Intel debuted its Socket LGA1700 motherboard lineup with Z690, and later B660 and H610 chipset options, but the H670 seemed elusive. Motherboard vendors are slowly launching their H670-based offerings, and MSI joined the party with the MAG H670 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4. The board is very similar in design to the company's MAG B660 Tomahawk-series motherboards, but with a little more I/O, and a broader chipset bus. The key feature that sets the H670 apart from the B660 is the 8-lane DMI 4.0 chipset bus, compared to 4-lane DMI 4.0 on the B660.

Another key difference between the H670 Tomahawk and B660 Tomahawk is that the PCI-Express x16 slot is Gen 5 capable on the H670 board, but this is due to MSI's design choices. On paper, B660 platforms can have Gen 5 PEG slots. Yet another key differentiator between the H670 and B660 chipsets, is that the H670 puts out 12 PCIe Gen 4 downstream lanes, and MSI leveraged this to put out two chipset-attached M.2 NVMe slots with Gen 4 x4 wiring. Connectivity includes a 2.5 GbE wired networking interface driven by an Intel i225-V controller, an Intel AX200 WiFi 6 + Bluetooth 5.2 module; and 8-channel HD audio driven by the 12-year old Realtek ALC897 CODEC. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Axiomtek—a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted in the research, development and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is pleased to introduce the DSP511, a 4K Ultra HD digital signage player with four HDMI 2.0 ports and a 2.5G Ethernet port, which enhance multiple view and real-time displays. The outstanding signage player is powered by the 11th generation Intel Core i5/i3 (codename: Tiger Lake-UP3) which makes it much more versatile in smart retail applications such as interactive advertisement or AI precision marketing.

In addition to the standard GbE LAN port, it adds a 2.5G LAN port to support faster internet transmission to upload videos and advertisements in higher resolutions for real-time display. It has four HDMI 2.0 ports for multiple displays and the resolution can reach 4K 60 Hz. The DSP511 utilizes the Intel Tiger Lake-UP3 processor; with Iris Xe Graphics, the computing performance is boosted. While the computing capability is powerful enough, even for Artificial Intelligence (AI) processing, the digital signage player doesn't need a discrete graphics card. Measuring 260 x 160 x 26 mm, the DSP511 is perfectly suited for menu board and video wall solutions in airports, shopping malls, and other commercial premises that require reliable 24/7 operation.

The NUC Extreme might not share much in terms of design with either the original NUC or its earlier Extreme siblings these days, as it's grown into a rather hefty SFF system. Now the 12th gen NUC Extreme has leaked and it comes with a few unexpected surprises, in both a good and a bad sense. Initially it looks like there will be two main barebones SKU's, the NUC12EDBi9 and the NUC12EDBi7, with a 65 W Core i9-12900 and a Core i7-12700 CPU respectively. In other words, it appears we're not looking at any dedicated CPU SKU's this time around.

The first thing that sticks out in the spec is the fact that Intel has gone for a pair of DDR4 SO-DIMM slots, rather than DDR5. In all fairness, this could be due to a lack of DDR5 SO-DIMMs in the market, but feels odd in a product with Extreme in the product name. Memory speeds of up to 3200 MHz are supported and up to 64 GB can be fitted. On the storage side, there's support for no less than three PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe drives using the 2280 form factor. Two of the slots can also accept 2242 drives and SATA drives. A full PCIe 5.0 x16 slot is also present for an optional graphics card, but more on that a little bit later.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today, unveils the brand new B660MX-E PRO motherboard. Based on the Intel B660 chipset, the new B660MX-E PRO motherboard brings life to casual gaming and content consumption. Available with a set of great base features and functionality, BIOSTAR's B660MX-E PRO motherboard is one of the best entry-level motherboards in the market.

With solid support for Intel 12th generation processors, the B660MX-E PRO motherboard brings highly desirable features like PCIe 4.0, PCIe M.2.4.0 and Wi-Fi 6E enable versatile usability all around. 4 DIMMs of DDR4 high speed ram slots enable up to 128 GB DDR4 memory with boosted clock speeds up to 4600 MHz. A 10-phase power design controlled with BIOSTAR's signature digital PWM technology ensures stable power delivery across all components that protect and enhance hardware lifetime.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today, unveils the brand new TZ590-BTC motherboard. Designed based on the Intel Z590 chipset that runs Intel 10th and 11th gen processors, BIOSTAR's new TZ590-BTC motherboard targets the mid-range audience of casual gamers, content creators, and users looking to build an HTPC for casual-content consumption. The TZ590-BTC also specializes in crypto mining with native inbuilt functionality to support this claim.

