Man you went in on this one. Thanks for making such detailed reviews. The cooling is messed up with these boards. I am guessing the temps are not great but limitations on the cooling solutions are really a bad thing.
Thank you for this review, SFF community is huge and you are doing a great work for us, no reviews at all for this new gen itx boards. Thank you and maybe you can cover some air coolers for this board, I think most of us are going to end up with this board and hopefully will be fixed with future updates.
Got the ASRock Z690I using DDR4, thank god I didn't encounter any issues. I was eyeing this MB for my ITX build but thanks to you and reviews online I was able to avoid getting it and wasting my time. I wish MSI had an ITX DDR4 Z690 as I don't have any issues with my MSI Z690 Edge wifi DDR4 board.
This was great. I want to upgrade my nr200p itx build with a 12600k eventually. These kind of info-vids are very good. I certsinly hope someone comes up with a mobo 100% compatible with c14s.
I've got this board now, (DDR4) still labeled revision 1, just purchased in July of 2023, and the PA 120 and Noctua NH-D12L both fit using the stock m.2 heatsink without any modification! Thanks for the coverage
Any chance you could elaborate on the NH-D12L as Noctua list it as "mechanically incompatible" on their site. I'm looking for the best air cooler on the Z790i which looks like exactly the same dimentions as the z690i
@@jameswallace6249 the z690 has a heatsink on the m.2 SSD daughterboard that with the NH-D12L installed in a certain orientation, would just barely clear (or maybe touch). You can use it this way, as I have, or you could remove that ridiculously oversized stock heat sink and just put a normal SSD heatsink on it and it would clear fine.
Really helpful, thank you! I recently bought an 11400 and a gigabyte 590i for 420 AUD. Was waiting for a cheap 5600x but for that price and the fact the 10400 is only a little worse for gaming than the 5600X, I'm very happy
I've been reading about this motherboard and it seems there's issues with PCIE 4.0 riser cable as well, people are saying there's no display or a messed up screen when connecting the monitor to the GPU. Thanks for sharing some of the cable management issues, sounds like a pain in the butt. I'm seriously considering waiting for the upcoming b660i and ditching the Gigabyte Z690i. The problem is it is a gamble of whether the itx motherboards will have ddr4. I'm specifically hoping for MSI b660i ddr4 so I can then save even more money on overclocking features which I will likely never use.
Good review. I think this will help a lot of people with their decision on getting this board. I was actually eyeing this particular board since I wasn't able to find a good ITX board to support the Alder Lake chip and also DDR4 support (since DDR5 is almost non-existent at the point of checking). But I've also heard a lot of negatives with Gigabyte boards of late, and with the not to distant exploding Gigabyte PSU saga (the way Gigabyte handled or mishandled the issue) I guess I won't even bother with this board.
Just picked this board up for my new build. After reading a bunch online after I picked it up, it didn't look so good. Why didn't I do research? Well I went to the store intending to buy a 10th gen i5, but was talked into getting a 12th gen and therefore they recommended this board which I knew nothing about. I won't be running a m.2 drive, so the whole heatsink and BIOS issues with that are out of the picture for me. Hopefully the rest goes as planned and I don't have any major issues. Your video helped a lot, especially with the cooler selection.
