When it comes to over-the-top Intel Z690 motherboards for 12th-Gen Alder Lake processors, the $2,099 MSI Meg Z690 Godlike sits on the throne. However, for those that don’t want to spend a mortgage payment on a motherboard, EVGA just announced its Z690 Dark Kingpin, which comes in at a comparatively more affordable price of $829.99.
Given that it sits at the top of EVGA’s motherboard family, we’re looking at a 10-layer PCB design and a 21-phase voltage regulation module (VRM). Z690 Dark Kingpin has just two memory slots supporting up to 64GB of DDR5-6600+. EVGA also includes dual fans behind the I/O ports that blow cool air across the LGA-1700 CPU socket (which is rotated 90 degrees compared to other Z690 motherboards).
You’ll also find dual PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, triple M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe slots, dual Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE ports, eight SATA-III ports (six native to the Intel chipset, two from a separate ASMedia ASM1061 controller), U.2 connector, four USB-A 3.2 ports, one USB-C 3.2 port, Realtek ALC1220 7.1 audio, a Probelt header, right-angle power connectors, two ARGB/two RGB headers, and an external antenna for the Intel AX211 Bluetooth 5.2 and WiFi 6E module.
EVGA also included a POST indicator at the top of the E-ATX motherboard, which is joined by physical power and reset buttons. To the left of the POST indicator is a dedicated USB port for updating the BIOS. Speaking of the BIOS, the Z690 Dark Kingpin features triple-BIOS (which can be accessed with a physical switch) and a dedicated Safe Boot button.
The Z690 Dark Kingpin is currently available direct from EVGA, priced at $829.99 . However, the first 24 hours of availability are limited exclusively to EVGA’s Elite Member tier . But we have the feeling that unlike the best gaming cards for gaming which are still incredibly difficult to find in stock at MSRP, you won’t have any trouble grabbing a Z690 Dark Kingpin when sales open to the general public within the next 24 hours.