The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Tachyon (DDR5)
One of GIGABYTE's more recent additions to its Aorus series of motherboards is the Tachyon. Initially debuted on the previous Z590 chipset, we did review the GIGABYTE Z590 Aorus Tachyon earlier in the year and we found it to be one of the best clocking Z590 boards we tested. As it's primarily aimed at sub-ambient overclockers, many won't appreciate the 'extreme' features enabled on this model. The design of the latest Z690 Aorus Tachyon is similar to the previous version in many ways, including a large finned rear panel cover with integrated RGB LEDs, with more around the chipset heatsink. In the top right-hand corner of the board is a comprehensive overclocker's toolkit which includes many switches including a cold reset button, CPU ratio up and down buttons, as well as a set of voltage measurement points.
GIGABYTE is advertising the Z690 Tachyon to feature a direct 18-phase power delivery operating at 15+1+2, with dual 8-pin CPU power inputs providing juice to the CPU.
Looking at the core feature set of the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Tachyon, there's a pair of memory slots to the right of the LGA1700 socket with support for DDR5-7000 which is the fastest supported speed of any board we have seen at launch so far. Both memory slots can accommodate a maximum of 64 GB. For PCIe expansion, GIGABYTE includes two full-length PCIe 5.0 slots that can operate at x16 or x8/x8, with a third full-length slot electronically locked down to PCIe 3.0 x4. Focusing on storage, there's are three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, as well as six SATA ports that are capable of supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.
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On the rear panel is one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, three USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports. A Realtek ALC1220VB HD audio codec powers five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output, while GIGABYTE also includes separate PS/2 keyboard and mice inputs. For networking, there's one Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller, with an Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi providing both wireless and BT 5.2 connectivity. Finishing off the rear panel is an HDMI 2.1 video output, an OC Ignition button, and a Q-Flash BIOS Flashback 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.