The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 9, 2021 9:00 AM ESTASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Apex (DDR5)
More aimed at extreme overclockers than other boards in the Republic of Gamers series, the Apex is back for Z690. Equipped with a typical ASUS ROG theme throughout, the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Apex uses a primarily black color scheme, with a fancy ROG logo effect on the rear panel cover, integrated RGB built into the rear panel cover and chipset heatsink. It also features silver diagonal lines across the chipset and M.2 heatsinks for a nice contrasting look. The Z690 Apex much like the previous Z590 Apex is also using an ATX sized frame, which other vendors for similar models have used an E-ATX sized frame.
Given this is a model designed primarily for extreme overclockers, ASUS is advertising a large 24-phase teamed power stage array with the latest 105 A smart power stages. Predominately located in the top right-hand corner of the board is an overclocker's toolkit, which includes PCIe dip switches, an LN2 mode switch, a Safe boot button, a power button, a reset button, and a two-digit LED debugger.
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Apex includes two full-length PCIe 5.0 slots that can operate at x16 and x8/x8, with one half-length PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, and one PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. As this is an overclocking-focused model, ASUS includes two memory slots capable of supporting up to DDR5-6600, with a combined capacity of 64 GB. ASUS also includes a ROG DIMM.2 M.2 slot, with the Apex supporting up to five M.2 drives in total, and a total of six SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.
On the rear panel, the Z690 Apex includes one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, and four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports, with an Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE and Intel Wi-Fi 6E CNVi making up the board's networking array. For onboard audio, ASUS includes five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output which is powered by a SupremeFX ALC4080 HD audio codec and Savitech SV3H712 amplifier pairing. Finishing off the rear panel is one PS/2 keyboard port, one PS/2 mouse port, a BIOS Flashback button, and a clear CMOS button.
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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?