Thanks for the video! I got this board, even after viewing this video and the reviews. It turned OK with BIOS F6. I left everything by default and my NVMe Gen4 (GAMMIX S70) and my RTX2060 (PCIe v3) were recognized right away. My only issues were disabling the onboard audio also disabled USB 2.0 ports (not sure if this is a bug or working as intended) and the onboard LAN was stuck with a code 10 in Windows. As suggested by users, turning the LAN to 10Mbits/full duplex solved the issue. I put it back in auto-negotiation after and so far so good, it has been almost a week. I haven't done any overclocking or XMP yet. I was able to fit a Noctua NF-C14S event thought there is only one configuration that will work, partly because of my tiny case. I put my NVMe on the CPU link, the one at the bottom, connected to the MB heatsink and get max temperature similar to the review (53C). I had no issue with cabling but I only used two fan connectors, USB2 and USB3 connectors and front panel switch/lights. I did not detect coil whine when idle but maybe my hearing is just bad :-D
Man, I should have seen this days ago! I tried to upgrade from my 10700K/AsRock Z490 to the 12600K/Z690. I thought I had waited long enough for revisions and software/hardware kinks to be worked out. My Noctua cooler didn't properly fit on vertical or horizontal. As well as just other software issues. That beefy M.2 area was the buzzkill for me. Thank goodness for Microcenter's return policy.
I had considered this board since there are not many itx z690 boards. Not to mention I'm currently using the z590 version of this and haven't had any problems at all but now I'm thinking I will wait a little longer to see if things get flushed out. This kind of stuff is exactly why I've thought about skipping this generation altogether and waiting until this new architecture matures.
Thanks for the honesty. I'm taking a chance with this board on the way to save money so I can re-use my existing DDR4 but it will be paired with a 12700k and going into an NR200P max case so hopefully the cooling/daughter board heatsink/etc won't be an issue. Have the bios updates addressed the weird display issues? It looks like BIOS revision F6 may have addressed some of the PCIe issues.
To have better AIO clearance I had to remove the stock nvme heatsink and use an aftermarket one. I've had NVMe, LAN and audio crackling issues, avoid this board and get something else... I got ADL for it's amazing performance in RPCS3 with AVX-512 but looks like intel has removed this now.
I got the lite /ddr4 version of this motherboard, there's white long label covering the original text saying lite, I went to flash the bios to latest for the 13600k when I get it, not sure if it flashed since I could not see any Q-Flash Plus LED, only a dark hole. PSU started up & switch off then just a light on end of my FAT 32 stick, I gave it a good 15 mins then tuned all off & packed it up.
I must've been one of the lucky ones. NR200P MAX cooler fit fine, and no issues with the m.2 ssd being detected. The front audio connector cable being hidden is a pain in the ass though
I used this board for my first build. The materials seemed high quality but I encountered a few issues that made the experience especially difficult: The m.2 heatsink doesn't fit right if you run a liquid freezer ii. Based on this review I get the sense that it's a pain with a lot of coolers so definitely do your research. Just because the cooler works with lga1700 doesn't mean it will work with this board. If your board ships with F1 bios (the first bios version) it won't recognize nvme m.2 drives and you'll have to update the bios to f3. Of course, it's hard to know you'd need to do this because you'd figure it was the heatsink fitment applying uneven pressure
Liquid freezer II has one of the worst compatibility issues because of how the tubes protrudes out vertically and is an unpopular choice with most tight SFF builds. EK AIO, Glacier Zero and Capellix are more popular choices when it comes to SFF aio cooling
I just upgraded my NR200 PC and used this motherboard. I am using a Noctua NH-C14S for my 12600k and am able to use a 120mm fan underneath it FYI. I have the 140mm noctua on the side panel as intake and my cpu temps haven't gone over 60c after gaming for hours. I have no coil whine on my board as well, so this seems to vary, although I did see others mention it and was very worried mine would have it. I had the 5a bios update ready before installation on a USB and everything has been smooth, I am very pleased with the board so far. I definitely would recommend this motherboard to everyone if I am being honest. I am not using any of the connections on the B2B connector, and wouldn't though. That seems like it would a cable mess
Good! I think the cabling with the mini ITX board and this setup makes the 140mm super tight under the heatsink. Technically it can fit but in practice… it’s very hard.
