Much like the Asus Hero lineup of motherboards, the Gigabyte Master aims to please the enthusiast crowd without breaking the bank. Sure, the company’s Xtreme variants pack more features, but they’re often overkill. Do note that most MSRPs have increased since the previous generation, but the Master still comes in at a reasonable $469 (especially considering the feature set, as you’ll find out below).
Read more @ PCWorld
Focusing on the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master motherboard, it’s the most premium of the company’s Z690 models, save its flagship Xtreme series duo, the Z690 Aorus Xtreme, and the water block inclusive Z690 Aorus Xtreme WaterForce. As the Master series is a premium model, it’s equipped with an equally premium-looking aesthetic, with waves of black heatsinks covering the all-black PCB, as well as multiple areas of integrated RGB LED lighting.
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The Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master hits our test bench with a statement from Gigabyte calling it “the new king of gaming.” Along with the title, the new Aorus Master gets an updated features list and includes one of the most capable VRMs, all from a $469.99 (MSRP) motherboard. The Z690 Master boasts a whopping five M.2 sockets, 10 GbE and Wi-Fi 6E, along with an updated appearance. This mid-range board not only has the look to be an excellent base for your new Alder Lake build, but the hardware to support it too.
Read more @ Tom’s Hardware
The Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master features a dedicated VRM design with an insane nineteen 105 A power stages for some serious overclocking headroom. To round out the experience, the Aorus Master also offers great connectivity with the newest WiFi 6E technology and 10G LAN for those who need to transfer data quickly. There is a lot to cover in this review, so let’s take a closer look!
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Networking connectivity includes Wi-Fi 63 with the Intel AX210 chipset; LAN is powered by the Marvell AQC113C 10Gbe, supporting the multi-gig operation. USB 3.2 is supported throughout the board with an external port on the rear I/O and internally with headers. The rear I/O includes a Gen2x2 and five Gen2 ports in red and another four Gen 1 ports in blue. Audio is pushed through the now-aging ALC1220 chipset from Realtek, but GIGABYTE does include the ESS 9118 DAC.
Read more @ TweakTown
The Z690 AORUS MASTER isn’t quite the flagship model for GIGABYTE, but it certainly isn’t far from it. This E-ATX motherboard packs in a huge array of features, some of which include 5x M.2 slots and 10x USB ports. The initial cost of this motherboard may put some off, but it seeks to cater for all requirements. Should you consider it?
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The Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Master goes to some extremes though, with the latest AQUANTIA 10 GbE LAN, as well as the latest Intel WiFi 6E 802.11ax 2×2, giving you tremendously fast networking options. However, I’m sure many will be excited by the rather extensive connectivity options on this board, but even more so by the mighty 19+1+2 Phase VRM design with 105A Power Stage and Tantalum Polymer Capacitors, which should make for impressive CPU performance and overclocking.
Read more @ eTeknix
Today in the Hardware Kitchen we are testing the GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS MASTER motherboard, a high-end motherboard from AORUS based on the brand new Intel LGA1700 socket. Therefore , this card is only compatible with the new generation of Alder Lake-S processors like the i9-12900K , i7-12700K , i5-12600K , in short everything that starts with 12. But it is also the first generation of motherboards to support DDR5 memory as well as PCIe 5.0. So there are quite a few things to see.
Read more @ HardwareCooking (French)
These power phases are one of the key reasons why the Master is, in our opinion, the second highest model Gigabyte do on the Z690 chipset. 105A + 105A + 70A for the relevant phases match the Aorus Xtreme, whilst the Aorus Tachyon and Aorus Ultra have 105A + 60A + 70A. The Master also has more storage slots, with two extra SATA ports an 1 PCIe 3.0 M.2 more than the Xtreme models.
Read more @ OC3D
The first look at the Z690 AORUS MASTER impresses, we start with the dissipation. In VRM the generous blocks we saw in the PRO version give way to a dense number of fins with a larger air contact surface for thermoconduction. The main M.2 connector, managed directly by the processor, is not far behind, the direct contact block is added to five levels of thick fins, the cooling of NVMe disks is more than assured in this connector.
Read more @ Noticias3D ( Spanish)