Choosing a relatively cheap Z690 board with DDR4 memory would allow you to save a few dollars at the moment – especially if you use RAM from an older computer. The most attractive model from Intel’s stable at the moment seems to be the Core i5-12600K, which even with DDR4 should impress with its capabilities. When you put down a few pennies, after a while you can simply replace the board with a model that supports DDR5.
Read more @ Benchmark (Polish)
The motherboard is based on a 6-layer black PCB in the standard ATX format. In the design, elements of black and gray are mainly used, except for chrome elements and colored electronic elements. Even with a cursory examination, it is easy to identify differences from its predecessor – a different location and number of ports / slots, a different power subsystem and its cooling system, and the design as a whole. This is not counting the I / O panel, which is quite different.
Read more @ GreenTech_Reviews (Russian)
The motherboard is made on the basis of an 8-layer black printed circuit board in the standard ATX format. In the design, elements of black and gray are mainly used, except for chrome elements and colored electronic elements. Even with a cursory examination, it is easy to identify differences from its predecessor – a different location and number of ports / slots, a different power subsystem and its cooling system, and the design as a whole.
Read more @ GreenTech_Reviews (Russian)
The X570S AORUS Master comes in the typical Gigabyte motherboard packaging we are used to. On the front of the box we have a large AORUS logo. Flipping over to the back many of the features of the board are detailed, there is a list of specifications, and an overview of the rear I/O connections.
Getting everything out of the box as far as accessories we have a WiFi antenna, set of AORUS stickers, two thermal probes, four SATA cables, RGB extension cable, AORUS case badge, Q-connector, two AORUS velcro straps, M.2 screws, and a user’s guide.
Read more @ ThinkComputers
With the release of the NDA of Intel Alder Lake’s 12th generation Core to processor and Z690 chipset, GIGABYTEZ690AORUS XTREME flagship motherboard is also on the scene!! Inherited from the ARORUS XTREME series motherboard’s consistent luxury-grade VRM design, equipped with straight-out 21-phase 105A ultra-luxury power module, while the full board provides an extremely complete cooling solution, from the VRM, chipset and M.2 SSD parts are all covered by the weight of the metal Heatsink, plus up to DDR5-5600 plus memory overclocking capacity, absolutely qualified to ask Z690 board throne.
Read more @ HKEPC (Chinese)
October 28th, 2021 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announced the Z690 AORUS gaming motherboards which perfectly support the latest 12th Gen Intel® Core™ processors. Featuring up to 20+1+2 phases digital power VRM design with each phase holding up to 105 amps and an improved Fins-Array III heatsink design, GIGABYTE’s Z690 AORUS lineup is geared with the best power design and thermal management to unleash the extreme performance and optimized overclocking ability on the new generation multi-core K series Intel® Core™ processors. The PCIe® 5.0 PCBs, slots, and components are also implemented in GIGABYTE’s Z690 AORUS motherboards for enhanced performance and stability. The exclusive SMD memory slots with metal shielding mask for anti- interference and the BIOS setting of DDR5 memory overclocking offer more stable signals to memory, which enable users to boost XMP and overclocking performance with stability. Select GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS motherboards offer feature-rich I/O with an integrated I/O shield as well as the newest Thermal Guard III design, Smart Fan 6 and much more. Performance, power management, thermals, audio, GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS motherboards check all the boxes for users seeking to take their computing firepower to the next level.
“With the advent of the new generation Intel® Z690 platform and the 12th generation Core™ processor, GIGABYTE also launched the latest motherboards to provide users ultra durable products with premium compatibility, breakthrough performance, and low temperature through optimized power supply, heat dissipation and expansions.” said Jackson Hsu, Director of the GIGABYTE Channel Solutions Product Development Division. “GIGABYTE Z690 motherboards are designed for professional designers and power users who pursue performance. Featuring the maximum 20+1+2 phases digital power supply, high-end VRM heat dissipation, 2Oz PCB, nano-carbon backplane heat dissipation design, premium components and exclusive tuning function, GIGABYTE Z690 motherboards boost the overall and overclocking performance of CPU and memories. Moreover, enhanced by the support of PCIe® 5.0 graphics card, the configuration of multiple PCIe® 4.0 M.2 disk arrays, the ultra-high-speed networking of 2.5G and above, etc., and the professional tuning of R&D, GIGABYTE Z690 motherboards provide impressive performance, stability and definitely is the perfect choice for high-end users who pursue extreme performance on Intel® Z690 platform.”
