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.
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mode_13h - Friday, November 12, 2021 - link
I was really disappointed not to see more discussion of costs and why the price distribution of these boards tends to skew so high.However, I was most surprised to see how much lower some of the entry-level models are priced. Do we think these will be produced in sufficient volume, or are they primarily there as a means of upselling would-be buyers who, out of frustration at seeing them always out-of-stock eventually end up buying one of the more expensive models?
mikk - Saturday, November 13, 2021 - link
MSI Pro Z690-A WIFI, MSI Pro Z690-A and many more have the cheaper Realtek ALC897 Codec, the audio table is not accurate and it says Z490 instead of Z690.ajollylife - Sunday, November 14, 2021 - link
Wtf is with the PCIe 3.0 slots? I'm looking at the Gigabyte Aorus Master, has 10gig onboard, great, but then the other two pcie slots are pcie 3.0 So confused.mode_13h - Sunday, November 14, 2021 - link
From what I've read, PCIe 4.0 tends to require retimers, which adds cost and takes space. Those could be reasons why we don't see more PCIe 4.0 slots.back2future - Monday, November 15, 2021 - link
maybe mainboards start getting reshaped/redesigned (vertical m.2, backside slots/connectors, ?) instead of using retimers (chipset TDP includes retimer power?, cooling power for peripherals on PCIe 5.x speeds on 4GB/(s*lane)=~2 lanes sufficient for fastest available (2021, consumer) SSDs )?ecclesiastes121314 - Wednesday, February 23, 2022 - link
2 ram slots? I've seen this on a few of these new DDR5 boards. Most people here are talking about Thunderbolt 4 and USB4. Yes these are very useful to a select group of people yet these can be achieved with add on cards. Then you can pay for the devices to take advantage of these technologies. Reducing ram slots from 4 to 2. Wow. Yes you can buy high density ram. But this is forcing you that direction. What is wrong with 4x16 or 4x32 ram kits? If you (me) are interested in high performance video then affordable and available ram is a huge consideration. Is it just me?