The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTASUS Prime Z690-A (DDR5)
The ASUS Prime series of motherboards is perhaps one of its most key ranges. It represents the more affordable and entry-level segment, with functional features, wallet-friendly controllers sets, but all packed into a basic, yet elegant theme. The ASUS Prime Z690-A includes a futuristic black and silver design throughout, with plenty of premium features, and as such, sits more towards the mid-range than the entry-level. It includes a fanciful rear panel cover with the Prime series logo, with a black opaque panel just below this. The same design is present on the chipset heatsink, and the PCB is primarily black with white patterning.
On the lower section of the ASUS Prime Z690-A is a varied selection of PCIe slots. At the top, ASUS includes a full-length PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, while at the bottom is a full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot. In between these is a half-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, with two smaller PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. For storage, there's a total of four M.2 slots, including three PCIe 4.0 x4 slots, one PCIe 4.0 x4/SATA slot, and four SATA ports. In the top right-hand corner is four memory slots that are capable of supporting DDR5-6000 and have a maximum capacity of 128 GB.
On the rear panel on the Prime Z690-A is one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, two USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports. ASUS includes a pair of video outputs consisting of a DisplayPort and HDMI, with five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output powered by a Realtek S1220A HD audio codec. Last but not least, there's one Ethernet port that is driven by an Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller.
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Oxford Guy - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
Creating more fiat bills has consequences. Congress literally printed money to give to lobbyists as part of ‘Covid relief’.fcth - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
Sad to see only one mATX board, though at least it looks like a decent (if expensive) option.Mite - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
Can ASUS Z690 Maximus Extreme run PCIe 5.0 x16 GPU and PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 SSD concurrently? Will the GPU (PCIe 5.0 x16 slot 1) drop to PCIe 5.0 x8 instead when SSD is installed on the PCIe 5.0 x4 (M2 slot)?Kakkoii - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
MSI does show the Audio Codec... just not on the simplified summary. You guys have to click the "Detail" tab on the Specifications page for a given board. All the boards show which audio they're using.The Carbon for example has ALC4080.
gavbon - Thursday, November 18, 2021 - link
At the time of writing, even the detail sections of the specifications didn't show them. On top of this, all of the information we received prior to launch mentioned no specific HD audio codecs. I will update this though :)JackNJ - Friday, November 12, 2021 - link
The GIGABYTE Z690I Aorus Ultra is not DDR5 I think?chavv - Friday, November 12, 2021 - link
5 m2 slots?How is this useful for a normal user?!
Or 600$ mobo for desktop usage?!
World gone mad
mode_13h - Saturday, November 13, 2021 - link
For RAID, obviously. That borderline makes sense. If you're running a 4 or 5-drive RAID of SSDs in a consumer rig, it's more cost-effective and still plenty fast to use SATA. And I think it's not unreasonable to expect anyone using M.2 drives to put them in a PCIe carrier card, which will have better cooling potential anyhow.sunmobo - Friday, November 12, 2021 - link
You've included MSI's ITX variant in the list (MEG Z690I Unify) but I can't seem to find it on their website. Although if you google you'll find a few mentions on some shops, without pics. Is this because MSI is still working on the board, or?gavbon - Thursday, November 18, 2021 - link
It's likely to launch soon, but it does and will exist.