MSI Z690 Motherboard Lineup Leaked; Specs Offer A Lot Of Options

RJ Pierce, Tech Times 17 October 2021, 08:10 pm

MSI is the first to have the specs for their lineup of Z690 motherboards leaked out. And they're offering a lot of options for PC builders from top to bottom.

(Photo : Faris Hadziq/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - 2018/12/05: MSI sign seen on the top of building in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

According to Tom's Hardware, the leaked MSI Z690 motherboards were first listed by a Russian retailer called 3Logic. A total of 17 different boards were included, spanning the MEG, MPG, MAG, and Pro series.

Granted, however, these are all boards catering to high-end Intel Alder Lake CPUs due to come later this year, since they're all using the Z690 chipset.

This leak comes after MSI themselves posted three teasers for their upcoming Alder Lake motherboards on Twitter:

Just can’t help revealing a bit about our new motherboards. 😜 Already feel excited about your new gaming weapon? #MSIMotherboard pic.twitter.com/lgrfUiyOPE
— MSI Gaming (@msigaming) October 17, 2021

Here are the MSI Z690 motherboards in detail, classified according to product series: MEG Series

MEG Z690 Ace, MEG Z690 Unify, MEG Z690 Unify-X, MEG Z690I Unify

MPG Series

MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi, MPG Z690 Edge WiFi, MPG Z690 Edge WiFi DDR4, MPG Z690 Force WiFi

MAG Series

MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi, MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4, MAG Z690 Torpedo

Pro Series

Pro Z690-A, Pro Z690-A DDR4, Pro Z690-A WiFi, Pro Z690-A WiFi DDR4, Pro Z690-P, Pro Z690-P DDR4

The leaked specs, as per the original Tom's Hardware report, reveal that almost all (except two) of these Z690 boards from MSI feature four memory slots each, and only specific models will support high-speed DDR5 memory. Only the MEG Z690 Unify-X and the MEG Z690I Unify will have two memory slots, though both of them will be supporting DDR5.

Furthermore, all of them will be ATX except the Z690I Unify, which will be a Mini-ITX board.

Twitter user @momomo_us tweeted the leaked specs, for those who'd like to look at them in detail:

pic.twitter.com/cniy99DxST
— 188号 (@momomo_us) October 17, 2021

Modern Specs for a Modern Chip

As expected, PC builders will have access to modern creature comforts with the new lineup of Z690 motherboards from MSI.

Support for fast storage solutions such as M.2 NVMe SSDs are included in the leak, with no board offering less than three NVMe slots. There's also support for USB 3.2 Gen 2 and Gen 2x2, as well as SATA III and Wi-Fi on select boards.

Lastly, there's also support for PCIe 5.0 speeds, though it's likely that only the top PCIe x16 slot will be featuring 5.0 transfer speeds.

MSI Joins Other Big Names in Intel Alder Lake Hype

With this leak, MSI just joined three other board partners which are preparing for the imminent release of Intel Alder Lake.

ASUS was one of the first to have their Z690 boards leak out, with details revealed in an ECC filing. Most of these boards are part of ASUS' well-known Republic of Gamers series.

Next up is Gigabyte, which according to WCCFTech is the only one so far with early pricing. The company's upcoming Z690 motherboards: the Z690 AORUS Master and the Z690 AORUS ELITE AX, are allegedly priced at $573 and $327.

It's important to note, however, that these prices are still unconfirmed.

Where Are The Lower-End Boards?

Intel is scheduled to release their high-end Alder Lake chips first, with lower-end SKUs coming a little later. As such, the B660 and H610 boards can be expected next year, around January.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce