# 86 Motherboards Compared for Intel Z690 Alder Lake



## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

We compare all the new Intel Z690 chipset based motherboards for Intel's 12th Gen Alder Lake processors, so you can get an overview of which boards are worthy of your consideration and which can be skipped no matter if looking for something basic or a flagship model. 

*Show full review*


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## Pumper (Nov 4, 2021)

lol, what's the point of the superior price/performance of the 12600K vs. 5600X if the mobo will be at least +$100 over a B550?


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## Zubasa (Nov 4, 2021)

Pumper said:


> lol, what's the point of the superior price/performance of the 12600K vs. 5600X if the mobo will be at least +$100 over a B550?


Maybe that is the reason why Intel went price competitive on the CPU side, to off-set the total platform cost.


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## JalleR (Nov 4, 2021)

Is ther any for the boards that has 2 Real x16 PCIE slots ?  (one 5.0 and one 3.0) ? i Cant find one so maybe there is non.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

Zubasa said:


> Maybe that is the reason why Intel went price competitive on the CPU side, to off-set the total platform cost.


As per the article, Intel only charges $1 extra for the chipset and there are no real reasons why there's a ~$50 jump in price even at the lower-end, as no extra costly parts are being used. Yes, we're seeing better VRM designs which would add some cost, but not too the extent it seems to be.



JalleR said:


> Is ther any for the boards that has 2 Real x16 PCIE slots ?  (one 5.0 and one 3.0) ? i Cant find one so maybe there is non.


Not for consumer grade CPUs, no.
Intel's HSIO doesn't allow for more than four lanes at a time and if you want to connect 16 of them to a slot, you're going to need a 32 lane PCIe bridge/switch and those are expensive.


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## BarbaricSoul (Nov 4, 2021)

anyone know what time today can we expect the Alder Lake CPU reviews to be released?


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## erocker (Nov 4, 2021)

No DDR5 availability.


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## Zubasa (Nov 4, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> As per the article, Intel only charges $1 extra for the chipset and there are no real reasons why there's a ~$50 jump in price even at the lower-end, as no extra costly parts are being used. Yes, we're seeing better VRM designs which would add some cost, but not too the extent it seems to be.


Going from PCIE gen5 on the X16 cpu lanes and gen4 on the chipset would require better signal integrity.
Z590 was just gen4 from the cpu + gen3 on the chipset. Gen4 vs Gen3 would require additional signal re-drivers.
And of course, when the AIB partners sees an excuse to raise prices, they will. This is most likely the case with lower-end Z690 board with gen3 slots.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

Zubasa said:


> Going from PCIE gen5 on the X16 cpu lanes and gen4 on the chipset would require better signal integrity.
> Z490 was just gen4 from the cpu + gen3 on the chipset. Gen4 vs Gen3 would require additional signal re-drivers.
> And of course, when the AIB partners sees an excuse to raise prices, they will. This is most likely the case with lower-end Z690 board with gen3 slots.


Yes, but this wasn't an issue, as the costs have already come down on low noise PCB materials thanks to AMD and the X570 chipset. If you have a look on the cheap boards, there are almost no redrivers on them. 

All the PCIe lanes are being used for M.2, hence so few boards with PCIe 4.0 slots.


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## Zubasa (Nov 4, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Yes, but this wasn't an issue, as the costs have already come down on low noise PCB materials thanks to AMD and the X570 chipset. If you have a look on the cheap boards, there are almost no redrivers on them.
> 
> All the PCIe lanes are being used for M.2, hence so few boards with PCIe 4.0 slots.


Some of the lower end boards even went with gen3 on some of the M.2 slots.
Also many of them have almost no USB with Gigabyte even cheaping out on the damn audio jacks.

A funny thing about the pricing of the Aero D vs Aorus Master.
The Aorus Master is listed at around $470 at newegg, but in Hong Kong it is listed at around $616USD.
That put it well above the price of the Aero D that has better IO on everything. I guess the distributor is milking hard on the Gamer tax.


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## Chaitanya (Nov 4, 2021)

BarbaricSoul said:


> anyone know what time today can we expect the Alder Lake CPU reviews to be released?


