The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models

Choosing The Right Z690 (DDR5) Motherboard

When it comes to selecting one of the 50+ Z690 motherboards with support for the latest DDR5 memory, users are spoilt for choice. Compared with the previous generation, Intel has improved upon a lot of things. The trade-however is that vendors will offering models either with the latest DDR5 memory support or with DDR4 memory, but never both. The DDR4 models offer a more affordable upgrade path, especially if users are upgrading from a system with a kit of DDR4, however as we saw in our review, under specific circumstances, DDR5 offers more performance. A lot of vendors have done one of either two things: offer the same board with either DDR4 or DDR5, or split the lines entirely. 

The big improvement with Z690 is the PCIe 4.0 x8 link to the processor. This enables double the bandwidth for connecting hardware, which is a bonus as the chipset now supports PCIe 4.0 connectivity for storage and other add-in cards. Intel has added native USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C support, with vendors now capable of putting up to four of these on any given board. The Z690 chipset now includes a Wi-Fi 6E MAC as well.

Some vendors have opted to include five PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots on its premium models, with the majority opting for three and four depending on the specifications of the PCIe slots. The Z690 chipset allows for up to eight SATA ports natively, and although some premium models do use all of them, the vast majority only include six. Only one model has a U.2 port, which is EVGA's Z690 Dark K|NGP|N edition model.

Regardless of what needs or requirements a user has for a new system, Z690 has the latest and greatest of everything in the motherboard space at the moment. This includes networking, USB connectivity, even Thunderbolt 4 on some models. Below is a list of features with the corresponding model which has said feature. This is to make selecting a new Z690 (with DDR5) easier based on specific features:

In previous chipset overviews, we've highlighted the differences in what boards come with which HD audio codec to drive the onboard audio. With the Z690 models, some models still aren't listing which codec they are using, which is disappointing. ASUS is the odd one out as it is using its SupremeFX version of the corresponding Realtek ALC HD audio codecs across its models, whereas GIGABYTE even has its Z690 Aorus Xtreme WaterForce and Xtreme models that are driven by an ESS Sabre DAC as the main source of audio processing power.

Some models are using the latest Realtek 4000 series HD codecs, but at this time, Realtek hasn't officially unveiled the specifications. The only difference between the Realtek ALC4080 and ALC1220 codec is how it connects to the motherboard.

As some models have yet to specify which audio codec it is using (mostly MSI), we will list below what we know so far:

Wi-Fi 6E

One of the main updates to the Z690 chipset is an integrated Wi-Fi 6E MAC, which a lot of vendors have chosen to use. The Wi-Fi 6E CNVi is designed to allow users to use the new 6 GHz Wi-Fi band with non-overlapping channels. This is only available on routers with 6 GHz band capability; otherwise, it's nearly identical to Wi-Fi 6 with the aforementioned benefit to reduce congestion with multiple devices connected to a router. As most models are using Wi-Fi 6E, we thought it would be easier to list what board isn't, whether that be Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 5, or non-inclusive of any form of CNVi.

As we receive updates from vendors with more information, we will endeavor to keep this Z690 overview updated and as often as possible.