ASRock Z590 Steel Legend WiFi 6E

One motherboard that is positioned towards the lower end of the Z590 pricing structure is the ASRock Z590 Steel Legend WiFi 6E ($200), with a standard Z590 Steel Legend model also available without Wi-Fi 6E for a slightly lower cost ($190). One interesting element to the Steel Legend, which is one of ASRock’s latest motherboard ranges and only debuted in 2019, is the design. ASRock has opted for an urban camouflaged styled PCB, with a light theme throughout, including silver and grey heatsinks and elements of customizable RGB LEDs for users to create their own look. The question is if to get the look there has been a compromise in component quality. That’s what this review wants to look at.

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First, Z590 offers native PCIe 4.0 support from the CPU, which means the PCIe and M.2 slots powered off the CPU will offer PCIe 4.0 connectivity when an 11th Gen CPU is installed. The PCIe and M.2 slots controlled by the Z590 chipset are still PCI 3.0. While many high-end Z490 motherboards advertised this capability, it was not a standard feature for the platform. In addition to PCIe 4.0 support, Z590 offers USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 from the chipset. The USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 standard offers speeds of up to 20 Gb/s. Finally, Z590 boasts native support for 3200 MHz DDR4 memory. With these upgrades, Intel’s Z series platform has feature parity with AMD’s B550. On paper, Intel is catching up to AMD, but only testing will tell if these new Z590 motherboards are up to the challenge.

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When removing the ASRock Z590 Steel Legend WiFi 6E for the box, we’re greeted by a black PCB with grey and white patterns stenciled on its entirety. The heatsinks and shrouds are all grey/silver, providing a stark contrast against the dark board. I’m personally not a fan of all the patterns, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That said, the Steel Legend will fit into most build themes without issue.

Read more @ Tom’s Hardware