Available in a full-ATX form factor, the new TZ590-BTC motherboard provides a strong feature-rich base for users, with functionality such as PCIe 4.0, PCIe M.2 4.0. An 11 Phase power design controlled by BIOSTAR's signature DIGITAL PWM technology keeps everything running smooth and safe. 4x DDR4 RAM slots that support up to 3600 (OC) with a maximum capacity of 128 GB come in handy for all purposes. The TZ590-BTC has 8x PCIe 3.0x1 Slots, ideal for BITCOIN and ETHEREUM mining, as well as a single PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot targeting exceptional performance.

TerraMaster, a professional brand that specializes in providing innovative storage products for home, businesses and enterprises, introduces the all-new T9-423 9-bay high-performance NAS designed for small- and medium-sized businesses. The TerraMaster T9-423 is ideal for enterprise applications such as file storage servers, mail servers, web servers, FTP servers, virtual machine hosts, and other enterprise-level applications.

The TerraMaster T9-423 is powered by a quad-core 2.00 GHz (2.90 GHz boost) Intel Core processor and comes with two 2.5 GbE ports with support for Link Aggregation, delivering speeds of up to 283 MB/s. It supports multi-user and high-concurrent file access. Its compact chassis can be mounted vertically and horizontally to provide builders flexibility of use.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today, introduces the brand new B660GTN motherboard. BIOSTAR kicks off 2022 with a brand-new lineup of B660 chipset motherboards that support the latest 12th gen Intel processors. Designed in the Mini-ITX form factor, the new B660GTN is the smallest motherboard of the B660 series yet packing powerful specs even with its smaller size.

Focused on content creators, casual gaming, and content consumption, the new B660GTN motherboard from BIOSTAR carries all the bells and whistles for a Mini-ITX motherboard in 2022. Designed with BIOSTAR's signature motherboard design language, the B660GTN features Rock Zone RGB lighting controlled by Vivid LED DJ software providing unprecedented customization capability for users looking to theme their build to their tastes.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announced the B660 and H610 motherboards which deliver formidable and flexible platform to users. Featuring up to 16+1+1 phases DrMOS VRM design with each phase holding up to 60 amps and fully covered thermal design, GIGABYTE B660 and H610 lineup can perfectly support the latest 12th Gen Intel Core processors. The two memory configuration of DDR4 and DDR5 with exciting XMP functions delivers remarkable performance, as well as superior storage performance, expansions, and flexible network, GIGABYTE B660 and H610 lineup brings incredible performance beyond users' expectation.

Started from B560 chipsets, Intel brought into the memory overclocking feature to the latest B660 chipset with support of both DDR4 and DDR5 which earned user's favor on B-series. To enable stable power for CPU under high-speed operation and to enhance XMP overclocking on memory, GIGABYTE B660 AORUS and GAMING series motherboards adopt up to 16+1+1 power phases with 60 Amp each phase. AORUS lineup also equip full-covered heatsink and 5 W/mK thermal pad for advanced heat dissipation and improved stability on VRM area.

With the current short supply and maybe more importantly, the rather insane pricing for DDR5 memory, ASUS is working on what could be called a quick fix for the problem, an adapter that would allow DDR5 motherboard owners to put DDR4 memory in their motherboards. It's not what we'd call an elegant solution at this point, but it's said it'll be refined before it's ready for retail—if it ever enters the market—since apparently the engineer that developed the adapter doesn't always get to see his projects hit retail, as from our understanding he's responsible for a lot of the more unusual products from ASUS' ROG brand.

That said, considering that a lot of high-end Z690 motherboards only support DDR5, this might be an interim solution that makes sense for a lot of people until availability of DDR5 improves. There's some complexity in making the adapter work though, as not only does it need its own power regulation, since DDR4 memory doesn't have onboard power conversion components unlike DDR5, but there's also the 2x 32-bit vs 64-bit bus to take into consideration as well. On top of this, the DRAM traces are obviously extended, which could lead to instabilities, which is why it's apparently only tested with one type of memory right now, which appears to be G-Skill's Tridentz Royal. A further limitation of the adapter is that it requires a special UEFI version to be installed that allows DDR4 memory to be used, but this might be the smallest issue in this "skunk works" project from ASUS' ROG team.

