GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Elite AX V2 DDR4 Intel Motherboard

The GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Elite AX V2 is an ATX-form motherboard built on Intel’s Z690 chipset for LGA1700 socket processors. It is designed to support 12th Generation Intel Core, Pentium Gold, and Celeron processors, offering a solid foundation for a high-performance desktop build. Power delivery is handled by a 16+1+2 Twin Hybrid Phases digital power design, with 70A power stages and Tantalum Polymer Capacitors. This topology is intended to supply stable, clean current to the CPU under sustained workloads. MOSFET heatsinks provide thermal coverage across the power-delivery circuitry. For memory, the board features four DDR4 DIMM slots in a dual-channel configuration, supporting up to 4800 MHz (XMP) with XMP profiles officially listed by Gigabyte. Four M.2 slots support NVMe drives at PCIe 4.0 x4 or PCIe 3.0 x4 speeds, each covered by an enlarged thermal guard. Six SATA 6Gb/s ports are also available for traditional storage. Wireless connectivity is delivered via Intel WiFi 6E (802.11ax, 2T2R) and Bluetooth 5, accompanied by an AORUS antenna. Wired networking runs through a 2.5GbE LAN controller with bandwidth management. For high-speed peripherals, a rear USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C port delivers up to 20 Gb/s transfer throughput. Audio is managed by the Realtek ALC1220 codec paired with WIMA audio capacitors in the AMP-UP Audio circuit, supporting up to 7.1-channel output. RGB FUSION 2.0 enables per-zone addressable LED control, compatible with both ARGB and standard RGB strips. Smart Fan 6 provides hybrid fan-header control with temperature-based curves and FAN STOP functionality. The Q-Flash Plus feature allows BIOS updates from a USB drive without requiring a CPU, memory module, or GPU to be installed. Verified Specifications: – Socket: LGA1700 – Chipset: Intel Z690 – CPU Support: 12th Gen Intel Core, Pentium Gold, Celeron (LGA1700) – Memory: 4 x DDR4 DIMM, Dual Channel, up to 4800 MHz (XMP), max 128 GB – Storage: 4 x M.2 (PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 NVMe), 6 x SATA 6Gb/s – Networking: 2.5GbE LAN; Intel WiFi 6E 802.11ax 2T2R + Bluetooth 5 – USB: Rear USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C (20 Gb/s); multiple USB 3.2 Gen1/Gen2 ports – Audio: Realtek ALC1220, WIMA capacitors, 7.1-channel – Form Factor: ATX – Power Connector: 24-pin ATX + 2 x 8-pin EPS – Lighting: RGB FUSION 2.0 (ARGB + RGB headers)