What Z690 board are you eyeing?

Nirad9er said:
I just read that GEN5 NVME drives are should be coming out next year atleast commercially but not sure about normal consumers (maybe 2023)

Looks like no boards have Pcie 5.0 for the m.2 and alder lake doesn't even support it so far only way at the moment is to use the Pcie 5.0 x16 slot with an add on card however most boards only have 1 Pcie 5.0 slot (except MSI unify, Asus Hero, and few others) that could support the 14GB/s speeds these new drives are capable of.

I noticed my Aorus Master only has 1 Pcie 5.0 slot and the remaining slot only run at Pcie 4.0 x4 so they max out at 8GB/s.:(

Is this a big deal? Or by the time the GEN5 drives are cheap enough we'll have new boards with actual PCIe 5.0 m.2 slots?

I'm kind of annoyed Gigabyte gimped PCIe slots! You have to get the $900 Xtreme to get 2 PCIe 5.0 slots.

Should I have gotten the MSI board to something with more Pcie 5.0 slots?
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Unless you're doing data transfers all day everyday even gen4 is overkill for most use cases and you can always raid0 2 together if it's an issue since the link to the cpu from the chipset is now x8 gen4 bandwidth.
 
Got the MSI ACE, man I was happy they made a high-end MB with good features, and no RGB (RGB is just not my aesthetic)
 
Waiting for the Asus ROG Maximus Formula to pair with my i5-12600k i7-12700k. A buddy sold me his brand new one for $250 when he decided to do a Ryzen build instead.
 
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Mad Maxx said:
Waiting for the Asus ROG Maximus Formula to pair with my i5-12600k.
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I'm expecting that one to be relatively expensive. I mean, the previous generation's Maximus XII Hero was $500. The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 APEX is around $700. I suspect the Formula will slot in the middle or it could even cost more than the APEX and slot underneath the ridiculously priced ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme.
 
Going with an Aorus Z690 Xtreme once I get some DDR5.
 
Dan_D said:
I'm expecting that one to be relatively expensive. I mean, the previous generation's Maximus XII Hero was $500. The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 APEX is around $700. I suspect the Formula will slot in the middle or it could even cost more than the APEX and slot underneath the ridiculously priced ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme.
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I expect you're gonna be right! Looks to be around $800. I've never had a Maximus Formula fail or give me the slightest bit of trouble, so I'm pretty loyal to them. I admit the recent problems with the Z690 Hero aren't encouraging, but the Formula hasn't let me down.
 
Niner21 said:
Going with an Aorus Z690 Xtreme once I get some DDR5.
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That one was on my radar as well. The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme won out because Microcenter had it in stock at the time.
Mad Maxx said:
I expect you're gonna be right! Looks to be around $800. I've never had an Asus Maximus Formula fail or give me the slightest bit of trouble, so I'm pretty loyal to them. I admit the recent problems with the Z690 Hero aren't encouraging, but the Formula hasn't let me down.
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I've reviewed just about every ASUS ROG board that's ever existed aside from some of the STRIX models. They have almost all been solid, the worst offenders being one of the Crosshair (I can never remember exactly which one it was) boards and the Striker Extreme. That said, I did have a Maximus XI Formula die on me, but it did get flooded with some shitty Thermaltake coolant. I normally don't use that crap but needed to fill my test bench loop and its literally all I could find locally at the time. That shouldn't have been an issue, but the stuff was oddly thick and had that silver shit in it. One of my fittings came loose and that shit went all over the board and flooded the CPU socket. I ended up having to wash that board in the sink after stripping everything off of it and then bathe it in isopropyl alcohol.

It worked for a few months and then shit the bed on me. It was a review sample, so it was never RMA'ed. I have the APEX, the Extreme and the Hero of that same era and they were all fine. That said, I found the VRM's disappointing on everything but the Extreme and the APEX, but that's primarily due to deceptive marketing. That said, I thought the Formula should have had higher end VRM's than it did. Aside from that a couple one off models or that one board, the ROG line has served me extremely well over the years. A number of them have made it into my personal systems.
 
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Dan_D said:
That one was on my radar as well. The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme won out because Microcenter had it in stock at the time.