AMD is preparing to update its Ryzen Threadripper PRO line of workstation processors, with product announcements slated for January 2022, along the sidelines of CES, with availability slated for March 8, 2022, according to a VideoCardz report. The new Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5000 series processors are likely to combine "Zen 3+" CCDs (6 nm, featuring 3D Vertical Cache memory), with full sWRX8 I/O that includes 128 PCI-Express Gen 4 lanes, and 8-channel DDR4 memory. There are no sTRX4 options on the horizon.

What's interesting with the lineup is that CPU core-counts range all the way from 12-core/24-thread to 64-core/128-thread. Past generations of Threadripper WX stuck with higher core-counts (32 and up). The series begins with the Threadripper PRO 5945WX (12-core/24-thread), followed by the PRO 5955WX (16-core/32-thread), the PRO 5965WX (24-core/48-thread), PRO 5975WX (32-core/64-thread), and the 64-core/128-thread PRO 5995WX. There's no 48-core part in the stack. The TDP of all these chips is rated at 280 W.

Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Cooling, Gaming Gear, and Enthusiast Memory solutions, is elated to announce the launch of TOUGHRAM XG RGB - White DDR4 Memory, a new edition of the high-end TOUGHRAM XG RGB series. The new white series comes with frequencies up to 3600 MHz, 4000 MHz, 4400 MHz and 4600 MHz and capacities up to 16 GB (8 GB x2), 32 GB (16 GB x2) and 64 GB (32 GB x2), giving users a wide range of selections. Now users can match up the same white-colored chassis and cooling components to create their own style and to form the ideal PC build, especially for those who are seeking an all-white theme, the White TOUGHRAM XG RGB DDR4 series can help you to achieve a more comprehensive all-white setup.

Being compatible with the latest AMD and Intel motherboards, the White TOUGHRAM XG RGB series has been through rigorous tests to select tightly-screened ICs, designed with a ten-layer PCB, constructed with 10μ gold fingers and 2oz copper inner layers to ensure high and stable performance. The White TOUGHRAM XG RGB series also carries an exclusive style from its appearance thanks to its special design, there are 2 different colors, detailing an aluminium trim with a chrome stripe in the middle which makes the TOUGHRAM XG RGB series stand out from your everyday RAM modules.

Intel's next entry-level processor for the Socket LGA1700 platform is the Core i3-12100. Carved out of the "Alder Lake-S" H0 silicon, this processor features 4 "Golden Cove" performance cores with HyperThreading enabling 8 logical processors, and no E-cores. The processor ticks at 3.30 GHz, with 4.30 GHz Turbo Boost 2.0 frequency. Each of the four cores has 1.25 MB of L2 cache, and they share 12 MB of L3 cache. The i3-12100 gets a Gen12 Xe LP-based iGPU, while a variant of the processor, the i3-12100F, lacks integrated graphics. Intel is rating the processor base power value at 60 W, with 77 W maximum turbo power.

XFastest scored an i3-12100 engineering sample, and wasted no time in comparing it with the Ryzen 3 3300X. The i3-12100 was tested on an ASRock Z690 Steel Legend motherboard that has DDR4 memory slots. 16 GB of dual-channel DDR4-3600 memory and RTX 3060 Ti were used on both the Intel and AMD test-beds. A Ryzen 3 3100 was also used on the AMD side. Right off the bat, we see the i3-12100 take a significant lead over the AMD chips at PCMark, posting a roughly 15% performance lead. Cinebench R23 is another test where the little "Alder Lake" scores big, posting a roughly 26% performance lead in the multi-threaded test, and 27% in the single-threaded test. This is mainly because the 3300X is based on "Zen 2" while the i3-12100 uses the cutting-edge "Golden Cove" cores. AMD hasn't bothered with "Zen 3" based Ryzen 3 desktop processors in the retail market.

AMD apparently finds itself with quite a bit of undigested 7 nm "Renoir" silicon, which it plans to repackage as Socket AM4 processors, reports VideoCardz, citing sources on ChipHell forums. The most interesting aspect of this leak is that the silicon variant, codenamed "Renoir X," comes with a disabled iGPU. This is hence a case of AMD harvesting enough "Renoir" dies with faulty iGPU components, to sell them off as desktop processors. It is also learned that these chips don't feature all of the 8 "Zen 2" CPU cores present on the silicon, but rather AMD is looking to carve out entry-level SKUs, such as the Ryzen 3 or Athlon. The company lacks Athlon desktop SKUs based on "Zen 2" or later, although traditionally the company sought to include some basic iGPU solution with its Athlon SKUs.

