Gigabyte Z690 AORUS PRO : Not the prettiest but so GOOD!

[@NorthsideChamps16]

I love the look of the board. It doesn't scream gamer board in your face and the subdued RGB is nice And thanks to the high price of DDR5 And NewEgg forced bundles, I got one of these brand new for $163 on eBay.

[@xJADD]

amazing review. i couldnt decide between the asus prime z690-a and this aorus pro... And you gave me all the reasons i couldnt find in the rest of the internet of why i should take this one

[@okalsdi]

I love how you explain everything in detail and with pictures. Amazing

[@mmarsbarr]

Always love your reviews, thanks for putting in the time and effort to make these!

[@LEMON-xe3rx]

Man you are way to underrated

[@techgirl517]

I have those mainboard and i love it :D

[@swizzler8053]

Eagerly waiting for the follow up watercooled build mon ami. Keep up the great work.

[@realabpc1883]

*A few corrections:* You mentioned (@ 7:00) that the CPU-connected M.2 slot might eventually support PCie 5.0 "with speeds topping 128 gigabyte per second"; I think you meant "giga *bit* per second" (which, of course, would be 16 gigabytes), but *the lanes to that M.2 slot (at least on Alder Lake) are PCIe 4 anyway.* Also, you mention (@ 10:14) that there are "five 10-gigabit USB plugs including a type C" on the rear I/O; in fact, there are actually *four "10-gigabit USB plugs and one 20-gigabit* USB plug" on the rear I/O as the type C is a "USB 3 Gen 2×2" connector. Likewise, the internal type C header (mentioned @ 10:33 and called a "10-gigabit type C" is *also* a (20Gbps) USB 3 Gen 2×2 - (just wanted to set the record straight). Still, excellent job on the review!

[@IamRu]

Absolutely LOVE your videos and reviews. The only reviews over 5min that I actually watch. Great work. I'm busy with an i7 12700k build, but need your advice. What would you go for between: ASUS PRIME Z690-P D4 Gigabyte Z690 AORUS PRO TUF Gaming Z690-PLUS WiFi D4 All DDR4 options btw. Thanks in advance :)

[@mythbuster4315]

So what did u get? I'm in the same dilemma, I'm getting 12700kf

[@Fragil1ty]

I hope you got the pro as the other 2 boards listed here are cheap garbage.

[@SUTH_33]

aorus ftw 💯🎉

[@SUTH_33]

@@mythbuster4315 i choose aorus

[@brianhoward9217]

"The Rolls Royce of overclocking"? Well, maybe Laurent. But then, the day you review the ASUS Apex Z690, maybe you'll update that judgement . . . not that I am anywhere near an expert on overclocking :-) Granted, the Apex price is eye watering to say the least but nonetheless I eagerly anticipate your review of such. Great review today, thank you and up to your usual very high standard. Always refreshing in an ocean awash with YT mediocre reviews.

[@Laurentschoice]

Hi Brian!!!! :):) it really is s in contrast with its pricing :) At 330 usd , the over clocking abilities of this board is way being its pricing. The Apex will of course have serious arguments ... but at 600 dollars, will it be worth it? That's the all question.

[@DeusMachina71]

Huge headaches with this board.. My first board was defective out of the box with bent and broken socket pins, my second board did continuous random reboots. Spent a week reinstalling operating system, updating bios,, updating drivers, trying to detect any conflicts, running memtest, Intel cpu tests, stability tests, swapping memory sticks, remounting cpu checking power and cable connections.. turns out it was Speedshift which when I turned this off in the bios the system runs like the rock of Gibraltar.. Gigabyte tech support is extremely slow, I had to do all the work on a half baked motherboard that is still in beta and I definitely ended up an unpaid beta tester for this early adopter board. Not fun I certainly wouldn't recommend this to even an intermediate builder forget a beginner.. Sloppy quality control, snail mail style tech support and half baked bios.. I myself might not be buying anything from Gigabyte in the foreseeable future.

[@Semnyi]

Hi . Great video! I got a local business build my new gaming rig. he picked this board and i can see why. I am getting a DDR4 version.

[@denvonjooste2236]

Very good review. Thank you.💯 Which is better... Aorus Ultra or Aorus Pro?

[@sandman_7326]

What is the better board - GIGABYTE ATX Z690 AORUS LGA 1700 -- ULTRA or PRO ?

[@madworld.]

Not the pretiest but so good ! That's so me ! !😁😁😁 Nice review thanks 😊🇨🇵

[@psaroppouli]

Nice video...what is the air cooling you are using?