20+1+2 phases power design improves the overclocking stability of processors The 12th Gen Intel® Core™ processors mark a shift in the process design on both the architecture and the new LGA1700 socket, which means users cannot stay with previous processors by modify firmware or hardware details due to incompatible socket. The new architecture features Intel® 7 stepping and the “hybrid” design of P-Core and E-Core, which not only raise up the theoretical performance, but also enable the processors to dynamically switch between high performance operation and low loading energy saving mode. This allows users to take full advantages from the processors flexibly by the demands of system operation. With up to 20+1+2 phases which each of Vcore and Vcc GT can hold up to 105 amps by its Smart Power Stage design, while Vcc AUX can hold 70 amps by two sets of DrMOS design, The flagship of GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS gaming motherboards unlock the full potential of the new processors and enhance the extreme overclocking performance on all-core multi cores. Meanwhile, the diverse top quality components with the solid pin sockets can provide more stable power and dissipate the heat more efficiently from heavy loading operation or overclocking to prevent CPU throttling by overheating, as well as to deliver up to 2300 Amps to provide the best power balance. Furthermore, the addition of Tantalum Polymer capacitors improves the transient response of the VRM between high and low loads, increasing the stability and purity of the power for processors so that users won’t have to worry about overlocking failures caused by unstable power. During extreme overclocking, Intel® Core™ i9-12900k achieved the frequency of 8 GHz.
Advanced layout design, remarkable memory overclocking
GIGABYTE introduces DDR5 memory starting from Intel® Z690 consumer motherboards with downward support of DDR4, and prepares various Z690 motherboards for users according to the market demand and positioning differences. The DDR4 models perform impressively as last generation, while DDR5 models benefit from the new memory architecture which enables speed from 4800 MHz with high power efficiency, low latency, and low power consumption. Besides the well-reputed Shielded Memory Routing, GIGABYTE Z690 motherboards also adopt the latest SMD memory DIMMs and dual metal armor for users to enjoy premium memory overclocking performance with more durability and more stability. The real test also affirms the boost of LN2 overclocking performance up to 8000 MHz and above.
In order to provide users a striking memory overclocking performance with ease, GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS motherboards pack numerous enhanced technologies. Enhanced by exclusive layout design, the “DDR5 Unlocked Voltage” feature can unlock the adjustment range of DDR5 memory native voltage, which allows users to reach higher memory clock with more stability. Moreover, the BIOS setting is correspondingly optimized to a new level, which “DDR5 Auto Booster” can boost native frequency of DDR5 from 4800 MHz to 5000 MHz with a simple click and automatically boost your memories after Windows loaded. This allows the performance improvements exert in real computing usage. “DDR5 XMP Booster” allows users to choose quickly from multiple built-in and pre-tuned memory overclocking profiles. “XMP 3.0 User Profile” enables users to create and burn in XMP profiles on their own to unleash the extreme performance of memories.
The Fins-Array III technology supplemented with high coefficient thermal pad
To enhance the overall heat dissipation, GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS MASTER and above motherboards feature the new generation Fins-Array III technology to further enlarge the surface area of the thermal fin to 9 times than a traditional heatsink, which takes away more heat when cool air passes by for advanced heat dissipation. The Direct-Touch Heatpipe II design features 8mm direct touch heatpipe with shortened distance and increased contact area between the heatpipe and the heatsink to lower the temperatures more rapidly. Meanwhile, select GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS motherboards implement a new generation LAIRD 9W/mK thermal pad in VRM area which offers significantly improved heat dissipation compared to traditional thermal pads.
