MSI MAG Z690 TOMAHAWK WIFI DDR4 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

I’ve been a long time fan of the Tomahawk series of motherboards and I’ve actually bought a few of them myself over the years too. They’re often packed with plenty of features without costing too much. With that in mind, it’s no surprise to see this is one of the most affordable Z690 boards in our office. There will be/are cheaper boards at retailers too though. This puts it up against the rather excellent AORUS Pro, which is £11 cheaper. However, both motherboards seem like they’re very closely matched in terms of features, with just one key difference. The TOMAHAWK has DDR4 while the AORUS Pro uses DDR5. It may seem strange paying £11 more for a board with older DDR memory support but keep in mind, you’ll save £200 not buying DDR5 as you can keep your existing DDR4 memory if you have it… an interesting conundrum.

Build Quality & Design

It’s a decent looking motherboard, and there’s no doubt about that. It’s got plenty of large heatsinks on all the main hardware, such as the VRM and the M.2 mounts. The design is mostly black with some very dark grey details, but otherwise, it’s a pretty cool and modern design. The heatsinks are good enough to offer real-world performance improvements but not so big that they push the price up. I like the new SMT armour design on the PCIe 5 slot too; it’s very robust.

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

A lot of the value for this board comes in the support for the current DDR4 memory rather than DDR5. While that seems like a weird choice, DDR4 is no slouch, and it’s easy to get great performance to it since it’s such a mature platform. However, you still get PCIe Gen 5, M.2 Gen 4, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, Optane support and more, just like you would on similarly priced models with DDR5, so this is a very competitive motherboard!

Should I Buy One?

I really like this motherboard, and right now, I think it’s the one I’m tempted to buy for my computer at home. It’s not too expensive, and I don’t feel I need DDR5 just yet, at least not on my gaming rig. It would certainly make the cost of an upgrade a lot cheaper, meaning I put it towards other pricey hardware like the GPU. It’s well equipped, has great audio and a good suite of connectivity options, making it a real contender for those looking to get into the Alder Lake CPUs without spending a small fortune.