I've reviewed just about every ASUS ROG board that's ever existed aside from some of the STRIX models. They have almost all been solid, the worst offenders being one of the Crosshair (I can never remember exactly which one it was) boards and the Striker Extreme. That said, I did have a Maximus XI Formula die on me, but it did get flooded with some shitty Thermaltake coolant. I normally don't use that crap but needed to fill my test bench loop and its literally all I could find locally at the time. That shouldn't have been an issue, but the stuff was oddly thick and had that silver shit in it. One of my fittings came loose and that shit went all over the board and flooded the CPU socket. I ended up having to wash that board in the sink after stripping everything off of it and then bathe it in isopropyl alcohol.

It worked for a few months and then shit the bed on me. It was a review sample, so it was never RMA'ed. I have the APEX, the Extreme and the Hero of that same era and they were all fine. That said, I found the VRM's disappointing on everything but the Extreme and the APEX, but that's primarily due to deceptive marketing. That said, I thought the Formula should have had higher end VRM's than it did. Aside from that a couple one off models or that one board, the ROG line has served me extremely well over the years. A number of them have made it into my personal systems.
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My only ROG complaint has been my Zenith II Extreme Alpha, and that can easily be blamed on a 6800XT that ate shit and died - and when it went, it whacked the BIOS somehow (had to reflash from the rear panel buttons). It still works perfectly, but once a month it'll pause boot with a memory error (power off and on and it's fine), and won't turn off all the way (meh, hit the button on the UPS).
 
rewted said:
Early adopters gonna adopt
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Early adopters have lots of $ and good jobs? :) I looked at DDR5 prices for kicks and wow! Also, there's not too many in stock - not many choices.

I think if I was building now - and going with Alder Lake, I would get a DDR4 board. Then, you always have the option of switching to a DDR5 board later - and selling your DDR4 board and buying DDR5 at a more 'normal' price? It's probably a cheaper option than going with a DDR5 board and buying DDR5 memory at today's prices?
 
Mad Maxx said:
Any reason a less expensive CPU must have a lesser quality motherboard?
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I'd be running a 12700K on an Aorus Xtreme when it comes time. If you like the features of the higher end boards then go for it IMO.
 
I was about to do a msi z690 edge & a 12700 but not reasonable prices on ddr5 put a stop to that plan. Because this is a luxury I will wait since I play on 4k & am much more gpu bound the cpu can wait another 6 months.
 
I wasn't really considering an upgrade right now, but either the ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi D4 or MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk Wi-Fi DDR4 are looking pretty reasonable for a 12700k (and would provide a decent single-core boost from my R5 3600xt).
 
Got my MSI Z690 Ace. never would I have thought that memory would be the limiting factor in upgrading to new computer. crazy
 
Looks like Gigabyte has a new Z690 bios incoming (because they took down the previous release, "F5").

For some reason with Z690, they have been removing previous bios releases, before posting the newest ones.
 
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chameleoneel said:
Looks like Gigabyte has a new Z690 bios incoming (because they took down the previous release, "F5").

For some reason with Z690, they have been removing previous bios releases, before posting the newest ones.
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New F6 bios are being/have been posted
 
I went with Aorus Master. Seems to be an exceptional value (relatively) in the Z690 space since for $460 it has a 10Gb NIC which would add an extra $100 to any other board. I'm fairly price insensitive to PC parts and Asus has me shaking my head with their mid-high tier pricing. Although the Pro-art is a good value too.
 
obs said:
I went with Aorus Master. Seems to be an exceptional value (relatively) in the Z690 space since for $460 it has a 10Gb NIC which would add an extra $100 to any other board. I'm fairly price insensitive to PC parts and Asus has me shaking my head with their mid-high tier pricing. Although the Pro-art is a good value too.
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I'm thinking of going with the Aorus Master to pair with my 12700K, although I understand that this combo is a bit lopsided.

It seems like a very solid choice for the money, and it actually has decent on-board audio which I need, but it stinks having to pay more for the motherboard than I did for the CPU.