You would recommend this motherboard, even if you have to reduce pcie speed to 3?! So any nvme ssd gen 4 would run at gen 3 speed? Regardless of riser cable?! Weird
@@GuestStarMas riser cable? I am not using a riser cable lol. Like I said, i have zero issues. Not sure why you assume I would be using a riser cable. Weord
I got an F8b BIOS from Gigabyte. It fixed my issue with the USB 2.0 ports being disabled when audio controller is also disabled although the boot time seem longer than before. I haven't measured with the old BIOS but with the new one, I takes me 21s to the AORUS splash screen and a total of 48s to get to the Win11 login screen. I am running an i5 12600, 32 GB 3200 DDR4 and Gammix S70 NVMe drive. Curious to see if others have comparable results.
I run this board in NR200P, this was the only choice of ITX boards available for early adopters if you didn't want to blow 400+$ for ASUS STRIX with even worse cooler compatibility and DDR5 which is impossible to get =) I had same issues with M.2 as described, it wouldn't recognise them, a bios update has fixed it. I did not run into any other issues. However, cooling is limited here, I did find the ID Cooling SE 226 to be a perfect fit for my NR200P with tempered glass, at least the heatsink was great quality, but the cooler fan was pretty noisy so I went with EVGA 240 AIO and went with the vented panel on NR200 instead Thanks for great content as always!
@@oXiGaming86 It does fit quite nicely the TG panel, not touching the glass even, but due to high radiator on the left side on the MOBO, i could not fit the stock 120mm from cooler on the left, but maybe a thinner fan or a 90mm will fit
Does the Noctua L12S fit with the heat pipes at the top, where the VRM heat sink is? Or, will the heat pipe ends then poke the GPU? It’s worth mentioning that Noctua doesn’t recommend coolers to be mounted with the heat pipes up but I wonder what the impact is on performance.
I unfortunately got the L9i as Noctua recommended it... big mistake. I was wondering how the thermals are with the N9S since you have used it. Thanks !
Typically before Intel releases their new CPU, motherboard and cooler companies would've known before its release and would've prepared their product launch at the same time as the intel launch. It's a bit disappointing and surprising to see LGA1700, while being such an impressive CPU is getting drawn back due to lack of good hardware support...
Just doing research, seems to fit my build perfectly (as of IO, rgb headers placement etc.). However the storage support list is very meh if you want to use the full potential of your gen 4 m.2 and or have 2,5" SSDs for mass storage, also not alot of options if you go for lowest cas latency with the highest clock speed (when it comes to RAM). I would love to go for the ASUS Z690 ITX mobo, but the 8-pin and fan headers would get all mangled. Again, just a different POV from a pretty "normie build" 2x240mm + 1x92mm LC NR200P.
My Z690I AORUS ULTRA LITE DDR4 (rev. 1.0) is running great with an Intel i5-12600k and a Thermaltake Contac 9 SE air cooler that isn't even tightened down. (It was the least expensive LGA 1700 cooler that the store had.) All core overclock is a stable 4.7 GHz using Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility, but I use the Windows Power saver power plan most of the time. On an open testbench the idle CPU temperature is 28 °C and the highest temperature that I saw during stress testing is 85 °C. (I don't recommend this cooler because its clipping mechanism doesn't fit this motherboard due to how close all of the heatsinks are to the CPU socket. You could force fit it, but why bother? Just get something that uses screws instead of clips.) Special thanks to Gigabyte for screwing up the initial release of this family of motherboards which allowed me to get such a great deal on the Lite version (US $150).
Hey man, just want to say that I just bought this board and installed it today with absolutely no problems so far. I don't know if I just lucky, but I haven't even re-flashed the BIOS and it recognised my M.2, which was sure was going to give me a headache. But, thankfully not. There is still some odd design choices, though. But, I'm glad to be on Alder Lake for a reasonable price.
I second this. I’m also running an m.2 and the C14S cooler with a fan underneath. No problems for me aside from random audio distortion when playing games but I believe that may be a separate issue.
@@oscartirado8146 Are you running Windows 10 or 11? I had really bad distortion running 10, have been dealing with it for a while and doing endless troubleshooting. But, after upgrading to 11, I haven't experienced it.
