Z690 motherboard mayhem: Same name, different RAM!

One of the peculiarities of the Intel Core 12 CPUs for desktop is that its memory controller is double, since it has been designed for two different types of memory: DDR4 and DDR5. That is why when choosing a motherboard we have to be careful to know what type of memory they support, since due to a series of physical limitations on a motherboard, two types of memory cannot be implemented at the same time.

The reasons are none other than that each memory standard has its own access rules and therefore coordinating the use of DDR4 and DDR5 would be impossible. Of course, so far we have not seen any type of desktop CPU that uses two types of RAM at the same time simultaneously. However, we are in a transition period between fourth to fifth generation Dual Data Rate memory.

The new Z690 chipset provides 20 PCI Express 5.0 lanes, 16 of which for the graphics card and another 4 to install an M.2 NVMe drive, in addition to providing slower I / O interfaces such as USB, SATA than today they are essential for the operation of a PC. In addition to supporting both the use of DDR4 or DDR5.

Motherboards with Z690 chipset depending on their DDR4 or DDR5 support

That is why we have prepared a list with the different motherboards of various brands with Z690 chipset, the top of the range for CPUs with Intel Alder Lake-S architecture. Thanks to it, you will be able to know with what type of memory, DDR4 or DDR5, your motherboard will be compatible and make no mistake when buying.

In the tables we have included all confirmed motherboards with DDR4 or DDR5 support, although they are not all that will be launched by different manufacturers and that is why we have left out of them a series of motherboards with Z690 chipset waiting to be seen. confirm compatibility with the memory type of each of them:

• Starting with ASRock we have left out of the table its Z690 AQUA and its Z690M-ITX / z.
• Biostar does not appear in the tables, at the moment we only know its Z690 VALKYRIE, but we do not know the type of RAM with which it is compatible.
• NZXT adds the N7-Z69XT and N5-Z69XT boards, but we don’t know if they are for DDR4 or DDR5.
• From GIGABYTE we know the compatibility of a good number of motherboards, but we do not know that of the Z690M DS3H model
• To finish with MSI, we do not know at the moment the type of RAM that we can install in your Z690-S01 and Z690 PLUS.

As the information is updated we will expand it. Then we leave you ordered by brands the list of motherboards with Z690 chipset compatible with DDR4 or DDR5. You can see that some names are more than obvious, but others are not so explicit and this adds confusion for the end user when buying one for their Intel Core 12.

ASRock motherboards with Z690 chipset

ASUS motherboards with Z690 chipset

GIGABYTE motherboards with Z690 chipset

MSI motherboards with Z690 chipset

We hope this information is useful when buying a motherboard for your new Intel Core 12.