[@wilhelmaugustyn6040]

Hi, if the price for this board and the Z690 ROG STRIX - F is the same, which board will you buy and why, I can currently get them at the same price. Will be used primarily for gaming and 3D modeling with Finite Element Analysis.

[@nelsono4315]

excellent review. Thank You!

[@Deadliestz]

i'm having so much difficulty unscrewing those m.2 drive screws they are so hard to screw off???

[@Limburg92]

Love my z690 aorus ultra

[@1337Superfly]

Great review, as always, Laurent. Appreciated. I can not wait to see more Z690 reviews. Would perhaps the ASUS Hero be a review contender? I have been eyeing a ASUS Z690 Hero + 12600K/12700K combo.

[@Laurentschoice]

Its in the mail for my Christmas review !:)

[@1337Superfly]

@@Laurentschoice i bought the Hero, a 12700K, but DDR5 RAM is just nowhere to be found. So, i can only look at the boxes! 😅

[@tabasumcarpentry5336]

What if we compare Aours pro with MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi. Which one is better. And do u think NH-U 12A cooler is good for 12700k vs the NH-d15 CHROMAX THANK U

[@darkman237]

How does this integrated sound compare to a hardware card?

[@pblogic007]

Any idea what the difference is between the pro and the ultra?

[@mrq-]

Do you know how to enable wake on lan? I can't seem to find any relevant options in the BIOS

[@ogapadoga2]

I don't understand why there is no DDR4 version of this.

[@Laurentschoice]

The Z690 aorus élite is more or less the DDR4 version of this board

[@ogapadoga2]

@@Laurentschoice Thank you Laurent

[@REDMAN-X]

no rgb?

[@Patrik.Pereira]

i am a noob, but no m2 nvme?

[@ALMorfeas]

Great review. Since there is one audio jack out how can we connect x4 jacks from 7.1 speakers ? (front - rear - side - center +sub) = x4 jacks

[@tapptom]

Between the gigabyte site and this guys accent ???? Haha

[@Ab-ru1ew]

Can someone please tell me where you should install a single m2 ssd? Slot closest to the cpu or the ones below the gpu?

[@Laurentschoice]

Closest to the CPU

[@Ab-ru1ew]

@@Laurentschoice thx

[@bocarrell7881]

So, I don’t understand the whole wifi deal… does it have built in wifi or do I need an antenna or something to use it. It’s not the new “standard” you say, so is it gonna be slow? I just bought one of these off Amazon for my new build

[@Laurentschoice]

There Is an antenna

[@Laurentschoice]

Its going to run upto 2.4 gbs. Dinky not on the new 6ghz spectrum . Still plenty fast

[@bocarrell7881]

@@Laurentschoice Ty homie

[@multiicore_]

Does it have IOMMU support?

[@OldEastGermany]

I bought an Asus Prime Z690A with an Intel Core i9-12900K and Kingston FURY Beast DDR5 memory 16GB 6000MHz but unfortunately the board does not start, what did I do wrong?

[@basselmohamed1037]

Hey,Did you solve the problem?

[@T3kA123]

On m2 slot Samsung 980 pro is not touching heatsink , this is strange... I just oinstal drive and thinking now how to adjust this ...

[@Laurentschoice]

Ah... If u send me some pictures on my twitter DM I could try to help

[@tapptom]

Power phase of ddr4 same as ddr5?

[@Madnesschannel100]

Please review the MSI gaming edge z690 with ddr4, do all z690's support 13th gen or just this one?

[@SUTH_33]

all chipset z690 + pcie 5.0 will support 13th gen

[@p1st0ls44]

wow wow hold up. i got this board in my pc rn and i can say first hand the bios needs like a years worth of work...

[@Laurentschoice]

Can you develop a little? Everyone would benefit !

[@applemonkey7305]

Yep. Gigabyte boards are good but we all know the bios ain't.

[@p1st0ls44]

@@Laurentschoice after posting this comment i have decided my board itself may be the issue. I have been having problems booting in a timely manor even with xmp off. ethernet keeps disconnecting. windows 11 is extremely buggy and doesnt seem right. thumbnails are gone? something is not right. I will be returning it and swapping it for a new one. will update when i get that board! because i have faith its just my board being funny.

[@gibsnackgaming6087]

@@p1st0ls44 how's the new board?

[@multiicore_]

@@p1st0ls44 ?

[@HansGrub]

Why did you not review the Z690 Aorus Master?

[@Laurentschoice]

Ill publish it tomorrow

[@Laurentschoice]

Because I absolutely agree with you. I'll make sure it is out by the evening. No Z690 series can be over without the Master.

