Series ProArt I have never yet come to our review, because this is not a game line of devices, but you should not discount it. Motherboards of this lineup are resource-intensive. In ProArt devices, the emphasis is not on overclocking components, but on the quality of the components of the board itself.
Specifications
- Model – ASUS ProArt Z490-Creator 10G;
- Supported processors – Intel 10th and 11th generation processors;
- Chipset – Z490;
- RAM – 4 x DDR4, four-channel mode, up to 256 GB at a frequency of up to 4800 MHz (overclocked);
- AMD CrossFire support;
- Audio card – 8-channel HD audio codec Realtek S1220A;
- Dimensions – 305 x 244 mm;
- Form factor – ATX.
Equipment
Each series of ASUS devices has its own corporate identity. Nice to see something fresh after the familiar color scheme of the ROG series. The box is made of thick cardboard and made in black with gold ornaments. It looks very stylish. Inside, the board and other elements are protected by cardboard.
On the back of the box is a description of the features of the motherboard.
The card is in a standard ESD bag.
Below it is a set of delivery set. No frills, but also not quite budget:
- User guide;
- Driver disc;
- Four SATA cables;
- Two sets of mounts for M.2 SSD drives;
- Cooler fasteners;
- DisplayPort cable;
- Adhesive pad for mounting SSD drives;
- Network expansion card;
- Back panel plate.
A network expansion card is a very unusual device and is not useful for everyone in everyday life, because there is also an Ethernet connector on the board itself. And why you need a mount for a cooler is not immediately clear. The plate for the rear panel of inputs and outputs on such expensive products (and the price of ProArt Z490 Creator 10G starts from 34 thousand rubles) is already installed from the factory, but here it, as in the budget versions, is included.
The network module has a 10GBase-T Ethernet connector and is installed in a PCIe expansion slot. This module received a wider bandwidth, up to 10 Gbps, and is very useful for those who actively use the local network for lightning-fast data transfer.
In many modern motherboards, the second Ethernet connector is soldered to the PCB from the factory without the need for expansion slots. Why it was necessary to move the network module into a separate device is unclear, it only takes up an extra expansion slot that could be used for something else, for example, for Wi-Fi, which ProArt Z490 Creator 10G does not have.
The fan mount is a very unusual solution. The fan itself was not included in the kit, but it is recommended for installation in the space near the socket in case of overclocking of components. The cooler will fit 40×40 or 50×50 millimeters. However, we tested the processor overclocking (via Intel XTU software) on this motherboard and the space around the socket did not heat up above 40 degrees. Most likely, during manual overclocking with a strong increase in processor voltage, active cooling will really come in handy.
Design and technical features
The design of the board is strict and simple. The surface is finished in black. You won’t see RGB lighting here. You will also not find additional stiffeners or backplate here. The board is not equipped with vulgar gaming design solutions. All that is on it is a ProArt die and several finned radiators.
The processor is powered by an 8-pin connector. And the board itself is powered by a classic 24-pin connector. This is not enough for overclocking modern processors. But this board is not designed for overclocking.
Classic DIMM DDR4 slots with latches and latches. There is a handy engraving to explain which slots you need to insert the memory in to activate the dual-channel mode of operation.
In the power supply circuits of the processor, we see 12 + 2 phases without doublers. They are covered with a radiator. The radiators are black, made of aluminum, without copper. Thermal rubber bands about 1 mm thick are used as a heat sink interface. At the bottom of the board, we also see a few more heatsinks, one of which is used to remove heat from the M.2 SSD, the other to cool the southbridge space. They also use thermowells. The second input for the M.2 SSD does not have a heatsink, you can insert an SSD with already integrated heatsinks into it.
The motherboard does not provide a new standard for PCIe 4.0 expansion slots, it is not yet supported by modern Intel processors. But the Z490 chipset will support new models of Rocket Lake rocks that are PCIe 4.0 compliant, but the motherboard will be outdated by this point. This is not very good, since for this price we expected to receive hardware with an eye to the near future. And so, it turns out that users who install this motherboard in their PC will most likely have to change it in a couple of years.
On the board we can also find six SATA inputs, USB 3.2 Gen1 and USB 3.2 Gen2 connectors, two USB 2.0 connectors and connectors for connecting LED strips, which are controlled by the proprietary ASUS AURA chip.
An audio codec is located nearby – it is closed by a metal cover with the Crystal Sound inscription. Below it is the Realtec ALC S1220A.
On the rear panel, we can see two Thunderbolt 3 connectors – their operation is provided by the Intel JHL7540 chip, which is convenient, since the standard guarantees very fast data transfer, connection of 4K monitors and other demanding devices, such as portable video cards in special cases.
PCIe 3.0 slots are reinforced with metal for heavy video cards, they will not bend.
The graphics subsystem in this board is structured as follows. If one video card installed in the first PCI-e slot is used, 16 PCI-e (x16) lines are allocated to it, but if two video cards are used, the number of lines is distributed at 8 for each, just in the x8 + x8 configuration.
The board has a TPU chip – a special chip that can automatically overclock components. The function can be enabled in the BIOS and it works well if you don’t want to suffer with overclocking. We have already seen the same chip in ROG boards.
There is no POST indicator here, which is a pity, because the module on some ROG boards is sometimes extremely convenient for detecting errors in case of PC crashes.
The connectors on the rear panel of the board are as follows: 2x USB 3.2 Gen1, 4x USB 3.2 Gen2, HDMI, 2x USB Type-C Thunderbolt 3, 2x DisplayPort, 2.5G RJ-45 network connector and 10G network connector using an expansion card included, 5x minijack connectors and one optical S / PDIF output.
The BIOS here is very similar to the solutions of the ROG series, only in blue. The functionality is almost completely repeated. There is a possibility of overclocking both manually and using the board’s capabilities, as well as the possibility of setting XMP profiles and AVX instructions. You can also control LED strips through the AURA module, adjust case coolers and perform many other settings.
The board was tested on an Intel Core i9-10900K processor, which was water-cooled by ASUS TUF GAMING LC 240 RGB, a ROG STRIX RTX 2080 ti video card, and 8 GB DDR4.
Below are screenshots of tests and benchmarks before and after overclocking. The temperature during operation of the board in the section of the south bridge and near-processor space reached 40 degrees under load. The indicator is within the normal range. During games and normal use, the board did not heat up above room temperature.
3DMark – Before Overclocking
3DMark – after overclocking
Cinebench – Before Overclocking
Cinebench – After Overclocking
AIDA64 CPUID
AIDA64 Cache & Memory
AIDA64
ASUS ProArt Z490 Creator 10G does not have wide overclocking capabilities – it does not have an indicator of POST codes, a BIOS reset button and other things. Also, you won’t be able to use PCIe 4.0 with newer Intel processors. The processor’s power supply is sufficient, even considering that it is not oriented towards overclocking, although it supports it. The board has two Thunderbolt 3, which is convenient, but there is no Wi-Fi, and the 10 Gbps Ethernet connector is available only with an expansion card, which is inconvenient. However, this is a high-quality motherboard that has a large DDR4 memory connection resource, and the above solutions are mainly suitable for professionals working, for example, in the fields of graphics and video creation. But still, considering the price, this board pales against the background of some solutions from the ROG series. It is worth choosing the ProArt Z490 Creator 10G only if you are sure of the functionality you need from it and you have compared it with other solutions on the market.
Author: Alexey Sarafanov (ASarafanov)
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