mobo PCB Breakdown: MSI MEG Z690 Unify X

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#MSI #motherboard #Z690 #Alderlake #DDR5 #teardown

[@bourne_]

14:57 Thunderbolt3 by the BIOS_SWITCH - JTBT1

[@sabishiihito]

I don't know why MSI even has a Thunderbolt header on the current Gen since they don't have an AIC to go with it and no one else's will work. I miss the days when everyone used the same 5-pin TB header.

[@Kerrathul]

And in the distance, you can hear cheering and celebrating erupt at MSI headquarters upon hearing lord Buildzoid has blessed their board.

[@MSIGamingOfficial]

Were we that loud?

[@heni63]

@@MSIGamingOfficial yes :D Nice to see a comment of you guys, kinda an honor xd Iam happy with my msi b550 board :)

[@cneuhauser1]

@@MSIGamingOfficial ROFLMAO... See his other piece shedding a light on your VRM voltage woes... wow, you guys need to work on that!

[@iprfitness]

@@MSIGamingOfficial The only boards I run are MSI, they work extremely well. I just wish you guys had a Unify X version for ddr4, this time around my best option was the edge; which honestly works quite well. But would LOVE to have an external cmos button for overclocking. Once ddr5 improves I'll definitely be getting this board based on Buildzoid's review.

[@basedanon420]

@@iprfitness ddr4 unify x would be too good and cut into ddr5 sales so they’d never do it lol

[@slickill5738]

Love MSI mobos. Great looks,build and features for the $ in my exp. The Unify line was especially appealing for its feature sets & versatility vs cost for my 3900x set up.

[@VikingDudee]

I haven't ran anything MSI since the early 2000s, most MSI things over the years for me were either super cheap, or really expensive or matches whats on the Premium market, I just never found the deals.

[@wewillrockyou1986]

I'm running a Z590 Unify-X in my daily, the OC panel thing is a life saver, saves me from having to fudge around in the case for retry and post codes, or even move over to press power/reset. Really fantastic inclusion.

[@zacharymorrison4974]

I am ordering that board next week do you think that board makes it possible to run 4000mhz in gear 1?

[@tkgg]

I love that the Unify X is at a "reasonable" price point for what it delivers.

[@stevewatson6839]

A good PCI_E card will come with shipping protection for the contacts. 8X plus in the open ended 4X socket, just cut an 8/16X contact protector down and fit that over the uncovered end.

[@lucaswagenaar4466]

@ Coming back to the Msi Tuning module (the little external controller), I have noticed a lot of MSI's Z690 boards (including even the Z690 a-pro) have the connector required for the Tuning module. It would be interesting to see if the tuning module fully works on those boards, because that would mean you would get a functioning postcode on boards that otherwise would have it (such as the Tomahawk, A-pro, Z690m Mortar wifi), kind of a shame MSI doesnt sell the modules separately

[@valdisliseks8201]

Got Z690 Unify-X, before had Apex for couple of days. What a difference ... This board is rock solid, like a hungry dog - it eats whatever you throw to it unless you type in really stupid numbers :) Running G.Skill 6000 CL36 at 6800 CL38 atm, no problems so far. Tnx for review, great as usual !

[@M00nsave445]

Did u try running 6000 with lower timings, like CL34?

[@valdisliseks8201]

@@M00nsave445 Yes, bios A.22, running 6650 34-38-38-56 T2, all RAM tests stable.

[@M00nsave445]

@@valdisliseks8201 wow. So I can probably run it 6400 with say 34/34/34? Did you adjust any DDR5 voltages or all, voltages are stock?

[@valdisliseks8201]

@@M00nsave445 Not sure about 34-34-34, you have to try. My voltages : SA 0.95, RAM VDDQ / VDD 1.5, CPU VDDQ 1.4, VDD 1.3.

[@boraboris2036]

hey can you help me with the memory overclocking ? i have the same mobo and rams

[@LawrenceTimme]

Nice the oc remote is epic. 100% laziness. Don't even have to reach over and press buttons

[@mattfitz1408]

Thanks for the breakdown I will definitly be buying this baord. I have a P5800x so when DDR5 comes down I will need to purchase this. Too bad no DDR4 boards have a 2nd PCIE 16x slot that can take X8 from the main slot and not use the chipset limiting your bandwidth. Right now I have the one of the Z690 Aorus DDR4 boards for my Intel machine. DDR5 here in the US was too expensive to justify yet. Its too bad no DDR4 boards have U.2 that would have also worked.

