Intel Z690 Motherboard Round-Up (for 12900K, 12700K, & 12600K Alder Lake CPUs)

[@GamersNexus]

Quick correction: The board shown at around 21:00 is the Z690-G, which is micro-ATX. Sorry for the error on mixing up the two boards. The Z690-I is the mini-ITX variant. Watch our Intel i9-12900K CPU review here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJmsaqeChMxgbKs Watch our Intel i7-12700K CPU review here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eGKXmWVrm7CAprs MODMATS ARE BACK IN STOCK AND SHIPPING NOW! If you've wanted one, this is your chance! store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat-volt-large Or grab our BRAND NEW Red & Black HUD-themed mouse mat: store.gamersnexus.net/products/gn-red-black-hud-mouse-mat

[@MXF5700]

yup. I wish you have covered the actual Z690-I board because there are several issues regarding the "GC-Z690I BTB PLUG" daughter board and NVME drive compatibility with the additional EXT_PWR molex power cable.

[@pavlosconstantinou9236]

I think you left back Asrock Extreme. THAT is VFM.

[@abdullahmostafa6602]

Anyone know when the MSI MEG Z690I will be released? Seems like the best out there but can't find anything else about it aside from MSI's site

[@MrMolchester]

Came to the comments just to let you know that. Nice catch!

[@vladimirljubopytnov5193]

Im just wondering, why didnt you include this price hike into the 2021 cpu evaluation. They just moved $100+ off the cpu to look good, but you got to pay it anyway :/. Or is it the pcie5 pcb? its not the ddr5, the price diff d4 vs d5 is negligible.. unless intel mandates that difference to be small to support ddr5 adoption.

[@thetalesofdaneandco]

Thank you for including the USB speed in its title when saying USB2 or whatever. They obfuscated the hell of out of the naming scheme, so I appreciate the added clarity.

[@GamersNexus]

We need that same clarity!

[@thetalesofdaneandco]

@@GamersNexus Could we get the same treatment for HDMI and other standards since HDMI 2.0 is now a poorly renamed substandard of 2.1?

[@eukariootti1]

Nonsense, it's very clear. For example, USB 3.1 means same as USB 3.2 Gen 2 or USB 3.2 Gen 2x1, i.e. SuperSpeed+. Just don't mix those with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 or USB 3.2 Gen 1x2. Which both are also SuperSpeed+, since that lable doesn't actually refer to any specific speed, just a vague speed class above SuperSpeed. Similarly, USB 3.0 is same as USB 3.2 Gen 1, i.e. SuperSpeed. Somewhat confusing might be that USB 2.0 High Speed is much faster than USB 2.0 Full Speed, which has the exact same speed as USB 1.0 Full Speed. Luckily, we will soon get USB4 Gen 3×2, USB4 Gen 2×2, USB4 Gen 3×1 and USB4 Gen 2×1. That will clarify things even more, as long as people don't start using overly simplified names like "USB4 10Gbps". At least connectors are very clear. There's just USB-A, USB-B and USB-C. And couple of mini- and micro versions of them. Some USB-connectors have all the pins connected to a wire, while others don't (power only, data only or both). To avoid extraneous clarity, this is never told on the connector itself. Besides, who wouldn't always carry a DMM with continuity measurement + a table about all USB pins.

[@GewelReal]

@@eukariootti1 but why change the stupidly simple previous system of "USB 3.0", "3.1" and "3.2"?

[@northwiebesick7136]

@@GewelReal lol... I think he's making a joke... Of course they're already working on USB 4.0 from what I understand, so we'll have to see if the same joke continues or not, down the line...

[@vladg12]

Sigh. I remember getting all the debug features on sub $200 boards. I'm still using a Z87x (Haswell era) $160 board and it has power, reset and bios clear buttons, 7 segment display, status LEDs, probe points for all power rails, Bios easy-flash, dual-bios... pretty much everything you'd need. Now that kind of stuff is creeping on $500 apparently..

[@GamersNexus]

Glad someone remembers this!

[@keeperofthegood]

Sadly this is where Intel has jumped the shark. Their pricing is for Paris Hilton and associated board members, and not the hotel room renters that made them who they are.

[@marceldiezasch6192]

@@keeperofthegood That's not Intel's fault, what they control is the cost of the chipset and that has only increased by a single digit dollar amount.

[@eukariootti1]

That's true, although ~19 % inflation has happened since 2013 ($ in USA). Many of those things are relatively cheap, even when a random consumer buys just one of them. So, when a company buys lots and lots of Basic buttons etc., they can't be that expensive. Even when extra soldering (by a machine) etc. is included. On the other hand, todays VRM's have to be much beefier. There's often also Wi-Fi 6E and BT 5.x. Perhaps couple of 10 and 20 Gbps USB's, Thunderbolt etc. Your old board propably didn't have 8-layer PCB. And it sure didn't have to support *63GB/s* PCIe 5.0 x16 (PCIEX16_1) and *8GB/s* PCIe 4.0 x4 (M.2_1) straight to the CPU. Plus several PCIe 4.0 Lanes via the Chipset (other M.2's, PCIEX16_3, ...). That's hell of a lot more demanding, what comes to signaling (vs. PCIe 3.0 and 2.0). Z690's Chipset Link is *16 GB/s* vs. 8GB/s of B660, Z590 and X570. Or 4GB/s for Z490 and B550. Or mere 2 GB/s for H310. Of course, for most Gamers "semi-HEDT" things like that don't really matter. At least not yet. And in 5 years time that board might be either broken or some way outdated (new CPU Socket is needed, DDR6, USB 7.8.197 Gen 4c 7x2y5z8 Mk II+...).

[@mynameisciko4885]

I still use msi Z77 motherboard with i5 3570k still running good after many years

[@Rosco879]

Was about to go bed, then this posted "30 seconds ago", i'm staying up!

[@GamersNexus]

You can always watch later! Don't be sleep-deprived just because of us!

[@xuyukun123]

@@GamersNexus Steve guiding others to a treasure he can't possess: sleep

[@Ligby]

Only GN gets the green light after midnight

[@Chuzo1946]

Oh yeeeaaa? Good for you

[@hotsecksi]

The ITX board is mistakenly the Z690-G ASUS board rather than the Z690-I

[@GamersNexus]

Sorry about that - thank you for noting that. Updated the pinned/top comment and the description.

[@NextEevolution]

Really felt like "Best Value Z690" was an oxymoron and seeing Steve's face during that transition validated that lol

[@GamersNexus]

hahaha

[@mecronmancer7958]

Perfect timing GN. We should all wait for CES 2022 to see if new Z690 mobos come out, and to see what AMD has cooking for us.

[@GamersNexus]

Hopefully Intel has something as well! Their B-series boards are normally at least a little bit cheaper, and the non-K CPUs would help round things out price-wise.