[@icarusgeo]

Thanks for the video. Does anyone know how to activate SPD Write on Aorus bios? I have a z690 Aorus Pro DDR5, and my Corsair Dominator RAM's RGB won't work unless I enable SPD Write on the bios, except the option is nowhere to be found...

[@jamesleahy3048]

Unfortunately if you check the specs the DisplayPort is 1.2 not 1.4. This is kind of strange to use this old standard on a topend product when today everything is 1.4

[@Laurentschoice]

Hi James I tested the DP. Despite showing 1.2 on the website, it is in fact 1.4 standard. Probably a typo while releasing the product I hope this helps

[@jamesleahy3048]

@@Laurentschoice Thank you so much for the personal reply Laurent! This made my day. I actually had my heart set on the Z690 AOURS Master but cancelled my order this morning when I noticed the DP1.2 spec listed. I will reorder now with confidence. I have noticed that Gigabyte must have made this mistake on all of their current Z690 series boards according to their website literature. I thought it must be a mistake and could not possibly be true that they would use DP1.2 when all the competition is using V1.4. Thank you again for your great channel. New subscriber!

[@thodoris_kou]

I'm between the Aorus Pro and the Master, what does the Master has to offer more than the Pro? (except beauty)

[@Laurentschoice]

I'm going to be brutally honest... nothing which will affect performances or super comfort. Absolutely nothing.

[@thodoris_kou]

@@Laurentschoice Thank you very much, this helped me a lot! After that, I'm going to grab my Aorus Pro for my new 12900K :)

[@darkman237]

Right now, the price is the same no matter where purchased.

[@JohnBeauchemin]

Disagree. I prefer understated boards. I don't need/want my PC to look like a night club.

[@Laurentschoice]

I wasn't so much talking about the RGB. More about the overall aesthetic. I can't quite put my finger on it. It's almost cheap looking even though it is not.

[@JohnBeauchemin]

@@Laurentschoice Well I can't speak for that, but I do like the color combination.

[@YA_OLD]

Temps vrm my z690 pro ddr5 54-57 without load.cpu 12600kf stock,bad board....

[@SimplyLewin]

Has anyone seen the DDR4 version of this in the wild? It would be great if it actually existed

[@Laurentschoice]

No ddr4 version for now

[@solrackai1]

Wow do I feel good now. I just picked this board because it was reduced I price.

[@bocarrell7881]

Yo, how’s the wifi? Is it built in or did you have to buy an adapter? I just bought this board for a new build im bouta start

[@Phoenix-sh2kv]

Msi mpg carbon z690 or gigabyte z690 arous pro?

[@zagoshah]

Or rog strix z690 f

[@TheEdmaster87]

Will it fit the Noctua DH-15 CPU fan?

[@Ghalion666]

I got both the mobo and the fan, hoping to get my cpu, which is the last part I need next week. If you reply then hopefully Ill notice it in alerts and can let you know.

[@ogapadoga2]

i think they purposely made this ugly so there is a reason to sell the Master and Xtreme.

[@davidjames4583]

Ah I'd rather go with the MSI Gaming Edge Wifi cause "size does matter " 🤣

[@waisign]

Can anyone confirm whether they can run this mobo on 64gb RAM of what brand? say the dominator platinum? thanks

[@Laurentschoice]

Yes for 64 gb

[@Laurentschoice]

Any corsair brand will work

[@waisign]

@@Laurentschoice thanks alot for replying on an past video! I hope the dominator works as there's literally none showing 64gb on the QVL list in the gigabyte support page nor the aorus page. i wonder which one is safer the 5200 or the 5600mhz. Thanks alot and good work!

[@Joachim21100]

Don't forget Gigabyte return policiy with their faulty PSUs. Never again Gigabyte!

[@Ab-ru1ew]

Their psu was build in the same factory as others from different brands. They just slap brand logos on most PSUs except maybe from Seasonic which they make their own.

[@luccaadamialbiani4183]

I acc dont think z690 aorus pro looks bad :(

[@sawsanali724]

💛💛💛💛

[@Whitefox1331]

I'm here

[@Laurentschoice]

yoooooh .. my main man!!!!!!

[@aRk0_aus]

I always go with Master, pro feels weird :D

[@Laurentschoice]

things is.... there are a lot of the MASTER features brought back to the PRO... and that's awesome!

[@NorthsideChamps16]

Master just has a few quality of life features you don't really need. They have the same VRMs and both boards have more than enough juice for any CPU. The Pro is the best price/performance option.

[@alexisdoux3107]

pretty french accent bro

[@Gamingtechgg]

you just vanished ;D

[@CorporalHitman]

First

[@REDMAN-X]

no rgb?