86 Motherboards Compared for Intel Z690 Alder Lake

[TheLostSwede]

We compare all the new Intel Z690 chipset based motherboards for Intel's 12th Gen Alder Lake processors, so you can get an overview of which boards are worthy of your consideration and which can be skipped no matter if looking for something basic or a flagship model.

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[Pumper]

lol, what's the point of the superior price/performance of the 12600K vs. 5600X if the mobo will be at least +$100 over a B550?

 

[Zubasa]

lol, what's the point of the superior price/performance of the 12600K vs. 5600X if the mobo will be at least +$100 over a B550?

Maybe that is the reason why Intel went price competitive on the CPU side, to off-set the total platform cost.

 

[JalleR]

Is ther any for the boards that has 2 Real x16 PCIE slots ? (one 5.0 and one 3.0) ? i Cant find one so maybe there is non.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Maybe that is the reason why Intel went price competitive on the CPU side, to off-set the total platform cost.

As per the article, Intel only charges $1 extra for the chipset and there are no real reasons why there's a ~$50 jump in price even at the lower-end, as no extra costly parts are being used. Yes, we're seeing better VRM designs which would add some cost, but not too the extent it seems to be.

Is ther any for the boards that has 2 Real x16 PCIE slots ? (one 5.0 and one 3.0) ? i Cant find one so maybe there is non.

Not for consumer grade CPUs, no.
Intel's HSIO doesn't allow for more than four lanes at a time and if you want to connect 16 of them to a slot, you're going to need a 32 lane PCIe bridge/switch and those are expensive.

 

[BarbaricSoul]

anyone know what time today can we expect the Alder Lake CPU reviews to be released?

 

[erocker]

No DDR5 availability.

 

[Zubasa]

As per the article, Intel only charges $1 extra for the chipset and there are no real reasons why there's a ~$50 jump in price even at the lower-end, as no extra costly parts are being used. Yes, we're seeing better VRM designs which would add some cost, but not too the extent it seems to be.

Going from PCIE gen5 on the X16 cpu lanes and gen4 on the chipset would require better signal integrity.
Z590 was just gen4 from the cpu + gen3 on the chipset. Gen4 vs Gen3 would require additional signal re-drivers.
And of course, when the AIB partners sees an excuse to raise prices, they will. This is most likely the case with lower-end Z690 board with gen3 slots.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Going from PCIE gen5 on the X16 cpu lanes and gen4 on the chipset would require better signal integrity.
Z490 was just gen4 from the cpu + gen3 on the chipset. Gen4 vs Gen3 would require additional signal re-drivers.
And of course, when the AIB partners sees an excuse to raise prices, they will. This is most likely the case with lower-end Z690 board with gen3 slots.

Yes, but this wasn't an issue, as the costs have already come down on low noise PCB materials thanks to AMD and the X570 chipset. If you have a look on the cheap boards, there are almost no redrivers on them.

All the PCIe lanes are being used for M.2, hence so few boards with PCIe 4.0 slots.

 

[Zubasa]

Yes, but this wasn't an issue, as the costs have already come down on low noise PCB materials thanks to AMD and the X570 chipset. If you have a look on the cheap boards, there are almost no redrivers on them.

All the PCIe lanes are being used for M.2, hence so few boards with PCIe 4.0 slots.

Some of the lower end boards even went with gen3 on some of the M.2 slots.
Also many of them have almost no USB with Gigabyte even cheaping out on the damn audio jacks.

A funny thing about the pricing of the Aero D vs Aorus Master.
The Aorus Master is listed at around $470 at newegg, but in Hong Kong it is listed at around $616USD.
That put it well above the price of the Aero D that has better IO on everything. I guess the distributor is milking hard on the Gamer tax.

 

[Chaitanya]

anyone know what time today can we expect the Alder Lake CPU reviews to be released?

In 4-5hrs time based on livestreams scheduled on youtube.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Some of the lower end boards even went with gen3 on some of the M.2 slots.
Also many of them have almost no USB with Gigabyte even cheaping out on the damn audio jacks.

At most, one, even some higher end boards have them.

There are USB redrivers on several boards though.