[@mecronmancer7958]

@@GamersNexus Yeah I'm currently in the running for a good ITX mobo to pair with a 12600K. Hopefully we will get more choices than the ones on the market presently.

[@DaftFader]

If you try and buy a ddr5 version, you'll be forced to wait till 2022 anyway because the ram will be OOS till then. 😂 I bought all my new PC components on black friday in Nov... The ram dooesn't come in till Jan14th (originally it was suposed to arrive a week or two into decemmber, but they pushed it back over a month) .... And since then the CPU, Mobo, Case, and the stupid little antistatic clip I paid for, all went out of stock aswell.... I'm fuming! 😞 But at least they have GFX cards I guess.... Not that I have anything to plug it into. 😭

[@reinhardtwilhelm5415]

@@GamersNexus The B660 pricing genuinely looks like garbage, honestly. If they’re going to charge $150-200 for every decent board, they could at least allow CPU overclocking.

[@00_UU]

@@GamersNexus when are you going to review new non-K CPU's? I will be buying a new i5 CPU, just curious about their actual TDP/real world thermals.

[@iluvMCRsupercool]

You know I just have to say, as someone who just finds computers really cool and people who have incredible knowledge of them really cool too, I appreciate these videos so freaking much. They help me learn more about something I find so amazing and make me feel like I can do it too if that makes sense. I love that you guys with such incredible knowledge take the time, energy and expenses to share this with us all so that we can get the best stuff out there and also learn something while we're at it!

[@peterwroberts]

Just wanted to say, since it was the sponsored ad, I got the Silent Base 802 after watching loads of your reviews and have no regrets 👍

[@brobanmanx2]

I love waking up to steves videos and when he expresses his distaste for the current way the pc component market is right now.

[@Paul_Sleeping]

Microcenter had an excellent price for 12700k at $300, but I passed due precisely to the cost of the motherboard. Not going to spend that much, especially when I'll be replacing it for a DDR5 mobo down the road. It was a tough decision, but I felt much better using the money to buy an EVGA rtx3080 last week that I had been waiting for a whole year.

[@GamersNexus]

Wow! $300 is a great price, though. But yes, you'd basically be using that sale benefit to subsidize the motherboard.

[@Paul_Sleeping]

@@GamersNexus Yep, it was a great price. MC had it for a week that started on the 15th and ended yesterday I think.

[@imswyft4144]

Im bought the 12600k for that price I may be returning it and buying that one

[@LiveType]

$300 is a stupidly good deal for a 12700k, but I do agree. Cheaper alderlake compatible boards straight up don't exist and I'm guessing won't exist due to the signalling requirements. Cheaper mobos won't be capable of the higher frequencies but they'll still charge you for it. I recently acquired one of those super rare msrp 3060s after waiting for basically the entire year and am excited to finally build an ultra compact itx system. Just need to find a good deal on the psu, cables, and cpu/mobo. So expensive man. So expensive. Would have literally been cheaper to buy that stuff 2 years ago, but hey the times be changing. Maybe I'll pick up a zen 4 system if it's not a another massive overall system price hike.

[@tradcatpat2385]

@@imswyft4144 Do it if you can. I returned my 12600K ( a great chip in its own right) and got a 12700K and the difference those 2 additional P cores (same number as the 12900K) make is noticeable.

[@rgracon]

Very disappointed with the ITX offerings at this point -- fraught with being unable to fit coolers, and the Aorus board's reviews are atrocious for compatibility and just outright functioning (but the asus board is $450 or more, plus the DDR5 "tax" and lack)... I desperately want to get into ITX with an open air build, but it's a massive "hurry up and wait"

[@GamersNexus]

Agreed! Hoping more comes out with January's news.

[@GeorgeWPush]

How do you know they wont fit coolers? Did I miss that part of the video?

[@rgracon]

@@GeorgeWPush He didn’t mention it, but I’ve been trying to figure a lot of it out over the past few weeks. I’ve seen a lot of complaints of the area of the CPU socket being a bit narrow, combined with taller height of M.2 and VRM heatsinks. So AIO hoses must come out vertically, instead of horizontally. Additionally, the usual ITX concerns of RAM clearance for air coolers, but also the taller VRM’s and M.2’s… Basically, a lot of tight fits or no-go’s

[@jesseporter4670]

@@rgracon In case you haven't found this yet - I'm using the Gigabyte board for my NR200 build, with 2 sticks of Crucial Ballistix and my Elite Capellix H100i fit without issue. seemed like a reasonable amount of room to spare as well

[@svn5994]

@@GeorgeWPush Countless ITX community members have been struggling to make coolers fit.

[@thrashstronaut]

Really like my Asus prime D4/12600k combo. Sensible board, not flashy but has solid performance for the price, only thing lacking is the rear io is a bit stingy with USB type A.

[@JennarallyOut]

Is that the $220 board they showed here ?

[@thrashstronaut]

@@JennarallyOut yes

[@stance1x]

would this work for a 12700kf?

[@Avantime]

I'm a bit surprised that you missed another big category: "Best DDR4 motherboard". DDR5 is impossible to find right now.

[@dstark384]

I appreciate that you included the TLDR within the first 3 minutes, I still watched the whole video for the info and entertainment value.

[@goloth]

8:35 The Asus board also has heat sink mounting holes for the previous gen bracket, which is a huge bonus considering how hard it is to get an adapter, if the manufacturer even makes one for your model. Seems like a pretty big physical difference to me. Especially when looking at the most budget board options.

[@1SaG]

As much as I'm tempted to go DDR5, with all the rising costs of a decent gaming-build these days, I kinda feel that going DDR4 right now is one of the easiest ways to save some cash.

[@carbine781]

Same here, but I think I'm going to stick with DDR4 because by the time I upgrade in a few years from now, DDR5 will run better and be a lot cheaper, so its not like I would be reusing the DDR5 I buy today.

[@UItEnthusiast]

Just came here from a fairly old GN video. The difference in the quality of the intro animation is astonishing!

[@GamersNexus]

Thank you! Andrew worked hard on that. Really love the new render quality.

[@UItEnthusiast]

@@GamersNexus It definitely shows! Love seeing how GN has evolved over the years.

[@lachlanswadling9191]

I love the background of the new studio!

[@GamersNexus]

Thank you!

[@hovant6666]

the unify series is always excellent, I had been torn for a long time b/w the B550 and X570 Unify and the Dark Hero, although I went with the later solely because of all of the USB ports, which I need

[@BAJF93]

I bought a brand new Z170 OC Formula for around $250 back in the days. Basically as high as you could reasonably go for OC. Not to mention with some modding you can put a 9900K in it. Now I'd have to spend twice as much.

