With a lot of news and info dropping on Intel's latest Z790 chipset using the LGA1700 socket, NZXT has pulled the trigger and announced its N7 Z790 motherboard. Available in either white or black, it features a 2.5 GbE controller, Wi-Fi 6E CNVi, benefits from support for PCIe 5.0, and includes three M.2 slots.

In addition to the announcement of Intel's 13th Gen Core series processors, codenamed Raptor Lake, NZXT has announced its plans to launch the N7 for Z790. As we've seen from NZXT motherboards in the past, the N7 Z790 has a large swathe of armor covering the board and is available in both back and white color schemes. It should be noted that neither the black nor white model includes any integrated RGB LED lighting. Typical with an NZXT product, the N7 Z790 comes with support with their CAM software.

Some of the NZXT N7 Z790's main features include one full-length PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, two full-length PCIe 4.0 slots operating at x4/x4, and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots. Also present on the NZXT N7 Z790 are three M.2 slots, two with support for PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe drives and one with support for both PCIe 4.0 x4 and SATA. NZXT also includes four SATA ports with support for RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 arrays for more conventional storage. NZXT is also advertising support for DDR5-6000 memory, with a combined total of 128 GB supported across four slots.

NZXT is also advertising a 16+1+2-phase power delivery, with one 8-pin EPS 12 V and one 4-pin 12 V power connector pairing to deliver power to the CPU. Powering the rest of the board's components is a 24-pin 12V power connector.

The rear I/O is modest yet practical, with two USB 3.2 G2 Type-A and three USB 3.2 G1 Type-A; interestingly, NZXT doesn't include any rear panel Type-C connectivity. Also on the rear panel are five 3.5 mm audio jacks and one S/PDIF optical output powered by a Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec, with two antenna ports for an unspecified Wi-Fi 6E CNVi. Finishing off the rear panel is a single HDMI TM video output, with one Realtek RTL8125BG 2.5 GbE controller.

The NZXT N7 Z790 is scheduled to release with an MSRP of $300 and will be available in Q4 2022 in the USA. NZXT hasn't shared whether or not this will be released in other regions.

Source: NZXT

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  • Threska - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link

    I could see the "armor" acting as a heat sink, structural reinforcement, and RFI reduction. Not to mention aesthetics.
  • PeachNCream - Wednesday, September 28, 2022 - link

    Depends on materials used. If its mostly plastic then it won't do anything for RFI and may trap more heat than it sheds. There's no mention in this article about said material. I would prefer functionality and view coverings like these as added cost that is absent corresponding benefits. Fortunately, there are still a few motherboards that cater to people like me though I probably won't buy any of those either since its still not worth the cost or time when nearly any laptop running something as mundane as a C2D from 2009 is sufficient for basic compute tasks. Gaming happens on a $30 no-contract phone or a console which I highly suggest to the PC community as a much more cost effective alternative as a GPU's costs alone can buy said phone, console, and budget PC, leaving you with lots of money to purchase games for years while burning a lot less electrical energy for which we're still generally consuming fossil fuels to generate.
  • atragorn - Friday, September 30, 2022 - link

    I realize you like to troll people here a lot but still...
    This is a hardware enthusiast site not grandmas love computer forums 😂
    My FX 8350 still works fine for basic computer needs also. Heck I should just use my socket-A Athlon 1400 maybe?
    I'm pretty sure most people on this site need more CPU power than that.
    I could be wrong though 😜
  • PeachNCream - Friday, September 30, 2022 - link

    This is exactly the right place to drop satire, sarcasm, and a little dash of pointing out the obvious to get people to buy less ewaste and throw away less energy. The fact that you're pulling out "need more CPU power" and making an accusation of trolling in an article about a gaming/entertainment product which is absolutely a want and not a need says a lot. Hopefully, others will get the message and maybe if word spreads a bit, we'll still have a livable planet in the future. But you do you and selfishly burn everything you can, I guess. Some people simply cannot be changed.
  • shabby - Saturday, October 1, 2022 - link

    Z690 wont support raptor lake?
  • R7 - Saturday, October 1, 2022 - link

    It will.

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