Board Layout

From the outset, this is a humongous motherboard. With the extra real estate, Gigabyte engineers have been able to neatly organize all the outgoing headers to the right side, allowing for easy wire management and a clean system build devoid of wires jettisoning in every direction.


The Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Xtreme WaterForce offers two PCI Express x16 slots, with the top two reinforced for extra stress support. PCIe slot one and two are PCIe Gen5 with x16 lanes coming from the CPU. Slot one can either operate at x16 or x8. Slot 2 is wired for PCIe Gen5 x8 and will split the available lanes with the first slot if populated. These are all backwards compatible, allowing older PCIe devices to work without issue. The third slot is wired internally for PCIe Gen3 x4, but physically a x16 PCIe slot.


There are four Gen4 x4 M.2 sockets on the Z690 AORUS Xtreme WaterForce; all of them feature thermal full-coverage from the monoblock and thermal pads on the motherboard.


On the right side of this motherboard are all the headers with a plastic covering for aesthetics. By removing it, we can see how everything is laid out. Multiple fan header locations, USB headers, RGB headers, and SATA are grouped together.


The Z690 AORUS Xtreme WaterForce includes two breakout cables for two 5 V and two 12 V RGB headers. Don't forget that the AORUS RGB fan controller is an option as well.


Next to the RGB headers is the F_Panel header, which is more commonly known as the area the case power and reset connects, as an extension cable to keep the visible wire clutter to a minimum.


The Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Xtreme WaterForce has two USB 3.2 Gen1 headers and two USB 2.0 headers. Behind the USB 3.2 is an internal USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-E header as well.


The Z690 AORUS Xtreme WaterForce uses an Intel JHL8540 for its Thunderbolt 4 connectivity in the rear I/O section. It may also be used to output integrated graphics from an Intel CPU over USB-C or DisplayPort 1.4.


A Marvell AQtion AQC113C 10GbE LAN chip is used for the 10 Gb LAN.


This motherboard also features dual 8-pin EPS connectors to make sure power delivery is never an issue when it comes to overclocking the CPU.


The standard debug POST is mounted to the plastic shroud covering all the headers and attached via a cable.


The Z690 chipset (PCH) before it is covered and passively cooled by the monoblock.


The board has a total of four SATA 6 Gb/s ports on the side, angled 90 degrees from the board. These ports draw their bandwidth from the Z690 chipset.


As expected from Gigabyte's flagship motherboard, when it comes to external connectivity, the Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Xtreme WaterForce aims to please with a full-complement IO section. Starting with ten USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A 10 Gbps ports, this is enough for any type of setup. An additional two Thunderbolt 4 ports and 10 Gb LAN bring even more high-speed connectivity. A few things are hidden away, like the Clear CMOS button and Q-Flash USB port (labeled "BIOS") which are found here as well.

Last is this OC Ignition button. It is a bit misleading as it has nothing to do with overclocking. Instead, it is used to update the firmware without the CPU installed and keep system fans going to pre-test watercooling setups. Basically, it is to check if the motherboard powers on before installing everything and finding out later the motherboard is DOA.

• 2x Antenna ports
• 10x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports (10 Gb/s)
• USB4/Thunderbolt™ 4 Type-C port
• 1x 10 Gb RJ-45 LAN port with LED
• 1x 2.5 Gb RJ-45 LAN port with LED
• Clear CMOS button
• 5x HD audio jacks
• Optical SPDIF Out port
• Q-Flash button
• OC Ignition button