Photo leaks of Intel Z690 based motherboard

The first Intel Alder Lake-S processors and the accompanying Z690 chipset are expected to be launched before the end of this year. As we get closer to the launch, more and more leaks will hit the web. Alder Lake-S will be quite a change, this will be the first chip made using Intel's 7 node -- the new name of 10nm Enhanced SuperFin.

Prototype with 23 power stages

Alder Lake-S will combine up to eight high-performance cores with up to eight energy-efficient cores, and will introduce support for both DDR5 and PCI Express 5.0. VideoCardz discovered a photo of what seems to be an Intel Z690 prototype on the Asian-language Bilibili forums. It's a Z690 motherboard from an unidentified manufacturer. The board has 18+2+3 power stages and the picture shows off the new LGA1700 socket. It also reveals three M.2 connectors separated by a signal full-length PCIe connector.

However, it is clearly a high-end motherboard equipped with as many as 23 power stages around the CPU socket (18+2+3 layout). Such a configuration is usually reserved for very premium and enthusiast-oriented board designs.

And speaking about the socket, this is also the first time we see the LGA1700 socket but without any clamps or latches. The board clearly has some components missing, such as dual EPS connectors at the top, but those should be optional for this particular engineering board.