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ASRock Z490 AQUA

Black Haru

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Feb 24, 2010
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ASRock is back with another rendition of their ultra premium AQUA motherboards, this time for Z490! The ASRock Z490 AQUA has it all: a powerful VRM, a monoblock to cool it, and stylish looks to boot. Is this what peak performance looks like?

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Joined
Apr 29, 2014
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System Name SnowFire / The Reinforcer
Processor i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2
Motherboard Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720)
Cooling RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock
Memory Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb
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Case Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case
Audio Device(s) Realtec ALC1150 (On board)
Power Supply Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Logitech G19S
Software Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016
Cool board, but man that price is a little too steep in my book. I mean I was expecting around 500-800 dollars, but 1100 is a bit out there even with the premium features and water cooling.
 
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System Name Ciel
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Video Card(s) Gainward Ghost 3060 Ti 8GB + Sapphire Pulse RX 6600 8GB
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Useless goddess.
 
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Motherboard EVGA Z690 Classified
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S, 2xThermalRight TY-143, 4xNoctua NF-A12x25,3xNF-A12x15, 2xAquacomputer Splitty9Active
Memory G-Skill Trident Z5 (32GB) DDR5-6000 C36 F5-6000J3636F16GX2-TZ5RK
Video Card(s) EVGA Geforce 3060 XC Black Gaming 12GB
Storage 1x Samsung 970 Pro 512GB NVMe (OS), 2x Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB (data 1 and 2), ASUS BW-16D1HT
Display(s) Dell S3220DGF 32" 2560x1440 165Hz Primary, Dell P2017H 19.5" 1600x900 Secondary, Ergotron LX arms.
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Power Supply Super Flower Leadex Platinum SE 1000W 80+ Platinum White
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Keyboard Vortex Multix 87 Winter TKL (Gateron G Pro Yellow)
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$800 extra to possibly get 100 MHz.
 
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System Name Black Box
Processor Intel Xeon E3-1260L v5
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Case Corsair 450D High Air Flow.
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If they are going to call it Aqua, at least include some Barbie Girl stickers. :roll:
 
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System Name ❶ Oooh (2024) ❷ Aaaah (2021) ❸ Ahemm (2017)
Processor ❶ 5800X3D ❷ i7-9700K ❸ i7-7700K
Motherboard ❶ X570-F ❷ Z390-E ❸ Z270-E
Cooling ❶ ALFIII 360 ❷ X62 + X72 (GPU mod) ❸ X62
Memory ❶ 32-3600/16 ❷ 32-3200/16 ❸ 16-3200/16
Video Card(s) ❶ 3080 X Trio ❷ 2080TI (AIOmod) ❸ 1080TI
Storage ❶ NVME/SSD/HDD ❷ <SAME ❸ SSD/HDD
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Case ❶ BQ Silent 601 ❷ Cors 465X ❸ Frac Mesh C
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Benchmark Scores I have wrestled bandwidths, Tussled with voltages, Handcuffed Overclocks, Thrown Gigahertz in Jail
£1000.... for god sake! The enticing images and built-in liquid cooling face-lift "PULLED ME IN" and the horrendous price "KICKED ME OUT". A constant reoccurrence nowadays... oh well, back to boring air coolers and AIOs for me.

AQUA my bottom!!! Rebranded: "ASRock Z490 EMPTY YOUR WALLET UNGREEN"
 
Joined
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Messages
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Do you guys ever take the "advanced" settings into account when overclocking? I see just the voltage and multiplier being ramped up, while alot of more "tweaks" such as VRM switching frequency and such could be adjusted. Just that alone could lower the required overall core voltage into an OC. Just saying. If your buying a board like this you gotta know what todo with it.
 
Joined
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Processor Intel Core i9-13900K
Motherboard ASUS ProArt Z690-CREATOR WIFI
Cooling Custom water
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Keyboard RK ROYAL KLUDGE RK100 (white with blue switches)
If they are going to call it Aqua, at least include some Barbie Girl stickers. :roll:
Come on, ASRock, let's go party! (ah ah ah yeah)
 
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Benchmark Scores no
I'd love to see this board without waterblock branded as the Z490 OC Formula, at at least $600 less.
That would be pretty nifty.
 
Joined
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System Name BUBSTER
Processor I7 13700K (6.1 GHZ XTU OC)
Motherboard Z690 Gigabyte Aorus Elite Pro
Cooling Arctic Freezer II 360 RGB
Memory 32GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB DDR4 4800MHz 2x16GB
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Power Supply Corsair AX 850 Titanium
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Keyboard Asus ROG Strix Flare Cherry MX Red + Corsair Gaming K65 lux RGB
Software Windows 11 Pro x64
z490 is history in a couple months intel is drowning folks
 
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Benchmark Scores Classified
i have to say, the board itself looks pretty good but i agree the tag is kinda pretty high
 
Joined
Aug 5, 2020
Messages
199 (0.15/day)
System Name BUBSTER
Processor I7 13700K (6.1 GHZ XTU OC)
Motherboard Z690 Gigabyte Aorus Elite Pro
Cooling Arctic Freezer II 360 RGB
Memory 32GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB DDR4 4800MHz 2x16GB
Video Card(s) Asus GeForce RTX 3070 Super Dual OC
Storage Kingston KC 3000 PCIE4 1Tb + 2 Kingston KC 3000 1TB PCIE4 RAID 0 + 4 TB Crucial gen 4 +12 TB HDD
Display(s) Sony Bravia A85 j OLED
Case Corsair Carbide Air 540
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar Essence STX II
Power Supply Corsair AX 850 Titanium
Mouse Corsair Gaming M65 Pro RGB + Razr Taipan
Keyboard Asus ROG Strix Flare Cherry MX Red + Corsair Gaming K65 lux RGB
Software Windows 11 Pro x64
1000 dollars for a motherboard as it seems no upgrades insight not soon anyway
 
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Processor i7 8700k 4.6Ghz @ 1.24V
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Cooling beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
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Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
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Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
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Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W10 x64
ELEVEN HUNDRED.

By the time you're done counting that money at the cash register, the next Intel socket is out.
 
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