In 4-5hrs time based on livestreams scheduled on youtube.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

Zubasa said:


> Some of the lower end boards even went with gen3 on some of the M.2 slots.
> Also many of them have almost no USB with Gigabyte even cheaping out on the damn audio jacks.


At most, one, even some higher end boards have them.

There are USB redrivers on several boards though.

Also, redrivers are not recommended by the PCI SIG, instead retimers are the suggest solution. If you look at the boards with two PCIe 5.0 slots, you can spot two retimers on some of them.






						PCI Express® Retimers vs. Redrivers: An Eye-Popping Difference | PCI-SIG
					






					pcisig.com


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## BarbaricSoul (Nov 4, 2021)

Chaitanya said:


> In 4-5hrs time based on livestreams scheduled on youtube.


so around noon EST


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## Chrispy_ (Nov 4, 2021)

Wow, Asus really are just taking the piss with their Maximus boards. 

Just get a flagship from someone else this generation, if you're in the market for flagships.

As for everything else, it seems like $200 is the starting point and $400 is the top end after which you're basically being taxed for bling and prestige with little extra of value being added.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

Chrispy_ said:


> Wow, Asus really are just taking the piss with their Maximus boards.
> 
> Just get a flagship from someone else this generation, if you're in the market for flagships.
> 
> As for everything else, it seems like $200 is the starting point and $400 is the top end after which you're basically being taxed for bling and prestige with little extra of value being added.


What struck me, is that there are so many overlapping models from the same manufacturer, but with big jumps in price for tiny feature improvements.


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## Timelessest (Nov 4, 2021)

Which itx model is the best?


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## Xuper (Nov 4, 2021)

AMD X570 has 3 independent M.2 Gen 4 without sharing any bandwidth ,So what about Z690 ?


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## Zubasa (Nov 4, 2021)

Xuper said:


> AMD X570 has 3 independent M.2 Gen 4 without sharing any bandwidth ,So what about Z690 ?


X570 has one gen4 from the CPU, then the other M.2 are from the chipset all share a Gen4 X4 link.
Z690 has a gen4 M.2 from the CPU and then x8 DMI4.0, basically a PCIE Gen4 X8 link for the chipset.
Z690 has a maximum of 1+3 gen4 M.2 slots. Because the Z690 chipset can give off 12 gen4 lanes.

In short the Z690 chipset has double the bandwidth of X570 connecting to the CPU.
On current mainstream platforms only the first M.2 slot is directly connected to the CPU and all the other M.2 must share bandwidth on the chipset.
On Z390 and older there were no M.2 directly to the CPU. You can use an adapter card to cannibalize the GPU lanes, but that is another story.


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## Xuper (Nov 4, 2021)

ok I checked here :


			https://www.gamersnexus.net/images/media/2019/news/amd/x570-chipset-block-diagram.jpg
		


There are 4x USB 3.2 gen2 ( on the left image ) , They're direct from the CPU ? I don't see in Z690 diagram?



			https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-z690-alder-lake-motherboard-comparison-buying-guide/images/z690-block-diagram.jpg


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## Zubasa (Nov 4, 2021)

Xuper said:


> ok I checked here :
> 
> 
> https://www.gamersnexus.net/images/media/2019/news/amd/x570-chipset-block-diagram.jpg
> ...


On Z690 USB and Thunderbolt etc are all from the chipset.
IRL it isn't a huge issue, most people will not be hammering 2 gen4 SSDs off the chipset at full speed and USB all at the same time.

Ryzen being an SOC does offer some USB ports directly from the CPU and 2 of the nvme lanes can be converted to SATA for the same reason.
So that it can be used as an SOC in a NUC type PC or some Ultrabooks, without a chipset.


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## Turmania (Nov 4, 2021)

I find it weird when the cpu you will buy costs less than the motherboard...


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## champsilva (Nov 4, 2021)

BarbaricSoul said:


> anyone know what time today can we expect the Alder Lake CPU reviews to be released?



In about 40 minutes.


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## swirl09 (Nov 4, 2021)

erocker said:


> No DDR5 availability.


Yeah Ive my whole build ordered, minus RAM :/

I think its going to be weeks til I build it.


