The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTGIGABYTE Z690 Aero D (DDR5)
Moving away from the gaming-focused Aorus branded motherboards, and GIGABYTE has announced its content-creator-friendly Aero series will be making a return for Z690. The GIGABYTE Z690 Aero D is a solid representation of this with plenty of premium controllers, high-end features, and good compatibility with external devices. Focusing on the design, the Z690 Aero D is decked out in a contrasting black and silver aesthetic, with a classy large rear panel cover, with silver heatsinks throughout which covers the majority of the PCB. GIGABYTE has also omitted any integrated RGB LED lighting, which is typical of it for its Aero series of motherboards.
Dominating the lower half of the board on the GIGABYTE Z690 Aero D is a pair of full-length PCIe 5.0 slots that can operate at x16 and x8/x8, with a third full-length slot electronically locked down to PCIe 3.0 x4. For M.2 storage, there are four PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, while only one of these supports SATA-based drives. The Z690 Aero D also includes six SATA ports with support for Intel RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. Located in the top right-hand corner is the board's memory slots, with GIGABYTE including four with support for DDR5-6400, and a combined capacity of up to 128 GB.
Looking at the rear panel of the GIGABYTE Z690 Aero D, and this is where all of that content-creator-friendly goodness is. It includes dual Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports, with six USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports, and a pair of video ports including one HDMI 2.1 video output and one DisplayPort 1.4 video input. The board's networking configuration is high-end, with an Aquantia AQC107 10 GbE and Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller pairing, with an Intel AX210 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi providing both wireless and BT 5.2 connectivity. Integrated audio options are basic, with just two 3.5 mm audio jacks that finish off a premium, yet interesting rear panel layout.
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DanNeely - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Good point. I thought Intel was pushing hard for 12vo with the 6xx series, but it seems to be completely MIA.Silver5urfer - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Can I ask why ? What does ATX12VO provide to a consumer ?It doesn't make your mobo cheap, it doesn't make your mobo less complicated, it does not make your system run cooler, it doesn't make ADL consume less power, It doesn't even make any sense.
ATX12VO was created because of that trash policies set by policing state of California about some nonsensical rubbish. Servers and Data centers can get away with modular high density PSUs because of fully standardized set and they also get 3M liquid cooling. This is consumer market and here we have people wishing for backwards in technology.
meacupla - Thursday, November 11, 2021 - link
A lot of people had the same sentiment about EU RoHS restrictions, and yet, it was implemented worldwide.With that attitude, the same can be said about energy star, and 80plus certifications. It adds cost to the product, yet it offers not a thing to the consumer.
Not everything is about you.
We need to do everything we can to cut down power consumption, and ATX12VO standardization across the entire industry is very low hanging fruit.
Stop being so selfish, there's literally only one habitable planet we have right now.
Oxford Guy - Thursday, November 11, 2021 - link
80 Plus offered plenty to consumers. Less power use means quieter PSUs.The knock on 80 Plus was unrealistically easy testing. Despite that, it helped raise the efficiency of PSUs. Along with better efficiency, ripple, holdout time, voltage consistency, and other factors improved — as enthusiasts began to pay more attention to PSU quality.
I don’t doubt that 80 Plus also helped a lot of non-enthusiasts/amateurs by keeping them away from ultra-cheap PSUs that catch fire. Having a high-profile certification that those PSUs can’t reach helped to steer those customers away.
yacoub35 - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
That white metal trim running tight around the molex power connector on the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Formula must make it an absolutely nightmare to plug/unplug the main power cable to the board.Ranguvar - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Correction:"Previously with 11th gen (Rocket Lake), Intel upheaved it from a PCIe 3.0 x4 uplink on Z490 to a PCIe 3.0 x4 uplink on Z590."
This should say "to a PCIe 3.0 x8 uplink on Z590".
OFelix - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
Correct. And whilst we are correcting that sentence - "upheaved" ????This first page really needs to be read by an AnandTech editor.
What's that? They don't any editors? :-(
OFelix - Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - link
"Z490 Motherboard Audio" ... presumably Z690?mode_13h - Friday, November 12, 2021 - link
I caught that, as well. Even the word "upheaved" is itself somewhat noteworthy. Plenty of better alternatives: "upgraded", "widened", "expanded", "increased", "enlarged", etc.GeoffreyA - Saturday, November 13, 2021 - link
While "upheaved" is likely an error, it's not far off from the words of today. Unfortunately, the English language is on a downgrade, and it's just going to get worse and worse. The language's genius is not tuned to the over-economical forms we're finding today; and a lot of it seems to be coming from tech. Upthis, upthat. My favourite, though, is leverage. A big, scary word that companies are fond of, and which escaped its programming, game development roots. Soon, we'll be leveraging the kettle to make tea. How about using?