@@turbodropbear4624 On this same board? I have a fresh Windows 11 install. It may be the monitor speakers but I highly doubt it. I don't get any audio distortion via headphones 3.5" or Bluetooth. I'm going to test another computer to see if it's the monitor. I'm really hoping it's not driver-related because I'm all out of ideas.
No, my previous issue was with my old board, but now that we have been talking about it, it has started again. So, I'm going to have to do more digging myself. Possibly a windows/driver related problem. It's very annoying.
@@turbodropbear4624 I feel your pain. If I can pinpoint the issue, I'll come back and let you know what I found. Doubt this is a common issue so it's probably best we work together, lol. Anyhow, good luck!
Been running this since day 1 of 12900k launch , not a single problem. Meshlicious, nzxt z63 aio, 12900k 32gb vengeance lpx ddr4, rtx3080ti. Hmmm.. lucky I guess, My complaint is the front audio dongle.
I actually have this board and have been using it for a couple of weeks. I finished off my system in a custom made mesholishous that has a 280 aio and a fan on the top and bottom of the case. And 2 more fans on the radiator. And all but the top case panel close perfectly. So far the issues I’ve noticed with the board are the not detecting drive at first like you said. The second issue was with any riser cable I used it had to be specifically set to that gen of riser cable or it would not detect anything at all. And as far as the coil wine that may be your board but mine has none at all and neither does my gpu.
Hey, thanks for the detailed video. I literally just received this motherboard yesterday and the LGA1700 mounting kit arrived just a few hours ago. I haven’t built the PC yet but I did test fit a Noctua C14s and was able to stick the 140mm fan underneath. Have also checked Noctua’s compatibility list and the C14s is listed as fully compatible. Were you unable to stick the 140mm fan underneath because of a clearance issue with the PSU in the NR200?
@@MachinesMore Ok, I got on with it. The C14S only fits in one orientation (with the heat pipes on the IO shield side and a 140mm does fit underneath. I also had display issues and can’t boot into windows. Nagging my neighbour to help me create a usb stick I could use as this is my only pc at the moment. Finally, mine also has coil whine!!! :(
do you have experience with asrock ZxxxM-itx lineup? for the price they seem will get closest to B board pricing late Dec but their VRM x8 50A, half without heatsink makes me question if it's worth putting 12600k stock into it and then possibly thermal throttle :( also thanks for videos, ordered all parts for build except for mobo! from eu
I have used a Z490 ITX from them, not a great board in terms of spec but certainly fine for an i5 level of CPU, especially stock. What I really don’t like is the BIOS and also anecdotally I have heard of M.2 compatibility issues with some models. I wouldn’t say the Asrock Z690 ITX is a hard pass but the thought of B660 I boards from other manufacturers is more promising at this point, just need to be patient.. 😟
Wow looks like a swing and a miss here from Gigabyte. Being an early adopter and having some teething issues is expected but this board looks like it was a bit too rushed. Thanks for calling it like you see it.
I have this same board and the issue I have ran into is the pcie 16x slot will only operate at x8 by 4. Could you let me know in gpuz what you are seeing on your end?
Great video, been trying to pull together the scraps of information on this board for a while now. I have one in the mail. I'm in Europe and when I emailed gigabyte about a European release date they said 'a couple weeks'. Other people have been told 'late December'. It sounds like they've delayed the release to prepare another bios update, so hopefully the issues will be ironed out soon. Edit: I also came across images on reddit confirming the kraken series aios work with this board in case anyone was wondering
I am in UK and on the 18th November gigabyte replied my email with same answer, it will be available in 2 weeks...i have the 12700k but no options for a good board, I don't want to gog asus with ddr5, just too expensive. There is one ddr4 itx available in UK, asrock itx but I am afraid of the vrm quality.
