It appears there is a manufacturing defect affecting some ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboards for Alder Lake, as multiple users have reported that a section of their boards have burned up (quite literally). Yet others have not seen their boards go up in smoke, but have run into a curious error code that, when lacking a charred section

Source: Hot Hardware – ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Alder Lake Motherboards May Be Burning Up Due To This Defect