Z690 Motherboards and Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake Pricing
Here’s a round-up of all the motherboards and processors I’ve reviewed today. This includes up to date pricing that was correct prior to launch. However, I expect prices and stock to be a little more volatile after the launch, so please keep in mind that they are subject to change. Most of the prices and links are from Amazon UK, however, I have included some prices and links to Scan.co.uk for items that were not available on Amazon at the time of writing.
- Intel 12th Gen Core i5-12600K, i7-12700K & i9-12900K CPU (review) – £290 @ Scan / £419 @ Scan / £599 @ Scan
- ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 EXTREME Motherboard (review) – £935 @ Scan / £1669 Glacial Edition
- ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO Motherboard (review) – £520 @ Scan
- ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi D4 Motherboard (review) – £280 @ Scan
- ASUS ROG Z690-I Gaming WiFi Motherboard (review) – £375 @ Scan
- Gigabyte Z690 AORUS XTREME Motherboard (review) – £767
- Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Master Motherboard (review) – £416
- Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Pro Motherboard (review) – £290
- MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi Motherboard (review) – £410 @ Scan
- MSI MAG Z690 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4 Motherboard (review) – £301
- MSI MEG Z690 UNIFY Motherboard (review) – £510 @ Scan
Overview
You certainly have to take a deep breath when toying with hardware as fancy as this, but I have to admit, while it’s certainly way out of my price range for a motherboard, the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 EXTREME is one awesome piece of hardware. The price is reflective of how many features it has, because it has all of them… and then some more on top of that. However, unless you’re truly going to use almost all of that a lot, there’s really little to no reason to invest in something like the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 EXTREME Motherboard. Dropping nearly a grand on a motherboard may seem like madness to many, especially when ASUS’s flagship seems to be nearly £200 more than the AORUS XTREME. They’re both similarly matched for performance, but ASUS has their DIMM.2 expansion card, hub controller, an OLED display and a slightly larger 24+1 Power Stages vs the AORUS’s 20+1+2. However, both offer very competitive features beyond that. ASUS have always been a bit more expensive in general though, so it’s not a big surprise. However, the truly robust connectivity stands out to me, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, Thunderbolt 4 support, rear triple USB Type-C ports, and more.
Build Quality & Design
Well, it’s as good as it gets, really. It bloody wants to be at this price. The motherboard is extremely heavy, but that’s not surprising when you consider the VRMs are about the largest I’ve ever seen, and there’s a fully armoured and cooled E-ATX PCB, extra PCB layers, extra copper in those layers, extra thicker and larger heatsinks, bigger heatpipes, and not forgetting that full-size rear shield and all the hardware to bolt it down… You better put this motherboard in a durable chassis, because something cheap may just bend in half. If you plan to push any CPU to its absolute limits and keep it there 24/7, this is the kind of hardware that will reliably get the job done.
The design is stunning, with black on black for the bulk of it. However, the matrix LED lighting as well as the larger OLED display (vs the Z590 version) help take the customisation options to the next level.
Performance
Well, as we might have expected, pretty much all of the Z690 motherboards performed around about the same, so if all you care about is straight-up gaming performance, then just pick the one you like. What really affects the price, however, is VMR configuration and connectivity. If you’re building a system that will render high-resolution video 24/7 and push max boost clocks on flagship CPUs, then sure, it’s a good idea to invest in a more premium board with the heatsinks that can cope with sustained loads. Furthermore, some of the Z690 boards have DDR4 DIMMS, making them more affordable, while DDR5 will add a price premium but bring performance benefits too. However, all the boards get PCIe 5.0 lanes, and Gen 4 storage too, which is where some of the most significant gains are to be found from one board to the other.
Added Value
I wouldn’t say value for money, because this motherboard has a lot of features, and you’re sure as hell paying a premium for every single one of them. On the software side, it’s nice to have ASUS-exclusive tools, including AI Overclocking, AI Cooling, AI Networking and Two-Way AI Noise-Cancelation for easy configuration which makes getting great performance a lot easier. Class-leading networking with onboard Wi-Fi 6E, Marvell AQtion 10Gb, Intel 2.5Gb Ethernet, and ASUS LANGuard. PCIe slot Q-release, V-Latch switch, BIOS FlashBack, Q-Code, FlexKey, Q-Connector, M.2 Q-Latch, SafeSlot, ROG Glavis and ROG graphics card holder, it’s all very nice stuff, and really helps add to the overall premium package that this truly is. However, you do also get 1 year of AIDA64 Extreme, and a months Adobe Creative Cloud, which is always welcome.
Should I Buy One?
Honestly, I doubt many of the people reading this board will ever need to buy it. It’s so hilariously over the top, and your typical high-end PC gaming build will get virtually the same performance on something that costs a fraction as much. If you’ve got a lot of money spare and want to show off, this will get the job done. If you want to break some overclocking world records, this will absolutely get the job done. However, if you want to build a gaming rig of epic proportions or a rendering workstation that takes full advantage of the extensive networking, storage, and huge bandwidths they all offer, it’s going to be hard to beat the EXTREME.