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## oxrufiioxo (Nov 4, 2021)

I personally like the Asus Hero/Formula/Extreme but those price increases are disappointing. I did sorta expect absurd prices though.

I guess I'll just have to live with the fact that if I want a flagship cpu/board it's gonna cost north of 1500 usd. I was already thinking 1100 usd for my 5950X/Aorus Master was slightly ridiculous.

Either way I'm excited to see some alderlake reviews today hoping it kicks a$$! I would love to get to a point where both cpu manufacturers are trading blows with each release.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

Timelessest said:


> Which itx model is the best?


Best? I guess that depends on your budget. Asus seem to have the most feature packed board, followed by Gigabyte and ASRock, but Gigabyte is best value for money.


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## aciDev (Nov 4, 2021)

They can keep them!
I believe we can thank streamers and YTrs for those prices.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

oxrufiioxo said:


> I personally like the Asus Hero/Formula/Extreme but those price increases are disappointing. I did sorta expect absurd prices though.
> 
> I guess I'll just have to live with the fact that if I want a flagship cpu/board it's gonna cost north of 1500 usd. I was already thinking 1100 usd for my 5950X/Aorus Master was slightly ridiculous.
> 
> Either way I'm excited to see some alderlake reviews today hoping it kicks a$$! I would love to get to a point where both cpu manufacturers are trading blows with each release.


Yeah, motherboard prices are getting absurd and in countries with 20-25% sales tax, even more so.



aciDev said:


> They can keep them!
> I believe we can thank streamers and YTrs for those prices.


How did you come to that conclusion?


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## Dammeron (Nov 4, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> (...)but Gigabyte is best value for money.


And maybe they'll throw their PSU as a freebie. Perfect for frying a GPU, when You can't get a second one. 

Nice to see well equipped mATX boards for once, not like the ones on X570...


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## iO (Nov 4, 2021)

ASRocks Z690M is some weird ass board, doesn't even support PCIe5.


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## Zubasa (Nov 4, 2021)

Dammeron said:


> And maybe they'll throw their PSU as a freebie. Perfect for frying a GPU, when You can't get a second one.
> 
> Nice to see well equipped mATX boards for once, not like the ones on X570...


There are decent B550 MATX boards out there though.
There is not much point in X570 if the boards don't have space for the extra pcie / m.2 slots.


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## Timelessest (Nov 4, 2021)

Which itx model is the best


TheLostSwede said:


> Best? I guess that depends on your budget. Asus seem to have the most feature packed board, followed by Gigabyte and ASRock, but Gigabyte is best value for money.


I mean in terms of vrm. Does the asus itx one have more phases?


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## looniam (Nov 4, 2021)

Timelessest said:


> Which itx model is the best
> 
> I mean in terms of vrm. Does the asus itx one have more phases?


from the product page(s)









						ASRock Z690M-ITX/ax
					

Supports 13th Gen & 12th Gen Intel Core™ Processors (LGA1700); 8 Phase Dr.MOS Power Design; Supports DDR4 5000MHz (OC); 1 PCIe 5.0 x16; Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort; Realtek ALC897 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec, Nahimic Audio; 4 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4), 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4...




					www.asrock.com
				





> 8 Phase Dr.MOS Power Design











						Z690I AORUS ULTRA DDR4 (rev. 1.0) Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global
					

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...




					www.gigabyte.com
				





> 10+1+2 Direct Digital VRM Design
> 
> 105A Smart Power Stage
> Premium Choke and Capacitor
> 2X Copper PCB








						ROG STRIX Z690-I GAMING WIFI | ROG STRIX Z690-I GAMING WIFI | Gaming Motherboards｜ROG - Republic of Gamers｜ROG Global
					

ASUS ROG STRIX Z690-G GAMING WIFI Intel LGA 1700 ATX motherboard, DDR5, PCIe 5.0, 14+1 power stages, WiFi 6E, Intel® 2.5 Gb Ethernet, three M.2 slots, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 USB Type-C®, SATA and Aura Sync



					rog.asus.com
				





> *10+1 Power Stages, 105A*



edit for LS  









						ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB4
					

Supports 13th Gen & 12th Gen Intel Core™ Processors (LGA1700); 11 Phase SPS Dr.MOS Power Design; Supports DDR5 6400MHz (OC); 1 PCIe 5.0 x16; Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt™ Type-C; Realtek ALC1220 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec,, Nahimic Audio; 3 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4...




