Asus and MSI Flagship Z590 Motherboards Will Cost A Small Fortune

ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial
ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial (Image credit: Asus)

Intel's Z590 motherboards haven't officially hit the retail shelves yet; however, Asus and MSI have gone ahead and revealed the pricing for their corresponding offerings. Time (and testing) will tell which of these will land on our list of best motherboards.

For starters, Asus will launch up to 13 different Z590 motherboards that originate from the brand's ROG Maximus, ROG Strix, TUF, and Prime lineups. Asus Germany shared the press release, so the MSRP is only valid for Germany and Austria. The German branch didn't specify whether the pricing already includes VAT (value-added tax) or not, though.

For this generation, Asus is separating the ROG Maximus XIII Extreme into the vanilla version and the Glacial version that comes with an EK monoblock. According to the press release, either motherboard may command a price tag over $1,000, enough money to put together a gaming PC. In retrospect, the ROG Maximus XII Extreme already retails for $749.99.

It's interesting, though, that the press release listed the ROG Maximus XIII Apex, an overclocking-eccentric model that usually launches afterward. Considering that the current Maximus XII Apex already gets the job done, it blows our mind that Asus would refresh the motherboard since Rocket Lake-S is expected to be the last wave of processors on the LGA1200 socket.

Asus Z590 Motherboard Pricing

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ModelMSRP (Euro)MSRP (USD)Availability
ROG Maximus XIII Extreme Glacial€1,516$1,843Q1 / 2021
ROG Maximus XIII Extreme€960$1,166Q1 / 2021
ROG Maximus XIII Hero€505$613Beginning of February 2021
ROG Maximus XIII Apex€505$613Q1 / 2021
ROG Strix Z590-E Gaming WiFi€378$459Beginning of February 2021
ROG Strix Z590-F Gaming WiFi€341$414Beginning of February 2021
ROG Strix Z590-A Gaming WiFi€328$398Beginning of February 2021
ROG Strix Z590-I Gaming WiFi€378$459Q1 / 2021
Prime Z590-A€277$336Beginning of February 2021
TUF Gaming Z590-Plus WiFi€252$306Beginning of February 2021
TUF Gaming Z590-Plus€239$290Q1 / 2021
Prime Z590-P€201$244Q1 / 2021
Prime Z590M-Plus€189$229Q1 / 2021

On the other hand, MSI preferred to reveal its Z590 lineup via the company's MSI Insider stream. The total number of motherboards comes down to 12, spanning from the Pro series all the way up to the exclusive MEG series.

The MEG Z590 Godlike, which probably doesn't need an introduction, will bring all the bells and whistles to the table. The Z590-powered motherboard boasts an MSRP of up to $1,019. At this rate, it's a competition between the MEG Z590 Godlike and ROG Maximus XIII Extreme to see which one costs more than the other. Not that it's a good thing since consumers will have to shell out tons of cash for one or the other.

Enthusiasts will be happy to know that MSI will roll out the MEG Z590 Unify and MEG Z590I Unify once again. What these motherboards lack in bright lights, they make up for in features, especially the MEG Z590I Unify that will probably excel in memory overclocking.

MSI Z490 Motherboard Pricing

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ModelMSRP in $ (excl. VAT)MSRP in € (incl. VAT)
MEG Z590 Godlike$1,019€999
MEG Z590 Ace$489€479
MEG Z590 Unify$389€379
MEG Z590I Unify$329€319
MPG Z590 Gaming Carbon WiFi$324€314
MPG Z590 Gaming Force$314€310
MPG Z590 Gaming Edge WiFi$284€279
MPG Z590 Gaming Plus$264€260
MAG Z590 Tomahawk WiFi$239€235
MAG Z590 Torpedo$229€225
Z590 Pro WiFi$209€205
Z590-A Pro$189€185
Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

  • Phaaze88
    Ladies and gentlemen rejoice, for we now have even more motherboards(in a single product stack) matching and surpassing the cost of HEDT ones...

    This is really getting out of hand.
    At the same time, my X299 Prime Deluxe now feels 'cheap' by comparison, and I paid ~500USD for the thing!
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    $1,843

    they are out of their mind.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    So long as they aren't removing features from "lower" end boards, to justify the insane prices, I say let them charge twice that. If someone wants to pay $3000 for a motherboard, let them. It makes no difference to me if someone wants to waste money on their epeen.
    Reply
  • Fancucker
    I am honestly sick of tall the handwringing and complaining about price hikes. You people need to understand that the consumer base for the DIY market has broadened significantly, it's a popular thing. And more consumers will meet the demand.

    Stop whinging, work harder, and then buy.
    Reply
  • excalibur1814
    Fancucker said:
    I am honestly sick of tall the handwringing and complaining about price hikes. You people need to understand that the consumer base for the DIY market has broadened significantly, it's a popular thing. And more consumers will meet the demand.

    Stop whinging, work harder, and then buy.

    What if you DO work harder AND have the money, but realise that you're simply being ripped off?
    Reply
  • itzmec
    Fancucker said:
    I am honestly sick of tall the handwringing and complaining about price hikes. You people need to understand that the consumer base for the DIY market has broadened significantly, it's a popular thing. And more consumers will meet the demand.

    Stop whinging, work harder, and then buy.
    are you seriously whining about the whiners?
    Reply
  • Myungbean
    $1800 dollar mobos are obv a thing within the WS and Server space but for a consumer desktop mobo??? I can understand the glacial going for perhaps 1100-1200 but 1800 is so egregiously ridiculous even for an ASUS ROG board that I smell <Mod Edit>. I can't conceive of a rationale for that price point. The maximus xii extreme board is apparently not all that different than the baseline xiii extreme and no monoblock is worth nearly 1k dollars. Something isn't right here.
    Reply