The all-black mid-range MSI MEG Z690 Unify board for Intel’s latest Alder Lake CPUs hits store shelves with its familiar black-on-black theme includes upgrades to power delivery to support the Alder Lake processors, five M.2 sockets, dual 2.5 GbE and Wi-Fi 6E, plus DDR5 and PCIe 5.0. In all, MSI upgraded a lot of hardware here. The look hasn’t changed much over the previous generation, but the total package here is impressive. As this is our first MSI Z690 review, we’ll go over the product stack before jumping into more details about Unify. On the MSI website, there are currently 13 Z690 motherboards listed, in four distinct families. The high-end MEG series has the Z690 Unify and Unify-X. Four boards sit in the mid-range MPG line: the Carbon WIFI, Carbon EK X (water-cooled), the new Z690 Force WIFI and the Z690 Edge WIFI DDR4. The MAG series is budget-oriented and includes the Z690 Tomahawk WIFI, Tomahawk WIFI DDR4, and the Z690 Torpedo.  For content creators, the Pro series has a total of four boards: the Z690-A WIFI and Z690-A WIFI DDR4, Pro Z690-A and Z690-A DDR4. We don’t see any MiniITX boards listed, but we do hope to see a Z690I Unify. Also missing is the Z690 Godlike, but rumors say it’s coming out, and it’s one of the biggest E-ATX boards we’ve seen in a while. As far as our Z690 Unify, outside of the updated hardware capabilities, the company didn’t stray far from the previous design. However, that’s not a bad thing, as the blackboard looks good, even if it doesn’t have any integrated RGB lighting. It won’t be the bright and attention-grabbing board some may want, but that’s what the RGB headers are for -- to make it glow your own way.  Looks aside, the Z690 Unify performed well in our updated testing suite. So far, we only have one board to compare it with, the Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Hero, but MSI’s board held up well, trading punches across most benchmarks. Gaming results were also good, as the Unify made a clean sweep of the results so far. Granted, the difference is slight, but it’s there. Curiously, this board used much more power to accomplish  its speed advantage, but for many, that won’t matter. Read on for more details on features, overclocking, and our takeaways from testing and using the motherboard. First though, he’s a full list of the MEG Z690 Unify’s specs, straight from MSI.  Specifications - MSI MEG Z690 Unify  Socket LGA1700 Chipset Z690 Form Factor ATX Voltage Regulator 20 Phase (19 1 105A MOSFETs for Vcore) Video Ports USB Ports (1) USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C (20 Gbps)   (7) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps)   (2) USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) Network Jacks (2) 2.5 GbE Audio Jacks (5) Analog SPDIF Legacy Ports/Jacks PS/2 Other Ports/Jack PCIe x16 (2) v5.0 (x16, x8/x8)   (1) v3.0 (x4) PCIe x8 PCIe x4 PCIe x1 CrossFire/SLI ?? DIMM slots (4) DDR5 6666 (OC), 128GB Capacity   1DPC 1R Max speed up to 6666 MHz   1DPC 2R Max speed up to 5600 MHz   2DPC 1R Max speed up to 4000 MHz   2DPC 2R Max speed up to 4000 MHz M.2 slots (3) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) (1) PCIe 4.0 x4 (64 Gbps) / PCIe SATA (up to 110mm) (1) PCIe 3.0 x4 (32 Gbps) / PCIe (up to 80mm) Supports RAID 0/1/5/10 U.2 Ports SATA Ports (6) SATA3 6 Gbps (Supports RAID0/1/5/10) USB Headers (1) USB v3.2 Gen 2x2, Type-C (20 Gbps) (2) USB v3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) (2) USB v2.0 (480 Mbps) Fan/Pump Headers (8) 4-Pin (CPU, Water pump, System Fans) RGB Headers (3) aRGB (3-pin) (1) RGB (4-pin) Diagnostics Panel 2-character debug LED, Post Status Checker (4 LEDs) Internal Button/Switch Power and Reset buttons, BIOS switch SATA Controllers ASM1061 Ethernet Controller(s) (2) Intel I225-V (2.5 Gbps) Wi-Fi / Bluetooth Intel AX201 Wi-Fi 6E (2x2 ax, MU-MIMO, 2.4/5/6 GHz, 160 MHz, BT 5.2) USB Controllers Genesysloogic GL3590/GL850G ASMedia ASM1074 HD Audio Codec Realtek ALC4080 DDL/DTS Connect / Warranty 3 Years Features Inside the MSI MEG Z690 Unify’s box, you’ll find a slew of accessories. You get the basics such as SATA cables, a Wi-Fi antenna, and a USB drive with drivers. Below is a complete list of the included extras. USB drive (drivers) Cleaning brush Wi-Fi antenna Case badge User manual Quick installation guide MEG and Cable stickers M.2 screws/standoff sets EZ M.2 clip Screwdrivers EZ Front panel cable 1 to 2 RGB LED extension Y cable Corsair RGB LED extension cable Rainbow RGB LED extension cable (4) SATA cables