ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi D4 Motherboard Review

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

ASUS may have some super-expensive flagships with their ROG hardware, but honestly, I’m more interested in the TUF series. Not only is it more affordable, but they’re often very competitive when it comes to feature and performance, and the ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi D4 Motherboard is no exception. At this price, competing with the AORUS Pro, which is stiff competition. However, they are similarly equipped, with just a few tweaks in their VRM design, but otherwise, they perform similarly and offer broadly similarly connectivity.

Build Quality & Design

I love TUF Gaming hardware, as it all follows the same design principles. With TUF Gaming Alliance, there are coolers, cases, PSUs, and much more beyond from multiple brands, which are designed to match up with other TUF hardware, making it easy to make a stylish and matching gaming setup, both inside and outside of your PC case. The design is cool though, with a mostly black and grey design, and just a few graphics printed on various components. The heatsink on the VRM is pretty significant, and there’s a decent 14+1 DrMOS Power Stage, not the most expansive VRM setup, but it’s reflected in the price, while not really hurting the performance. The PCIe 5.0 slot is armoured, and there are two large heatsinks cooling three of the four available M.2 mounts.

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 think this motherboard is already pretty great value for money, albeit because it’s also the cheapest one I have in my review pile right now. However, you do get some decent features for your money. ASUS always takes their audio seriously, and you’ll a Realtek 7.1 setup, supporting 24-Bit/192 kHz playback and it uses some nice audio capacitors, DTS Audio Processing, and there’s even built-in Two-way AI Noise-Cancelation for your microphone too, which works really well. PCIe 5.0, USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C, front USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, and Thunderbolt 4 header support are all welcome features, as well as the dual networking options with TUF LANGuard

Should I Buy One?

The ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi D4 Motherboard is going to be a big hit, I’m certain of that. It’s affordable for one, and while it uses the older DDR4 standard, DDR4 is still pretty fantastic. Plus, not switching to DDR5 means you don’t have to spend nearly 200 quid for some new ram. Still, when it came to performance, the TUF stands tall, and it’s a great entry point for those wanting to get into Z690 and 12th Gen CPUs.