Lots of recommendations for the Edge or Carbon models, but I dont trust MSI.
 
vegeta535 said:
Really? Buying a $800 MB for a 12600k.
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lopoetve said:
In general, it's not lesser quality; it's lesser capability, but you're choosing a lesser capability CPU to start with.
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Furious_Styles said:
Exactly. $800 mobo is likely way overkill for an i5.
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I'd buy an $800 motherboard for a 12400 non-K. The thing is, the motherboard is the system now. It determines how many USB ports you get, whether or not you have Thunderbolt 3, RAID support, support for M.2 devices, the amount of flexibility in PCIe lane switching and all kinds of things. It's also how you get a good BIOS and voltage controllers that allow you to overclock those cheaper CPU's. If I am limited on my budget, I'd rather invest in the motherboard assuming the CPU can do what I need it to do. As someone who is primarily a 4K gamer, I can cut my budget on the CPU if I have to cut it anywhere. I'd rather put my money in the GPU and the motherboard.

I test a lot of motherboards. The cheaper ones are not the same quality. That's not to say all cheap motherboards are bad or anything, but do understand that the cheaper you go there are more cut corners and certainly more features that get dropped. Whether or not those are important is another matter entirely. Things like higher quality audio CODEC's are things not everyone wants to pay for, and I understand that. It's the same for 10GbE NICs and that kind of thing.
 
Dan_D said:
I'd buy an $800 motherboard for a 12400 non-K. The thing is, the motherboard is the system now. It determines how many USB ports you get, whether or not you have Thunderbolt 3, RAID support, support for M.2 devices, the amount of flexibility in PCIe lane switching and all kinds of things. It's also how you get a good BIOS and voltage controllers that allow you to overclock those cheaper CPU's. If I am limited on my budget, I'd rather invest in the motherboard assuming the CPU can do what I need it to do. As someone who is primarily a 4K gamer, I can cut my budget on the CPU if I have to cut it anywhere. I'd rather put my money in the GPU and the motherboard.

I test a lot of motherboards. The cheaper ones are not the same quality. That's not to say all cheap motherboards are bad or anything, but do understand that the cheaper you go there are more cut corners and certainly more features that get dropped. Whether or not those are important is another matter entirely. Things like higher quality audio CODEC's are things not everyone wants to pay for, and I understand that. It's the same for 10GbE NICs and that kind of thing.
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Sure it is, but you can easily buy an excellent board for half that price that is very feature-rich.
 
DooKey said:
It's his money. Why does he have to justify anything?

Too many people care what others spend on stuff.
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This I agree with. I'm sure people judge me for what I spend on hardware and how often I change it out, but who cares anymore. To go back somewhat on topic, I splurged on my Aorus Xtreme motherboard now in my back up PC, and I don't think I'd do that again. Board is built like a tank and defintly nice though. Maybe once things settle down with DDR5 and all I may think differently.
 
Furious_Styles said:
Okay we'll leave it there. Justify paying those mammoth prices however you want.
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I've explained the difference between cheaper and more expensive boards plenty of times. The features I want aren't limited to SATA ports or USB ports. I actually need multiple NICs. I wanted things like voltage check points, onboard power/reset buttons, dual BIOS ROMs, BIOS flashback features, additional overclocking settings and profiles in BIOS, external thermal sensor probe connections, water flow meter headers, tons of fan headers, RGB headers, and just about every other enthusiast feature you can imagine. Those features do not matter to most people, but they were things I wanted.

I know the damn thing was super expensive and I know those extra features aren't worth it to most people. I also know that you can get by with lesser VRM designs, I literally test them all the time. However, for my own systems there is no kill like overkill.
 
Dan_D said:
Excellent maybe. As feature rich or as well built? No. No you cannot.
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Feature rich definitely not, but well built? The $500/600 still have the build quality from what I’ve seen, just drop the extra features. You drop from there and you start to lose build features, but you can make that trade off without losing quality - just the extras. No?
 
lopoetve said:
Feature rich definitely not, but well built? The $500/600 still have the build quality from what I’ve seen, just drop the extra features. You drop from there and you start to lose build features, but you can make that trade off without losing quality - just the extras. No?
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I haven't looked at every board out there. There are too many models. But, approaching that $500-$600 price point? Probably. There are likely going to be some on both sides of that fence.
 
Dan_D and the rest of the awesome folks on here. I need some help. Yes, I am probably overthinking this. But I hate to buy something I am unhappy with. I was really hoping to get another 12-18 months out of my current setup. I was looking forward to Zen4 and Intel 4. My computer/media server had other ideas and crapped out. I seem to have settled on the i7-12700. Where I am stuck is on s D4 MB. Audio quality is very important. RGB - can take it or leave it. Don't want to skimp on quality. I would rather spend extra on features I do not use vs. wanting it and not having it. Please help with picking the best MB.