In related news, the source reports that AMD will refresh its Ryzen desktop processor family with the new "Vermeer S" Ryzen processors. Built on the existing Socket AM4 package, these use AMD's "Zen 3" CCDs that feature 3D Vertical Cache (3DV Cache), much like the recently announced EPYC "Milan X" server processors. AMD claimed that the 3DV Cache technology has a significant performance uplift on performance akin to a generational update. These could be the company's first response to Intel Core "Alder Lake," although since they're based on the older AM4 platform, could only feature DDR4 and PCIe Gen 4. Much like the Ryzen 3000XT series, these appear to be a stopgap product lineup, with AMD targeting late-Q2/early-Q3 for next-generation "Raphael" Socket AM5 processors based on the "Zen 4" architecture, with DDR5 and PCIe Gen 5.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, today introduced three of its latest automotive chip solutions: the Exynos Auto T5123 for 5G connectivity, the Exynos Auto V7 for comprehensive in-vehicle infotainment systems, and the ASIL-B certified S2VPS01 power management IC (PMIC) for the Auto V series.

"Smarter and more connected automotive technologies for enriched in-vehicle experiences including entertainment, safety and comfort are becoming critical features on the road," said Jaehong Park, Executive Vice President of System LSI Custom SOC Business at Samsung Electronics. "With an advanced 5G modem, an AI-enhanced multi-core processor, and a market-proven PMIC solution, Samsung is transfusing its expertise in mobile solutions into its automotive lineup and is positioned to expand its presence within the field."

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking and storage solution innovator, today released the new NVR network surveillance server - QVP-41B - that integrates a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) switch with sixteen 30-watt Gigabit PoE ports, two RJ45/SFP combo ports, and two 2.5GbE host management ports, supporting all kinds of PoE devices and creating an intelligent surveillance infrastructure. Powered by an Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core processor, the QVP-41B comes with four 3.5-inch SATA drive bays, providing great storage potential and high-speed networking to meet the requirements of monitoring small/medium-sized environments.

"With built-in 140 W PoE and supporting up to 24 cameras, the QVP-41B provides complete network surveillance server capabilities. Surveillance feeds can also be simultaneously recorded and monitored using QNAP's QVR Smart Client application." said Alan Kuo, adding "recorded footage can be intelligently analyzed by using QVR Smart Search, and for large-scale deployments (such as retail) all QVR Pro servers including the QVP-41B can be centrally managed through QNAP's QVR Center."

Intel debuted its 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" desktop processor family late last month with only the unlocked "K" and "KF" SKUs targeting gamers and PC enthusiasts, alongside only the top Z690 chipset motherboards. The company is preparing to expand the lineup early next year with the addition of at least seven more SKUs (excluding additional "F" variants that lack integrated graphics). These processors could also introduce more value-conscious motherboard chipsets, such as the B660 and H670. momomo_us on Twitter, a reliable source with hardware leaks, predicts specs and a possible mid-January launch date for these chips.

The lineup possibly includes the Core i9-12900 and i9-12900F at the top, followed by the i7-12700 and i7-12700F, and the meaty Core i5 lineup that includes the i5-12600 and i5-12600F; the i5-12500, and the i5-12400/F. At least two Core i3 series SKUs could also be launched. The possible clock-speeds, and L3 cache sizes for the SKUs are tabulated below. What stands out from these SKUs is the specs of the Core i5-12600. We earlier thought it would be based on the larger "C0" silicon, with 6 P-cores and 4 E-cores, but it turns out, that the SKU is based on the smaller "H0" silicon with just 6 P-cores and no E-cores. Read more about the two silicon variants of "Alder Lake-S" in our older article. The i5-12600 will have significantly different performance and energy efficiency numbers than the i5-12600K.

DDR5 may soon have reason to be an even more expensive early-adopter piece of tech than it currently is, according to electronic component supplier 12chip. While semiconductor manufacturers worldwide grapple with logistics and components shortages, the DRAM market has been left somewhat unscathed - up to now. DRAM fabrication - even DDR5 - isn't done on leading-edge nodes but on older, more mature ones (such as 14 nm). According to 12chip, manufacturers are having no problem in scaling their DRAM manufacturing on these older nodes to meet demand.

