Gigabyte Z690 AORUS XTREME 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

OK, so this motherboard costs around £760, and that is a lot. However, it’s a lot less than I expected. It was just a couple of years back a board like this was over £1000, sometimes a lot more than that even. What’s cool is that it’s around £200 cheaper than the ASUS flagship, they’re both extremely well equipped, but I suspect there’s just that ASUS tax on there because they know they can get away with it. Alas, it just makes the AORUS XTREME look like bloody good value for money in comparison. One thing is for sure, you get at least one of everything for your big investment; this board is jacked!

Build Quality & Design

It’s about as good as a motherboard could ever hope to look; it looks like it was sent from the future. It’s also made from the core of a neutron star, at least that’s what I think judging by the weight of it. It’s a big motherboard, and every bit of it is extremely well armoured and cooled. There are so many raw materials in this that it feels genuinely excessive in every way possible. There’s a massive 20+1+2 Direct Digital VRM, which is nuts, but if you’re riding that CPU 24/7, it’ll pay off in the long run. M.2 cooling won’t be an issue either, with easily the biggest heatsinks possible protecting. Both the PCIe 5.0 slots have the new and much more robust SMT design and armour, and there’s armour on the older PCIe 3.0 lane, the DDR5 dims and more. Then you have the solid-pin headers mounted at 90-degree. This is a flagship board, and literally, every detail is better built and designed than it likely needs to be, and it’s awesome.

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 investing 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

While this board is expensive, you are getting a lot in return. It has a pair of ultra-fast Intel Thunderbolt 4 ports, which can be used as display outputs too. There’s 2.5 GbE LAN, but then you also get the AQUANTIA 10 GbE BASE-T LAN and WiFi 6E! There’s a front USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 Type-C, but also all 10 USB ports on the rear I/O are USB 3.2 Gen 2! All of these do not come cheap. There’s the stunning ESSential HEX Audio Card, that’s a premium addition to any setup too, and that funky DDR5 RGB shield cover thing. It’s not cheap, but you get so much for your investment.

Should I Buy One?

Honestly, probably not. This board is complete overkill for most people, and you could save a small fortune going for something like the AORUS MASTER. The XTREME only makes sense if you plan on maxing out the fastest CPUs, and you plan to run the CPU long and hard too (and no, gaming doesn’t even come close in this regard). Plus, you’re paying a huge premium for cooling hardware, so if you’re not ragging your hardware, it’s total overkill. There’s an even bigger premium on connectivity, and unless you really need all those USB 3.2 Gen 2, dual Thunderbolts, and 10 GbE LAN, then you’re really just throwing your money away. However, if you have a stack of cash and need extreme connectivity and performance… well, this is it.