The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTMSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI, Carbon EK X & Z690 Force WIFI
A part of MSI's MPG (MSI Performance Gaming) series, its Carbon WIFI model returns for Z690, with a strong feature set for gamers, content creators, and everyday users. The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIF combines a fancy all-black aesthetic with plenty of integrated RGB LED lighting built into the rear panel cover and chipset heatsink area.
The only difference between the Carbon and the Force opts for a lighter aesthetic with a wave of silver heatsinks throughout. Both models also boast a solid networking configuration, plenty of storage options, and lots of USB connectivity. There's also an MSI MPG Z690 Carbon EK X model which includes a custom EKWB monoblock and cools the power delivery, the top PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot, and the processor too. The rest of the controllers and features are shared across all three models.
The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI (left) and MPG Z690 Force WIFI (right) motherboards
Looking at PCIe support, the MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI and MSI MPG Z690 Force WIFI include two full-length PCIe 5.0 slots that can operate at x16 or x8/x8, with a full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot. Surrounding the PCIe slots and fully covered by M.2 heatsinks, there's four PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, with a fifth PCI 3.0 x4/SATA slot for good measure. Other storage options include six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. In terms of memory, the board includes four memory slots capable of supporting up to DDR5-6666, with a maximum combined capacity of up to 128 GB.
The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon EK X motherboard
The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon EK X shares the exact same PCB, features, and controller set as the Carbon WIFI and Force WIFI, but it has the added benefit of a custom EKWB monoblock with integrated RGB. This is designed to offer a cheaper alternative to users looking to use custom water cooling to keep the processor cool, but the EK X monoblock also keeps the power delivery and the top PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slot cool too.
On the rear panel of all three models is an impressive selection of input and output, including one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and four USB 2.0 ports. A pair of video outputs including one HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 allows users to leverage Intel's integrated graphics, while a Realtek ALC4080 HD audio codec powers five 3.5 mm and S/PDIF optical output. For networking, MSI includes one Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller, as well as an Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi. Finishing off the rear panel is a small clear CMOS button. The only difference between both models is the Carbon/Carbon EK X has a black preattached rear I/O shield, and the Force has a silver one.
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DigitalFreak - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Except DirectStorage actually exists in the XBox Series X. Once the XBSX native games start getting ported things will start to move.Bp_968 - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
Why fill my pc with loud and hot hard drives? I have 2 M.2 sticks as local storage and a NAS for all the rust drives in another room. I wouldn't want to go back to the days of using my PC for that.And if you must have tons of sata just buy a SAS card. Their cheap and flexible. Each SAS port on the card fans out to 4 sata ports using a cheap cable.
The Von Matrices - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Since the 100 series chipsets, the lanes for the SATA ports are shared with other things, so you aren't getting dedicated ports like you used to. You have to disable other features if you want to use all the SATA ports. With my current Z390 board, I can't use more than 2 SATA ports without compromising on other features, and I can't use all 6 SATA ports unless I disable both M.2 slots. Since they're sharing lanes, there's little cost and little reason to not have them, and that will probably continue into the future.DigitalFreak - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Things have changed the last couple of generations. My Z690 board has 6 SATA ports and 4 PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots. The only thing shared is SATA between one SATA port and one of the M.2 slots. As long as you don't need a M.2 SATA drive, you can run 4 NVMe drives and 6 SATA devices simultaneously..KarlKastor - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
There has nothing changed. The IO-Lanes of the chipset can eather be SATA or PCIe. The reason why you have nothing shared is, because they saved money for switches. You have not the option how to use this Lanes.This happens since Rocket Lake. The CPU has additional PCIe lanes, so you don't need to share much anymore and the Board is full already. There is no space for more M.2. Backside maybe.
12345 - Monday, November 15, 2021 - link
Z690 has a x8 gen 4 link to the chipset now. You don't have to disable SATA anymore to use all m.2 slots.meacupla - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
I am pretty sure intel had 8 SATA ports since Z77, but board manufacturers routed 2 SATA ports for m.2 SATA. The On Z87 and Z97, 8 SATA ports with 2 ports shared for m.2 SATA was totally a thing.KarlKastor - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
The silicon has 8 ports for long time. But maximum usable for the Zxy7 was 6. Eight were workstation only.If you used shared SATA on M.2, then you had less than six SATA Ports usable.
TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
SATA SSD sales continue to remain strong, and are much mroe economical for large file storage per TB then M.2 drives (a 2TB SATA drive is around $170 now), and if you have a RAID aray with 3+ drives speeds begin to encroah on NVMe speeds, a RAID 5 array with 4 SATA III will hit 1.6GB/s read speeds.Mr Perfect - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Man, these Z-chipset boards keep going up in price. I'm curious what eventual H670 chipset boards will look like. If they've got everything you need without all the flashy bits, I'll probably shoot for one of those.