					www.asrock.com
				





> 11 Phase SPS Dr.MOS Power Design
> *ASRock Super Alloy*
> - Premium 90A Power Choke
> - 105A SPS (Smart Power Stage)
> - Nichicon 12K Black Caps (100% Japan made high quality conductive polymer capacitors)


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

looniam said:


> from the product page(s)
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You missed the ASRock gaming board


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## looniam (Nov 4, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> You missed the ASRock gaming board


ya know i didn't scroll down because i doubted there were two from the same manufacturer, good on them!

fixed.


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## aciDev (Nov 4, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> How did you come to that conclusion?


To me, the prices seem to increase more in relation to how flashy the components look than to the technical features.
And I think content creators, with their flexing, have contributed a lot to this trend.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

aciDev said:


> To me, the prices seem to increase more in relation to how flashy the components look than to the technical features.


Yeah, there's something to that for sure, since as I've mentioned before, the tooling to make plastic parts are not cheap. I've been involved in making moulds for a few clients and a mould for a small-ish thing (10-15cm long, 5-7cm thick) is US$25,000-50,000, even in Taiwan. That gets you one or two parts at the most and with all these different designs, you're ending up with a lot of moulds. Add to that the cost of the moulds for all the different and quite complex extruded aluminium some of these boards feature and it's no surprise you're paying a lot for the bling.
In all fairness, I'm a big fan of the pre-attached I/O shields, which requires something to mount them to on the board. Beyond that, I'm not into most of the other stuff.


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## Fleurious (Nov 4, 2021)

Waiting on reviews but for now the ASUS Prime Z690-A looks like the board I'll be settling on.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

Fleurious said:


> Waiting on reviews but for now the ASUS Prime Z690-A looks like the board I'll be settling on.


Not a bad board overall, with the only "downgrade" being the onboard audio compared to the more expensive entry level Strix boards.
That said, $300 for a lower-midrange board is really a ripoff, but prices are apparently up on almost all motherboard components, which means the board makers are passing on all those costs straight to the consumers, as lower margins is apparently not an option.



iO said:


> ASRocks Z690M is some weird ass board, doesn't even support PCIe5.


I think that was a typo and they seem to have pulled the product page for now as well.


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## FedericoUY (Nov 4, 2021)

Since z390 prices has skyrocketed on motherboards. I remember purchasing a maximus IX apex at normal price (~$270). Nowadays they are unpayable!


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## Fleurious (Nov 4, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Not a bad board overall, with the only "downgrade" being the onboard audio compared to the more expensive entry level Strix boards.



From what I've read (Here) the ALC4080 offers the same sound performance as the Realtek S1220A but does so in a different way.  I guess the Strix/ROG line do offer more sound related software but i tend to prefer a more bare-bones approach.  I agree the value doesn't seem there.


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## InVasMani (Nov 4, 2021)

Think if I were getting 12600K I'd probably pair it with a Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X myself the Biostar Z690A Valkyrie looks nice too, but I think it'll be a lot more pricey. 

You made a bit of a mistake on the Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X the part about two PCIe 4.0 x16 slots at x4 is incorrect btw its PCIE 3.0 according to Gigabyte's specifications on the product page.
2. (The PCIEX4 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

Fleurious said:


> From what I've read (Here) the ALC4080 offers the same sound performance as the Realtek S1220A but does so in a different way.  I guess the Strix/ROG line do offer more sound related software but i tend to prefer a more bare-bones approach.  I agree the value doesn't seem there.


It does some things that the ALC1220 can't, but for most people 32-bit/384KHz audio doesn't matter.
Thanks for the link though.

None of the boards are a good value proposition really, with some being more reasonable than others.



InVasMani said:


> Think if I were getting 12600K I'd probably pair it with a Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X myself the Biostar Z690A Valkyrie looks nice too, but I think it'll be a lot more pricey.
> 
> You made a bit of a mistake on the Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X the part about two PCIe 4.0 x16 slots at x4 is incorrect btw its PCIE 3.0 according to Gigabyte's specifications on the product page.
> 2. (The PCIEX4 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)


Thanks for the heads up, typo, which is easy to do here, but it's fixed now.


