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Asus Apex motherboards have always been designed specifically for overclocking. The Z690 version is no different and with only 2 DIMM slots, the focus is on maximum RAM performance, both for daily gaming operations and for record hunting with alternative cooling methods. Only here, according to various user reports and also in our tests, there are big differences from board to board, keyword Silicon Lottery.
Read more @ Igor’s Lab (German)
Asus ROG Strix B660-F Gaming WiFi is aimed at gamers who do not need the most powerful “hardware”, but for whom standard modern support for peripherals is important. According to the used chipset B660, it is clear that the board is more designed for mid-range processors, but it works fine even with the top Intel Core processors of the 12th generation. It has 16 USB ports, including 2 USB 3.2 Gen2 and 1 USB 3.2 Gen2×2 Type-C, 7 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, a PCIe x16 slot connected to the processor by PCIe 5.0 lines, “long” PCIe x4, and 2 PCIe x1.
Read more @ iXBT (Russian)
The printed circuit board is black, the surface is matte, but it is almost invisible from the front because everything is closed. There are some small cracks, but you can’t see much through them. The whole structure is very rigid and heavy because a lot of metal is used. It is clear that it has several heatsinks, but it is not light in itself because thick layers of copper are used in its production.
Read more @ Overclockers Russia (Russian)
ASRock has a wide range of AMD and Intel motherboards with the Phantom line both in the entry level and mid-range sectors. Packed into the ITX form factor, the ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming-ITX/TB4 has a robust VRM deploying ten 105 A power stages. It also includes DDR5 and PCIe 5.0-ready solutions for those looking for the newest technology. The features found on the more common ATX form factor are present and accounted for. Equipped with 2.5 GbE Ethernet powered by the Killer E3001G, DDR5-6400+ memory support, ASRock’s software suite, and Wi-Fi Ready, the time has come to jump in and find out what this ASRock Z690 ITX motherboard is all about!
Read more @ TechPowerUp
Now let’s talk about monoblock . Supplied by EK Water Blocks, we are on a product that will allow in this case to cool the processor, the power stage and even the first M.2 SSD slot via a custom watercooling circuit. Be careful, this is not a product suitable for everyone, there is some work behind to be done to be able to use it. This is a monoblock designed especially for this motherboard (MSI MPG Z690 CARBON) and it is therefore not possible to use it on another reference.
Read more @ HardwareCooking (French)
The motherboard is absolutely feature-packed and comes in a matte black finish with some gold trimmings thats’s typical of their Taichi series. The entire board is covered by serveal large full length heatshield/heatspreaders that helps cool your SSDs. Near the top of the board, you’ll find extra heatsinks with heatpipe that helps to cool the VRMs/Mosfets surrounding the processor socket. There’s also a bundled 3cm high performance fan for better cooling and silence performance.
Read more @ FunkyKit
The looks are fantastic, the features pretty grand. There is a pre-installed I/O shield on the MSI MPG Z690 Edge Wifi DDR5 motherboard, as well as a black chassis with heatsinks to display its internals in black. VRM on this one includes 16 actual phases (15+1), a PWM-Controller RAA229131, and MOSFETs CPU are 15x 75A RAA220075 and for the SoC 1x 75A RAA220075. There are four M.2 slots on the board, and each one has a heatsink attached to it. Furthermore, they are all capable of running at PCIe 4.0 speeds. Sixteen PCIe 5.0 lanes can be supported by the first x16 slot, whereas only four PCIe 3.0 lanes can be supported by the other x16 slots.
Read more @ Guru3D
In testing, the Ultra DDR4 performed quite well. We did see some decrease in performance, likely due to the use of DDR4 over the DDR5 we have tested previous boards with. That said, performance loss was minimal, around 100 points in both 1t and nT R23, while other benchmarks such as PCMark and 3DMark showed no loss at all. Storage performance was slightly lower than we typically see, peaking at 420MB/s in 3DMark Storage but again not too far off the average.
Read more @ TweakTown
While the Tachyon isn’t necessarily considered a gamers board, this platform is built ground up for you for those who enjoy the tweaking aspect of overclocking. Adding to this solid enough connectivity with USB 3.2 and enough ports between the rear I/O and internal chassis expansion to handle all your peripheral needs.
We should mention its ability to expand into Thunderbolt 4 territory with a likely upcoming AIC and a solid network stack between the Intel 2.5Gbe and WiFi6e to make this a board certainly worth looking at.
Read more @ TweakTown
Connectivity is stacked for an OC-focused platform, PS2 for keyboard mouse, four Gen1 and four Gen2 give plenty of USB 3.2, and an additional USB-C is added on for Gen2x2 connectivity. We have the typical Intel network suite with 2.5Gbe LAN and AX211 for WiFi6e. Audio comes from the ALC4080 from Realtek with a Savitech amplifier.
Read more @ TweakTown