[@1randomengineer36]

DELOCK sells an adapter from m.2 to sff-8639 (U.2) that is specified for PCIe Gen. 4 speeds. You could use this with the CPU m.2 slot. Part number is 62984. From my testing with P5800x, I can say that latency and bandwidth remain the same compared to an ad-in card.

[@larsjrgensen5975]

Thank you MSI for a simple 2 bios switch. This is perfect for daily driving and weekends playing around. I hate my Gigabyte auto switching and my older Asrock X370 that needs a full wipe every time.

[@saints9577]

About to pre-order my 13700KF, this is such a great video. Oh yeah, and buy this board :-)

[@jacobtrapp3772]

I love that you brought up leaving the test bench outside with the MSI controller that we just talked about 😂😂

[@kovacspis]

Lovely board, great clean design!

[@Cyber-Letho]

I have been waiting for this. Going to order one today. Already have a kit of G skill 5600

[@jeffmco6410]

I have this board and love it. Rock solid.

[@greatdrd]

thank u so much , leaned alot from your channel ..

[@andriikruzhylo8996]

Auxiliary pci-x power connector wasn’t mentioned as a feature. Still trying to choose between Unify X and Apex. The most recent 2 boards were Asus Maximus Hero. And Z390 based one turned out to be a pretty good overclocker for RAM with 4x8Gb B-die sticks running stable at 4266@17-17-17-36@1.45v. Thanx for a super informative analysis.

[@CC-oy8ii]

I have this board and I like it. I’m not a techy but wanted a board that would last me a while.

[@Tpecep]

They got 19 because they also producing something like ACE/GODLIKE on the same pcb board with SoC phase which makes 20 in total

[@yooanto9465]

Hi again Buildezer wold you recommend Hero asus or This Unfy X? ofc with 12900k and arctic 420 aio. ram still open for suggestion?

[@lummoxicide1502]

Msi X670E Unify X when?

[@华人在美国-q5b]

which is better choice, aorus master or unify ? master is cheaper.10g Lan. gigabyte bios seems more issues according to review.

[@-eMpTy-]

Love the unify lineup 👍

[@SimplyLewin]

I hope Mbps for data rate becomes the standard for DIMMs just like it has been for GDDR.

[@1Patient]

Hi Buildzoid, thanks for doing a review of this board (I just bought the Z690i board) I have a question about the M.2 slots, the multiple to the chip-set, the other one to the CPU. I just purchased a WD Black 850 for the CPU... my question is, what is the overall performance speed of the SSD going to be, if I install WD Black 750's connected to the Chip-Set, what should I expect regarding performance? Is everything going to default to the slowest speed? OS and Programs will be on the 850, and files and such will be stored on the 750's.

[@arkama67]

So the 10€ question is : Apex or UnifyX buildzoid ?

[@basedanon420]

UX unless you want to bin multiple Apex boards

[@Summanis]

Just bought one. By just bought one I mean I looked at the Strix 2DPC that just arrived (I got a good price, don't judge) and said "you know what, I DO want to overclock RAM" and used Newegg's return policy.

[@DAMGUNHAR]

Buildzoid...what phone do you use bro ?? I'm a massive fan and would like to rock the same handset as you 👍🏽👍🏽

[@bs11100010]

bought this board. looking forward for more content. never really tried OCing memory before. but i have my gksill 5600 kit running at 6200 36 36 36 75 111 2t. not really sure what the sweet spot is for speed vs tighter timings?

[@volchonokilliR]

As far as my research goes, depends on what kind of workload you expect it to do. In general, I think that considering high frequencies of DDR5, tighter timings outweigh frequency for mixed workloads/gaming

[@M00nsave445]

Do you have the voltage settings for that mem OC? What do you think a gskill 6000 36 (stock) can do?

