The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR4): Over 30+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 24, 2021 2:00 PM ESTASRock Z690M-ITX/ax (DDR4)
Out of all the vendor's mini-ITX sized options, ASRock is typically hot off the press on providing a varied selection of small form factor offerings at the launch of a new chipset. While the ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB4 caters primarily to the higher end of what's available on Z690, the ASRock Z690M-ITX/ax offers incredible value, specifications, and features for users looking to use DDR4 over DDR5 memory. Focusing on the design, the Z690M-ITX/ax follows a black and silver theme, with a black PCB and silver heatsinks, with the power delivery heatsink doubling up as a rear panel cover.
As it's a mini-ITX sized motherboard, it has just one full-length PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, but it does include two M.2 slots. One of the M.2 slots operates at PCIe 4.0 x4, while the second slot supports both PCIe 4.0 x4 and SATA drives. For conventional SATA-based storage and devices such as optical media, ASRock includes four SATA ports which include support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. There are just two memory slots available for users, with support for up to DDR4-5000 and a combined capacity of up to 64 GB.
On the rear panel is a single USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C port, with a second G2x2 Type-C available via a front panel header. Also featured are four USB 3.2 G2 Type-A and two USB 2.0 ports. Networking support consists of two Ethernet ports, one powered by a Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5 GbE controller and a second by an Intel I229-V Gigabit controller. ASRock also includes a Wi-Fi 6E CNVi which offers support for both wireless and BT 5.2 devices. For users looking to use integrated graphics, there is an HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 video output pairing, while three 3.5 mm audio jacks are powered by a Realtek ALC897 HD audio codec. Finishing off the rear panel is a small BIOS Flashback button.
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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."