Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Master

[ir_cow]

Gigabyte is packing heat with the Z690 Aorus Master. This motherboard is designed for Intel's 12th Gen Core and boasts a massive 20-phase VRM using 105 A power stages. Built for connectivity, the Z690 Aorus Master has features like PCIe 5.0, DDR5, Wi-Fi 6E, 10 GbE LAN, and five M.2 sockets to round out the experience!

Show full review

 

[asdkj1740]

i thought f7a is meant to be gskill samsung die sticks specific. didn't know it also helps hynix sticks.

 

[ir_cow]

i thought f7a is meant to be gskill samsung die sticks specific. didn't know it also helps hynix sticks.

It is weird that Gigabyte removed all the previous versions (F6a, F6c and F6d), now its just "F6" + F7a on the site. In any case the last F6 allowed me to boot 6400 XMP but it wasn't stable. F7a made 6400 sable and than I was able to go to 6600. It could have been a minor tweak overall that is mainly for Samsung, but ended up benefiting Hynix. It's not like Gigabyte discloses exactly what was changed in the code.

I guess it should be noted even though I assume those who have read the review knows the recommendation is based on the newest F7a BIOS. I wouldn't buy it if it wasn't updated or you are not planning on doing so. Kinda goes without saying, but yeah...

 

[AlwaysHope]

Amazing that even in the Z690 top line Aorus board this weirdness of not applying a user's input option in bios is ignored. I have had that same effect on my own Z590 Aorus Ultra & even with the last bios release! I have had other issues with settings in the bios of this previous gen board too but I digress for now.
I'm just glad I have another Z590 board on the way...

 

[asdkj1740]

It is weird that Gigabyte removed all the previous versions (F6a, F6c and F6d), now its just "F6" + F7a on the site. In any case the last F6 allowed me to boot 6400 XMP but it wasn't stable. F7a made 6400 sable and than I was able to go to 6600. It could have been a minor tweak overall that is mainly for Samsung, but ended up benefiting Hynix. It's not like Gigabyte discloses exactly what was changed in the code.

I guess it should be noted even though I assume those who have read the review knows the recommendation is based on the newest F7a BIOS. I wouldn't buy it if it wasn't updated or you are not planning on doing so. Kinda goes without saying, but yeah...

f6a b c d e are beta bios. f6 is the final official bios.
same as f5b, the first round review samples used bios.

team t force 6400 stick is also found troubles in asus z690 like apex. team suggests enabling xmp profile and manually set 6000mhz only for now.
can you test it with tm5 absolute config on f7a bios?

 

[ir_cow]

f6a b c d e are beta bios. f6 is the final official bios.
same as f5b, the first round review samples used bios.

team t force 6400 stick is also found troubles in asus z690 like apex. team suggests enabling xmp profile and manually set 6000mhz only for now.

Hmm.. probably. It didn't say BETA when I downloaded them last week. Now its just F6, it is most like just F6d renamed.

The memory problem was not exclusive to TeamGroup. 3 kits on the QVL list did not work as well. Also 6400 works fine on the ASUS Hero with the same BIOS from launch. Clearly ASUS has DDR5 figured out. Besides the backwards cap . Once again ALL that was resolved with the newest BIOS.

 

[Jism]

The Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Master has a maximum output of 2,085 A, with 1,995 A dedicated to Vcore.

Is'nt this VRM thing getting out of hand at some point? There's no chip nor in the future that is able to fully tax what it's rated or designed for. Your paying alot of extra for something you woud'nt even obtain at extreme LN2 overclocks.

 

[DrCR]

~$500 for a consumer motherboard is… remarkable. If they can find buyers at that price point though, great for them.

 

[Caring1]

Is'nt this VRM thing getting out of hand at some point? There's no chip nor in the future that is able to fully tax what it's rated or designed for. Your paying alot of extra for something you woud'nt even obtain at extreme LN2 overclocks.

Intel: Hold my beer.

 

[Chrispy_]

Given the insulting prices on flagship-level boards and a serious supply/scalping issue with DDR5 right now, I have no interest in high-end Alder Lake builds. This board is less ridiculous than ASUS/MSI's ultra-flagships but $490 is still a lot to pay for a board that basically would have been in a $250-300 market segment only 3-4 years ago.

If I was looking to buy one or spec one for work, I would almost certainly just get a B-series board and spend a little extra on a good quality DDR4-3600/4000 kit. Getting the IMC to run above 2000MHz at gear1 looks like it needs luck and some patience tweaking the voltages. IMO you just get the lowest latencies possible at 3600/4000 and know that outside of a very few bandwidth-limited productivity datasets your DDR4 will outperform all DDR5 in current workloads.

I might have considered a Z-series board prior to @W1zzard's power-scaling article but it seems to me that Alder Lake does just fine with 125W and there really isn't a huge amount of justification to push power consumption and motherboard cost into the stratosphere for that last 5% of performance.

In the meantime, my 3900X and 5800X are ticking along just fine so for personal use I'm almost certainly skipping Alder Lake anyway, this is all just work-related or academic for me.

 

[Raytech]

Did you guys manage to install and use on/off charge (turbo charge) on the new Z690 aorus master?
I get it to work on aorus Master z590, the app center doesn't seems to recognize it.

