Following winding path of my mind, I've started to review Z690 ITX motherboards, mostly to anticipate Zen 4 release.
Right now I'm sure I'll give a new try to SM550 as HTPC/Gaming PC for living room (way smaller/bulky than S620).
Thus S620 will be free, but will it able to compete with my allmighty/beloved Cerberus-X? What will be compromises?
That's the main target of my study..
Main constraint of S620 is related to ITX (or almost inexistant DTX) motherboards.
Let's take this photo (Asus B450i strix paired with RTX 3090 FE) as starting point :
- Unic PCIe x16 slot is very close to M.2 heatsink leading to obvious narrow tolerance
- VRM, rear i/o, M.2 shields/heatsinks are representing another big contraints
Let's jump to Z690 ITX motherboards (on 16th Nov I've found 4 references) :
Asus ROG Strix Z690-i remains the most expensive ITX motherboard, however, I'm clearly upset with what has delivered Asus.
- (---) Daughter card (red circle in previous image) will clearly enter in interference with bulky GPU, like RTX 3090 FE (ie no sata ports, no full front panel headers (no power button light!))
- (---) Too tall Heatsinks removing all compatibility with Noctua air coolers (D15S, C14S, U12A, etc...)
- (---) No thermal sensor to monitor GPU thermal in order to manage exhaust fan curve
- (++) 2x TB4 plugs
- (++) Very good sound components & output
- (++) Bios Flashback/clear buttons on rear i/o
- (++) 2xM.2 on same side on ITX MB
Asus was closed to ITX masterpiece but clearly over-engineered this Z690-i MB. (The best is ennemy of good) Maybe Asus will release a better B660 or H670 version.
Aorus Z690i Ultra remains an interesting motherboard with some good & bad points.
- (---) No thermal sensor pins
- (---) Why?! Why?! Why?! USELESS HUGE M.2 heatsink. I can't understand WHY?! This M.2 heatsink is preventing Noctua U12Aassembly..however, contraty to Asus MB, you can easily remove & replace it
- (---) 2 audio channels output only!! But good Realtek® ALC4080 CODEC
- (---) Bios flash/reset jumpers only (not terrible but ok)
- (---) No TB4
- (++) 2xM.2 on same side on ITX MB
- (++) Simple & efficient design
Aorus made some obvious compromises. Like or not, but it's clearly a decent proposal.
Asrock Z690M-ITX/ax is "entry" level MB for Z690 ITX MB
- (---) Awful Realtek ALC897 Audio Codec
- (---) Average 2.5G Network Realtek Dragon RTL8125BG paired with Intel 219 1Gb
- (---) No TB4
- (---) No thermal sensor pins
- (---) not heatsink for some VRM (not made for all CPU)
- (++) Low heatsink profile with maximum compatibility for cpu cooler
Asrock Z690M-ITX/ax is clearly cheapest option and you have what you pay for..
Asrock Phantom Gaming Z690 ITX/TB4 is higher end of ITX board.
- (---) No thermal sensor pins
- (++) Reasonible height for heatsinks
- (++) 1x TB4 plug
- (++) Bios Flashback/clear buttons on rear i/o
Pretty nice combination for this later Asrock board.
So far, Z690 ITX are pretty far from ideal from my personal point of view...and they cannot match ATX versions.
I've especially one ATX motherboard family that I truly like :
So far, I would say S620 is losing its game versus Cerberus-X..