ASUS PRIME Z490-P LGA 1200 ATX Motherboard

The ASUS PRIME Z490-P pairs a heavy-duty power design with broad tuning control, aimed at builders squeezing maximum output from 10th Gen Intel chips on LGA 1200. It runs the Intel Z490 chipset on a six-layer PCB, with two VRM heatsinks and underlying thermal pads drawing heat off the MOSFETs and chokes.

Key Highlights:

• DrMOS Power Design: 10+1 DrMOS power stages with alloy chokes and durable capacitors deliver stable voltage to high-core-count processors.
• ProCool Connectors: An 8+4 pin setup with solid pins passes 12V straight to the CPU, handling more current than hollow-pin designs.
• 128GB DDR4 Capacity: Four DIMM slots run speeds up to 4800 (OC) with XMP support and one-click profile loading.
• OptiMem II: Remapped memory traces across PCB layers, fewer vias, and added shielding zones cut crosstalk and widen frequency margins.
• Dual M.2 Slots: Both run PCIe 3.0 x4 at up to 32Gbps, with one accepting 22110-length drives, speeding up boot and app loads.
• Four SATA 6Gb/s Ports: RAID 0/1/5/10 support through Intel Rapid Storage Technology, with Intel Optane readiness.
• Comprehensive Cooling: Dual VRM heatsinks with thermal pads, a PCH heatsink, a dedicated AIO_PUMP header, and Fan Xpert 4 fan control.
• Thunderbolt 3 Support: An internal header accepts the ThunderboltEX 3-TR card for 40Gbps bidirectional speeds and up to 100W device charging.
• ASUS 5X PROTECTION III: SafeSlot Core+ with a one-piece stainless-steel brace, overvoltage protection, and corrosion-resistant back I/O.
• Networking and Audio: Realtek RTL8111H LAN with LANGuard protection, plus an ALC887 8-channel codec with shielding, Japanese capacitors, and optical S/PDIF out.