GIGABYTE Z690 Gaming X DDR4 Intel Motherboard

The GIGABYTE Z690 Gaming X DDR4 is an ATX form-factor motherboard built on the Intel Z690 Express chipset, designed to harness the full capability of 12th Generation Intel Core, Pentium Gold, and Celeron processors via the LGA1700 socket. Its robust feature set makes it a practical foundation for a gaming or productivity build that demands both connectivity and expandability. For system memory, the board provides four DDR4 DIMM slots operating in dual-channel mode and supporting up to 128 GB of capacity (32 GB per DIMM). DDR4 speeds range from 2133 MHz at JEDEC standard up to DDR4 5333 MHz via XMP and manual overclocking profiles, giving builders significant headroom for memory tuning. Storage is a clear strength of this platform. The board includes four M.2 connectors — one routed through the CPU (M2A_CPU) supporting PCIe 4.0 x4/x2 NVMe drives up to 22110 length, and three additional M.2 slots via the chipset (two PCIe 4.0 x4/x2 NVMe-only, one supporting both SATA and PCIe 4.0 x4/x2). Six SATA 6 Gb/s ports round out the storage options, with RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 support across SATA devices. Expansion slots include one full-bandwidth PCIe 5.0 x16 slot for the primary graphics card, along with two additional PCIe 3.0 x16 physical slots running at x4 electrical. Networking is handled by a Realtek 2.5GbE LAN chip, capable of 2.5 Gbps, 1 Gbps, and 100 Mbps link speeds. Audio is provided by the Realtek ALC1220-VB codec with 7.1-channel digital output support and an optical S/PDIF Out connector on the rear panel. The rear I/O panel features one USB Type-C port with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) support, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, three USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, four USB 2.0/1.1 ports, one HDMI 2.1 output, one DisplayPort 1.2 output, one RJ-45 Ethernet port, an optical S/PDIF Out, and two audio jacks. Internally, headers include a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C header, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 header, and two USB 2.0/1.1 headers. Two addressable LED (ARGB) headers and two standard RGB LED headers are present for lighting customisation via GIGABYTE's RGB Fusion software. The BIOS is licensed AMI UEFI and supports Q-Flash Plus — allowing firmware updates without a CPU or RAM installed. The board's software suite includes EasyTune for overclocking, Game Boost, Smart Backup, System Information Viewer, and @BIOS for online firmware updates. Two Thunderbolt add-in card connectors are present for optional Thunderbolt expansion. Verified Specifications: - Form Factor: ATX (305 mm × 244 mm per description / 305 mm × 188 mm per spec table — dimension conflict flagged) - Socket: LGA1700 - Chipset: Intel Z690 Express - Memory: 4 × DDR4 DIMM, dual-channel, up to 128 GB, DDR4-2133 to DDR4-5333 (O.C.) - Primary PCIe Slot: PCIe 5.0 x16 - M.2 Slots: 4 × (PCIe 4.0 NVMe; one also supports SATA) - SATA Ports: 6 × SATA 6 Gb/s, RAID 0/1/5/10 - LAN: Realtek 2.5GbE - Audio: Realtek ALC1220-VB, 7.1-channel digital - Rear USB: 1× USB-C Gen 2x2, 2× USB-A Gen 2, 3× USB-A Gen 1, 4× USB 2.0 - Display Out: 1× HDMI 2.1, 1× DisplayPort 1.2 - OS Support: Windows 11 64-bit, Windows 10 64-bit