ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus Wifi DDR4 Intel Motherboard

The ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi DDR4 is an ATX-form-factor motherboard built around Intel's Z690 chipset and the LGA 1700 socket, designed to support 12th Gen Intel Core, Pentium Gold, and Celeron processors. Measuring 30.5 cm × 24.4 cm, it slots into standard ATX mid-tower and full-tower cases and ships ready for Windows 11 and Windows 10 (64-bit). At the heart of the power delivery sits a 14+1 DrMOS stage VRM, where each power stage integrates the high-side MOSFET, low-side MOSFET, and driver into a single package and is rated to handle 80 A. A six-layer PCB design improves thermal headroom across critical traces, while ASUS ProCool connectors make full contact with PSU cables to minimise impedance and reduce hotspot risk. Military-grade TUF chokes and an enlarged VRM heatsink further stabilise CPU power delivery during sustained workloads. Storage is served by four PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots (Key M). M.2_1 supports lengths up to 22110; M.2_2 and M.2_4 support up to 2280 with PCIe 4.0 x4 (M.2_2 also adds SATA mode); M.2_3 supports up to 22110 in PCIe 4.0 x4 mode. Three of the four M.2 slots feature dedicated heatsinks. An additional four SATA 6 Gb/s ports round out storage options. Intel Rapid Storage Technology enables NVMe RAID 0/1/5 and SATA RAID 0/1/5/10 configurations. Expansion is handled by one PCIe 5.0 x16 slot (CPU-direct) alongside one PCIe 3.0 x16 slot running at x4, one PCIe 3.0 x4 slot, and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots from the Z690 chipset. Memory support extends to four DDR4 DIMM slots with a maximum capacity of 128 GB, reaching DDR4-5333 under XMP/OC profiles, with native speeds from DDR4-2133 up to DDR4-3200. The board supports Intel XMP and ASUS OptiMem II for streamlined memory tuning. Connectivity highlights include onboard Intel Wi-Fi 6 (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax, 2×2, 2.4/5 GHz) with Bluetooth 5.2, and an Intel 2.5 Gb Ethernet port protected by TUF LANGuard surge protection. The rear I/O delivers one USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C (20 Gbps), two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, five USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports (four Type-A + one Type-C), one DisplayPort 1.4 (4K@60 Hz), and one HDMI 2.1 port (4K@60 Hz), plus an optical S/PDIF output and five analogue audio jacks. A front-panel USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C header is also provided. Thunderbolt 4 header support is present via an onboard header. Audio is handled by a Realtek 7.1 Surround Sound HD Audio CODEC supporting up to 24-bit/192 kHz playback, with audio shielding, premium capacitors, and dedicated audio PCB layers. ASUS Two-Way AI Noise Cancelation reduces background noise from both microphone input and audio output. Cooling management includes one CPU fan header, one CPU OPT header, one AIO pump header, and four chassis fan headers, all configurable through Fan Xpert 4 within Armoury Crate. RGB is covered by one AURA RGB header and three Addressable Gen 2 headers, synced via AURA Sync. Key Verified Specifications: • Socket: Intel LGA 1700 • Chipset: Intel Z690 • Form Factor: ATX (30.5 cm × 24.4 cm) • Memory: 4× DDR4 DIMM, Max 128 GB, up to DDR4-5333 (OC), Dual Channel • VRM: 14+1 DrMOS, 80 A per stage, six-layer PCB • M.2 Slots: 4× PCIe 4.0 Key M (3 with heatsinks) • SATA: 4× 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 • Wireless: Intel Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), 2×2, Bluetooth 5.2 • Ethernet: Intel 2.5 Gb with TUF LANGuard • Rear USB: 1× USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C, 2× USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 5× USB 3.2 Gen 1 • Display Output: 1× DisplayPort 1.4, 1× HDMI 2.1 • Audio: Realtek 7.1 HD, 24-bit/192 kHz, optical S/PDIF out • BIOS: 192 Mb Flash ROM, UEFI AMI • OS Support: Windows 11/10 (64-bit) • Warranty: 3 Years