Intel Z890 chipset LGA1851 motherboards have gone up for pre-order at Newegg. These motherboards were announced only at the end of last week, so it is good to see big U.S. retailers exposing their stocks and pricing quickly. Newegg has a bountiful selection to pick over, with 36 boards from brands like MSI, Gigabyte, and ASRock available to order. As per our headline, you can jump on the Intel Arrow Lake-S and Z890 train for as little as $189. However, for those on the hunt for more features and premium frills it is possible to spend up to $799 right now. Thankfully, there are probably many perfectly Goldilocks choices between the extremes, in the $250 to $400 price bracket. All these products ship from Oct 24.
If your budget is tight but you are determined to be an early adopter of the new Arrow Lake-S / LGA1851 platform, your only sub-$200 options come from ASRock. Basically, you can get the ASRock Z890 Pro-A for $189, or the same board with bundled Wi-Fi adaptor for $199. These are full-sized ATX boards with 4x DDR5 DIMM slots, 1 PCIe 5.0 x16, 2 PCIe 4.0 x4, 1 PCIe 4.0 x1, and 1 M.2 Key E for WiFi. It also has HDMI, DP, and Thunderbolt 4 Type-C for integrated video-out. For storage, there are four M.2 slots, one Gen 5, and three can do Gen 4.
If your brand loyalty means you insist on a Gigabyte or MSI motherboard, your Arrow Lake platform entry prices will instead be $209 and $229 (after rebate), respectively. These sums can secure you a Gigabyte Z890 UD WIFI6E or an MSI PRO Z890-P WIFI, respectively. Compared to the entry-level ASRock contenders, you don’t get much more than a different brand and a few thermal armor / guard style extras for your VRMs and SSDs.
Just two Micro ATX options are available for pre-order at Newegg, if this form factor is your PC DIY preference. Gigabyte has the all-white Z890M Aorus Elite WIFI7 ICE listed at $239, and there is also the ASRock Z890M Riptide WiFi Micro ATX board at $259. They both still offer 4x DDR5 DIMM slots, but there are naturally fewer PCI slots and three M.2 storage slots per board.
OK, let’s see what Newegg has to tempt the big spenders who want the most fully featured motherboards. If you have wads of cash to invest in a platform that may only last one processor generation (there are rumors) then you may be drawn to the over $600 bracket. For $659 (after a $10 rebate) you can snag the MSI MEG Z890 ACE. MSI packs in lots of premium features here. We would highlight the stronger power solution and OC Engine, which could appeal to system tweakers. Access to five fast M.2 storage slots is also welcome. You will see the board design has abundant Frozr design touches for cool smooth running. The fastest connectivity features like WiFi 7, 10G LAN are also present.
The most expensive Z890 motherboard we see on Newegg at this time is the ASRock Z890 Taichi AQUA we highlighted yesterday. This futuristic alpine white EATX board offers 10 USB-C connectors on the back panel, completely eschewing Type-A (except for front panel options). If you can get past the back panel port decision, the Aqua has lots of great features for enthusiasts.
Asus Z890 boards are not listed on Newegg’s retail pages at the time of writing. Previously spilled U.S. pricing indicates that the biggest player in the PC DIY market will offer Z890 motherboards priced from $280 all the way up to $1,000 and beyond.
