The Intel Z690 Motherboard Overview (DDR5): Over 50+ New Models

ASUS ProArt Z690 Creator WIFI (DDR5)

Designed primarily for content creators, but more than adequately adapt for the foundation to any type of desktop system a user may wish to create, ASUS has its ProArt series. Some of the ProArt series main features include Thunderbolt connectivity for super-fast transfer speeds and typically features a more reserved and elegant aesthetic. The ASUS ProArt Z690 Creator WIFI ticks all of these boxes, with a primarily black theme with elements of goldish colored and white contrasting lines on the heatsinks. ASUS opts to neglect RGB LED lighting here and goes for a more subtle styling throughout.

Dominating the lower section of the ATX-sized PCB is a trio of full-length PCIe slots. The top two full-length slots both support PCIe 5.0, with the slots operating at either x16 or x8/x8, with the third full-length slot along the bottom electronically locked down to PCIe 3.0 x4. For storage, ASUS includes a total of four M.2 slots, with three offering support for PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 drives, and the fourth slot capable of supporting both PCIe 4.0 x4 and SATA varieties. There are also eight SATA ports with all of these allowing for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays to be built. Memory support is provided by four memory slots, with speeds of up to DDR5-6000 supported, with a combined capacity of up to 128 GB.

On the rear panel of the ASUS ProArt Z690 Creator WIFI are two Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports and a total of six USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports. There's also a pair of DisplayPort video inputs for Thunderbolt 4, as well as a single HDMI 2.1 video output for users looking to use integrated graphics. The board's onboard audio capabilities consist of five 3.5 mm audio jacks and S/PDIF optical output powered by a SupremeFX S1220A HD audio codec, while ASUS also includes a Marvel AQtion 10 GbE and Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE controller pairing for wired networking. Wireless capability comes from a Wi-Fi 6E CNVi, with additional support for BT 5.2 devices. Finishing off the rear panel is a small BIOS Flashback button.