The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Xtreme & Xtreme WaterForce
Looking at GIGABYTE's Z690 DDR5 based motherboard list for launch, it has gone for a simple and balanced stack with a modest amount of both DDR5 and DDR4 enabled motherboards. The most premium of all and the current flagship for GIGABYTE on Z690 is the Z690 Aorus Xtreme, which has been a long-running series encompassing the most premium controller sets and high-end features of all its models. Looking at the design, GIGABYTE has opted for a simplistic, but premium-looking aesthetic. It is also using an E-ATX sized PCB making it one of the biggest Z690 motherboards at launch.
The GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Xtreme WaterForce model shares the same specifications and controllers as the non WaterForce model but comes with a custom milled monoblock which keeps the processor and power delivery running cool, but we don't currently have any official images from GIGABYTE at the time of writing.
The Z690 Aorus Xtreme includes an OLED screen built into the rear panel cover, as well as what looks to be a DDR5 memory cover which also features an OLED screen. GIGABYTE also has an RGB enabled Aorus logo which sits below the chipset heatsinks. All across the board is plenty of armor and heatsinks, including a large power delivery heatsink, and an amalgamated M.2 heatsink array that molds into the chipset heatsink.
The GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Xtreme includes two full-length PCIe 5.0 slots that can operate at x16 and x8/x8, with one full-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot. In the top-right hand corner of the board is four memory slots, which allow users to install up to DDR5-6600, with a combined capacity of up to 128 GB. For storage, the Z690 Aorus Xtreme models include four PCIe 4.0 x4 slots, with just four SATA ports capable of supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.
Interestingly for the integrated audio, GIGABYTE has gone for an impressive selection including an ESS ES9280AC DAC chip, with two assisting ESS ES9080 chips. GIGABYTE doesn't mention any of the typically used Realtek ALC HD audio codecs in the specifications and given there are just two 3.5 mm audio jacks on the rear panel, it looks as if though the ES8280AC DAC is leading things in this regard.
On the rear panel is a very premium selection of input and output, including two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports, and a whopping ten USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports too. The Z690 Aorus Xtreme opts for a premium ESS Sabre solution with two 3.5 mm audio jacks, but networking is premium with a Marvel Aqtion AQC113C 10 GbE and Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller pairing, as well as Intel's latest AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi. Finishing off the rear panel is a small clear CMOS button, an OC Ignition button, and a Q-Flash BIOS Flashback button.
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GeoffreyA - Saturday, November 13, 2021 - link
Certainly, there are tradeoffs, keeping a socket; but, as Mr. Tuvok would say, "Ryzen, you are an unending source of astonishment." There was a time when sockets even took CPUs from different manufacturers. I remember my Socket 7 motherboard, though I never tried it, could take a K5 and some Cyrix CPUs as well. Those 5x something, something. How things have changed.A short-lived socket can be a pain in the behind too. I was one of those unlucky folk who ended up with Socket 754 and missed out on dual-channel DDR and a long upgrade path. In any case, that computer went kaput after four years.
Oxford Guy - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
Overclocking is for employees of motherboard companies.ECC RAM support should have been a standard feature from the beginning. Apple offered it on the Lisa in ‘83 and consumer computing has gone backward since.
Doublers, though... aren’t a bad thing as long as they’re implemented well — as I understand it. Better to have a good doubler implementation than a weak individual phase system. The main thing is to have a board meet the minimum spec for reliable (i.e. not overheating and/or failing) long-term support of its supported CPUs. Anything beyond that is unnecessary.
GeoffreyA - Saturday, November 13, 2021 - link
The problem with doublers is, they over-use it as a marketing technique to give the impression that a certain board has a large amount of phases.Oxford Guy - Saturday, November 13, 2021 - link
Weak phases with a mediocre/poor regulator aren’t necessarily better than ‘marketing phases’ via the use of doublers. That’s the case when the doublers are used a correctly.There are a lot of shenanigans, though — like not even utilizing the doubler fully but counting it as the doubling of phases. I also recall that one of the big tricks was putting extra chokes on the board to make it look like there are more phases.
GeoffreyA - Sunday, November 14, 2021 - link
Quite right, and one of the reasons why people have got to read a proper analysis of the VRM, or take a look at the lists on hardwareluxx for example.t.s - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Wish Intel go with their atv12vo. Or like business lines from HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc. 6 or 8 pin.shabby - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Mobo prices will go up even more, screw that.meacupla - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
In the long term, I think the cost for ATX12VO will be cheaper.ATX12VO PSU will be cheaper than a comparable quality ATX PSU.
The BoM for 12V to 5V and 12V to 3.3V converters would go down, if mobo makers decide to stick to a single, standardized design.
With the way things are looking, electricity prices are unlikely to go down and continue to go up.
DigitalFreak - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
All ATX12VO is doing is shifting the cost from the PSU to the motherboard.Wrs - Wednesday, November 10, 2021 - link
If mobo makers can stick to one design why can't PSU makers? They already conform to ATX.ATX 12 VO increases costs for piecemeal upgraders because of the simple observation that PSUs outlive motherboards. The question would be whether the power savings are worth it. For prebuilts they're comparing power savings to 0 net component cost so 12VO is already the norm.