Most Asrock Z490 motherboards have made a bad design decision

UsandThem

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May 4, 2000
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While looking at the new Z490 motherboards on Newegg last night, I noticed that all of the Asrock motherboards under the Z490 Phantom Gaming Velocita ($260) don't have any stand-offs on the right side of the board.

In the past, when dealing with (low cost) boards who have done the same thing, it allows the board to bend when plugging in or removing anything (like the front USB, power, etc). I looked at boards from the other manufacturers, and most of them still use stand-offs along the right side (outside the extreme low-end selections).

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813157917?Item=N82E16813157917

1.jpg


https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813157916

2.jpg
 
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WilliamM2

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Jun 14, 2012
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I've noticed that before on several brands when the board isn't full ATX width, like these:



And I avoid them for that reason. But the board you linked to appears to be full ATX. I don't see any reason to cut out sections of the board either. Looks?
 

mxnerd

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Jul 6, 2007
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I love ASROCK motherboards. But yeah, this is bad design.

You can cut a long piece of styrofoam and slide it underneath the motherboard as support.

But these motherboards should come with some rubber feet like these.

 
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UsandThem

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May 4, 2000
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Besides the exclusion of the stand-offs on the right side, I also noticed the Z490 Taichi is now $370, which is close to a $100 premium over the X570 version (which I thought was too high).

I personally would not pay the same amount for a motherboard as I do for the CPU.

I love ASROCK motherboards. But yeah, this is bad design.

You can cut a long piece of styrofoam and slide it underneath the motherboard as support.

But these motherboards should come with some rubber feet like these.

Yeah, there's easy work arounds like that, but if someone is dropping $200 on board, they shouldn't have to worry about things like that.

There are several other boards from other manufacturers that have an unusual shape on the right side, but they still left the stand-offs intact.
 
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ao_ika_red

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Wow, that's new to me. I don't think cost cutting is the reason here, because if so a lot of cheaper board like B365 or B450 would also have done that as well.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
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You dont need them, unless you intend to pull your 24pin atx on and off a lot.
The memory does not require force to remove, it pops right out.
The same can be said for the GPU.
PCI-E slot is reinforced, so it does not require extra mounts.
Most aftermarket heatsinks come with backplate, i assume your going to get aftermarket heatsink for this board otherwise don't make me ask why you bought the board.

Sata ports are aimed sideways and not top.
USB3.1 port does not require muscle to pull out either.

In all, it really does not require them.
They did it to add bling, which sells, and hopefully you will break that board when you remove that 24pin atx because intel has no other way to make money.,
 

blckgrffn

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May 1, 2003
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www.teamjuchems.com
I might be weird, but I refuse to buy boards that don't have those screw holes on the right side or four ram slots. I just had such bad luck with budget boards back in the day, that's my personal line in the sand.

Filtering by ram slots also simplifies online shopping.

I guess I'd begrudgingly reconsider that stance if confronted with a deal or something that really made it worth my time, otherwise - yep, those are now a hard pass. Thanks for putting me on the alert, I would have fully expected boards in that price range to have that and wouldn't have double checked.
 

Furious_Styles

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Jan 17, 2019
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I'd hazard a guess that all z490 boards will be overpriced right now because of the short supply. But I'd also not be too worried about lack of standoffs, the asrock z77 extreme 4 was sorta like that and I never had a problem.