Normally I would go for the latest & greatest, e.g. DDR5. But....
 
The problem is that the DDR4 boards are basically all more or less midrange when it comes to the Z690 chipset. Sure, you can get beefy VRM's on some of the Z690 DDR4 boards but they are lacking in some other areas. Whether or not that's important to you is a matter of preference. You mentioned audio and that's one area where the cheaper boards are going to skimp a bit. That being said, if audio is super important you'd probably be using an external USB DAC to begin with making it a non-issue.

Regardless, here are my top pics for DDR4 boards that I could look up quickly. Ordinarily I like to give people recommendations on motherboards that I have experience or reviewed but right now I haven't done a lot of testing on Z690 boards. I've got my ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme and the APEX version of that, but beyond that I've tested only one DDR4 board and its way too early to tell if its worth a damn. I would probably recommend the APEX board, but its DDR5. I would recommend the Maximus Z690 Extreme were it not for the insanely high price tag.

But here are my picks from the usual suspects:
  • GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS PRO DDR4
  • MSI MPG Z690 EDGE WIFI DDR4
  • ASUS Prime Z690-P D4
  • ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi
That's not to say these are the best options for DDR4, but based on their specs and what I could dig up in the time I felt like researching it, these are what I'd likely go with and in the order I'd be likely to go with them. Of these, I like the GIGABYTE the most. At least on paper.
 
Dan_D said:
The problem is that the DDR4 boards are basically all more or less midrange when it comes to the Z690 chipset. Sure, you can get beefy VRM's on some of the Z690 DDR4 boards but they are lacking in some other areas. Whether or not that's important to you is a matter of preference. You mentioned audio and that's one area where the cheaper boards are going to skimp a bit. That being said, if audio is super important you'd probably be using an external USB DAC to begin with making it a non-issue.

Regardless, here are my top pics for DDR4 boards that I could look up quickly. Ordinarily I like to give people recommendations on motherboards that I have experience or reviewed but right now I haven't done a lot of testing on Z690 boards. I've got my ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme and the APEX version of that, but beyond that I've tested only one DDR4 board and its way too early to tell if its worth a damn. I would probably recommend the APEX board, but its DDR5. I would recommend the Maximus Z690 Extreme were it not for the insanely high price tag.

But here are my picks from the usual suspects:
  • GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS PRO DDR4
  • MSI MPG Z690 EDGE WIFI DDR4
  • ASUS Prime Z690-P D4
  • ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi
That's not to say these are the best options for DDR4, but based on their specs and what I could dig up in the time I felt like researching it, these are what I'd likely go with and in the order I'd be likely to go with them. Of these, I like the GIGABYTE the most. At least on paper.
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Thanks Dan_D. If I could wait for a new build I would. Or if the $/performance were not so insanely out of whack. I would be all over DDR5. I have no problem paying a premium to be on the front end or leading edge. But with DDR5 it comes out to an extra $500-$600. If my rough look/math is accurate.

Thus the dilemma. With the supply chain and technology as they stand vs. where they will be in the near term. Waiting is clearly the best answer but if you need to replace a computer what do you do? If I have to build something today. I want to be happy with it. Skimping today with the idea of replacing in 2 weeks. Is not an approach that works for me. I would rather spend extra and ensure I am happy with my purchase and experience. Even if it costs a premium between builds.
 
AMG_Roadster said:
Dan_D and the rest of the awesome folks on here. I need some help. Yes, I am probably overthinking this. But I hate to buy something I am unhappy with. I was really hoping to get another 12-18 months out of my current setup. I was looking forward to Zen4 and Intel 4. My computer/media server had other ideas and crapped out. I seem to have settled on the i7-12700. Where I am stuck is on s D4 MB. Audio quality is very important. RGB - can take it or leave it. Don't want to skimp on quality. I would rather spend extra on features I do not use vs. wanting it and not having it. Please help with picking the best MB.

Normally I would go for the latest & greatest, e.g. DDR5. But....
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I agree with Dan_D on the Aorus Pro DDR4, but it is still nonexistent in North America and Europe. I would already be running one if I could find it.

You could always grab a few cheaper 4800 DDR5 sticks until higher speeds are released, and then you could have a solid platform with a Z690 DDR5 board.
 
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