Furthermore, selected AORUS motherboards feature metal back plate with nano-carbon coating for stylish thermal design, while several Z690 AORUS models continue the full-covered one-piece metal plate on MOS area from previous design to provide more efficient heat dissipation. The multiple skived fins and grooved surface provides two times larger dissipation area than traditional design that improves dramatically the heat convection and conduction by allowing more airflow pass through the heatsink. GIGABYTE Z690 motherboards adopt 6-layer PCB and above, even up to 10 layers on high end models. The power layer and ground layer both use 2OZ copper for enhanced heat dissipation under the high speed operation of CPU to avoid throttling by overheating. Besides the hardware thermal design on VRM, GIGABYTE Z690 motherboards continue to implement Smart Fan 6 technology and EZ Tuning function for a more flexible fan allocation, easier setting on fine tuning, and advanced manually setting mode. Now users can further control the gaming system temperature setting for the optimal balance among silent, cool, and high performance.
Get ready for the future with new generation PCIe® and M.2 design
The 12th Gen Intel® Core™ processors with Z690 chipset support the latest PCIe® 5.0 specifications. To meet the high-speed bandwidth required by the next generation of graphics cards, GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS motherboards comprehensively adopt PCIe® 5.0 design and selected components from PCBs, PCIe® slots, and even controllers to provide optimized signal quality and prepare for future technology. The brand new armor design for PCIe® 5.0 slot further enhances the strength for a better durability. Besides, all Z690 AORUS ATX motherboards equip four PCIe® 4.0 M.2 slots. Through the VMD support on Z690 platform, RAID configurations are enabled through the layout integration from CPU and chipset to provide access rate of more than 20000 MB/s. When it comes to high speed operation, the heat dissipation design becomes crucial to SSDs. The enlarged heatsink of select Z690 AORUS motherboards and GIGABYTE’s patent Thermal Guard XTREME, which is enhanced by heighten, widen, enlarged heatsink with heatpipe, providing optimal cooling for the PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs to prevent thermal throttling under high-speed operation.
Lightning-fast network, extraordinary sound effects, powerful expansion capabilities
GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS lineup is equipped with 2.5Gb Ethernet, to even 10Gbit on flagship models, and Intel® WiFi 6E 802.11ax network for the most complete and flexible network options. Besides GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS motherboards fully pack the latest technologies to meet the needs, including USB 3.2 Gen2x2, 3.2 Gen2 slots, and Thunderbolt™ 4 / USB 4 expansions. The addition of QFLASH+ and Clear CMOS buttons makes it much easier and more convenient for users to troubleshoot their systems or update their BIOS without installing a processor.
The top of GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS lineup utilizes a high SNR audio engine and pairs it with the WIMA FKP2 studio-grade audio capacitors, and integrates ESS SABRE DAC with DTS：X® Ultra to deliver high fidelity audio for the most abundant sound experience whether it’s for gaming or entertaining. The flagship Z690 AORUS XTREME motherboard introduces the ESSential HEX USB DAC, which is built-in ESS SABRE HiFi ES9280A audio codec with ESS ES9080A to process the left and right channel audio separately, it perfectly presents the Linear Apodizing filter effect, reduces the distortion of the pure Linear mode, and further increases the depth and openness of the reverberation of the soundstage. Users can enjoy more immersive audio experience without degrading the sound quality caused by the audio layout design within the chassis. ESSential HEX USB DAC also provides audio output up to 40 KHz, allowing players to sense the most realistic sound experience and enjoyable entertainment effects beyond physiological limitations.
In addition to above exclusive designs, GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS motherboards continue the noted support of the digital LED lightening and graphical BIOS setting interface that displays key information such as clock speeds, memory, storage devices, fan status settings, and other important hardware information in a more intuitive and user friendly manner. Meanwhile, Q-Flash technology allows users to flash a BIOS file without installing a CPU, RAM, GPU, and other peripherals.
In addition to the AORUS models, Gigabyte also launches three of Z690 AERO-series motherboards for creators. The latest Z690 AERO series perfectly unleash the extreme performance of the new generation processors, and provide remarkable thermal performance to ensure a stable system operation. With the support of the latest PCIe® 5.0, Z690 AERO lineup satisfies the high-speed bandwidth requirement of the next generation of graphics cards on one hand, and delivers optimized signal transferring quality on the other hand. The lineup equips four PCIe® 4.0 M.2 slots with armor design to offer creators sufficient storage capacity with optimal cooling without worrying for thermal throttling under high-speed operation.
