The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Formula (DDR5)
Another mainstay of ASUS's ROG Maximus series returns for Z690, the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Formula. Fabled for its use of water-cooled VRMs, the latest Formula which ASUS actually skipped for Z590, is back for Z690 with a new aesthetic, including a new silver theme which is reminiscent of its Extreme Glacial models. The silver armor and heatsinks cover the majority of the PCB, with a custom milled EKWB heatsink cooling the power delivery, and allowing users to either passively cool them or hook them up to a custom water cooling kit for better VRM thermal performance. ASUS includes a fancy RGB-enabled ROG logo on the rear panel cover, with a similar design implemented into the chipset heatsink. ASUS is also advertising a large 20+1 teamed power delivery with premium 105 A smart power stages.
Dominating the lower portion of the board is plenty of PCIe and M.2 slots, including two full-length PCIe 5.0 slots operating at either x16 or x8/x8, with a third full-length PCIe 3.0 slot electronically locked down to x4. Touching more on M.2 support, the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Formula can accommodate up to five M.2 drives, including four with PCIe 5.0/4.0 x4 support, one with support for PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 drives, and a total of six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. In the top right-hand corner are four memory slots with support for up to DDR5-6400, with a total capacity of 128 GB.
On the rear panel, ASUS includes two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, six USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and three USB 2.0 ports. There's a single HDMI video output for users looking to utilize the latest Intel integrated graphics, while five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output are controlled by a SupremeFX ALC4082 HD audio codec and ESS Sabre 9018Q2C amplifier pairing. Networking is very premium as expected, with one Marvel AQtion 10 GbE controller and an Intel-based Wi-Fi 6E CNVi offering both wireless and BT 5.2 device support. Lastly on the rear panel is a BIOS Flashback button and a clear CMOS button.
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Duwelon - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Asus' prices are completely bananas. If I build a new rig with Z690 it'll probably be my first non-Asus build in a very long time.Sivar - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
That caught my eye, too. I bought an Asus Hero-branded board for my current system last year at approximately $200 USD.I suspect Asus is shifting their marketspeak because the word "Maximus" (used for the z690 board but not mine) usually applies to their most expensive boards.
blppt - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
This. $2000 for a consumer grade motherboard? WTF are they smoking?Also, I'm pretty sure ASUS will be releasing some TUF Z690s at some point, probably at a lower price point than the primes. My experience with the TUF series has been very positive for the price.
DigitalFreak - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
They know they're not going to sell many of those. Those boards are either for LN2 e-peen competitions or people with more money than sense.Wrs - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
TUF is historically just a bit more expensive than Prime. They already have a TUF DDR4 version - ordered the Wifi one for $290 the other day. If worried about price DDR5 is the first mistake.blppt - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
The X570 TUF was cheaper than the X570 Prime when I went shopping for an AMD board.COtech - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Subtitle - "Intel Z690 Chipset: Like Z590, But Now With Native PCIe 4.0"I think "But Now With Native PCIe 5.0" is intended.
gavbon - Thursday, November 18, 2021 - link
The Z690 chipset doesn't have PCIe 5.0, this comes from the CPU. The Z690 chipset does, however, now include PCIe 4.0 lanes, whereas Z590 did not.Someguyperson - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
I don't get the "DP IN" ports on the ASUS ProArt Z690 Creator WIFI. I see the author just wrote what was on the ASUS website, but that doesn't really explain anything. Are they passthrough to the Thunderbolt out ports? Is there a capture card built into this motherboard? I'm very confused by the labeling here.uwsalt - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Those are passthrough to the Thunderbolt port. Add-in Thunderbolt cards work the same way. You slot in your discrete GPU, send the output from both DP ports to the Thunderbolt controller, and then use Thunderbolt to output to a Thunderbolt monitor or hub.