The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Pro (DDR5)
The GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Pro offers a solid entry point into the Aorus series, with a more modest feature set when compared to the Z690 Aorus Master. The design is also similar, but the Z690 Aorus Pro opts for a simpler design that consists of black and silver heatsinks throughout. GIGABYTE does include a small amount of integrated RGB LED lighting that can be found built into the rear panel cover. Having a simplistic design and slightly more feature light specifications also makes it one of the cheapest Aorus branded models at launch.
Looking at the feature set, the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Pro includes one full-length PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, with two full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slots. The Pro also includes plenty of storage options, including three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots and one PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, with 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 DDR5-6000, and a combined capacity of up to 128 GB.
On the rear panel, GIGABYTE includes one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, four USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and four USB 2.0 ports. The board is using an Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller with an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 CNVi for its networking capability, while the integrated audio consists of two 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output powered by a Realtek ALC4080 HD audio codec.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
126 Comments
View All Comments
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.