In July last year, we reviewed NZXT's N7 Z490 motherboard for Intel's 10th generation Comet Lake processors. Typically later to the market than other vendor's key models, NZXT has announced its latest option which aims to benefit from the PCIe 4.0 support in Rocket Lake. Enter the N7 Z590. Some of the features include a full-cover panel across the PCIe slot area, Wi-Fi 6E, 2.5 GbE, dual M.2, support for DDR4-4600 memory, and is advertised with a 14-phase power delivery.

NZXT entered the motherboard market for the first time back in 2018 with the N7 Z370, which we also reviewed. Typically known more for its clean-cut chassis and cooling products, NZXT first tasked the job of providing the PCB and componentry to ECS for the Z370, and then switched to ASRock for Z490. It is unclear which vendor NZXT relies on for the N7 Z590, but we expect the relationship with ASRock is still intact, but we will confirm this when we know.

The N7 Z590 is similar to the previous model in terms of aesthetics, with models available in either matte black or white and uses a full cover PCIe slot armor and more armor covering the right-hand side of the board. Despite not including any integrated RGB LED lighting onboard, NZXT is using its CAM software to control the four RGB LED headers located on the board, with an integrated fan controller adding control of cooling with a total of seven 4-pin headers located on the board.

In terms of specification, the NZXT N7 Z590 has two full-length PCIe slots, one operating at PCIe 4.0 x16 and the other at PCIe 3.0 x4, with three PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. In the top right-hand corner is four memory slots, with support for DDR4-4600 and a total capacity of up to 128 GB. Storage capabilities include two M.2 slots, one featuring support for PCIe 4.0 x4 drives and the second slot supporting PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA drives. There are four SATA ports for conventional storage and optical devices that also support RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.

The rear panel has a much better selection of input and output than the N7 Z490, with one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, three USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. A Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec controls the five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output, while wireless capability comes from Intel's latest AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi. Taking care of wired networking is a Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5 GbE controller, while also on the rear panel is an HDMI 2.0 video output and a small clear CMOS button.

The NZXT N7 Z590 is currently available on NZXT's website for $280.

Source: NZXT

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