However, DDR5 is being directly impacted by the current logistics issues due to lack of adequate Power Management Integrated Circuit (PMIC) chips - which DDR5 has integrated in the DIMM proper. Currently, lead times for PMIC orders are estimated at 35 weeks, placing additional strain on system assemblers and DRAM manufacturers - and forcing delays and bottlenecks throughout the supply chain. Additionally, the fact that PMIC chips for DDR5 are ten times as expensive as equivalent DDR4 power management solutions doesn't bode well for future price action on DDR. Should this situation continue, higher prices for DDR5 modules are to be expected due to a deteriorating supply/demand ratio - particularly relevant if you're thinking about putting together a build based on Intel's Alder Lake platform. As always, take this report with a grain of salt.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, today launched the 3-bay RAID 5 2.5 GbE TS-364 NAS with M.2 PCIe Gen3 NVMe SSD slots and 2.5 GbE connectivity, providing optimized performance in home/office environments. Supporting light virtualization/containers and HDMI output, the TS-364 provides a centralized storage, backup, file sharing, and multimedia solution that features rich NAS applications for greater productivity and boundless entertainment.

"The new TS-364 NAS allows building a secure RAID 5 array with three disks for optimized storage capacity, cache performance and protection against one disk failing. With M.2 PCIe Gen3 slots, the TS-364 enables cache acceleration or SSD storage pools for improved performance, or Edge TPU for AI image recognition. Its 2.5 GbE port accelerates network transmission while its USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) ports allow quickly transferring large media files," said Joseph Chiang, Product Manager of QNAP.

BIOSTAR, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and storage devices today, announces the brand-new RACING Z690GTA motherboard. Enter the battlefield in confidence with BIOSTAR's renowned RACING series Z690GTA motherboard. Designed based on the Intel Z690 chipset with the latest LGA1700 socket, the new RACING Z690GTA motherboard is the best choice to run the latest Intel 12th gen Alder Lake processors.

Carrying forward the legacy of its predecessors the new RACING Z690GTA motherboard looks and feels otherworldly. Style, power, and grace packed in an exciting new armor design; the motherboard is tastefully designed to make any PC build stand out from the rest. Featuring a 17-phase power design and Active cooling armor gear with fins heat sink, BIOSTAR has actively focused on stable power management and heat dissipation this year, greatly enhancing the performance and durability of its components.

EVGA today rolled out the X570 FTW WiFi, its second AMD Socket AM4 motherboard. While the X570 DARK is aimed at professional overclockers looking to squeeze the most out of Ryzen 5000 series processors, the X570 FTW is aimed at a slightly broader audience—enthusiasts. The board comes with four DDR4 DIMM slots to illustrate this, compared to two slots (1 DIMM per channel) on the X570 DARK. The board pulls power from a combination of 24-pin ATX, and 8+4 pin EPS. It features a 15-phase CPU VRM that's cooled by aluminium fin-stack heatsinks. The Socket AM4 processor is wired to four DDR4 DIMM slots, two PCI-Express 4.0 x16 (x8/x8 with both populated), and an M.2 NVMe slot with PCI-Express 4.0 x4 wiring.

Besides this CPU-attached M.2 NVMe Gen 4 slot, two additional Gen 4 slots are put out by the X570 chipset, cooled by a large aluminium monoblock heatsink. The X570 chipset itself is cooled fanless, which means it's likely the X570S variant. Eight SATA 6 Gbps ports make for the rest of the storage connectivity. USB connectivity includes three 10 Gbps USB 3.1 Gen2 ports at the rear panel, two 5 Gbps Gen1 ports, and two additional Gen1 ports through internal headers. The onboard audio solution uses a Realtek ALC1220 CODEC with SV3H615 headphones amp. Networking connectivity includes Intel-sourced WiFi 6 and 1 GbE. Available to EVGA Elite members, the EVGA X570 FTW WiFi is priced at USD $499, about $200 cheaper than the X570 DARK.

With Intel's Alder Lake processor generation launch, the platform merges support of two different DDR memory standards: DDR4 and DDR5. While there are motherboards that offer the latest DDR5 standard, there are boards that provide users to use the cheaper DDR4 memory option in their builds as we transition to the newer standard and newer memory becomes more available. The DDR5 products are currently on the expensive side, and DDR4 represents a good choice for creating a PC build in the following years, at least in the transition to DDR5 standard's better availability and lower prices.

According to Moore's Law is Dead Twitter account, the DDR4 support may reside for a little longer on Intel's platforms. As per their sources, Intel's 13th generation Core processors, codenamed Raptor Lake, will carry over DDR4 platform support and possibly retain compatibility with the 12th generation Alder Lake platform. That means that the Z690 and future H670/B660/H610 boards could be compatible with Raptor Lake-S and also carry support for the DDR4 memory protocol for it. This could indicate that Alder Lake-S buyers that build PCs with DDR4 memory could have a viable processor upgrade path without upgrading the memory. Of course, information like this should be taken with a grain of salt.

