Check out the first Z690 budget without PCIe 5.0

If you've been waiting for the arrival of an affordable Z690 motherboard for your next Alder Lake-based setup, then Gigabyte may have just the thing for you. As reported by @momomo_us, the official website of the well-known Taiwanese manufacturer has opened a page dedicated to the world's first Z690 motherboard without full PCIe 5.0 connectivity, called Z690M DS3H DDR4.

Photo Credit: Gigabyte Get rid of the PCIe 5.0 support means it is priced significantly lower than its competitors, making it a truly budget card for Alder Lake CPUs. In fact, the main responsible for the higher prices compared to the previous generation is precisely given by the support for PCIe Gen 5.0, since the motherboards that are equipped with it must be built with additional PCB layers and higher quality materials to ensure a stable connection. We have seen similar problems in the past with the implementation of PCIe 4.0 on AMD platforms.

Gigabyte Z690M DS3H DDR4 (rev. 1.0) https://t.co/Xf7r6P0gDV

Z690 + PCIe 4.0 + DDR4 pic.twitter.com/71hoXJIh2m

- 188 号 (@momomo_us) November 29, 2021



In addition to the differences in the PCIe interface, the DS3H is currently Gigabyte's lower-end Z690 motherboard, with a micro-ATX form factor and simpler power system than the company's more expensive Z690 models. To keep the item more attractive to those on a budget, the DS3H also comes with support for DDR4 instead of DDR5 memory. When it comes to connectivity, the DS3H DDR4 features a single PCIe Gen 4 x16 slot and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, along with two M.2 Gen 4.0 slots for high-speed storage. The rear I / O consists of three USB 3.0 ports, a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, two USB 2.0 and four video outputs that include VGA, HDMI and two DisplayPorts.

At the moment, the price of the Z690 DS3H DDR4 is unknown, but given the presence of the product directly on the official website, Gigabyte should provide further details regarding price and availability very soon.