MSI teases Z690 motherboards, specifications leaked shortly after

MSI has posted some teasers for the upcoming Z690 motherboards, but it wasn’t long until the full specifications leaked. While MSI didn’t provide much information about the boards, Twitter leaker @momomo_us has revealed detailed information on each Z690 motherboard.

The leaks suggest the Z690 motherboards will have a wide variety of SKUs split into four different series: MAG, MEG, MPG, and Pro series. In addition, all the motherboards will be made for Intel’s high-end Alder Lake CPUs which are set to release later this year. Still, we should expect budget motherboards such as the B660 and H610 to release early next year.

The MEG Z690 Ace will be MSI’s flagship model, equipped with four DDR5 memory slots and five M.2 slots. It seems that MSI is prioritizing fast storage solutions with this lineup, as most models feature an increased number of M.2 slots. The Ace is also expected to have six SATA III ports in addition to three PCIe x16 expansion slots.

(Image credit: @momomo_us on Twitter).

All the new motherboards will be ATX except the Z690I Unify, which will be a smaller Mini-ITX board with fewer features than the standard model. Most notably, the Z690I Unify will only have one PCIe slot which is the standard for most Mini-ITX boards. Also, the Z690 Tomahawk will be available in two variants. The Tomahawk will come equipped for standard DDR4 memory or DDR5 for early adopters. Apart from memory support, the variants are pretty much identical when it comes to the other specifications.

MSI will likely officially reveal its Z690 lineup at the “The Next Playground” event which is taking place on November 2. This will be just a few days after Intel’s Innovation event, which makes perfect sense if Alder Lake is announced. Nonetheless, the leaked information should be taken with a grain of salt until more is revealed by MSI.