Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Master Motherboard Preview

Peter Donnell / 3 years ago

Price and Availability

At the time of writing, pricing was not available, but we expect some early pre-orders may appear. Of course, we’ll update you with full retail links and pricing information in our full reviews. However, you can check Amazon UK for stock of the latest Z690 motherboards here, as well as the latest Alder Lake series of processors from Intel here. Alternatively, you can check Scan Computers here. Keep in mind, they may not be in stock just yet, so keep checking back around the time of launch.

My guesstimated price for this motherboard is – EXTREMELY HIGH

Overview

The latest Intel CPUs are almost here, and of course, that means this motherboard, along with many others from all the major brands and a few of the minor ones, are about to hit the market. While I can’t give you too many details right now due to the various NDA’s that we have to comply with, I do hope these previews give you some idea of what to expect, or at least, some indication of which board you may want to purchase on launch day. Of course, when the NDA passes, which is very soon, I might add, we’ll have full written and video reviews of all the boards we’ve previewed, and perhaps a few surprises beyond that too.

Intel 12th Gen Alder Lake

Of course, to use these new motherboards, you’ll need a new Intel 12th Gen processor, better known as Alder Lake. These will launch in the usual K and KF variants, although many more are expected to launch between now and the first part of 2022; no doubt after CES 2022 in Las Vegas, where Intel will undoubtedly have a strong presence. Of course, we’ll have reviews of the appropriate CPUs alongside the launch of these motherboards.

DDR4 or DDR5?

Well, this is an interesting one, as while you absolutely will need a new CPU, you may or may not need new memory. Out of the 90+ Z690 motherboards hitting the market this year, some of them will stick with the well-known DDR4 memory format. However, many of the more enthusiast and high-end performance motherboards will adopt DDR5 instead. Interestingly, some motherboards may be available with a choice of one or the other, making for a pretty interesting transition between the two technologies. Be sure to check this specification when ordering, as it’d suck if you had the wrong memory! Of course, you can expect us to push forward with DDR5 reviews in the near future, too.

Show Me More!

Want to find out more about the upcoming Z690 products? Here’s a complete list of all the previews we have available for you right now! Plus, if there’s a preview of it, we guarantee there will be a full review with performance figures come launch day. Enjoy!

ASUS