Something to look forward to: While Intel hasn't made any official announcements, the constant leaks suggest we're moving ever closer to the launch of its 10th-generation Comet Lake-S desktop CPUs. Those interested in buying one of the upcoming processors will need a new motherboard with a LGA 1200 socket, and we might now have an idea of how much they'll cost---quite a lot, in some cases.
Tom's Hardware spotted listings for several Z490 motherboards on Ukrainian retailer ITbox's website. The publication has converted the prices from Ukrainian hryvnia to dollars, and while PC hardware usually sells for more outside the US, it still gives us an idea of what we could expect.
ITbox lists fifteen Gigabyte Z490 motherboards that range from $171 for the Z490M to $1,072 for the Z490 Aorus Xtreme WaterForce. Compared to the Z390 versions of these mobos, the price difference ranges from 27.6 percent to a massive 61.4 percent---the Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Ultra costs $318 while the Z390 version is just $197.
It's a similar story for MSI's listed Z490 motherboards, which range from $192 up to $858 for the MEG Z490 Godlike (above). The smallest price jump between generations is 16.5 percent: the Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFi is $303, while its predecessor is $260. The most significant difference is for the MEG Z490 Ace, which at $504 is 59 percent more expensive than the equivalent Z390 board.
It's not unusual for a new generation of hardware to be more expensive than its predecessor, but some of these Z490 prices do seem pricier than expected.
Earlier this month, marketing slides for the Core i9-10900K, Core i7-10700K, and Core i5-10600K surfaced online, revealing some specs of the upcoming chips. We also heard that the high-end Comet Lake desktops CPUs are quite power-hungry.
Image credit: momomo_us (Twitter), Komachi Ensaka (Twitter)