[@seanjohn7802]

I am loving my ROG STRIX Z690-A. It was $330 at Microcenter and the 12700k was $299. Upgraded from an 8700k and got more back for the old CPU/Mobo on eBay than I thought I would.

[@snowhawk4049]

Crazy, I bought 3-4 years ago a top of the line X370 board with basically every feature you want for oc (postcode, good VRM, dual bios, dual ethernet, even freaking SLI support) at MSRP for around $200. Now you would get for the same money close to nothing. I wonder if the motherboard manufacturers are making bank or if the Intel Z690 chipset is just so expensive. Basically selling the CPUs for less and having a higher margin on the chipset.

[@ivanbrasla]

Lol, X370 vrms were not that good, even the top ones. And they were pcie 3.0

[@RafitoOoO]

Intel chipsets are probably way more expensive. Even in past generations Z490 and Z590 the difference in price to features with AM4 boards is insane. That's also why OEMs build proprietary boards.

[@RafitoOoO]

@@ivanbrasla Z490 was released a year ago and it was also pcie 3.0 and it was expensive af. I don't see how that counters anything OP said.

[@joshuagawain9111]

Thank you so very much for posting this video. It means a lot. May all of the GN staff have a wonderful holiday.

[@gtijason7853]

MSI Z690-A Pro D4 is one of the better memory overclocking boards if you can imagine that The rest of their D4 linup is similar though I've seen some people having problems with their top D4 board the Edge wifi Asus imo is winning at D4 mem OC. Strix-A and TUF boards are solid all around and they have 1 MAJOR advantage . . . And that's the living legend Peter aka "Shamino_1978" actively working on D4 and D5 optimizations for specific IC/1DPC/2DPC/Rank setups Gigabyte mem OC was 100% broken at launch but is slowly improving And ASRock, well Asrock might have a D4 board but if they do no one bought it and no one is working on it either If you want Asrock wait and buy the Aqua OC 2dimm D5 board if/when available since Nick Shih's magic hands have been tweaking that board EVGA Dark is looking strong as always but again good luck finding SR Hynix dimms because that's the only IC competing with D4

[@Scuurpro]

I had lots of issues with my Tuf with 4x8 on the msi a pro have them running great. C15 17 17 36 1t 44ns 4000mhz. Was going to buy 2by16 but ill just wait for ddr5.

[@gtijason7853]

@@Scuurpro 4 x 8gb on TUF and Strix is very bios version dependent

[@mars.unreal]

"Gigabyte mem OC was 100% broken at launch but is slowly improving" DO you know how it looks now? Im interested in buying the GIGABYTE Z690 GAMING X DDR4.

[@jtland4842]

I would like to give some additional context to these recommendations and the boards in general. The MSI Z690-A Pro DDR4 is all you will need for the vast majority of people. I promise you will be limited by your CPU cooler far before the motherboard VRM reaches dangerous temperatures. Unless you have 420mm AIO or bigger, you will be worrying about CPU temperatures not VRM even with a 12900K. If you have 12600K or 12700K and your pc is in a case with at least ok airflow, you can overclock these chips to their limits before getting VRM temperatures even remotely close to dangerous temperatures. Basically all Z690 motherboards have extremely overkill VRMs just because the 12900K pulls so much power.

[@GamersNexus]

And if it wasn't clear from the times we said it, when we say "XOC" or "Extreme Overclocking" in reference to the very high-end boards, we mean with liquid nitrogen -- not normal coolers.

[@mikhailshi]

Z690-A Pro is ugly so it must be avoided

[@DGao-zz5vq]

There’s also the AVX-512 debacle. Previous Intel CPUs drew an enormous amount of power when running AVX-512 loads, and Alder Lake was initially planned with AVX-512 support with Gracemonts disabled. Motherboard manufacturers might have over provisioned with that in mind, before Intel pulled AVX-512 support at the last minute.

[@eukariootti1]

@@DGao-zz5vq In practice, Alder Lake does have AVX-512 (with P-cores only). See Anandtech, for example.

[@jtland4842]

@@GamersNexus I was responding to what you said during the Best Value section where you said that is still limited in terms of overclocking and doesn't have a very good VRM. I was trying to commnicate points from the video about Z690 boards Buildzoid posted a little bit ago.

[@sladernom]

Been waiting on a mobo video from GN, nice! Was hoping you guys would go over the Z690 Aorus Elite AX, since that's what I've personally been considering, but I appreciate the video regardless :)

[@MCSsoccer13]

I’ve got that board, and it’s worked well for me so far!

[@CLAJSAIDAKLS]

Just an update to the video: For people looking for a less expensive motherboard without a wifi, asus prime z690-a is recommended as it has ddr5 ram pcie gen4 compatibility, tonnes of usb 3.2 gen2 and gen2.2 and also usb type c of both gen at tue back with digital audio out. The win win for me is 16+1 drmos so at least 12700k should not have any issues sucking huge power. Also has at least 4 pcie slota onboard (only 1 is gen4) with heat sink for 3 of them and also 2 pump headers and connectors for the asus aura sync rgb. Price < $300. Hope this helps.

[@Gianniz27]

Until price of DDR5 drops, makes no sense. Like all D5 boards.

[@ChaitanyaShukla2503]

whenever AMD comes out with AM5 expect board pricing to be similarly astronomical for their X series of chipsets.

[@hardcorehardware361]

Yea I agree with you there mate, I'm expecting a significant jump in price.

[@Femerenden]

With a wierdly less or misplaced feature set. Somehow motherboard manufacturers go a little ham on Intel boards and lax on AMD motherboards.

[@hardcorehardware361]

@@Femerenden After the 990FX Bulldozer situation board partners didn't really have much faith in AMD so they never released super high end boards with top line features. After Ryzens release AMD did very well in sails so now board partners are releasing decent boards, AMD was first to PCIE4.0 as an example.

[@Aizazell]

In my humble opinion, this is the best channel on youtube for computer components and builds. Thank you. That being said I am still running my Cosmos 2 case, Asus sabretooth board, AMD pile driver 8 core CPU, 2 - Asus Radeon 7850s, and a corsair water cooler. It works just fine and I still rock out on ARMA 3, lol....first of the Year, I'm looking to build a new computer. Im looking at: Asus Z690 Maximus Hero DDR 5 motherboard, Intel i7 13700K CPU, Nvidia 4090 GPU, still keeping the CoolerMaster Cosmos 2 case............That being said I believe I will have enough room for anything.... what's your thoughts on a great water cooler brand type etc. and does MSI stack up on quality against Asus on motherboards, and what MSI board woud you look at using if they do.?? Thank you.

