Of you fancied the look of NZXT’s N7 Z690, but couldn’t quite stretch to its £ asking price, NZXT has another option for you in the form of the N5 Z690. It retails for just £ which still isn’t exactly cheap, but that’s not a horrendous price fora Z690 motherboard. Both boards use DDR4 memory, … Read more
Our initial review of the Asus ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming WiFi was glowing, as it sported a mighty feature set and an imposing PCB crammed with even more goodies than previous generations. However, it still won’t leave you with much change from £ so can it still justify that price in the face of cheaper competition? Its triple-stacked array of M.2 … Read more
As its predecessor has now been recalled, the Gigabyte Z690I Aorus Ultra Plus is now the company’s flagship Z690 board for mini PCs. It gets off to a good start price-wise, costing nearly £ less than the Asus ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming WiFi and comes in both DDR4 and DDR5 flavors. INTEL Z690 MOTHERBOARD Gigabyte … Read more
Overclocking Intel’s 12th-gen CPUs doesn’t always yield decent gains, particularly at the high end, so if you plan on running one at stock speed, you don’t need to fork out for a Z690 motherboard. The Gigabyte B660I Aorus Pro DDR4 costs significantly less than its Z690 siblings, and it uses DDR4 memory, cutting down the … Read more
While those with deep pockets might be tempted by the Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Impact if their case could squeeze a longer mini-DTX motherboard into its innards, the Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming is your best bet for a premium motherboard that sticks within the 170 x 170mm confines of mini-ITX. Despite its age, you still won’t see much change from £ if … Read more
With a £ price reduction since we first reviewed it a while ago, the Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming is now even more attractive, especially as it’s now £ cheaper than its X570 sibling too. This board give you an 8+2 power phase design and the same aesthetics as the Asus ROG Strix X570-I Gaming, but there’s no snazzy RGB lighting and … Read more
Z690 ATX MOTHERBOARD While it might be late to the Z690 party, NZXT’s N7 Z690 was an interesting item to land in our lab. It features a PCB cover in black or white, with our white sample just begging to be placed in a clean, white PC case, preferably with other white hardware. It’s also reasonably priced for a … Read more
If you prefer your motherboard to be free from RGB bling, and with a decidedly dark and moody theme, then you’re in luck, as there’s not an ounce of built-in lighting on the MEG Z690 Unify. You do get some RGB headers, including two 3-pin, one 4-pin and a single Corsair connector for hooking up … Read more
Si’s MPG Gaming Carbon range of motherboards has proved pretty popular among PC enthusiasts, with EK even teaming up with MSI to water-cool them for the Carbon EK X range of motherboards. As with many Z690 boards, though, while it looks like another solid effort on paper, the DDR5-based MPG Z690 Gaming Carbon WiFi will … Read more
One of the main benefits of an APU system is its potentially small size, so full-sized ATX Socket FM2+ motherboards such as MSI‘s A88X-G45 Gaming often seem like a bit of a contradiction. However, there’s a few reasons to consider this particular board. Firstly, it has some of the best power circuitry cooling of any … Read more
We’re usually fond of Asus’ flagship motherboards, but while they’re usually dripping with features to make any enthusiast drool, very few people can afford them. Imagine, then, that both of those factors were multiplied several times over and combined in a wallet-crushing feature-fest of a motherboard. That’s essentially what Asus has done with the Maximus … Read more
If you dip below when buying an overclockable motherboard, it’s unlikely to be an Intel model, simply because only pricey motherboards based on Intel’s Z270 can take advantage of its K-series unlocked processors. However, AMD’s budget-focused B350 chipset allows you to overclock AMD’s Ryzen CPUs, providing scope to build cheap, overclockable systems. The micro-ATX Gigabyte … Read more