AlanBlayneyLooks like only two RAM slots on the Dark? Is that normal?
ZU476B72N4PCNot even a 2.5G NIC? So much for future-proofing, looks like I'll need to take up a PCIe slot with a NIC in a year or two.
kougarRocket lake was confirmed to be 20 PCIe lanes. So that's x4 lanes for these boards to utilize. Doubled-edged sword though, because it means even though Rocket Lake works in Z490 boards they won't get those extra x4 PCIe lanes. And to be clear, Intel already officially confirmed Alder Lake is launching at the end of this year. Z690 or whatever they call it will require DDR5 and won't be compatible with Rocket lake or older CPUs.
Last question, what form factor do you think these boards will be? ATX or E-ATX?
Sn8ke_iisSo does this mean the Z490 Dark is not PCI 4.0 capable?
XtremDEJ915XtremAlso would it support an i9-10850K?Z590 is backward compatible with 10 series 1200 CPUsThanks!fragility_V1XtremI bought my Z490 on 11/19/2020 and would like to step up... Does anyone know if I can make it? I see under my products that it says:This product is not available for Step-Up. Please read the terms and conditions of our Step-Up program.I think it's 90 days. There only appears to be renders of the board with no actual release date. So it's probably a month or so still, if not more. If you were eligible (which it looks like not), I don't think you'd make the window having bought your board back in November.Unfortunate... I'm tired of dealing with the issues with my board (Wifi and memory issues) and now I have to take pictures of the socket and send it back to EVGA for a replacement which probably is a refurb... Last question, what form factor do you think these boards will be? ATX or E-ATX?
DEJ915XtremAlso would it support an i9-10850K?Z590 is backward compatible with 10 series 1200 CPUs
XtremAlso would it support an i9-10850K?
fragility_V1XtremI bought my Z490 on 11/19/2020 and would like to step up... Does anyone know if I can make it? I see under my products that it says:This product is not available for Step-Up. Please read the terms and conditions of our Step-Up program.I think it's 90 days. There only appears to be renders of the board with no actual release date. So it's probably a month or so still, if not more. If you were eligible (which it looks like not), I don't think you'd make the window having bought your board back in November.
XtremI bought my Z490 on 11/19/2020 and would like to step up... Does anyone know if I can make it? I see under my products that it says:This product is not available for Step-Up. Please read the terms and conditions of our Step-Up program.
NereusSn8ke_iisSo does this mean the Z490 Dark is not PCI 4.0 capable?Correct - Z490 is not PCIe 4.0 capable, although I believe Z490 will still be compatible with the new CPU. PCIe 4.0 requires hardware which only a very few Z490 boards have.
Sn8ke_iisNereusSn8ke_iisSo does this mean the Z490 Dark is not PCI 4.0 capable?Correct - Z490 is not PCIe 4.0 capable, although I believe Z490 will still be compatible with the new CPU. PCIe 4.0 requires hardware which only a very few Z490 boards have. Thanks Nereus, where would I be able to confirm this? I bought the board for Rocket Lake, it was on a great sale. Hard to pass up for arguably the best OC motherboard in the World. I’d had read that dropping PCIe 4.0 from the Z490 specification was a last minute decision by Intel. And that quite a few will be able to support it with the proper BIOS update. Just got it, so I’m eligible for the step up program. Or might just throw it on EBay. I don’t plan on running SLI so PCIe 4.0 isn’t a deal breaker. It’s a nice first world dilemma to ponder over. Any advice or what you would do is appreciated.
Bruno747I have to admit I kind of chuckled at them specifically advertising it with SLI. As if SLI isn't on life support and one plug trip away from death. I do like the looks of that dark. Still makes me dream what would be possible with an amd platform board from EVGA, but alas we all know the possibility of that.
Chiller3333My current workstation is about to die on me and since I need it for work I really want to put together a new one.Ryzen being unavailable I've kind of come to the conclusion to buy a 10850K and a Z490 Dark KPE (on sale at Amazon at the moment).I can rationalize not waiting for the 11900K (8 vs 10 cores) but now I feel like I need to wait for the Z590 Dark...What do you guys think?Currently the Z490 Dark (KPE) is not on the Step-Up list for the US (only Europe).On the other hand, I'm kind of only considering hte Z490 Dark at the moment since it's on sale anyways.I hate making decisions :(
Chiller3333Thanks for your input, I think that's exactly what I needed to hear ;)Will probbaly pull the trigger on the 10850K and and Z490 Dark KPE then (and 64GB RAM for good measure).
_7ucky_Thank you for the detailed response. EVGA motherboards never really came up in discussions when I was looking for a board for my new build, but it seems extremely high end so it's just a bit curious that it was absent from the conversations I read. I get that it's probably a pretty niche product since they're most well-known for their GPUs, but still surprising nonetheless.Hahaha, I also questioned the addition of RGB to a board called "Dark".