The latest 12th Gen Core processor is the first to incorporate Intel 7 process technology and Hybrid Architecture. To match the performance of the 12th Gen Core processors, all MSI Z690 Series motherboards are upgraded. The highlight of the new platform is the latest PCIe 5.0 and DDR5. All MSI Z690 motherboards support PCIe 5.0 solution which provides 128 GB/s of transfer bandwidth. MSI has Z690 DDR5 and DDR4 motherboards to meet different needs. Excitingly, MSI OC LAB tuning boosts the memory frequency performance by over 30% based on MSI's exclusive Memory Boost technology. With the optimized layout, MSI uses the SMT process for both PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 to maintain the stability of high-speed transfer.

The newest core processors need mighty power phases. The MSI Z690 Gaming Series motherboards have at least 16 DrMOS with Duet Rail Power System and dual 8-pin CPU connectors, which guarantee stable and strong current delivered to the core processor. Moreover, the MSI Z690 Series motherboards have Server Grade PCB with 2oz thickened copper, which allows for higher transfer speed. (*1) The upgraded power phases typically have higher temperatures. However, heat dissipation isn't an issue for us. Our Z690 motherboards feature an Extended Heatsink, 7 W/mK thermal pad, and M.2 Shield Frozr. The MEG and MPG Series motherboards, which are popular among gamers all over the world, have Heat-pipe Design and double-side M.2 thermal that can drive maximum performance.

Newegg has been on a roll this week when it comes to leaking pricing of upcoming motherboards and this time they've managed to out no less than seven upcoming models from Gigabyte. Unfortunately we didn't get a first hand view of the leaks, so we have to make do with what little information is available for now.

The pricing of the seven leaked boards ranges from US$199.99 to US$469.99, which is less painful than what we've seen so far from other brands. The base model is the Gigabyte Z690 UD DDR4, which even at US$199.99 is almost $50 more than the current Z590 UD board from the same retailer. Moving up a step, we have the Z690 Gaming X DDR4 at US$229.99, followed by the Z690 Aorus Elite AX DDR4 at US$269.99 and the Z690 Aero G DDR4 at US$289.99.

If you act quickly and live in Canada, you might be able to score an MSI Pro Z690-A DDR4 motherboard from Newegg Canada, as they currently have the board listed for sale. This gives us an official price for the MSI board, which also gives us a rough indication of what to expect in terms of a price bump over the Z590 boards.

Newegg Canada has the board listed for C$279.99 (US$227), which should be compared to the MSI Z590-A Pro, which is listed at C$234.99, or a price premium of C$45 or US$37. Considering that the boards are almost identical in terms of features as per our earlier look at the leaked image of the board, bar an extra M.2 slot and an additional PCIe x16 slot, it seems like we can expect a fairly steep price hike across the board (no pun intended) when it comes to Z690 motherboards, as these physical connectors are worth the additional hike in price.

Update: It would appear that Newegg has realised their mistake and the board is no longer listed for sale.

Axiomtek - a world-renowned leader relentlessly devoted in the research, development, and manufacture of series of innovative and reliable industrial computer products of high efficiency - is pleased to introduce the IPC970, its new feature-rich, expandable 4-slot industrial system. This intelligent industrial computer is powered by the Intel Xeon or 10th generation Intel Core i7/i5/i3 processors (code name: Comet Lake S) with the Intel W480E chipset. The powerful edge computing system supports NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card with 10,496 CUDA cores and a whopping 24 GB of GDDR6X memory for powerful GPU computing capability. The ruggedized IPC970 enables simultaneous AI processing for intelligent AI computing at the edge.

The Axiomtek's IPC970 provides flexible expansion options with one I/O module slot and three PCIe slots plus one blank expansion slot. In addition, it has a full-size PCIe Mini Card slot for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/LTE modules, one M.2 Key B 3042/3050 socket for 5G wireless connections, and one M.2 Key E 2230 socket for Wi-Fi/Bluetooth modules. Its front-facing I/O design makes it easy to access and deploy. To ensure stable and reliable operation in harsh industrial environments, the IPC970 has a wide operating temperature range of -10°C to +70°C and a power input of 24 V DC (uMin=19 V/uMax=30 V) with power-on delay function, over-voltage protection, over current protection, and reverse voltage protection.