[@bs11100010]

@@M00nsave445 I'm currently running at 6400 3636@1.4v i think most of gskill's kits seem to use samsung ICs(including the ones you mention) and they seem to oc to 6000-6400 on average. Hynix kits seem to go around 6800-7000. i'm trying to track down a good hynix kit to test myself.

[@M00nsave445]

@@bs11100010 I have the Gskill 6000 CL36 stock. I am honestly interested in tighter timings than higher frequencies. That means I can probably run 6400 34/34 which would be great. 1.4v is also great

[@robert896r1]

Mind asking MSI why this board isn’t being carried by UK retailers? Only Amazon lists it but never in stock.

[@gjkrisa]

Well this will be my first motherboard build since the asus striker ii core 2 duo days and no I feel I could have found a cheaper board although I haven’t been able to find one with all I want that’s cheaper I went with dual 2.5 because 10 gig routers are still a little to expensive and 2.5 is backwards compatible and I can lagg the connection together or if I get something else use it for pfsense like I almost did with my striker but then one of the mem dimms started killing ram so as I was troubleshooting killed both sticks think it’s the second dual channel slot but not sure

[@P2PC]

Hey Buildzoid, I'm wanting to do some mods to my GTX 980 TI Reference PCB, Would changing out the Tantalums or MLCCs help with stability? If so, can you recommend any particular values? I have experience with SMD repair and hobbyist electronics so doing said mods is no problem for me. Thanks if you end up replying to this. Yes, I have also already swapped both Vmem R33 inductors for 25A versions, They work flawlessly.

[@alex0829]

Is this the best z690 board?Im planing getting some 6400mhz DDR5 and i heard a lot of problems on other mobos that cant run even 6000 mhz(stable) like Carbon,Aorus Master, not to mention all of Asus lineup.Im building a pc for gaming but i dont want ram xmp issues that other people are complaining about on rededit and other forums!Thx for the review!

[@CC-oy8ii]

From my research it is. Unless you go GODLIKE

[@judgeees]

Hi! So, I have this board, and I'm curious if there is a guide I can use that would help me to overclock it. I've looked online, and have safely over overclocked to 5.2/4.0 (p/e cores). However, I noticed that my cinebench score went down while being overclocked. Also, while using handbrake for video encoding, my pc froze (temps were close to the 90's. I use a 420 arctic liquid freezer II to cool it. Leaving the oc settings to auto also leads to 300 watts of power consumption and 90-95 C temps while using rendering programs and etc. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

[@toonnut1]

These are so hard to find in the uk from a good retailer. I can't find one anywhere 😫

[@alexgarcia2071]

I had to choose between this and an apex and as much as I’ve been wanting an apex for ages, I went with the unify x which was cheaper and has better memory stability from my research over the apex

[@JustBenching]

The apex is hot garbage, their QC is terrible

[@asterisk4424]

Best featureset on any z690 board for the price for sure. Just waiting on the Aero D from gigabyte if that ever releases.

[@NotThatGuyJD]

The remote is cool but I kinda wish they spend the money on the filtering. I know the remote has undoubtedly more use but damn it looks so bleak.

[@A_Gris]

Is the rather grim looking capacitance on this board a particularly valid reason to shy away from it? I'm torn between the Unify-X and the Hero, but the only thing I have left to upgrade my build is the motherboard, and I know I'd like to overclock RAM and MSI is killing it, but overclocking the CPU feels a bit more important to me.

[@kelvinyonger8885]

It seems like CPU OC has basically plateaued at this point, at least the last few gens even "budget" boards (e.g. aorus pro, msi tomahawk) had similar min voltage spikes as higher end ones. Not sure if that'd change this generation, but I doubt it.

[@Omar20v]

One question: i ordered this board for my build, i am going to get 32gbDDR5 6400 ( G skill trident 2 x16gb) would they run reliable with no problem or do i have to OC ?

[@jimmatteo5062]

omg.. did I hear you throwin shade on Kat's lengths, bro? Do you know how long you've all been working on this stuff? Relatively speaking? ..NO TIME!

[@Sir_Defyable]

I know I only buy boards that have the BZ stamp of approval- I think there’s an opportunity here to make that an official feature on the packaging @MSI Gaming

[@funkintonbeardo]

@Bizzy did you take a look at RTX3050 boards? I want to run one without any power from the 12V pins, just from PCIE slot. Any components powered solely from 12V?