[@TristanTormey]

Love a reviewer who can say at the end "or you can just keep your money and feel more secure." But coming from an i7 4790k with ddr3 1800Mhz I'm sure a 12700k and ddr4 3600Mhz should last me another 5 years comfortably. Honestly finally something worth upgrading for the intel people. Almost bought AMD lol

[@sgtsavage4991]

I'm thinking the same coming from a 4770k going to be a big jump and ddr4 is beating ddr5 in most stuff

[@patsy02]

No reason to be an "intel person" or "amd person" for that matter

[@mitlanderson]

I've got an x58 motherboard with a first gen Core i7 990X. That cpu was probably the first consumer 6c/12t chip on the market, and it cost $1200 brand new, and was considered HEDT at the time lol. I picked it up for $135 last year, as an upgrade from my i7 920. Have it paired with a 1070ti, but I got my hands on a 3080 so I got an x570 build in the works too.

[@cyphaborg6598]

Same here my 6700k is being pushed to the max in more recent games.

[@christiannielsen8733]

I had originally ordered the Aorus Master since that seemed like the most "reasonably" priced higher end boards in terms of the features you get and I've been quite happy with my Z390 Aorus Master running a 9900KS. Alas, DDR5 was nowhere to be found, so cancelled that and got an ASUS ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WiFi D4 on sale. With the 100 euro cash-back promotion on top of that, I ended up paying what amounts to $190 before VAT and at that price, it's a quite good board to be honest. It handles my 12900K like a champ and when it comes to overclocking, the limit seems to be the 420mm Arctic Freezer 2 AIO and/or the silicon itself, not the motherboard. The 12900K feels like it's already factory overclocked close to the limit from the start and thus there's little reason to go big on the Motherboard if you don't also have a good custom loop to keep it from melting under maxed out multicore loads.

[@nickbarns5589]

this actually helped me so much! Have the same 390 mobs rn and was looking for a 12900k hobo to upgrade soon! My only concern was OC so if that board handles it well then its a no brainer!

[@zarno5856]

You utilizing that 9900KS for anything in the future? I've been looking for one at a decent price, but their all either still in use or jacked on Ebay. Currently running a 8700k and wanted an easy upgrade.

[@AdaaDK]

This is my conclution as well, i did nearly the same, went with a z690 tuf gaming D4 + a 12600k on black friday sales, so around 445usd before vat but after the 70 Euro mail-in-rebate via Asus(Eu) for both board and cpu. not to bad of a deal considering the outrages normal prices they are asking imo.

[@neoqueto]

Is the partnership with Buildzoid over? I wonder if he'll ever be featured on the channel again...

[@williampinnock2256]

Very happy with my MSI Z690 MPG Force. I don't like the bios as much as ASUS, which I'm more used to, but I had an ASUS Prime-A which I had to send back due to instability, inability to hold RAM XMP, and then total failure to boot to OS after flashing the bios, again, and again, and back, and forth. I bought direct from ASUS online store, and they were utterly obstructive and incompetent in replying to emails, never again. Thanks MSI for a far smoother experience.

[@jtland4842]

I am surprised that Buildzoid didn't do this video, I am interested to see the difference in style.

[@shadow-reign2274]

Love you Steve and Gamers Nexus and I have been watching for years but IDC but bring Buildzoid back.

[@MBimmer]

Thanks GN for this round up, the 12th generation videos and best of 2021 cases. New build is complete. Went for MSI edge wifi (DDR4) a couple of weeks which I guess is equivalent to the MSI Carbon (DDR5). Its home is corsair 4000d airflow with the Noctua NH-U12a chromax black…GPU? Holding onto my dear Asus ROG Strix RTX2080 TI OC until RTX 4xxx is released and hopefully “available” on shelves one day. Cheers 🍻

[@amdreallyfast]

I'm interested in the value provided by the ASUS auto overclocking feature for 12th gen Intel CPUs. Yeah, the motherboard is expensive with all the overclocking features, but the reputation that I've heard is that ASUS' auto overclocking is really good out of the box. If so, then that puts these ASUS motherboards in the "I just need it to work" category, albeit a more extreme version.

[@spyderlogan4992]

As for me, I'm staying away from all these MSI motherboards until the BIOS issues are resolved, or at least stabilized. The MSI Forum is filled with complaints.

[@spectrevector1115]

I'm in the middle of installing my Z690 Prime and i9 12900k. I'm so excited.

[@ewenchan1239]

Just as a head's up for those that might be looking to run Linux - SOME of the kernels/distros does NOT have a working kernel module for the Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE NIC that's found, for example, on the MSI Z690 Pro A DDR4. As a result of that, you will NOT have network access and Intel's own website does NOT have a Linux driver for it. Conversely, the Realtek RTL8125 that the Asus Z690 Prime-P D4 uses - you CAN find a driver for that online so you can put the driver onto a USB drive and install that onto your Linux system. I recently ran into this issue with the Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE NIC, so for those that might need this information, please take note. This note only applies to Linux. (`igc` works in the 5.15.11 kernel (that I have personally tested myself).) If you're running Windows, then you don't need to worry about this.

[@user-ph1ob6nj7i]

To clarify, are you saying that the MSI Z690 Pro A DDR4 is not compatible with Linux? Is that rare? If I am looking for a motherboard, how can I check if it is compatible with Linux? Thank you!

[@ewenchan1239]

@@user-ph1ob6nj7i "To clarify, are you saying that the MSI Z690 Pro A DDR4 is not compatible with Linux?" Short answer: No, not exactly. The motherboard that I have is an Asus Z690 Prime-P D4 which uses the same Realtek RTL8125 2.5 Gbe NIC, and I DO have it up and running with CentOS 7.7.1908 with the 3.10.0.-1127-el7.x86_64 kernel, so it DOES work. However, there were times when I would still get a kernel panic due to the incompatibility with the Realtek 8125 2.5 GbE onboard NIC from the Asus Z690 Prime-P D4 board because of the r8125 module that I have installed and MOST of the time it works. (But there are also times when it has caused a kernel panic as well, and I haven't been able to systematically test when it will do so in any sort of consistent manner.) So for now, I've just installed an Intel Desktop CT Gigabit NIC in the system to try and get the system to be a bit more stable and to try and not have issues with the Realtek RTL8125. Your mileage may vary (depending on which distro and kernel you're using). But what I was saying was that the MSI Pro Z690 A - the motherboard that's talked about here - it uses the Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE NIC, and in CentOS (on my AMD X570 TUF Gaming WiFi Pro motherboard for my AMD Ryzen 9 5950X), said Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE does NOT have a driver for said Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE NIC, FROM INTEL. I did manage to find a driver on github (torvalds/linux/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/igc), and I think that I was able to download that, compile it, and got it going. (I honestly don't remember now). I don't remember if the igc kernel module for the Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE NIC came with the 5.14.15 kernel or if I downloaded it from GitHub and compiled it. So, my point is that you CAN get it to work -- it isn't that it doesn't work, but the Linux driver for the Intel I225-V 2.5 GbE NIC that's on the MSI Z690 Pro A doesn't come directly from Intel. So, hopefully, that helps answer your question. Thanks.

