MSI MEG Z490 Unify 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 £330/$399.

Overview

This is clearly an expensive motherboard, but it’s still a heck of a lot cheaper than the flagship motherboard. It’s less than half the price of the MSI flagship GODLIKE, but is certainly not half the motherboard and the performance was broadly similar too! Obviously, it’s not equipped with the insane connectivity options, but it’s not exactly spartan either.

Build Quality & Design

The Unify is an interesting series, as it is all about performance. This become immediately apparent when you realise it doesn’t have any RGB on it. That’s right, it’s lights out in Unify town. It’s jetblack with some slightly shinier black “highlights” and even the dragon logo is just embossed on the rear I/O cover. The end result is one stealthy motherboard that I just absolutely love the look of.

It’s well made too, with a thick PCB, large heatsinks, M.2 Frozr heatsinks and three full-size PCIe slots that are all armoured too.

Performance

While all of the Z490 motherboards did perform very similar to each other, that was always to be expected. They’re all running the same CPU and memory configuration. However, there are 16+1 Power Phases, which can deliver 90A each, and draws from 2 x 8-pin connectors, and then is cooled by two interconnected heatsinks and cooled further by a small fan hidden behind the rear I/O. If you really care about overclocking and long-term stability, you’ll love this motherboard.

Added Value

It’s one of the few motherboards I’ve seen with three full-size PCIe lanes that are all 16x and all armoured. Of course, they’ll run in x16/x0x4 or x8/x8/x4 modes. You get USB 2.0, 3.2 Gen1 and Gen2 Type-C, as well as 2.5GbE LAN and WiFi 6. You get good quality audio, heatsinks on the M.2 mounts, and everything else you need. Beyond that, it’s pretty modest really. The biggest value here is in the quality VRM and power delivery hardware, and I like that.

Should I Buy One?

Very much so, I think this is ready to be one of the most popular motherboards in the Z490 market as a whole, not just those from MSI. No RGB certainly has some appeal, it feels like a “new” idea haha. However, for the price, you get all the premium features you’ll want for a high-end gaming PC build, and the board looks and performs great too.