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## noel_fs (Nov 4, 2021)

this is some hard work


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

noel_fs said:


> this is some hard work


Yeah, took a few days to write up. 
Hopefully it'll help people get a better idea of what board to get if they're looking to upgrade.


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## asdkj1740 (Nov 4, 2021)

Zubasa said:


> Some of the lower end boards even went with gen3 on some of the M.2 slots.
> Also many of them have almost no USB with Gigabyte even cheaping out on the damn audio jacks.
> 
> A funny thing about the pricing of the Aero D vs Aorus Master.
> ...


wtf is going on in hong kong?

btw it is true that aero d kills aorus master.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

asdkj1740 said:


> btw it is true that aero d kills aorus master.


Depends I guess. Yes, you do get Thunderbolt 4 and a second Ethernet port, but in most countries, it's likely to cost more than the Master so...
Also, the Aero boards are clearly not geared towards people that want to overclock their hardware in the same sense. 
I can obviously only work with the pricing I was able to find, since many boards, from all manufacturers aren't readily available everywhere. 
That said, just as with the Asus ProArt, the Aero boards seem to offer good value for money compared to the more gaming/overclocking focused boards.


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## asdkj1740 (Nov 4, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Depends I guess. Yes, you do get Thunderbolt 4 and a second Ethernet port, but in most countries, it's likely to cost more than the Master so...
> Also, the Aero boards are clearly not geared towards people that want to overclock their hardware in the same sense.
> I can obviously only work with the pricing I was able to find, since many boards, from all manufacturers aren't readily available everywhere.
> That said, just as with the Asus ProArt, the Aero boards seem to offer good value for money compared to the more gaming/overclocking focused boards.


aero d msrp should be priced slightly lower than aorus master, with gen5 switches and tb4 that arous master has not.
i doubt in terms of cpu overclocking under normal condition areo d would be any worse than aorus master.
given the same ddr5 6400 rated on both mobos , i think aero d maybe still a bit worse than aorus master because of tb4 onboard.


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## cst1992 (Nov 4, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> What struck me, is that there are so many overlapping models from the same manufacturer, but with big jumps in price for tiny feature improvements.


Gotta make your pandemic losses back...


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 4, 2021)

asdkj1740 said:


> aero d msrp should be priced slightly lower than aorus master, with gen5 switches and tb4 that arous master has not.
> i doubt in terms of cpu overclocking under normal condition areo d would be any worse than aorus master.
> given the same ddr5 6400 rated on both mobos , i think aero d maybe still a bit worse than aorus master because of tb4 onboard.


We're going to have to wait and see, but as I said, the Aero and ProArt boards all look good.


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## Solid State Soul ( SSS ) (Nov 5, 2021)

Jesus Christ Gigabyte... 25 motherboard SKUs!!!! 

The Z690 gaming x looks like a good value


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## cst1992 (Nov 5, 2021)

No wonder it's hard to shop for motherboards these days.


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## AlwaysHope (Nov 5, 2021)

Only 2 kinds of DDR5 available from one of Australia's most popular online retailers (best service) & ALL SOLD OUT... days ago... both kits around A$550 mark!
Then there is all the alder lake cpus... ALL SOLD OUT... days ago...
Glad I setup my rocket lake platform today!


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## Zubasa (Nov 5, 2021)

asdkj1740 said:


> wtf is going on in hong kong?
> 
> btw it is true that aero d kills aorus master.


The pricing sobered up today after the reviews went live.


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## Dammeron (Nov 5, 2021)

Zubasa said:


> There are decent B550 MATX boards out there though.
> There is not much point in X570 if the boards don't have space for the extra pcie / m.2 slots.



Not "are", but "is" - MSI Mortar wifi. The only B550 mATX board with USB c front header, wifi and a decent, fully-cooled VRM.


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## Zubasa (Nov 5, 2021)

Dammeron said:


> Not "are", but "is" - MSI Mortar wifi. The only B550 mATX board with USB c front header, wifi and a decent, fully-cooled VRM.