[@user-ph1ob6nj7i]

@@ewenchan1239 I see. Thank you very much for the clarification.

[@ewenchan1239]

@@user-ph1ob6nj7i No problem. Sorry about the confusion. Thanks.

[@SenatorBanana]

Awesome. Have literally put the brakes on building a new rig until you guys put something like this out. TY GN.

[@heretustay]

would love to see some buildzoid videos going over these motherboards and their features a little more in depth!

[@blazingliger2246]

He's got a few videos about a lot of the boards on his channel, though it's feature overviews rather than PCB breakdowns.

[@Dying2play12]

SO happy after seeing this, and your review of the 12700KF cpu that this motherboard is in my new PC otw, paired with the i7-12700KF, RTX 3070, 16GB G Skill TridentZ RAM, 240mm AIO Liquid Cooler, 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD and a 700W GOLD rated psu... If you're curious, I have the ABS Gladiator build from Newegg coming. In transit as we speak. Regardless of any negative reviews from Newegg, or the ABS series Prebuilts, I've already gotten an ABS system in the past, was their Challenger model i5-10400f/GTX 1660 Super system and it has been perfect since day 1. Runs everything beautifully in 1080p and has never had a single issue. Looking for a good, decently priced Prebuilt that ACTUALLY has the GPU's in stock and installed, check it out.

[@Edvardas96]

Paired my 12900K with the MSI Z690-A Pro and it's great, all P cores 5.2GHz, no issues.

[@truehog]

I have the same board but replacing it with the Aorus Master Z690 DDR5. The 12900k and 3080 TI just need more juice but otherwise I thought the MSI Z690-A Pro was decent if you don't want to overclock anything.

[@pcgamerzzzchannel3407]

@@truehog did you notice a difference between a cheaper z690 board and the aorus master z690 ddr5, im also considering to replace it for the aorus master ddr5 because i went for the gigabyte z690 ud ddr5 to pair it with the 12900k and G.Skill 32 GB DDR5-6000 Kit , is it worth to spend some extra cash?

[@truehog]

@@pcgamerzzzchannel3407 Yes, the Z690 Master DDR5 provided much better cooling temps and overclocking power compared to the cheap MSI Z690 DDR4. I didn’t enjoy the price difference but I’m glad I upgraded.

[@stevekjr9563]

Depending on when you filmed this, the MSI Z690 Unify came out just last week (Dec12 of 2021), and I received mine on Monday, Dec20.

[@AliasAlias-nm9df]

I am genuinely surprised the PS2 slot is still available. When was the last time a mouse released with a PS2 connector?

[@dhjohns1956]

I was going to post the same observation. That connector is useless.

[@llamaiyama_295]

​@@b.hack1394 For the E-sports pros: This is mostly woo-woo. I'm very interested in USB keyboard latency, build my own boards, and have built a custom test rig that triggers keypresses electronically and measures latency to the keyboard MCU and the USB stack of a host OS it's connected to. USB is plenty fast for E-sports, IF it's configured correctly on both the keyboard microcontroller and OS. With custom firmware and ensuring OS selects 1000Hz polling I can easily achieve less than 2ms latency on USB, which is only at most 1ms extra over the keyboard microcontroller detecting the keypress. For perspective, most debouncing is in the 5-10ms range. IE: the physical switch hardware is slower. I haven't actually measured PS/2 latency (I should though), but even with interrupts it's unlikely to be much faster before the OS itself recognizes the input. In fact, it's likely to be slower because most commercial keyboard microcontrollers suck. I've found a lot of commercial USB boards, even 'gaming' ones, poll at 125Hz which easily bumps that up to 10-20ms latency. The fastest 'Gaming' keyboard I've tested only gets as low as 10ms. Gamer lights can actually be a huge detriment here. Boards with lots of gamer lights often waste key scan time to blink pretty lights and can be worse than non-gamer boards. So I'd posit that the advantage of PS/2 for latency isn't the interrupt nature, but rather you don't need to worry about the OS running your USB stack at the wrong poll rate, bad keyboard firmware with a shitty USB stack, or gamer lights taking up precious scan time.

[@petergplus6667]

If I want thunderbolt 4, which is one the only reasons for Intel, there's not a lot of choice. As well as 10G LAN which should be standard at this price bracket.

[@KindOldRaven]

I would love to build an Intel build again (I tend to ''mix it up'' between AMD and Intel) but these motherboards are way, way too pricey. Especially with DDR5 not being available/affordable either. I'm gonna stick to the good ol AM4 for a while longer.

[@green_block]

Alder Lake beats Ryzen with both DDR4 and 5. DDR5 is not a requirement.

[@raadraad]

In case you guys aren't aware, the IMC on the 12900K is pushing DDR4 to 4000+ in Gear 1 (depending on Dual Rank vs Single Rank and other factors plus silicon lottery). That's faster and cheaper than most DDR5 kits out now. And only some boards actually cooperate with that (and none of the ones by Gigabyte which is notorious for terrible memory performance). Those boards are now all sold out everywhere because the demand skyrocketed. The DDR5 boards are in plentiful supply because people aren't buying them because DDR4 is performing better and DDR5 is expensive and hard to find.

[@neonspark707]

I had to return my Maximus Hero after not being able to find DDR5 for it. Had to go for a Strix DDR4 model. The situation with DDR5 is outright ludicrous.

[@CamOffLife]

Just built a new PC and just wanted some opinions on my specs; Case - Lian Li O11 Air Dynamic Mobo - MSI Pro Z690-A DDR4 CPU - Intel i7 12700KF GPU - Nvidia RTX 3070 FTW3 Ultra PSU - Corsair RM1000X RAM - 4x8 32 GB 3200MHz ADATA XPG Z1 Cooling - DEEPCOOL Castle 360EX Liquid AIO Storage - 1 TB Samsung 980 Pro SSD / 2TB Seagate HDD Appreciate any opinions or advice, I do wanna upgrade the RAM at some point to 2x16 GB. Thanks in advance and great video GN!

[@JJKK408]

Today I won the opportunity to overpay for DDR5 Memory from Newegg. It was the last part I needed. Honestly I feel like I overpaid for every part of the build except for the Fractal Focus G case that I paid $40 for. Now I just need to wait for the ram to show up so I can boot it up and hopefully feel better about it.

[@Hafk]

That case for 40 bucks is a damn good deal , bought it for fifty a few years ago and its served me well

[@aj-ge7on]

JJ update?

