Supermicro C9Z490-PGW Motherboard Review: Comet Lake with 32 CPU PCIe Lanes

Conclusion

Albeit more known for its workstation models, Supermicro isn't as famous for its gaming-focused models. Last year we reviewed the Supermicro C9Z390-PGW, which was competitive with other Z390 models. This year when Intel unveiled its 10th generation Comet Lake processors, Supermicro unveiled its Z490 offering, with a similar feature set and close pricing to its predecessor. Dropping its 'Play Harder' moniker for Z490, Supermicro instead markets this board for 'Ultimate HEDT Performance,' and although socket LGA1200 isn't technically HEDT, it does support the Core i9-10900K, which has 10 cores and 20 threads. 

Diving right into the finer specifics of the Supermicro C9Z490-PGW, its most marketable feature is the inclusion of a Broadcom PEX8747 PLX chip. This allows the PCI lanes from the CPU to be muxed, which adds extra functionality regarding PCIe expansion. There are four full-length PCIe 3.0 slots that can be used at either x16/-/x16/- or x8/x8/x8/x8. Back in the day, this was a solid solution for users with 4-way NVIDIA SLI setups. Still, in today's current market, both NVIDIA and AMD are moving away from multi-graphics support and instead opting for a solid single graphics solution. This does open the door to using it for professional use without going down the W480 route, with plenty of point-to-point bandwidth between add-in-cards for extra storage and RAID controllers, as well as additional networking controllers. 

Broadcom PEX8747 PLX chip: Muxing it up

The other elements of the C9Z490-PGW position it under the premium category, with a solid networking array led by an Aquantia AQC107 10 GbE controller, with an assisting Intel I219-V Gigabit PHY. Wireless connectivity is taken care of by an Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6 interface, which also adds BT 5.1 support. The board's integrated audio is a premium yet standard for Z490 with a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec, which powers five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical out on the rear a front panel audio header located underneath the codec on the PCB. Other notable inclusions on the rear panel include a USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C port, three USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports, as well as a DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0a video output pairing. 

Looking at performance, and straight away, it is apparent that the Supermicro is adhering to Intel specifications and not relying on its own 'sauce' within the firmware. This does hinder performance somewhat when Intel's PL1 and PL2 limits are taken into consideration compared to other boards, but is perhaps closer to Intel's factory vision (which may be different to Intel's PR vision). We saw slower than usual POST times for a Z490 model in our system tests - this is normal for a Supermicro board, but it means that Supermicro isn't taking the shortcuts in firmware initiation that the other vendors do. Power consumption, on the other hand, is a tad high both at default and when overclocking, due to the PLX chip - acceptable but something to note. It also includes support for up to DDR4-4000 memory which is lower than the majority of Z490 models on the market, but Supermicro offers functionality rather than memory going way beyond manufacturer support. 

When manually overclocking on the C9Z490-PGW, making power limit adjustments proved vital as when left at default settings, they will limit performance even at 5.0 GHz all-core. The firmware does allow for manual adjustment of these, and as seen in our overclocking testing, it is the limiting factor to unlocking the maximum potential of this board. When setting the CPU VCore within the BIOS at full load, VDroop is overcompensating heavily when it doesn't need to be, increasing both temperatures and power consumption. It uses a solid 8+2 phase power delivery, which is more than capable, but this is likely down to the firmware. Even when setting the LLC levels, VDroop was still a little awry, and it could be massively improved upon.

Final Words

As it stands, the Supermicro C9Z490-PGW offers more in the way of functionality than other Z490 models, largely due to the inclusion of a PLX chip to mux the four full-length PCIe slots. It's also the cheapest Z490 model to include 10 GbE networking with an MSRP of $395, with the next model up, the ASUS ROG Maximus XII Formula costing $475. From this perspective, the Supermicro C9Z490-PGW, with everything it has to offer, including PLX, 10 gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, and solid 10-phase power delivery, it's a good overall package. Users familiar with adjusting Comet Lake's PL1 and PL2 settings (not hard to figure out) can get themselves a good board for an equally good price. Those not too bothered about Wi-Fi can opt for the Supermicro C9Z490-PG, which is the same board minus the Intel AX201 CNVi, which is currently $343 at Newegg.