Also, redrivers are not recommended by the PCI SIG, instead retimers are the suggest solution. If you look at the boards with two PCIe 5.0 slots, you can spot two retimers on some of them.

PCI Express® Retimers vs. Redrivers: An Eye-Popping Difference | PCI-SIG

pcisig.com

 

[BarbaricSoul]

In 4-5hrs time based on livestreams scheduled on youtube.

so around noon EST

 

[Chrispy_]

Wow, Asus really are just taking the piss with their Maximus boards.

Just get a flagship from someone else this generation, if you're in the market for flagships.

As for everything else, it seems like $200 is the starting point and $400 is the top end after which you're basically being taxed for bling and prestige with little extra of value being added.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Wow, Asus really are just taking the piss with their Maximus boards.

Just get a flagship from someone else this generation, if you're in the market for flagships.

As for everything else, it seems like $200 is the starting point and $400 is the top end after which you're basically being taxed for bling and prestige with little extra of value being added.

What struck me, is that there are so many overlapping models from the same manufacturer, but with big jumps in price for tiny feature improvements.

 

[Timelessest]

Which itx model is the best?

 

[Xuper]

AMD X570 has 3 independent M.2 Gen 4 without sharing any bandwidth ,So what about Z690 ?

 

[Zubasa]

AMD X570 has 3 independent M.2 Gen 4 without sharing any bandwidth ,So what about Z690 ?

X570 has one gen4 from the CPU, then the other M.2 are from the chipset all share a Gen4 X4 link.
Z690 has a gen4 M.2 from the CPU and then x8 DMI4.0, basically a PCIE Gen4 X8 link for the chipset.
Z690 has a maximum of 1+3 gen4 M.2 slots. Because the Z690 chipset can give off 12 gen4 lanes.

In short the Z690 chipset has double the bandwidth of X570 connecting to the CPU.
On current mainstream platforms only the first M.2 slot is directly connected to the CPU and all the other M.2 must share bandwidth on the chipset.
On Z390 and older there were no M.2 directly to the CPU. You can use an adapter card to cannibalize the GPU lanes, but that is another story.

 

[Xuper]

ok I checked here :

https://www.gamersnexus.net/images/media/2019/news/amd/x570-chipset-block-diagram.jpg

There are 4x USB 3.2 gen2 ( on the left image ) , They're direct from the CPU ? I don't see in Z690 diagram?

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-z690-alder-lake-motherboard-comparison-buying-guide/images/z690-block-diagram.jpg

 

[Zubasa]

ok I checked here :

https://www.gamersnexus.net/images/media/2019/news/amd/x570-chipset-block-diagram.jpg

There are 4x USB 3.2 gen2 ( on the left image ) , They're direct from the CPU ? I don't see in Z690 diagram?

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-z690-alder-lake-motherboard-comparison-buying-guide/images/z690-block-diagram.jpg

On Z690 USB and Thunderbolt etc are all from the chipset.
IRL it isn't a huge issue, most people will not be hammering 2 gen4 SSDs off the chipset at full speed and USB all at the same time.

Ryzen being an SOC does offer some USB ports directly from the CPU and 2 of the nvme lanes can be converted to SATA for the same reason.
So that it can be used as an SOC in a NUC type PC or some Ultrabooks, without a chipset.

 

[Turmania]

I find it weird when the cpu you will buy costs less than the motherboard...

 

[champsilva]

anyone know what time today can we expect the Alder Lake CPU reviews to be released?

In about 40 minutes.

 

[swirl09]

No DDR5 availability.

Yeah Ive my whole build ordered, minus RAM :/

I think its going to be weeks til I build it.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I personally like the Asus Hero/Formula/Extreme but those price increases are disappointing. I did sorta expect absurd prices though.

I guess I'll just have to live with the fact that if I want a flagship cpu/board it's gonna cost north of 1500 usd. I was already thinking 1100 usd for my 5950X/Aorus Master was slightly ridiculous.

Either way I'm excited to see some alderlake reviews today hoping it kicks a$$! I would love to get to a point where both cpu manufacturers are trading blows with each release.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Which itx model is the best?

Best? I guess that depends on your budget. Asus seem to have the most feature packed board, followed by Gigabyte and ASRock, but Gigabyte is best value for money.