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Two more design elements that will make the DIY enthusiast happy: First, M.2 latches mean no more losing those tiny screws. Second, the integrated I/O shield makes sure it’s never forgotten—and comes in handy in cramped cases where it’d be more difficult to maneuver. This is a feature that’s been appearing on higher-end motherboards the last few years, so it’s great to see it here.
Read more @ PCWorld
At over $600, the ASRock Z690 Taichi Razer Edition is a pricey alternative to the Taichi that includes more RGBs and native integration with the Razer Synapse ecosystem. If customizing your board and the attached lighting is key, the Razer Edition is a great choice in the premium motherboard space. Otherwise, there are better equipped and less expensive options available.
Read more @ Tom’s Hardware
With the release of Intel Alder Lake, it was only a matter of time for NZXT to give its N7 motherboard a refresh to support the latest 12th Gen Intel processors and other highlight features from the Z690 chipset. Enter the NZXT N7 Z690, the latest Intel flagship motherboard with full CAM support.
NZXT is still relatively new to the motherboard game, even though the company has a few boards already under its belt with its established partnership with ASRock. The Z690 is the third generation of NZXT N7 motherboards for Intel processors, and the company has improved upon feedback with each iteration.
Read more @ Windows Central
With the N7 Z690, NZXT has brought a mainboard onto the market that not only impresses with its external appearance. It is also well equipped at the same time and comes with 12+1 phases, which ensure good power supply and stability of the processor. At first we were skeptical about the power stages, but then we were taught better, because the values we achieved speak for themselves.
Read more @ Hardware Inside (German)
As far as hardware goes on the B660 Master, it’s not far off its Z690 brethren with three PCIe express slots, the top x16 operating at Gen4 and the other two operating at x4 and x1 Gen3, respectively. Storage includes one m.2 slot coming off the CPU, this lives above the top PCIe slot. We also have two more m.2 slots to the left of the chipset heat sink, one operating at Gen4 and one at Gen3. SATA connectivity includes four ports at 6Gbps.
Read more @ TweakTown
The new Zen 4 Ryzen processors will have eight general purpose lanes, of which at least four will be required to be dedicated to an M.2 storage slot (always Gen 5). The other four lanes are up to the motherboard manufacturers. Some boards will use these to implement Thunderbolt 4 (Intel Maple Ridge JHL8540) or USB4 (ASMedia ASM4242). If none of these options are used, these lanes can go towards an additional M.2 slot.
With integrated graphics becoming standard on Zen 4, the first generation of AM5 processors will offer four dedicated display outputs, with HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.0 being supported, but neither being required as far as we understand. There are also four USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports and at least one USB 2.0 port coming from the processor. Three of the USB 3.2 ports also support DP Alt Mode, something we’ve seen several announced boards supporting on at least one USB-C port. This seems to be up to the motherboard manufacturers to implement once again.
Read more @ TechPowerUp
The MSI MEG Z690 ACE is therefore a high-end motherboard intended in part for overclockers with competition VRMs: 19+1+2 phases at 105 A, excellent heatsinks, an LED display and even two BIOSes. But also to professionals by acquiring two Ethernet ports and a very complete Thunderbolt connection. It is a card in E-ATX format and not in ATX format, so it will not adapt to all cases. Pay attention!
Read more @ CowcotLand (French)
As far as board hardware goes, this Steel Legend platform follows what we have seen across the entire 600 series chipset ecosystem when considering ATX motherboards. LGA1700 socket for 12th Gen Intel CPUs, four slot memory subsystem, this board taking advantage of the lower cost of DDR4. 128GB of memory is supported with speeds from 3200MHz to 5333MHz via XMP 2.0.
Read more @ TweakTown
The company lists Raptor Lake-S CPU support for its PH12ADI Mini-ITX industrial motherboard. The CPU allegedly supports up to 5200 MHz (or MT/s if you prefer) through non-EEC SO-DIMM memory. This speed is above JEDEC’s standard of 4800 MT/s, which may lead us to believe that this is the lowest frequency natively supported for SO-DIMM memory on Raptor Lake.
Read more @ VideoCardz
According to a new leak, MSI might soon release the MAG B660M Mortar Max WiFi DDR4 motherboard with an external clock generator made by Renesas.
A few months ago, der8auer discovered that motherboards with an external clock generator unlock BCLK overclocking of Intel’s non-K (locked multiplier) Alder Lake CPUs. With the right settings, even a Celeron G6900 could be overclocked from 3.4 GHz to over 5.3 GHz.
The MAG B660M Mortar Max WiFi DDR4 changes that, as can be inferred from its rather-lengthy name. Another advantage of the external clock generator is that it adds PCIe 5.0 support for the first expansion slot, something all of the other B660M Mortar models lack (confusingly, there are already four variations out with DDR4/DDR5 and each with/without WiFi).
Read more @ TechSpot