MSI MEG Z490 GODLIKE Motherboard Review

How Much Does it Cost?

Unfortunately, writing these reviews before the product launches means that stock is a bit erratic and pre-order prices are all over the place. I’ll update this part shortly after the review goes live, but you can check for stock and prices yourself on Amazon UK here and Amazon US here. We expect it to be around £765/$749-800.

Of course, I’m well aware that’s the sort of price that makes your lips pucker, but it’s competitive with the flagships from ASUS and AORUS and no doubt a few others. This is MSI’s absolutely most high-end motherboard, which does mean you pay a lot, but you basically get one or more of everything.

Overview

This motherboard is a world record breaker, it hasn’t done it yet, but it will. Previous GODLIKE motherboards have been at the heart of world records for CPU clocks, memory speeds, performance benchmarks and much more. It’s certainly not going to appeal to everyone, or at least everyone’s wallets. However, for those wanting the bleeding-edge of connectivity and features for extreme gaming PCs and workstations, it’s designed to be the ultimate weapon.

Build Quality & Design

This is one of the best-made motherboards we’ve ever seen, it’s that simple. MSI has really put in a cool design that immediately tells you that this is a premium product. It’s function before form though, as those huge heatsinks on the VMR are going to help you push big overclocks, and the massive M.2 Shield Frozr heatsinks will keep your M.2 drives cool and protected too. The whole motherboard is finished with a brushed metal look, blending a gun-metal and blue steel finish that some may not like, but honestly, I absolutely love it. Throwing in some RGB highlights, and it’s sure to impress.

The addition of the OLED display on the right of the motherboard is cool too, it gives you a little big more customisation and just really sets the board apart from the rest of the MSI range.

It’s a heavy board though, given that it’s E-ATX, has thick heatsinks on the front, and even has armour plating on the back of the multi-layer PCB. It looks beautiful, but it feels like a total brute to handle.

Performance

It’s certainly a powerful motherboard, and just like all of the Z490 motherboards we tested, it obviously had no issue getting the best out of our Intel Core i9-10900K. However, it’s not like the performance was a big standout from the others, as the value of this motherboard comes from its additional capabilities and connectivity.

Of course, if you throw on some serious liquid cooling or even LN2, as I’m sure many will, this motherboard has the VRM configuration, the power delivery, the durable hardware to take the most extreme PC environments. As I said, this absolutely will be a record breaking motherboard very soon.

Added Value

Spend a lot more and get a lot more is the ethos behind the GODLIKE. It’s not what I would call value for money, but it’s as well equipped as a motherboard could be and priced to match. 16 Digital Phase with 90A, 10K Japanese Black capacitors, and a rather large assortment of precious metals have gone into this board, giving it one of the best power delivery systems out there, and that’s no doubt a big part of the price.

Add to that the insane connectivity, such as the pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports that can deliver 40Gbps transfer speeds, the 10GbE Aquantia and Realtek 2.5GbE LAN, and the Intel WiFi 6 AX201, and a plethora of USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. This motherboard can move data around bloody fast!

Should I Buy One?

Most likely the answer is no, this is a board that few people actually need or can afford. I’d be out of my mind recommending this to most PC builders, it’s for a fairly small part of the market in my opinion. You’ll get great performance from all the boards half this price. However, if you need those expensive additions like Aquantia and two Thunderbolt 3 ports, which are very expensive options, then it’s certainly got some appeal. It’s one of the best motherboards in the world right now, but as such, it’s complete and total overkill for even more enthusiast PC builders! IT’S AWESOME!!!