Wifi and USB-C are down to personal preference, there are other of boards that can run the 5950X no problem though.


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## iO (Nov 5, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> I think that was a typo and they seem to have pulled the product page for now as well.


Can't be a typo as it's impossible to achive PCIe5 speeds with a thru hole PCIe slot like they use on the Z690M:






SMT parts are mandatory as the thru hole pins act like little antennas picking up tons of interference at the 16 GHz frequency which PCIe5 runs at.

IIRC there was a paper from back when PCIe4 launched, discussing the problem in detail but unfortunately I can't seem to find it anymore.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 5, 2021)

iO said:


> Can't be a typo as it's impossible to achive PCIe5 speeds with a thru hole PCIe slot like they use on the Z690M:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's indeed bizarre. Where did find that picture? The board is still missing from their website.
No argument on your reasoning here, I'm well aware of the reason for the SMT slots.


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## iO (Nov 5, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> That's indeed bizarre. Where did find that picture? The board is still missing from their website.
> No argument on your reasoning here, I'm well aware of the reason for the SMT slots.


Picture is from geizhals.de.
Also a link to the product page.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 5, 2021)

iO said:


> Picture is from geizhals.de.
> Also a link to the product page.


Doesn't show up for me if I filter for Z690 or LGA-1700, very odd.
Updated the article to reflect that, as I simply assumed it was PCIe 5.0 for one and the reinforced slot on the board made it look like it was PCIe 5.0.
It just made the board even worse than it already was an clearly a board to stay away from.

Also, it doesn't help that the product page claims it has PCIe 5.0 and SMT slots...


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## chrcoluk (Nov 5, 2021)

86!!!

Wow pricing could surely be brought down if was less SKU's to simplify manufacturing.

*Rather oddly, Intel also added support for a pair of additional SATA ports for a total of eight*

Nothing odd about that, I think its sad, most vendors are now only supplying 6 SATA ports.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 5, 2021)

chrcoluk said:


> 86!!!
> 
> Wow pricing could surely be brought down if was less SKU's to simplify manufacturing.
> 
> ...


None of their past consumer chipsets have supported more than six SATA and now that we're finally getting four or more M.2 slots on all the ATX boards, Intel decides to add two more SATA ports, I mean, that is odd. Keep in mind that a lot of things are multiplexed on boards with eight SATA ports, so you're unlikely to be able to use all of them if you want to use all the M.2 slots for example. 

And yes, there are far too many similar models from every single board makers except Biostar and EVGA.


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## chrcoluk (Nov 5, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> None of their past consumer chipsets have supported more than six SATA and now that we're finally getting four or more M.2 slots on all the ATX boards, Intel decides to add two more SATA ports, I mean, that is odd. Keep in mind that a lot of things are multiplexed on boards with eight SATA ports, so you're unlikely to be able to use all of them if you want to use all the M.2 slots for example.
> 
> And yes, there are far too many similar models from every single board makers except Biostar and EVGA.


Ahh thank you for explaining the comment, this is the first time I have really examined a chipset since Z390.

I read the article, and these boards were what stood out to me, all have 8 ports.

ASUS ProArt Z690-Creator
ASRock Z690 PG Riptide
ASRock Z690 Steel Legend <-- my pick
ASRock Z690 Extreme

Personally I dont see the need for more than one M.2 in my system so it wouldnt bother me if using all SATA ports I lost one or two M.2 ports. ASRock probably remains my favoured brand.  I am guessing at least one of the board partners requested the extra ports (probably ASRock), SSD's are still nowhere near HDD pricing per TB of storage, so there will still be people filling up cases with many spindles.


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## asdkj1740 (Nov 5, 2021)

chrcoluk said:


> 86!!!
> 
> Wow pricing could surely be brought down if was less SKU's to simplify manufacturing.
> 
> ...


intel has put 8 sata controllers inside 8 pcie lanes on z series chipsets for years.
before z690, on z series like z590, mobo vendors can only enable six out of eight as sata.
started from z690 intel has removed this restriction.


z490 intel pdf



z series 8 sata controller:
0A 0B 1A 1B 2 3 4 5
so sata 2 3 4 5=4sata
pick one more between 0a and 0b
pick one more between 1a and 1b




sata 6 7 are for w series chipset, they are disabled on z series.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 5, 2021)

chrcoluk said:


> Ahh thank you for explaining the comment, this is the first time I have really examined a chipset since Z390.
> 
> I read the article, and these boards were what stood out to me, all have 8 ports.
> 
> ...