[@Gti_Jason]

So did NVidia finally provide MSI with the SLI Key ? If you take a look at the DSDT table on a disassembled Unify-X bios (at least as of 2 weeks ago) you will see they are using internal test key which if used on a retail production board is illegal. Now the most likely reason for this is Nvidia just provided Asus key a week ago so I assume MSI was like F it, we paid for the license so we will use the test key for now

[@samfedorka5629]

23:05 higher inductance inductors almost always have higher DCR (for a given package size) so their efficiency is lower due to that. So the efficiency gain due to higher inductance is lost due to higher resistance. Inductor value strongly influences ripple current of both input and output caps so with more inductance you can usually get better ripple for a given output cap ESR. edit: 32:18 the higher inductor value helps a lot with having less input filtering capacitance (because input cap ripple current is lower), so for sure that's one reason it's good.

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

I've literaly tested a 300nH vs 150nH board in the past. the 300nH board had less input peak to peak but worse output peak to peak(because CPUs aren't resistors). The 150nH board had worse peak to peak on the input but the output was better.

[@VikingDudee]

Windows should automatically sorta team them if you were using a compatible switch for example, Windows don't always play well with it in my experience, But its only really good for local file transfers when it works, I use to set up my old Asrock 990fx nas system like that since it had dual 1gbit nics on the board.

[@anderslundstrom4388]

I was only able to plug in one ram stick in mine, with two i got a red light, error codes looping and no boot :(

[@greatdrd]

i wish to see your face as old vdeos

[@milchkopf3881]

pls make them do a z690m tachyon d4

[@christopherjackson2157]

Yea u can multiplex ("team") nics but it can be a little tricky depending on the drivers and the network switch. 2x2.5 gbe is still weird though lol

[@thelol1759]

I’ve never had any real success teaming NICs. Much more trouble than it’s worth imo.

[@christopherjackson2157]

@@thelol1759 yep that's pretty much been my experience too

[@mcguiremnc]

With no IGPU support am I understanding correctly that you might as well go for a KF CPU with the Unify-X?

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

yes

[@LawrenceTimme]

For me the apex has been a pain 1t takes so long to post I normally lose interest before its even posted.

[@maloc1166]

Does this thing actually come with that controller that can change bclk and reset cmos and stuff. I haven't seen that in any of the packages to buy it.

[@kdzu1776]

Hi Bildzoyd, i found your chanel too late to make wise purchase, and spend at the time too much... Story short - i want to keep my ddr4 cl16 x4 dim tridend z 3200 kit, and at same upgrade. Could you kindly help me what i should choose: Intel/AMD, what board for this b-die to give his best potential for OC? currently( from purchase when it was new) its ryzen 2700 oc to 42.5mhz all cores and ram 3400 sort stable. i do need upgrade. THANK YOU in advance,and sorry for your time and thats not to video. Dan

[@dyingbreedgamer384]

@buildzoid #offtopic i have an msi x570 ace, i forgot bios password and didnt check the reset bios if cmos i talked to msi, they will not help do you have any ideas

[@m4nu507]

Strange behavior on your z690 apex, i saw a post from safedisk showing memory running at 7600 on beta bios 0080.

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

yeah I've seen the same doesn't change the fact that the A channel on my Apex sucks.

[@m4nu507]

@@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking very unfortunate for such an expensive motherboard.

[@teeicafe]

Should i get this MSI unify or MSI unify X ?

[@rulik007]

You didnt tried EVGA z690 dark

[@crispysilicon]

Yeah you can team the 2.5G with Intel PROset. I use win10 because of this because 11 no longer supports it.

[@Omar20v]

Wait, whats the diff between the unify and unify X ?

[@southbronxny5727]

Do you return the review samples?

[@MrKentaroMotoPI]

U-N-I-F-IIIIII

[@D4rk_R34lm]

I know this comment may never get answered. But ive tried everyone. I need to flash bios this exact board for 13th gen chip. Nothing I have tried works. Red cpu light is on during 'bios update' so i think bios is corrupted. No idea what to do now

[@asOCiATE53]

You can flash back to a basic bios you have a dual bios .9:00 -. 9:20

[@ReHWolution]

Hey build, isn't it 19-phase so the controller can do 19+(2x1) phases for VCCAUX?

