The PCB and connectors:
The tools for clocker:
Let’s start with the elements inserted on the PCB which can be interesting tools for overclockers. They are quite varied on this motherboard.
- The power button : allows the powering up of the motherboard.
- The reset button : allows the motherboard to be rebooted.
- LN2 Mode switch : allows to activate the LN2 profiles in the bios.
- The switch bios : allows to switch from bios 1 to bios 2
- The CLR CMOS button : is also present but in the form of a jumper.
- Status LED : which according to their color allows you to identify a problem or to know at what level the voltage of the component is (CPU – DRAM – VGA – BOOT).
- The Debug LED : allows you to identify the component responsible for the error during the boot, but also to display the temperature of the CPU as well as the voltages.
The PCB :
This Biostar Z690A Valkyrie is very similar to the PCB of the DDR5 version. Note the massive power supply stages but also the non-through DDR4 slots. Good points for overclocking, hoping that the bios will follow.
Let’s move on to the PCB, this one is built in 8 layers. This Z690A Valkyrie is based on an 18+1+1 phase power supply (VCORE + VCCAUX).
The controller used is a Renesas RAA229131 which directly drives the 19 phases dedicated to the CPU and IGP. The 18 CPU mosfets are all Renesas RAA220105 of 105A. The GT part is managed by 1 Renesas RAA220105 of 105A also. The AUX part is managed by an ISL99390 of 90A driven by a NCP81270C controller.
Connectors:
The rear panel has the following elements. First of all the four video outputs, two DisplayPort and two HDMI. Then the antenna mounts for the dual band Wi-Fi and the PS/2 port. The card has 7 USB 3.2 Gen 2, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 type C, 1 2.5 Gigabit LAN (I225-V) and the various audio outputs. Finally, the audio part is provided by a Realtek ALC1200 chip. 
It is important to note that there is no Wi-Fi on this motherboard out of the box. You will have to buy a separate Wi-Fi module and antennas!