 

[Antykain]

Still working on getting a Z690 board to upgrade my old Z390 Maximux XI Hero 9900k build.. I've been thinking about going Gigabyte for the motherboard after spending 15+ years on the ROG platform.. We'll see. Waiting on the EVGA Z690 to drop too. Been eyeballing those, as well..

 

[bug]

Is'nt this VRM thing getting out of hand at some point? There's no chip nor in the future that is able to fully tax what it's rated or designed for. Your paying alot of extra for something you woud'nt even obtain at extreme LN2 overclocks.

It's probably for peace of mind. You never know when you need to jumpstart your car's battery.

Also, horrible, horrible looking software.

 

[csendesmark]

con
only one PCIe5 m.2
Seriously?
I would argue that a Threadripper can fully utilize a PCIe v4.0 m.2 slots (on full speed), not to mention of the currently far less capable intel options
but if you have fetish for CrystalDiskMark, maybe

Have to mention to very nice to see all those new mainboards with 3+ m.2 slots,
Only wish to see the return of heat-pipes for the mainboards, I referring the extra heat load on the passive heatsinks,
If you put there 5 of the high performance SSDs, like WD Black SN850, Samsung 980PRO or Seagate Firecuda 530, those can dump up to 35+W heat.
Looking forward the return of the heat-pipes too.

 

[ir_cow]

It says PCIe 5 Slot. Not M.2 BTW. I get what your saying though.

Waiting on the EVGA Z690 to drop too. Been eyeballing those, as well..

Waiting for EVGA as well

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Is'nt this VRM thing getting out of hand at some point? There's no chip nor in the future that is able to fully tax what it's rated or designed for. Your paying alot of extra for something you woud'nt even obtain at extreme LN2 overclocks.

A bit, although alderlake can pull in excess of 300 watts. That would be a ~15% load on that VRM, which might be right int he middle of the efficiency/heat curve.

Granted you dont need a VRM this big, one rated for just 1000A would still hit the efficiency sweet spot and still have enough phases to keep voltage stable for high OCs. But then again tha's why boards this expensive are considred a waste of cash.

 

[asdkj1740]

A bit, although alderlake can pull in excess of 300 watts. That would be a ~15% load on that VRM, which might be right int he middle of the efficiency/heat curve.

Granted you dont need a VRM this big, one rated for just 1000A would still hit the efficiency sweet spot and still have enough phases to keep voltage stable for high OCs. But then again tha's why boards this expensive are considred a waste of cash.

because stupid ppl hate fan/active cooling.

it is so sad for me to see asrock boosting up the vrm on z690 taichi. they did a great job on the vrm of z490 and z590 by using fans.
we now have the most expensive taichi ever, compared to gigabyte aorus master / msi unify or ace / asus hero.

btw, you can still get 90c~100c vrm temp at 350w cpu package power or more for 19 phases 105a. it is all about cooling design, namely the vrm heatsink and the PCB material (passive cooling).
the internet is just testing 12900k with aida fpu which is hard to get above 250w cpu package power. it is even weaker than cinebench.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

because stupid ppl hate fan/active cooling.

Disliking small, proprietary, whiny fans that are prone to failure is not *stupid*. A proper VRM heatsink doesnt need a fan to cool itself properly.

it is so sad for me to see asrock boosting up the vrm on z690 taichi. they did a great job on the vrm of z490 and z590 by using fans.

And it was noisy, something consumers complained about, because it was utterly unnecessary. Other brands managed the same or lower temps with silent heatsink designs.

we now have the most expensive taichi ever, compared to gigabyte aorus master / msi unify or ace / asus hero.

Yeah, I'm sure the removal of a component is why the prices have risen up, and its not related in any way to the current market conditions or people's willingness to pay stupid money for products.

btw, you can still get 90c~100c vrm temp at 350w cpu package power or more for 19 phases 105a. it is all about cooling design, namely the vrm heatsink and the PCB material (passive cooling).
the internet is just testing 12900k with aida fpu which is hard to get above 250w cpu package power. it is even weaker than cinebench.

The *internet* tests with whatever workload manages to get things the hottest, usually prime 95 or something similar. AIDA64 is used for stability testing.

 

[chrcoluk]

Not sure what I think of the current state of the PC industry when a $490 board is considered a good price.

 

[ir_cow]

Not sure what I think of the current state of the PC industry when a $490 board is considered a good price.

Good price for what it has; ie 10Gb LAN, lots of M.2 slots, voltage read points, 105a VRM, WiFi 6E, etc. If you just want a MB that can power a 12900K and play games - it can be had for much cheaper. I touched on this in the review already.

 

[Selaya]

Not sure what I think of the current state of the PC industry when a $490 board is considered a good price.

If you're questioning the price of this board, it's not for you. You're looking for a board to use as a tool (as a building block for your computer, which you'd use for productivity and/or entertainment). This board is a toy (as are the others of this priceclass, and up) - for people who'd enjoy tinkering with their computer itself (ex overclocking), not merely using it.

 

[ne-jx]

audio only 1220?? it should be atleast 4080, b560 aorus pro ax has it!

 

[bug]

audio only 1220?? it should be atleast 4080, b560 aorus pro ax has it!

I believe the Pro has the better sound chip.
Me, I just use the audio out.

 

[ne-jx]

yeah, but this is master which is above aorus pro.

 

[bug]

yeah, but this is master which is above aorus pro.

There is no "above". They're just different models.