[@lucaswagenaar4466]

Those phases for vccaux use their own separate controller iirc

[@Multimeter1]

That PCIE spacing is horrible. I get that SLI is dead, but man.... Asus got it right with the Z690 ROG maximus extreme

[@starlingspm4872]

I I went with The MSI MEG ACE cause I got the Maximus Hero First and because of the Capacitor backwards I just Returned

[@Multimeter1]

@@starlingspm4872 still same pcie spacing which is horrible for what we pay.. I wanted a PCIE 5.0 each slot and 4 spacing for 3090 NVLINK, but the carbon is what I settled on… the maximums extreme got it right. Too expensive though

[@mattfitz1408]

I want to put my P5800x in the 2nd slot so spacing it probably fine. Many real world uses are not GPU's. I am guessing for the NVLINK crowd they want to sell you HEDT since if you need it you probably actually will pay for it and the rest of us just dream about it.

[@djsnowpdx]

Do single DPC boards tend to allow tighter timings at the same clock speed?

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

not really

[@LawrenceTimme]

You can put an rx6500 xt in the bottom slot 😂😂

[@mattfitz1408]

Is that for if your room is still too cold with the 3080ti heater in the top slot?

[@LawrenceTimme]

@@mattfitz1408 yes

[@bryanalfaro-gs7zv]

Does anyone know if this motherboard supports i913900k ?

[@M00nsave445]

Can anyone who owns this board confirm if the Fans spin up quickly (ex from 30% to 100%) or they take something like 20-30 seconds as is happening with me?

[@DrumBassHeaven]

I noticed the same behaviour on my Unify-X bought a week ago. Do you still have the same problem?

[@M00nsave445]

@@DrumBassHeaven I returned the board and got an Asus Z690 Apex. MSI support were not helpful to Solve the issue. I have zero issues with the Apex, and as a bonus, it runs the 12900K even cooler and more stable than the MSI did (stock to stock)

[@DrumBassHeaven]

@@M00nsave445 That's funny because I had Apex previously to Unify-X and it had a faulty ram slot. XMP didn't work at all and gave errors all the time. The fans worked perfectly though... On Unify-X the fans are kind of "lazy" it seems. I wish more people would confirm if it's a wide spread issue or isolated cases of broken fan controllers, but what are the odds that I get another broken motherboard from a different brand...

[@hadoukenocx4746]

Can you Test The Asus ROG Z690 Maximus Extreme ?

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

no

[@stigi3849]

Buildzoid and I ARE best friends :)

[@mesaber86]

Why are some traces zig zag from cpu to ram?

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

length matching

[@fracturedlife1393]

A clr cmos on a remote? WANT

[@eliotrulez]

To not have a iGPU power stage is the dumbest thing I have seen. If you don't have that you can't use the encoding/decoding engine which means it is a silly decision. The one phase would not have hurt regardless if you have video outputs or not.

[@tigerbalm666]

I has the Z590....$130...I don't pay over $150 for a stinking mobo!

[@joshuahammer4454]

cool

[@starlingspm4872]

Why you don’t try the MSI MEG ACE z690?

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

it has too many dimm slots

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

and the same memory topology as the Z690 Carbon

[@LawrenceTimme]

Good luck finding 2 pro duos

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

I only need to find 1 more

[@mattfitz1408]

@@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking Does that mean 2 of the Radeon Pro Duo (Polaris)?

[@LawrenceTimme]

@@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking same. XD

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

@@mattfitz1408 I was referring to the Fiji one

[@Yahfz]

Apex is literally never getting fixed, memory oc on it is actually dogshit and wish i could ditch this garbage to get an unify-x.

[@metaleater9]

Yawn, I know 2 dim dual channel configurations are great for ram overclocking but it's hideous on everything but ITX. Wake me up when they bring back triple channel boards with 3 or 6 slots.

[@ActuallyHardcoreOverclocking]

triple channel is probably never coming back because with how much complexity and cost it adds you could just go all the way to quad.