Asus Prime Z490-P
Motherboard
ASUS Prime Z490‑P — ATX Z490 motherboard (LGA1200) for 10th/11th Gen Intel CPUs, 4x DDR4 up to 128GB, M.2 NVMe, 6x SATA, Intel Gigabit LAN — solid mid‑range build platform.
Product Details
Overview
The ASUS Prime Z490‑P is an ATX motherboard based on Intel's Z490 chipset with an LGA1200 socket. Designed for 10th‑Gen Intel Core processors (Comet Lake) and compatible with many 11th‑Gen CPUs after BIOS updates, it provides a stable, feature‑rich foundation for gaming, content creation and everyday productivity.
Performance & CPU support
Because it's a Z‑series board the Prime Z490‑P supports CPU overclocking and higher TDP parts — so it will run 10th‑Gen parts like the Core i9‑10900K (10 cores / 20 threads, boost up to ~5.3GHz on suitable cooling) and Core i7/i5 Comet Lake chips effortlessly. The board exposes a full PCIe x16 slot driven by the CPU (PCIe 3.0 on Comet Lake), and offers a BIOS with standard ASUS tuning options for moderate overclocking and memory XMP profiles. For memory it takes 4 DDR4 DIMMs for up to 128GB in dual‑channel mode and is engineered to support high frequency DDR4 kits with XMP — expect practical overclocked memory speeds into the 4000–4600MHz range depending on your kit and CPU memory controller.
Storage, expansion and connectivity
The Z490‑P includes modern storage options: an M.2 slot that supports NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs (real‑world sequential reads up to ~3.5GB/s on fast NVMe drives) plus multiple SATA III (6Gb/s) ports for traditional SSDs and HDDs. Expansion is straightforward with the primary PCIe x16 slot for a discrete GPU and additional PCIe x1 slots for sound cards, NICs or capture cards. On the rear I/O you'll find video outputs (DisplayPort and HDMI) to use the CPU's integrated graphics, a mix of USB 3.x and USB 2.0 ports for peripherals, Intel Gigabit Ethernet for reliable wired networking and ASUS' on‑board high‑definition audio solution for multi‑channel sound.
Practical use cases
Paired with a mid or high‑end CPU and GPU, the Prime Z490‑P is an excellent platform for 1080p and 1440p gaming — the board supplies the necessary PCIe bandwidth and power delivery to feed modern GPUs. For creators it supports multi‑core Comet Lake CPUs that accelerate video editing, encoding and multi‑threaded workloads. It's also a dependable choice for home and office systems where stability, multiple storage drives and fast LAN are priorities.
Specs summary
- Chipset: Intel Z490
- Socket: LGA1200 — supports 10th‑Gen Intel Core (Comet Lake) and many 11th‑Gen with BIOS update
- Memory: 4× DDR4 DIMM slots, up to 128GB, dual‑channel, XMP and memory overclocking supported
- Storage: 1× M.2 (NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 / SATA), multiple SATA III 6Gb/s ports
- PCIe: Primary PCIe x16 slot (CPU lanes, PCIe 3.0 with Comet Lake); additional PCIe x1 slots
- Networking: Intel Gigabit Ethernet (reliable 1Gbps wired connectivity)
- Audio: Onboard HD audio (Realtek‑class codec providing multi‑channel output)
- Rear I/O: HDMI & DisplayPort for iGPU, mix of USB 3.x and USB 2.0 ports, audio jacks
- Form factor: ATX — fits standard mid & full towers
Who this board is best suited for: builders who want a dependable, affordable Z‑series platform for 10th‑Gen Intel CPUs — gamers targeting 1080p/1440p with a dedicated GPU, creators using multi‑core Comet Lake processors for editing and users who need multiple drives and stable Gigabit LAN. The Prime Z490‑P is ideal for mid‑range to performance desktop builds where reliability, expandability and straightforward overclocking matter most.