The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR4): Over 30+ New Models
by Gavin Bonshor on November 24, 2021 2:00 PM ESTASRock Z690 PG Riptide (DDR4)
From all of ASRock's offerings supporting the launch of Intel's 12th generation of Alder Lake processors, the Z690 PG Riptide is perhaps the most premium of its Phantom Gaming series that uses DDR4 memory. Looking at the design of the ASRock Z690 PG Riptide, it has a cool RGB-enabled logo built into the chipset heatsink. It's using a pair of black power delivery heatsinks, with one of these doubling up as the board's rear panel cover. As with all of ASRock's Z690 models, it is including its patent-pending GPU holder, which is designed to reduce sag when used with heavy and long graphics cards.
For PCIe devices, ASRock includes one full-length PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, with a second full-length PCIe 4.0 x4, and three smaller PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Exploring the board's storage options, there's a total of three M.2 slots, with two supporting PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives, and one with support for PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA varieties. There are also eight SATA ports with support for Intel RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays. Located in the top right-hand corner are four memory slots, with support for DDR4-4800, and a combined capacity of 128 GB.
One the rear panel of the ASRock Z690 PG Riptide (DDR4) is one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C, two USB 3.2 G2 Type-A, two USB 3.2 G1 Type-A, and two USB 2.0 ports. For networking, ASRock includes a Killer E3100G 2.5 GbE controller, while the five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical for the audio are powered by a Realtek ALC897 HD audio codec. Finishing off the rear panel is a single HDMI 2.1 video output, a small BIOS Flashback button, and a PS/2 combo port.
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ikjadoon - Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - link
Gigabyte has done a better job this time around with mini-ITX DDR4. $290 for a very well-rounded board—shame HiCookie lied so blatantly in all their 8 GHz marketing.ASRock mini-ITX: people still use type-A ports. 5x ports only?!
Windows 11, DDR5 availability & perf-price, and hybrid quirks make ADL a much better 2022 purchase for me. DDR4 price-perf + availability are nice, but not enough to overcome Panos’ major missteps on his first (and hopefully last) Windows launch.
DigitalFreak - Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - link
Why does anyone pay attention to these "extreme overclockers"? He hit (or didn't in this case) 8Ghz. Big deal. You can't actually do anything with the CPU at that speed aside from run an e-peen benchmark.ikjadoon - Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - link
Nobody paid attention until.... Gigabyte plastered his faked validations all over their Z690 marketing material. Nobody cares what any "overclocker" does these days and that's why they got jobs with motherboard vendors: the only people that can still sell a motherboard for $$$ with exaggerated hardware.https://www.techradar.com/news/no-gigabyte-didnt-s...
0ldman79 - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
5 ports is a bad idea but type-A?Yeah, like 99% of USB accessories use type-A. That is still the *primary* interface for USB devices.
StormyParis - Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - link
That last page is very useful, thank you. Wish I had a table to sum up the info ;-pFordGT550 - Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - link
I can't find the Z690 Aorus Pro DDR4 in stock anywhere.bug77 - Friday, November 26, 2021 - link
I don't think it's available yet. Notice there's no price listed for it either (yeah, I've got my eyes on the same board).HLuna52180 - Friday, November 26, 2021 - link
Agreed! This is the model mobo that I want. It best fits my needs yet it's currently only available in Australia. Hope they make it into the states. I have all the other parts on order or with me already to make my Alder Lake build. Frustrating!MatarM0 - Saturday, November 27, 2021 - link
i see it in stock but it seems like it cant run any memory with 1.42v or higher depending on what newegg reviewer said and some others in the internet so hopefully they can fix it and it will be a good dealmeacupla - Wednesday, November 24, 2021 - link
I can understand mobo makers not wanting to allocate too many resources into the dead end DDR4 platform, but these lineups seem excessively weak to me.Like, really? there's not a single Z690 DDR4 mobo with thunderbolt?
And then with Z690 DDR5 mobos, there's way too much overlap in features and functionalities.