Z690 AERO G and Z690 AERO G DDR4 feature the noted VisionLINK technology, which allows for data and video transmission based on USB Type-C® Interface and provides power delivery up to 60W for high-end pen displays. VisionLINK technology enables performance sharing from high-end graphics card to the pen displays through DP_IN interface, which promise creators a smoother working environment avoiding cable clutter and saving more time, space, and effort on content creation. The VisionLINK TB on Z690 AERO D is an advanced version of VisionLINK technology, which supports all Thunderbolt™ 4 features and 60W power supply as well. In addition, the features of 2.5Gbit Ethernet, Intel® WiFi 6E 802.11ax network, USB 3.2 Gen2x2 and front Type-C® interface also help creators significantly improve their work efficiency.
GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS motherboards offer a diverse range of enticing features to be the best choice for high-end computing and gaming platform. They are now available in the market. For more information and news, please visit the GIGABYTE AORUS website: https://aorus.com
For more information and news on GIGABYTE products, please visit the official GIGABYTE website: http://www.gigabyte.com
Although we’re going to try and cover all the newly launched Intel Z690 based motherboards more thoroughly before the retail availability date, we had a quick look already on what’s on offer and we were struck by something rather odd when it comes to Gigabyte, most of their new boards only have two 3.5 mm audio jacks around the back. This is not limited to their cheaper SKUs, but is found through the entire product stack.
We’re not entirely sure what’s going on here and will check with Gigabyte once someone is awake that we can talk to about it, but we’re fairly certain that this is going to cause a bit of a backlash from their customers. This was actually something we kind of saw in the leaked image of one of the Aero boards, as it didn’t look like it had any audio jacks at all, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, it seems to have something to do with Gigabyte’s move away from the Realtek ALC1220 Intel HD audio based codecs that the company have been using for the past few generations of boards.
Read more @ TechPowerUp
Last week, owners of one of Gigabyte’s motherboards based on AMD’s A320 chipset had a limited CPU upgrade path, if they didn’t want to overhaul their platform. And now? Gigabyte is dishing up beta BIOS updates that enable support for both Zen 2 (Ryzen 4000) and the latest Zen 3 (Ryzen 5000) processor from AMD.
This is potentially great news for budget builders who want to extend the life of their platform. As Intel’s Alder Lake processors come into view, retailers have been dropping prices on some of AMD’s latest generation Ryzen 5000 series chips. Take for example the Ryzen 7 5800X. It debuted at $449, and is now selling on Amazon for $393.99.
Read more @ Hot Hardware
Its purpose is different with a perfectly mastered balance sheet to offer ultra-fast storage and multiple connectivity options. The goal is to have an “optimized” environment for creation. This can relate to video (DisplayPort input), photography, audio, 3D creation, rendering, architecture etc. In view of our tests, this mission is fulfilled with great services in this segment (3D rendering, audio encoding, video encoding). In other areas, the results are average with sometimes a slight decline compared to the X570S PG Riptide from ASRock (memory bandwidth, memory latency, gaming). We also noticed a little more energy consumption at rest.
Read more @ GinjFo (French)
The Aorus Master may not be the top of the line models in the GIGABYTE lineup but still the Z590 Aorus Master model sports an interesting 18+1 phase digital VRM paired with the 2 generation of their direct-touch heatpipe and fins-array cooling solution, all of which should allow for easy, hassle free overclocking (casual). It also comes ready with a total of 4 DIMM slots (dual-channel configuration – 128GB total supported with speeds up to 5400MHz), 3 full-length EMI shielded (and reinforced) PCIe 4.0 slots (x16/x8-4 / x16 slot operates at up to x8 when the x8 slot is populated), 3 M.2 SSD slots (1xGen4x4/2xGen3x4), 6 native SATA 6Gb/s ports (with RAID 0/1/5/10 support), Realtek ALC1220-VB audio codec (paired with the ESS SABRE 9118 DAC), Intel AX210 Dual-Band WiFi 6/BT 5.2 wireless adapter, Aquantia 10GbE LAN, dual temperature sensor headers, dual-BIOS selection, two RGB LED strip headers and a Thunderbolt add-in connector (extra TB card required to use this).
Read more @ NikKTech
