The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR4): Over 30+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 24, 2021 2:00 PM ESTASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 (DDR4)
One of ASRock's more modest and entry-level gaming-focused Z690 models comes via the Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 DDR4. Equipped with an entry-level feature set, and an equally entry-level price point to boot, the ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 DDR4 has one of the more basic looks of all its Z690 models. It uses a primarily black theme with a black and dark grey printed PCB, with separate black metal power delivery heatsinks, with a small RGB enabled chipset heatsinks which users can customize with ASRock's Polychrome RGB software. There are two versions of this model, one with support for DDR5 memory, and one with support for DDR4 memory; this one supports DDR4 memory only.
Looking at the board's specifications, there are two full-length PCIe slots, with one full-length PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, one full-length PCIe 4.0 x4 slot, and three smaller PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Located in the top right-hand corner is the board's memory slots, with four in total offering support for DDR4-5000, and a combined total of 128 GB. Storage options are relatively basic as expected for a board of this pedigree, with three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, with one of these also supporting SATA-based drives. The ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 DDR4 also includes just four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays.
On the rear panel is a modest selection of input and output, including one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. An Intel I219-V Gigabit Ethernet controller is the board's only source of networking support, while a Realtek ALC897 powers three 3.5 mm audio jacks. Finishing off the rear panel is a single HDMI port, with a small BIOS Flashback button and a PS/2 combo port for users preferring to use legacy peripherals.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
42 Comments
View All Comments
meacupla - Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - link
Those boards are probably still stuck in the Pacific.Mat-mat - Thursday, November 25, 2021 - link
Why not include the Z690 TORPEDO, Z690 ACE, Z690 FORCE, Z690 Taichi, Z690 AORUS XTREME and Z690M DS3H DDR4 (not yet released).By the way, love the fact that the Phantom Gaming 4 boards look no-nonsense in style, while it has DrMOS MOSFETs for VRM power delivery.
PlasticMouse - Thursday, November 25, 2021 - link
Small typo: Previously with 11th gen (Rocket Lake), Intel upheaved it from a PCIe 3.0 x4 uplink on Z490 to a PCIe 3.0 x4 (x8?) uplink on Z590. With Z690, the uplink is now fully-fledged PCIe 4.0 x8 lanes to interconnect things.GarBaGe - Thursday, November 25, 2021 - link
"Intel upheaved it from a PCIe 3.0 x4 uplink on Z490 to a PCIe 3.0 x4 uplink on Z590. With Z690, the uplink is now fully-fledged PCIe 4.0 x8 lanes to interconnect things."This is wrong. Probably just a typo, since the author uses a phrasing which suggests it is a typo.
Z490 has 4 links PCIe 3 from CPU to chipset.
Z590 has 8 links (not 4) PCIe 3 from CPU to chipset
Z690 has 8 links PCIe 4 from CPU to chipset.
My question to Intel: If Z690 is supposed to be your first PCIe 5 platform, why not use PCIe 5 from CPU to chipset instead of PCIe 4?
DazFG - Thursday, November 25, 2021 - link
what listing motherboards with diagnostic panels for overclockers, or how many power phases.cgull.at - Thursday, November 25, 2021 - link
This has been irritating me a bit for a while: "Over 30+ new models"That's redundant. It's like saying "More than more than 30 new models". Pick one or the other. Please?
T2daroy - Thursday, November 25, 2021 - link
I'm considering the MSI MPG Z690 Edge WIFI DDR4. What are your thoughts on this?quantumshadow44 - Thursday, November 25, 2021 - link
}}}While Intel states that it includes an integrated 2.5 GbE MAC/PHY, this is a little nonsensical, as wired ethernet still requires a MAC/PHY as an attached PCIe controller. This means regardless of whether a vendor is using a Gigabit, 2.5 GbE, or even 10 GbE, it connects the exact same way to the PCIe interface.Can someone explain to me why is it "nonsensical"? Thanks.
GreenReaper - Saturday, November 27, 2021 - link
I think the assertion is that the chipset doesn't contain anything to enable this. It's like "you could buy [a motherboard with] a PCIe-based 2.5Gbps Ethernet solution, and it could be from Intel, so we'll list it as a feature".Conversely, for 1Gbps, the Z690 spec sheet lists: "Intel® Integrated 10/100/1000 MAC: Support for the Intel® Ethernet Connection I219-V" - https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/produc...
If you read the datasheet for that it suggests that the I219-V basically turns one of the PCIe links to the PCH ("chipset") into a half-speed Gen1 2.5Gbps connection - but it's not actually the PCIe protocol, it sends Ethernet packets from the I219-V PHY to be handled by the PCH. It also works in SMBus mode at 10Mbps to provide functionality when the machine is a lower-power state.
There is a lot of wake-up functionality which means it has to be able to detect bit patterns, direct-addressed IPv4/6 wakeups, etc, but it relies on chipset features to otherwise process packets.
ScottSoapbox - Saturday, November 27, 2021 - link
"Intel upheaved it from a PCIe 3.0 x4 uplink on Z490 to a PCIe 3.0 x4 uplink on Z590."