[@JJKK408]

@@aj-ge7on Still not happy about what I paid, but the RAM worked without any problems and I've got a PC that keep's up with the game I play at 1440p. Looking at what's currently available, I'd still say DDR5 is not ready yet.

[@aj-ge7on]

@@JJKK408 is DDR5 better than DDR4 overall right now though?

[@JJKK408]

@@aj-ge7on Overall? No I don't think so, and especially not for gaming. The timings have not caught up with what's available for DDR4 right now, and DDR4 is way cheaper.

[@SakiJura]

Quite surprised the GigaByte Z690 Gaming X motherboard wasn't mentioned this time around (but it was displayed upfront). This was pretty much your main recommendation a couple of weeks/months ago.

[@multi21racing]

I used this board a few days. Immediately ordered the MSI Z690 A Pro whatever D4 because it took AGES for it to POST. Disabling everything I didn't need like SATA helped a bit but mainly it seems like it got stuck in the VGA detection (EVGA Xc3 3080) . Sometimes it was acceptable but sometimes it took so long I was close to resetting the PC. With the MSI board the whole boot sequence to Windows is way faster than the VGA detection on the Gigabyte.

[@blazingliger2246]

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts about the Asus Prime Z690-A. After deciding on an Asus (as I didn't want to give money to MSI or Gigabyte and I'd had a good experience with my last Asus board), I found the Prime Z690-A to be the sweet spot, at least for me personally, in terms of price/feature set.

[@Neerie79]

I just ordered an msi Pro z690-a wifi DDR4/i5-12600kf (because I'll use the GPU I recently upgraded to anyway...), and 2x16GB ram, an upgrade from an Intel P8Z77-VPro / i5-3570k (4xGB) which served me well for 10 years. A worthy upgrade, will find a use for the old motherboard/cpu because it's still reliable.

[@Prophes0r]

We should recognize that there is a problem when "high spec" desktop PC components cost the same as server components. Why would I buy a Z690 when I could buy EPYC instead?

[@gmodib]

I bought a Z690 Board. The MSI Edge Wifi DDR4 rather than the MSI Carbon Wifi. The reason for this decision was that DDR5 was either unavailable, or cost $1000 for 16GB. So I went with what was available. Id prefer to have gone with DDR5, but no affiliate or showcase links actually worked to DDR5 either.

[@casetenv]

I’m thinking about getting MSI Carbon Wi-Fi it’s now $350. The DDR5 I would get with it cost $320 for 32GB. Was also considering the MSI Edge Wi-Fi because it’s $280 it would cost $135 if I got new 32GB. So my question is if you would go back in time and say it is the price it was now would you get the MSI Carbon or are you satisfied with the MSI Edge? I can’t find anyone comparing the both of them. I’m thinking about getting MSI Carbon Wi-Fi it’s now $350. The DDR5 I would get with it cost $320 for 32GB. Was also considering the MSI Edge Wi-Fi because it’s $280 it would cost

[@stuartlunsford7556]

Oh no! Did Steve finally kill Buildzoid?? That makes me a sad panda.

[@davidr2769]

Was "legion" and "scourge" a warcraft reference???? Unlikely lol. Thank you for your awesome videos. I'll be in the corner

[@MayaPosch]

I'm so old that I remember when 65 Euro mainboards were a thing, and they were actually decent. Those days are well and truly past, I guess...

[@ibtarnine]

You guys need to address memory overclocking support with these lower end boards. Gigabyte boards are still having issues even hitting XMP timings on very good 3600mt/s sticks and there is no word if Gigabyte will address these issues with a BIOS update. I wouldn't recommend a DDR4 Gigabyte board to anyone at this point, even if they aren't interested in memory overclocking. The MSI boards on the other hand are doing quite well, hitting 4000mt/s cl15 easily with a good kit, and the Tomahawk seems like the best value around the $300 price point.

[@M00NM0NEY]

I was expecting Buildzoid for some reason

[@TheEngineerd]

I appreciate your review. After finding out I bought the Asus board that catches fire (which explains my RAM issue...), I used your review to pick the replacement.

[@konga382]

The biggest drawback for the MSI Z690-A Pro is the mediocre sound chip. I don't think it'll matter in most cases and most people probably won't even notice, but it's a notable step down from some of the competing boards, like the Gigabyte Gaming X. And on that note, now that Gigabyte's got XMP working correctly again (I think?), the Gaming X is a $230 board that's worth looking at as an alternative to the MSI one.

[@kzh3850]

How would you say the Z690 UD stacks up?

[@wvjeepguy8178]

@@kzh3850 Do people even care about sound chips anymore? Most people would be happy with USB and anyone who is very particular would be using a sound card anyway.

[@konga382]

@@kzh3850 It's basically the same as the Gaming X but with slightly worse audio, one less m.2 slot, and a PCIe slot arrangement that may or may not be worse depending on your needs (1 x16, 2 x4 slots on the Gaming X, while 1 x16, 3 x1, 1 x4 slots on the UD). Personally, I wouldn't want to give up that m.2 slot. Z690's most appealing feature is its ample NVMe support, and limiting your expansion options there doesn't sit well with me as someone trying to find an excuse to ditch all of my SATA drives.

[@ladypuma7739]

Even the I/O shield and everything looks better built on gaming x, msi looks cheap, Also all the m.2 slots get heat sinks on gaming x unlike msi

[@konga382]

@Jacob I don't feel like spending any extra money on a sound card or external DAC or whatever, so if I can get slightly better sound out of one board compared to another at the same price, that's a relevant selling point to me.

[@callmethreeone]

This video is so funny, dude you kill me this is great! Thank you for taking the time to put this together for us.

[@mcgmgc]

Please take a deeper look at the Z690-A Pro DDR4. All of these boards are overengineered. This motherboard is not only the cheapest motherboard, but it also runs everything and gets higher OC than their best motherboards currently. It is (along with ASUS A D4) the few, if not only motherboards that can run up to 4300 in gear 1 (which by the way beats even Trident Z5). Check OCN DDR4 Z690 daily thread. It can easily run any overclock with no issues, yes even 5.6 or higher if your cpu won the lottery. I run 5.5 on it and the ram is at 4100 CL 14 14 14 28 CR2 Gear 1 Dual Rank, B-die. My specific kit / ICM doesn't let me go 4200 or so with dual rank (probably a BIOS issue, haven't tried the other 5 beta bios versions yet) but I have some old dogshit single rank B die here that runs at 4300 gear 1. There is no reason to buy any other motherboard atm. Gigabyte is complete garbage, almost nothing boots on it. Hard walls at like 3600 or 3800 frequency, just really awful. Avoid unless you care about its features or whatever.

