Final Thoughts
At the end of the day I really like ASRock’s Z590 PG Velocita motherboard. It is definitely one of the best-looking Phantom Gaming motherboards that ASRock has put out. On top of that the RGB lighting adds to the good looks. While you only have RGB lighting on the rear I/O cover and chipset heatsink you have plenty of headers (both 4-pin and 3-pin) to add even more RGB lighting to your system. One thing I like is that I can completely configure the RGB lighting in the BIOS without having to install any software.
Beyond the looks of the board this is a gaming board and I like that ASRock has really focused on gaming features that make a difference. You are getting Killer networking for both wireless and wired connections. The wired connection gets ASRock’s CPU Direct Source LAN feature which pushes PCIe lanes straight to the network controller which in-turn improves performance and latency. ASRock did have to remove the integrated Thunderbolt 4 to make this possible, but I think it is a fair trade-off. ASRock still supports Thunderbolt through a header and expansion card.
As far as other Z590 features you are going to get PCI-Express 4.0 on the top PCI-Express and M.2 slots. This of course will allow you to use super-fast NVMe solid state drives. You do get USB 3.2 gen 2×2, but it is by internal header and not on the rear I/O. I think if there is anything I don’t like about this board, that would be it. Still many cases do not have Type-C connections so in order to take advantage of the 20 Gbps speeds of the 2×2 connection you’ll need a case that supports it or a rear expansion card.
The 14 (12+2) power phase design held up nicely when we were overclocking our Intel Core i9-11900K. We did not run into any VRM or VRM heat throttling issues. The XXL heatsinks along with the integrated cooling fan kept our power delivery components nice and cool. And I really did not notice that small VRM fan at all. Also when it comes to cooling all of the M.2 slots have integrated heatsinks with thermal tape pre-applied.
ASRock has one of the best BIOS’s that I’ve seen on the Z590 platform so far. It seems more polished and complete than others. Also I really like how they organize their tuning options so everything is easy to find.
Right now you can pick this board up at our favorite online retailer for $289.99, which I feel is a good price considering the features you are getting. Overall ThinkComputers gives the ASRock Z590 PG Velocita a 9 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Great performance
– VRM stood up to overclocking the Core i9-11900K
– Sleek design
– Killer networking for both LAN and wireless
– Direct Source LAN feature
– Great BIOS layout
Cons:
– No rear USB 3.2 2×2 connection
