ASRock Z590 AC CrossFireX motherboard review

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Phantom Gaming was created for and by gamers. There are several game-specific features and outstanding gaming capabilities hidden beneath its uncompromising exterior. Everything revolves around giving players a fresh gaming experience.

The ASRock Z590 Phantom Gaming 4 is the company’s most affordable Z590 chipset motherboard, supporting the most recent 11th Gen Intel processors, and it serves as the series’ launch model. The Z590 Phantom Gaming 4 might be the budget-friendly option if you’re looking for a straightforward, no-frills motherboard. It is best for people who won’t mess around with overclocking moreover it also supports impressive memory speeds.

Additionally, there are a good number of fan headers for both CPU and case fans as well as a very healthy amount of storage possibilities. With the ASRock Z590 motherboard, you get what you pay for, and even though it won’t appeal to hobbyists or PC modders, the Z590 Phantom Gaming 4 is perfectly adequate for anyone wishing to construct a simple gaming rig using the newest Intel processors.

Design of the motherboard:

ASRock Z590 AC CrossFireX is characterized by its strong construction and flawless power delivery to the CPU. Additionally, it provides advanced gamers with improved performance at the coolest temperature. The Z590 Phantom Gaming 4 is simplicity personified from a design standpoint. The board appears extremely basic in any PC case and lacks any showy logos or extravagant RGB lighting.

However, the largely black PCB (printed circuit board) can make it difficult to see connectors, so we advise being familiar with the locations of several important components before you begin connecting things.

The tiniest heatsinks on this motherboard are the first thing you’ll notice. There are two on the VRM, but as they are smooth rather than finned, we are not sure how well they will dissipate heat under demanding workloads. As previously indicated, the IO components are not protected, which is yet another compromise to be made at this pricing point.

RAM DIMM slots of ASRock Z590:

Four DIMM slots are located to the right and can accommodate up to 128GB of DDR4 RAM at a frequency of 3200MHz. To get the most performance possible, overclocking is accessible via the BIOS. There are XMP 2.0 profiles that can be loaded automatically. The first of two RGB headers—one RGB 12V/3A and the other RGB 5V/3A addressable—is located directly next to the DIMM slots and uses ASRock’s Polychrome SYNC software.

There are two more RGB headers at the board’s base, which should be sufficient to adjust any RGB lighting you desire in your case or component. What an notable thing about this board’s generous use of fan headers at various locations throughout the board. There is a total of six: two for the CPU and four for the casing. You have lots of airflow as a result.

M.2 Sockets and storage

Three M.2 sockets are present, with the closest one to the CPU running at 4.0 speeds. You do, however, have some SATA ports to plug your drives into if you decide to use those as well. There are plenty of storage slots available, so you could fully go without using any of the onboard SATA controllers for conventional HDDs or SSD if you so desired. Additionally, the board has a USB 3.1 header that front ports may be connected to, making it simple to use compatible drives and other peripherals.

There are a total of two Gen4x16 (PCIE1) or Gen4x16 (PCIE1) / Gen3x4 PCI Express x16 slots. Also three PCI Express 3.0 x1 slots are accessible for other devices, though it may be difficult to put some items into adjacent PCIe slots if you’re using larger GPUs on the ASRock Z590 motherboard.

Although AMD Quad CrossFireX and CrossFireX are supported by the board, SLI support is not included in this. There are just five USB ports available on the rear IO panel, which are easy to detect. While the board itself has more USB headers for front connectivity, you should utilize the rear USB ports sparingly. It is because they are very easy to fill up once devices are connected.

USB Type C Ports in the Z590 motherboard

It’s encouraging to note that there is one USB 3.2 Type C connector at the back for suitable devices because more motherboard makers are now incorporating this as a requirement on their boards.

An instruction booklet, some screws for installing M.2 drives, an IO shield, SATA cables, and an installation DVD with drivers are all included in the box.

Motherboard BIOS

The BIOS of the Z590 Phantom Gaming 4 is quite simple, with each section letting you adjust RGB settings, fan speeds, and memory settings. You can delve down into overclocking the CPU and RAM using the advanced view. Additionally, the motherboard has ASRock’s Base Frequency Boost technology, which enables non-K series CPUs to benefit from a base frequency boost and operate at faster speeds for a longer time.

There are a few applications from ASRock that you can use to control your motherboard from within Windows, including ones for tuning and overclocking, Nahimic 3 audio software, RGB control, and maintaining the most recent versions of your motherboard’s firmware and drivers.

Performance of the ASRock Z590 AC CrossFireX:

The performance of traditional PC systems is restricted by the processor’s limited access to graphics RAM. With Clever Access Memory, the data channel is widened to take advantage of all the GPU memory has to offer, removing the performance bottleneck.

Overall synthetic benchmark performance was encouraging, and overall gaming quality was excellent. Even with an older GPU, we were still able to maintain 60 frames per second in Overwatch and Valorant on medium settings; however, on the same settings, Shadow of the Tomb Raider only managed 45–50 frames per second.

Conclusion:

The ASRock Z590 AC CrossFireX Phantom Gaming 4 fits the bill for an entry-level gaming board, as it is advertised to be. If you don’t concern about any of ASRock’s top-tier products and only want the bare minimum for your build without an overclocked CPU, Z590 is the board to pick. This motherboard offers a reasonable selection of cooling and storage options.