At the launch of the Z690 chipset, ASRock didn't reveal its flagship Aqua model, but now the company has finally announced not just one, but two Z690 Aqua models, one "regular" SKU and one OC SKU. The main difference between the two is that the OC SKU only has two DIMM slots, since as we know, DDR5 is extra finicky when it comes to running at high clock speeds and two DIMM boards allow for higher DRAM clock speeds, This also means that all the major board makers have now launched a two DIMM product geared towards overclockers.

The two boards are mostly identical in terms of features otherwise, but there are some minor differences that we'll point out later. As expected, both boards feature a large, nicely integrated liquid cooling plate for the CPU and the 20 phase 105 A SPS VRM setup. ASRock has gone for a 12 layer PCB, not something you see in a lot of consumer motherboards and it's unclear if it'll bring any real benefits, but as this is a premium motherboard, it's a nice touch. The heatsink of the top-most M.2 drive is home to a small OLED display, but ASRock hasn't listed the size on its website.The Aqua boards sports two PCIe 5.0 slots that operate in either x16/x0 or x8/x8 mode, plus one PCIe 4.0 x16 slot and one PCIe 3.0 x1 slot. When it comes to M.2 slots, ASRock almost seems stingy compared to the competition, as the Aqua boards only have three PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, two of which can also support SATA drives. However, when it comes to connectivity, ASRock beats most of the competition, depending on what these boards will cost, as you get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, both with DP passthrough, 10 Gbps Ethernet, courtesy of a Marvell AQC113CS controller and 2.5 Gbps via a Killer E3100G controller. WiFi is also courtesy of Killer, via a AX1675 WiFi 6E capable module.

ASRock has stuck with a traditional audio setup, using the Realtek ALC1220 codec paired with an ESS SABRE9218 DAC for the front headphone jack. The boards also have six SATA ports, although the non OC model has an additional two, whereas the OC board gets an extra power input in its place, two USB 3.2 10 Gbps headers, for up to four ports and two USB 3.2 20 Gbps headers for up to two ports.

The rear I/O houses four USB 3.2, two of which supports 10 Gbps speeds, although the non OC version gets an additional two 5 Gbps ports, whereas the OC version has a PS/2 port in their place. There's also an unspecified HDMI port, five audio jacks plus an optical S/PDIF out, as well as a clear CMOS and BIOS FlashBack button, in addition to the aforementioned ports. The other difference with the OC version is that it has a set of additional buttons and switches to help with extreme overclocking. However, both boards feature a debug LED display, so unless you're an extreme overclocker, you're most likely not missing out on much.ASRock provides a small bundle with the boards that includes a digital leak detector for a custom liquid cooling setup, one short, right angled mini DP to DP cable and even eight spare thermal pads and a set of spare screws for the various heatsinks on the board. More motherboard manufacturers should do this, especially on their full-cover heatsink boards, as it's a pain to get the proper replacements sometimes. Overall the Z690 Aqua boards look decent, if not outstanding compared to the competition.