Well, some boards have a third party SATA controller to sort of work around the shared interfaces.
I think Intel simply added support for eight SATA ports to have feature parity with AMD's X570 chipset.



asdkj1740 said:


> intel has put 8 sata controllers inside 8 pcie lanes on z series chipsets for years.
> before z690, on z series like z590, mobo vendors can only enable six out of eight as sata.
> started from z690 intel has removed this restriction (0A 0B 1A 1B).


Right, but this still doesn't mean you could use them, due to how HSIO works.
Now I guess they're confident that there are enough HSIO lanes that they could enable them.
They also have four Gigabit Ethernet interface options in their previous chipsets, but it doesn't mean you can use more than one.

This should be the Z690 chipset HSIO layout.




It does help to explain why some boards only has three M.2 slots in favour of six SATA slots, but I didn't have this when I wrote the article, so I couldn't draw this conclusion back then. It looks like Intel has removed one Gigabit Ethernet option as well, while rearranging things quite a bit.


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## asdkj1740 (Nov 5, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Well, some boards have a third party SATA controller to sort of work around the shared interfaces.
> I think Intel simply added support for eight SATA ports to have feature parity with AMD's X570 chipset.
> 
> 
> ...


on z690 the sata # is now 01234567, no more 0a0b1a1b like before.
i guess this past restriction is simply a restriction to z series, you may find 8 sata allowed to be enabled on w series.

that gbe thing is for i219v, a half controller with out mac, so chipset gbe=mac, then it is complete.
on z series , gbe is also a pcie lane //inside a pcie lane, so no big deal.
but on low end chipset like h410, gbe has is own hsio, so using that gbe controller would not make pcie lane less.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 5, 2021)

asdkj1740 said:


> on z690 the sata # is now 01234567, no more 0a0b1a1b like before.
> i guess this past restriction is simply a restriction to z series, you may find 8 sata allowed to be enabled on w series.
> 
> that gbe thing is for i219v, a half controller with out mac, so chipset gbe=mac, then it is complete.
> ...


Yeah, just updated my post above, as I found what should be the correct image for the Z690 chipset (which was apparently posted by you on a different site).

I think you mean PHY, which is used for pretty much all Gigabit Ethernet implementations these days, even in simple Arm based systems.
Only AMD decided not to go down this route, for some reason.


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## asdkj1740 (Nov 5, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Yeah, just updated my post above, as I found what should be the correct image for the Z690 chipset.
> 
> I think you mean PHY, which is used for pretty much all Gigabit Ethernet implementations these days, even in simple Arm based systems.


the hsio table you uploaded is not really for z590. check the above pages for true definition for each hsio lane.

eg, sata 6 7 are disabled on z590.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 5, 2021)

asdkj1740 said:


> the hsio table you uploaded is not really for z590. check the above pages for true definition for each hsio lane.
> 
> eg, sata 6 7 are disabled on z590.


Can't find a proper one though.


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## asdkj1740 (Nov 5, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Can't find a proper one though.


there is none provided by intel, you have to make your own. this type of hsio table provided by intel is for w series.
and z series got something disabled, and b series got more etc.







TheLostSwede said:


> Yeah, just updated my post above, as I found what should be the correct image for the Z690 chipset (which was apparently posted by you on a different site).
> 
> I think you mean PHY, which is used for pretty much all Gigabit Ethernet implementations these days, even in simple Arm based systems.
> Only AMD decided not to go down this route, for some reason.


intel z690 product page has the pdf uploaded recently you may find that image inside.

intel gbe in hsio is for phy only ic like i219v. that's why you wont see any i219v used on amd mobo because amd has no mac built in.
gbe=mac. and phy+mac=complete controller.
recently popular 2.5g lan i225-v is a complete controller, it needs not use intel hsio gbe, thats mean i225-v can be put on every hsio pcie lanes.
but i219v cant, because it needs the gbe for mac, so only few lanes can support i219v.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 5, 2021)

asdkj1740 said:


> intel gbe in hsio is for phy only ic like i219v.