[@GamersNexus]

When we talk about OC at the high-end or the limits, we're talking about XOC on LN2. Just in my experience, I found other boards a little easier to work with (especially other BIOS). We're not talking about memory OC at all in this piece and it is not something we have explored yet.

[@mcgmgc]

@@GamersNexus Understandable. Definitely try OC on it. I only mentioned the DDR4 gear 1 capabilities as a bonus but it is also very important because it allows you to beat even Z5 G.Skill. RAM oc gains are very nice for those who play on 1080p low 240Hz or so. I am sure there are many people doing that in FPS games. Overclocking the cpu on these cheap motherboards definitely works, the vrm doesn't get hot if there is a fan blowing on it or proper case airflow. It is really pathetic how much they are overcharging for the Z690 motherboards when this ugly asf Z690-A Pro does it all outside of sound and missing some niche features that someone might care about. I had to post this because someone might get the wrong idea that this mobo is some low end garbage. In reality it is very good, especially for the price. The ASUS equivalent is twice the price but achieve the same results. Even I am using it and usually I go for Unify / Unify-X stuff but DDR5 is terrible atm.

[@BARBAR820]

@copium free what voltage for ram do u have and what sa voltage for that OC?

[@mcgmgc]

@@BARBAR820 1.58 DRAM and 1.2 SA (also stable at 1.131) for 4000 CL14, dram 1.62 and SA 1.3 for 4.1 CL14. Stable with testmem5 anta777 extreme like 12 hours.

[@BARBAR820]

Thank you

[@yogeshbadgire]

I still love my Asus Z170-Deluxe (Got it around $270). Power button, reset button, debug 7-segment displays, ram leds, cpu leds, thermal sensors, TPU controller, EPU Controller, M.2, 6 SATA ports, WiFi, BIOS Flashback, Clear CMOS - the list goes on.

[@technewb8241]

The top AM4 board is easy: the dark hero. Half the price of the Extreme, and they are the only two boards on the market that allow you to run an all-core overclock and PBO at the same time

[@twiggsherman3641]

Well I mean if you're running an all-core overclock and PBO at the same time, you're just asking for chip degradation. Even 5000 series Ryzen is hit or miss when it comes to degradation. Debauer did an experiment you should probably check.

[@technewb8241]

@@twiggsherman3641 I watched it. And Dynamic OC Tuner is based on load. For example: my 5900x runs in PBO at light load, breaking 5ghz on 4 cores, 4.9 on the rest. When the load exceeds 75A, it drops to 4.7ghz all-core. And it does so with a limit of 1.38v, where stock allows it to run up to 1.5v

[@technewb8241]

@@twiggsherman3641 over 4,000 hours of continuously running a synthetic 100% load to achieve a measurable voltage increase to maintain the same performance on one of 3 cpus tested. That's 6 solid months of constantly being maxed out, for 1/3 of the test cpus to have a result slightly above margin of error. When I'm in game, my cpu utilization stays at about 11% and I game for ~5hrs a day, 3 or 4 times a week. To replicate the test based on usage, it would take me 20 years. Even if my cpu was maxed out the entire time I'm gaming, it would take me 4 years to put that much runtime on my build, and it won't take me that long to upgrade. DerBauer's measurable result was a 5600x requiring 1.304v instead of 1.264v to maintain a 4.7ghz all-core overclock at all times. For the average user, especially those who only use their PCs for gaming and not productivity, degradation doesn't exist.

[@twiggsherman3641]

@@technewb8241 ... first of all, he ran the chips for 6 months, but he wasn't checking for degradation, and because the test voltage was higher then required to maintain the overclock, it didn't cause a crash. So you have no idea if the degradation happened in 2 weeks or 6 months. Secondly Buildzoid nuked his 3700x so bad that it wouldn't even run stock speeds. No one is really doing much OCing with 5000 series chips. The general consensus is to either use PBO or do curves. Why is this the approach? Because people were degrading the snot out of 3000 series Ryzen. You can live in denial if you want and claim degradation doesn't exist, its your chip, and if you believe that, crank the voltage even more and see what happens. :)

[@CESAR_H_ARIAS]

@@twiggsherman3641 pbo OR curve optimizer no, you must say PBO&curve optimizer. You can degrade a Ryzen CPU and Intel CPUs if you go all the way up. Ryzen pbo2 algorithm is good enough to keep it working as long as you have enough cooling should net you good results especially with Ryzen 5000. Most people having issues with curve optimizer are having it because they set pbo to the max first at+200mhz and pushing the curve to aggressively with the negative offset on all cores (when they should test core per core to see which cores like what).

[@fabz1509]

Excellent video, narrowed my choice perfectly to MSI Z690. Thanks

[@johnscaramis2515]

7:10 BIOS flashback is also handy when you want to downgrade your BIOS. Most BIOS Flash Tools don't allow flashing an older version. With BIOS flashback this is no problem. I had this problem in the early days of my MSI X399 board, when newer BIOS versions also came along not only with better e.g. memory support, but also new flaws.

[@ClassicalPan]

Nice video, thanks. Working on updating to a high-end GPU for once, and if I ever have enough money to replace my ancient i7-3770 build, I'm definitely going for that MSI "best value" board. Hardware these days is so powerful that I feel less and less intrigued by OC potential.

[@dominic.h.3363]

Yea, I'll vote with my wallet and my vote is a firm no. $220 is high-end for any sane person and if I'm not getting high-end features for that price, I'm not buying. I simply do not care about new technology if manufacturers are unable to fit their shiny new crap into established price categories.

[@JustSkram]

Yoooo your locks looking extra smooth today

[@canaconn2388]

So what you're telling me, is that so far a new AMD setup with a decent motherboard with good features, as well as a cooler is still cheaper

[@wijn1008]

yes, but you can't use ddr5. But you will also have cheaper power consumption. Let us wait for Zen4 :)

[@OdinAlgeron]

well sure, if you dont mind it is a dead socket with no future upgrade path, and much weaker performance ( memory stacking refresh cpu's wont be much different performance wise for most people ) I would wait for next gen of intel cpu, it will use current mobo's and hopefully prices for ddr5 settle down a bit

[@canaconn2388]

@@OdinAlgeron Wouldn't the next gen of intel cpus also be on a dead-end platform?

[@OdinAlgeron]

@@canaconn2388 very powerful setup with ddr5 matured kits 8000+ read about whats coming with raptor lake well worth the investment

[@svn5994]

Wow who would have thought a system that is a few years old is cheaper.

[@thatspsychotic]

Just a quick point on the MSI Carbon board with dual PCIe Gen5 8x capability, the more likely use case is a GPU in one slot and some kind of high end storage solution in the other, rather than dual GPUs. The benefit is simply access to another 8x slot off the CPU for something like a multi-port U.2 NVME HBA card... if you're spending nearly $500 on a motherboard, that's not out of the question.

