The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTMSI MEG Z690 Ace (DDR5)
As it stands at the time of writing, the MSI MEG Z690 Ace is the brand's premier flagship model, until the Godlike hits the shelves, which is likely to be after Alder Lake's launch. Rolling back to the Ace, and it's jam-packed full of premium features as we've come to expect over the years including the previous MSI MEG Z590 Ace. Looking at the aesthetic, MSI has gone with a black and gold theme without the need for integrated RGB LED lighting. It's actually a really classy look despite the gold not being as widely native to other hardware components, so hardware matching could be an issue, nevertheless, it's a stunning board.
Looking like a gladiator covered in gold and black armor, the MSI MEG Z690 Ace has two full-length PCIe 5.0 slots that can operate at either x16 or x8/x8, with a full-length PCIe 4.0 slot for good measure. Storage options are also premium, with support for four PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives, with one PCIe 3.0 x4 slot bringing the total of M.2 slots to five. MSI also includes six SATA ports with support for Intel RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. Located in the top-right hand corner are four memory slots, with support for up to DDR5-6666, with a combined capacity of up to 128 GB.
On the rear panel of the MSI MEG Z690 Ace is a premium selection of input and output, which is spearheaded by dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports, with two Mini-DisplayPort inputs. Also featured are a USB 3.2 G2 Type-C and seven USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports. The Ace also includes dual Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controllers, as well as Intel's latest AX211 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi, which adds wireless and BT 5.2 connectivity. There are five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output powered by a Realtek ALC4082 HD audio codec and ESS Sabre 9018Q2C amp, as well as a BIOS Flashback button and Clear CMOS button.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
126 Comments
View All Comments
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.