And all the Realtek PHY's as well...
Otherwise they wouldn't be as popular as they are.

Anyhow, not disagreeing with you, just saying it's not strange to have dedicated MAC build into a chipset or SoC, as even cheap $4-5 AllWinner chips has it.


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## asdkj1740 (Nov 5, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> And all the Realtek PHY's as well...
> Otherwise they wouldn't be as popular as they are.
> 
> Anyhow, not disagreeing with you, just saying it's not strange to have dedicated MAC build into a chipset or SoC, as even cheap $4-5 AllWinner chips has it.


i am shocked to see z690 taichi has i219v used. make no sense for z series mobo to have i219v because gbe=pcie lane as well, not to mention it has much more restriction (three particular lanes only this time) when assigning hsio lanes.

what i meant "amd" are those a320 b450 etc consumer desktop market amd mobos.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 5, 2021)

asdkj1740 said:


> i am shocked to see z690 taichi has i219v used. make no sense for z series mobo to have i219v because gbe=pcie lane as well, not to mention it has much more restriction (three particular lanes only this time) when assigning hsio lanes.


There are a lot of very strange board design decisions I have to say, especially when it comes to the higher-end models.


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## asdkj1740 (Nov 5, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> There are a lot of very strange board design decisions I have to say, especially when it comes to the higher-end models.


mobo vendors tend to have at least one pcie controller broken down to x1+x1+x1+x1 to support like wifi and lan and some other x1 devices, so i219v is not impossible to see on z690, but yeah it is really strange as always on asrock mobos.
it should be the first time to see z690 taichi got priced more than aorus master. it is $599usd on neweggus, just like Maximus hero and meg ace. insane.
we used to see taichi priced 50~100usd lower than these flagship models.


it is fairly easy to understand most of them when hsio table is used for analysis.


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## Honda_tpu (Nov 5, 2021)

Gigabyte is undercutting the competition. I like the Aero G DDR4, its the only sub 300$ board with a heatpipe.


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## arni-gx (Nov 5, 2021)

so this is the only motherboard z690 series for all alder lake cpu, who has full support of DDR5...... ?? but, the other moetherboard H and B series, will only has full support of DDR4 for all alder lake cpu ??


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 6, 2021)

arni-gx said:


> so this is the only motherboard z690 series for all alder lake cpu, who has full support of DDR5...... ?? but, the other moetherboard H and B series, will only has full support of DDR4 for all alder lake cpu ??


Unknown at this point. However, the chipset shouldn't have anything to do with DRAM support, since the memory controller is in the CPU.


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## chrcoluk (Nov 6, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> There are a lot of very strange board design decisions I have to say, especially when it comes to the higher-end models.


My speculation is planned obsolescence, tech companies have long learnt to always keep something back so you more likely to need to upgrade sooner.

The refresh models that come out after 6-12 months, might address some of this stuff.


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## TheLostSwede (Nov 6, 2021)

chrcoluk said:


> My speculation is planned obsolescence, tech companies have long learnt to always keep something back so you more likely to need to upgrade sooner.
> 
> The refresh models that come out after 6-12 months, might address some of this stuff.


I believe we're going to start to see a slower rollout cycle, as it's simply too expensive to do a new product every 12 months at the moment and the demand isn't going to be there, as although Alder Lake is a big step forward for Intel, most consumers aren't going to care, due to the lack of GPUs at reasonable prices, plus the fact that all computer parts are more expensive now. This isn't even taking into account that most consumers prefer to buy laptops over desktops.
Then there's the fact that most companies are having issues getting fab space, although this doesn't really affect Intel in the same way.
Time will tell, but I see a change coming industry wide.

Also keep in mind that if you get a DDR5 Z690 board, you could in theory upgrade your CPU, but this isn't likely to be the case with the DDR4 boards.

For those that are interested in even more details, @harukaze5719 has put together an impressive spreadsheet with all of the boards in it.


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1456947376250241025


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