MSI MEG Z490 Godlike Review

Packaging and Contents

As you would expect from a flagship motherboard the packaging for the Godlike is a feast, just as it is on the Auros Xtreme and Maximus XII Extreme. The big three manufacturers just keep raising the bar.

  

There is plenty within the box, from boxes of cables and bags of things. Plenty to keep your interest whilst you either wait for the rest of your components to arrive by courier, or just to lengthen the time you get to enjoy your new purchase before you get down to the job of building your rig.

  

If you need more M.2 slots than are provided by the Godlike then the MSI M.2 Xpander-Z Gen 4 will be just the ticket. We do like how it is designed around PCI Express 4.0 bandwidth, but with the acknowledgement that the Z490 doesn’t support it. Something we have to say is a curious choice by Intel.

 

As well as the heat spreader you can see above that tame your heat there is also a fan installed on the Xpander. You’ll be pleased to know that you can adjust the lighting and fan on the Xpander should you so wish.

  

Where there is WiFi there is the need to have an antenna and the MSI ones follow the triangular design of all the other big manufacturers.

  

RGB extension cables with the MSI Godlike come in two flavours, the Corsair style and a Rainbow one, as well as a splitter for running two LED strips off a single Mystic Light header.

  

The SATA cables are braided with something different to the plain black we’ve seen in our other Z490 previews so far. There are three straight ones and three right angled ones, so you can pick and choose.

Drivers are also supplied on a USB stick, just as we’ve seen from the flagship models from ASUS and Gigabyte. A nice modernisation.