The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme Glacial & Z690 Extreme (DDR5)
Starting off the ASUS Z690 product stack with support for the latest DDR5 memory, we have an equally impressive pair of flagships for users to sink their teeth into. It should be noted for Z690, ASUS has tweaked its naming scheme for its Maximus branded board. Typically in the past, it has used roman numerals to depict the series, but in the interests of making it simple for users to digest, it now opts to use the specific chipset name instead; hooray for simplicity.
The first of the aforementioned flagships is the latest Extreme motherboard from ASUS, specifically the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme Glacial. It shares the same feature and controller set as the regular ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme model, but with one major difference, The Extreme Glacial has a brand new custom 'Ultrablock' designed and manufactured by premium water cooling experts EKWB, which includes plenty of integrated RGB LED lighting and looks very premium indeed. Both include dot matrix displays built into the rear panel over, while the non-water block clad ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme model, it includes a dot matrix panel covering the chipset heatsink too.
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme Glacial (left) and Z690 Extreme (right) motherboards
Both the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme Glacial and ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme share the same feature and controller set, with both featuring two full-length PCIe 5.0 slots operating at x16 or x8/x8, with a smaller PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. In the top right-hand corner of both models are four memory slots with support for up to DDR5-6400, with a maximum supported capacity of up to 128 GB. Also in the top right-hand corner is a DIMM.2 slot, with combined total support for up to five M.2 drives, including one PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 and four PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives, with six SATA ports supporting RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.
On the rear panel of both models is lots of premium connectivity, including one Thunderbolt 4 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, and eight USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports. ASUS does include an HDMI video output for users, as well as a Marvel AQtion 10 GbE controller, with a secondary RJ45 port powered by an Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller. Wireless capabilities are provided by an unspecified Intel Wi-Fi 6E CNVi, which also supports BT 5.2 devices. For onboard audio, five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output are powered by a Supreme FX4082 HD audio codec and ESS Sabre 9018Q2C DAC pairing, while ASUS also includes a BIOS Flashback button and clear CMOS 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.