini-DisplayPorts inputs for video capabilities, with one DisplayPort 1.4 video output."
I don't see a DP port anywhere on the back panel picture, and the table below it doesn't list DP output either. There's 2x TB4 ports and 2x Mini-DP-in ports. But no full-size DP port anywhere.
Copy/paste error?
WaltC - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
I didn't see it either. Perhaps a mobo header?...although I think that would be a bit weird...Exotica - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
The two mini DP ports are just to the left of the Wi-Fi antenna connectors, and just to the right of the two thunderbolt 4 ports. Very useful so you can pipe DisplayPort output from your video card into the thunderbolt bus... so you can directly use your video card, rather than the iGPU, via thunderbolt.Valantar - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
Can someone please explain to me why desktop TB3/4 ports like these aren't able to receive DP signals over PCIe from the GPU like in laptops? Any GPU is able to output its video signal over PCIe and have it output by another GPU after all (like when outputting a picture using an iGPU but setting a dGPU to be the one doing the rendering). So why can't TB3/4 chips just get these signals internally?edzieba - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
"Any GPU is able to output its video signal over PCIe and have it output by another GPU after all"Not any, and it's far from a simple process, or one free of issues (can eat up to 32Gb/s of PCIe bandwidth, or potentially 25% of your PCIe x16 slot bandwidth, if you just copy the buffer across), and adds latency overhead. It also required the CPU connected to the TB host chip to also have two DP outputs tied up with Thunderbolt. A direct DP jumper avoids all of that.
WaltC - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
Most of the TB circuitry resides in the cables, doesn't it? I'm not a TB aficionado but seems like I read that awhile back...Exotica - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
They are. That’s why there’s the two Mini DisplayPort inputs. So you can use your video card rather than the iGPU via the thunderbolt bus.Valantar - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
Hmm... how does a 20+0 VRM layout work? Does this board not provide an uncore/SoC voltage rail? That doesn't sound right. Also, are there any 20-phase VRM controllers on the market?Slash3 - Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - link
It's an 18+1+1 configuration, apparently. The previous board was 16+1+1.A5 - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
Re: ALC4082, can you just do a Rightmark loopback on both boards and see if the performance is any different?WaltC - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
I'm not so much interested in the raw performance of the 4082 as I am in the quality of the sound it produces.The one thing I noticed about the Ryzen Godlike from MSI was that it was exactly the same as MSI's ~$200 mboards, Gaming Pro Carbon, etc. It supplied only the RealTek 1220, with a software DSP program called Nahimic. I was stunned to see the Ryzen Godlike @ ~$700 featuring exactly the same sound hardware (with Nahimic) as what MSI installed on the ~$190x 370 & x470 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboards I owned before buying the x570 Aorus Master 19 months ago! The x570 Master includes not only the 1220VB, but also a hardware DAC (a SABRE 1118), and a hardware three-position earphone amp. Running the phones from the front-panel HD earphone jack the combination just blew away the MSI 1220 & software DSP--huge difference in sound quality! I'd compare the output with a $100+ Creative Labs card (or others) any day. It's the very best onboard sound circuitry I've seen on any motherboard. I don't know how these motherboard companies get by with charging so much for supposedly premium motherboards that go el cheapo on their sound support. The premium cans sound support on the Master was one of this mboard's selling points for me--before I even heard it. AT ~$330 these days the x570 Aorus Master is ~33% the cost of the MSI Godlike, and when I want 10G I'll buy a 10G adapter--same with TB, etc. Rev 1.1/1.2 of the x570 Master include a motherboard TB header, as well.
WaltC - Monday, February 1, 2021 - link
Correction: should be the ESS SABRE reference DAC ES9118, above.damianrobertjones - Monday, February 8, 2021 - link
Mini-dp... in???That's a new one for me.
worldnewsnow - Friday, March 12, 2021 - link
https://worldnewsera.com/Tenchi Muyo - Sunday, May 23, 2021 - link
Because the Godlike z490 was so good - better than my two Maximus XII Extreme Boardsi bought the z590 Godlike too. Like them both.
Paid €900,- for this - but i will get €40,- Cashback