ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus DDR4 Intel Motherboard

The ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus DDR4 is an ATX form-factor motherboard built on Intel's Z690 chipset, designed to support 12th Generation Intel Core, Pentium Gold, and Celeron processors via the LGA1700 socket. It pairs a robust 14+1 DrMOS power-stage design — each stage rated for 80 amperes — with a dedicated VRM heatsink to maintain stable delivery under sustained workloads. Memory support spans four DIMM slots in a dual-channel DDR4 configuration, accepting up to 128 GB of non-ECC unbuffered DDR4 at speeds from 2133 MHz up to 5333 MHz (OC), with Intel XMP and ASUS OptiMem II compatibility. Storage options are generous: four M.2 Key-M slots — the primary CPU-attached slot supporting PCIe 4.0 x4 and lengths up to 22110, plus three chipset-attached slots supporting PCIe 4.0 x4 (with one also supporting SATA) — alongside four SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Intel Rapid Storage Technology enables NVMe RAID 0/1/5 and SATA RAID 0/1/5/10. Expansion slots include one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot (CPU-direct), one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot operating at x4 mode, one PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots from the Z690 chipset. Connectivity on the rear panel covers one USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C port (20 Gbps), two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports (10 Gbps), and five USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports (four Type-A plus one Type-C), paired with a 2.5 Gigabit Intel Ethernet port protected by TUF LANGuard. Display outputs include one DisplayPort 1.4 (up to 4K@60 Hz) and one HDMI 2.1 (up to 4K@60 Hz) for integrated-graphics use. Audio is handled by a Realtek 7.1 Surround Sound HD codec supporting up to 24-bit/192 kHz playback, with audio shielding, dedicated PCB layers, premium capacitors, and a rear optical S/PDIF output. Three Addressable Gen 2 headers and one AURA RGB header enable system-wide lighting synchronisation via Armoury Crate with AURA Sync. The board ships in the ATX standard (305 mm × 244 mm) and carries a three-year manufacturer warranty. Software includes Armoury Crate (Fan Xpert 4, Two-Way AI Noise Cancellation, AURA Creator), AI Suite 3, DIGI+ VRM, and UEFI BIOS with CrashFree BIOS 3 and EZ Flash 3. Verified Specifications: - Socket: LGA1700 (Intel 12th Gen) - Chipset: Intel Z690 - Form Factor: ATX, 305 mm × 244 mm - Memory: 4× DIMM, max 128 GB, DDR4 2133–5333 (OC), Dual Channel, XMP - Storage: 4× M.2 (PCIe 4.0 x4; one also SATA), 4× SATA 6 Gb/s - PCIe: 1× PCIe 5.0 x16, 1× PCIe 3.0 x16 (x4 mode), 1× PCIe 3.0 x4, 2× PCIe 3.0 x1 - Ethernet: Intel 2.5 GbE with TUF LANGuard - Rear USB: 1× USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C, 2× Gen 2 Type-A, 4× Gen 1 Type-A, 1× Gen 1 Type-C - Audio: Realtek 7.1 HD, 24-bit/192 kHz, optical S/PDIF - VRM: 14+1 DrMOS, 80 A per stage - BIOS: 192 Mb Flash ROM, UEFI AMI - OS Support: Windows 11 64-bit, Windows 10 64-bit - Warranty: 3 Years