[@Rctive]

Man, I miss Buildzoid

[@adarshwhynot]

Was waiting for this Thanks a lot.

[@hooliganbubsy7298]

Does overclocking capability make a board cost more? Is it a waste of money to get a board that can overclock if you never overclock?

[@GamersNexus]

Great question! Just the technical capability of it (whether it technically has the option or not) doesn't impact things much, but the feature set does. The VRM quality (quality of the voltage regulator / power delivery) greatly affects cost, as it gets down to physical component-level changes, and the additional BIOS or on-board features (like debug codes) can affect sale price.

[@suntzu1409]

@@GamersNexus Well, creating the marketing material for these boards and RGB alone cost hundreds of USDs

[@davidbeasley5333]

I waited till 2023 and got the MSI unify at less than 1/2 your posted costs. Always cheaper if you wait a minute :). It's a great board

[@Gius3pp3K]

$720 for a motherboard? Am I missing something here lol. I think with the price hike in PC components, it would be crazy to even consider upgrading until the prices decrease to a point where you feel you are getting some value for money.

[@samgoff5289]

Yea for real...who in the hell buys motherboards this expensive? I mean atleast paying high prices for CPU/GPU can be justified with huge performance gains but spending $700 on a motherboard gets you the same as someone with a $200 one

[@dnmr]

It's for liquid nitrogen overclocking

[@TheRealDlo]

I bought a MSI Tomahawk Z690 DDR4 and I LOVE it.

[@metas9876]

same here , surprised not mentioned

[@tamasvarga5905]

Can you mount lga1200 coolers on Asus z690 boards? I see there are extra holes drilled around the CPU socket.

[@GamersNexus]

Yes - at least on the ones we have used. It's a useful feature.

[@charliexu573]

The exact review I needed!

[@suntzu1409]

I don't think Z690 Apex qualifies as "Extreme High-End" when there are $1500-2000 motherboards.

[@GamersNexus]

It does when it's still among the best for XOC.

[@ksof1]

@@GamersNexus Don't tell Steve about Apex's mem oc issues

[@bobbydini5567]

It was a miss to not compare the Apex with the Formula, Extreme, and Glacial Extreme etc.

[@ThunderingRoar]

700$ asus apex has better VRM and output filtering than 2000$ asus glacial extreme

[@suntzu1409]

@@GamersNexus "Extreme High-End" is not the same as "XOC". Apex is great for XOC. But its not at all "Extreme High-End".

[@Homelander-ftw]

I needed that debug code only once so far, but the code wasn't listed in the manual and support had no idea what it means. Brilliant.

[@tripzero0]

All ddr5 boards should get automatic disqualification. They are not usable until there's actually supply of ddr5.

[@user-Cata7sti7ma7]

these supply in all my physical retailer. but its only with combo bundle ram + motherboard. like GPU. DDR5 remain 50-90% higher price that the average DDR4 kit. While you can get 64go ram 3600 cas 16 for 300 buck today. lul.

[@00_UU]

DDR5 is extremely overpriced with high timing while providing 2 percent overall performance increase. I see zero value in DDR5 at this point, even if there was sufficient supply of it.

[@JustinHEMI05]

Timely video as I'm fixin to get ready to build a 12900K rig. Thanks for the great info!

[@spejarn]

Still waiting for that DDR5 , until i can get my hands on them i'm not gonna buy anything that are soon likely to drop in price, the exception would be the CPU i guess but it doesn't feel right to have a CPU just sitting in some box, also i'm curious what AMD will come up with, Intel sponsoring the Chinese olympics made me seriously consider getting AMD for the first time in 20 years.

[@mattiasnilsson3980]

I orderd my DDR5 october 28th and i got them december15 . I hade all parts a month befor the DDR5.

[@spejarn]

@@mattiasnilsson3980 Must be nice, i wish i had the foresight to just preorder whatever DDR5 was available but i decided to wait since i wanted white sticks, i haven't seen any sticks for sale whatsoever ever since they stopped accepting preorders.

[@blazingliger2246]

@Sebastian If you use a tracker, you would greatly increase your odds of getting some. I finally got an order in for a pair of Corsair sticks that are due to arrive next week. They're still selling out, but eBay scalper prices are dropping and they're staying in stock long enough for real humans to order, though you do need to respond quickly.

[@mattiasnilsson3980]

@@spejarn Im glad now but it was abit frustrating to w8 for the ddr5.

[@spejarn]

@@blazingliger2246 I don't really have those tools available to me where I live sadly since those sites doesn't operate here, best I can hope for is checking the stores every day, which I have been doing over the last 5-6 weeks or so, i appreciate the tip though.

[@LhunVideo]

I have a Asus z690 prime-a paired with a 12900kf. I'm surprised you guys didn't mention it. It's ddr5, has power buttons, four m.2 and slots and the bios update was perfect. It does ddr5 6400, and somehow it does it. There's 16 pin secondary voltage rails and the thing screams. I'm really impressed and it's less than the aorus. On top of that it seems kinda rare. I wonder how I scored it. Pretty good stuff.

[@Anthony-xn5ru]

Did i miss the Buildzoid videos?

[@lukaslauermann1984]

Off topic: after years and years of watching GN, I got up this morning, saw that there was a new video, of course clicked it, and wondered for the very first time how Steve would look with straightened hair 🤔 As always, thank you guys so much for your informative videos

[@kylehagertybanana]

haha was expecting AHOC

[@Anthony-xn5ru]

Should have relied to this instead of commenting.

[@kylehagertybanana]

@@Anthony-xn5ru what?

[@crasssaa]

It's incredible that there are Z690 motherboard with ALC897 audiochips.

[@eastakko]

Better an ALC897 than the extremely buggy USB-based ALC4080 found on some of the mid range boards. Stay as far away from that lemon as you can.

[@lorenzoferraces6443]

where's buildzoid tho

[@joshb6470]

I love when I buy a new board after some price driven research, and see the exact board in the list at the beginning

[@bcam86]

Steve, please do your next OC video rocking a mohawk with your hair! Love ur videos especially because of the analytics and data visualization!

[@tomunterwegs1206]

Merry Christmas! Get some rest with your lived ones!

[@AmazingPotatoFarmer]

My Z690M Aorus Elite AX DDR4 is working fine for me. Not the best board in the world, but I managed to dodge the XMP issues that others have and I got it for a bundle deal with an i7-12700kf, which is a huge step up from my old i5-7400.

[@timothygibney159]

Thanks Steve. My 8 year old son was looking for a cheap build for Minecraft this Christmas and I needed a good board and alder lake 12900k to go with his 3090 on his 1080p screen. Thanks I appreciate it!

[@EverythingisFire]

Sounds expensive 😅