@@oXiGaming86 yup, I initially ordered that asrock then got scared about the VRMs and cancelled. I'm in the UK too and got the gigabyte board shipped by Newegg from the US. Turns out its not such a bad deal since they have free international shipping on orders over £200 - that makes up for the duty fees etc. They also let you pay for the duty in the initial price and guarantee not to charge you any extra. All-in-all it worked out cheaper than the UK msrp
@@finlaymcewan yes, i was looking at newegg, shows me about £280 including delivery and vat, will i get other customs here? How long is the shipping? They had 8% discount last week but i was afraid to order because of all this bad reviews. My 12700k is waiting :)
@@finlaymcewan excellent, they give a free game now, I will wait 1 more week maybe another discount will come, but I want it before Christmas. Even if it comes in UK retailers I don't see them actually having stock, same as all other itx boards. Thank you for your answers.
I have the ASUS Z690-i and I found the install and bios seamless and stable, respectively. I tried the Fuma 2 and the Noctua NH-U12S and both fit on that board quite easily as long as you remove the top heatsink on the M.2 sandwich. Heck, people have confirmed the NH-D15 fits on that board. Mine also exhibited no coil whine. I was running a stock 12700k.
Do you think Asus Z690-i could fit well with Noctua U12A by removing the top heatsink of the M.2? Btw, are you using slimmer 3rd heatsink for the M.2 since the original heatsink was removed?
@@airrwalker I use the m.2 on the lower layer of the sandwich. A U2A should fit. I don't have anything populated on the top m.2. if you put something on the top m.2, I think adding a heatsink to it would make compatibility tough. Tbh, I've never had SSD thermal issues even in motherboards where the SSD is on the backside in a sandwich layout case.
@@mohamedahmed1023 Appreciate the reply. Do you have any idea about MSI Z690-i unify which was considered to have better compatibility with lower M.2 heatsink area compared to Asus Z690-i ? But glad to hear that Noctua U12A could fit on the Asus Z690-i with the top heatsink removed
@@airrwalker no idea. But tbh if you have serious concerns about compatibility, go with the MSI or Asrock boards. I got the Asus because it was the only ddr5 board available at the time.
Hey, I know this an old comment but wondered if you had any insights. Just picked up this board with a 12700k and have been looking everywhere for cpu cooler info for this mobo. Was looking at a thermalright peerless assassin cooler and was wondering if you think that'd fit this layout. There is so little info online about compatible coolers so just wanted to see ur thoughts and maybe pics if you have any of ur setup. I figure if a Fuma 2 can fit so can the thermalright.
I have the very same issue, the bottom-most NVMe drive does not appear anywhere, and that didn't change with updating the BIOS to version F5a (I think?). The initial BIOS it shipped with, version F1, didn't show either of my NVMe drives.
I would recommend updating to f3, not f5a, so you don't have to deal with the instability of beta BIOS versions (the "a" indicates it's a beta version)
Most folks won’t need it. It will connect to the power supply for additional 12V power (not a standard PSU cable though). Kind of similar to the extra 4 pin EPS header on boards with more real estate, you’ll only need it if you are pushing a crazy OC and need overhead.
@@AdanFS Agreed. I bought a sata to molex adapter just to keep from installing a molex cable on my PSU. I really hoped I could NOT use the connection, but Gigabyte support seemed to indicate it was necessary if using M.2... which, makes zero sense. The Asus Z690 ITX doesn't have, so I assume this isn't on the Intel reference design. I was really assuming it was only required if driving RGBs (which also has a connector on that board).
Seems like Gigabyte's layout *demands* you use a PCIe riser & an AIO. For some mini-ITX builds, sure, but others, seems thoughtless. Still mind-blowing they released a motherboard that could not boot from M.2 on the official release version. What?!
@@mrlmaokun the average cpu temps while idle/using windows 11 were 35-37C, highest was 60C, keep in mind i don't have a graphics card for now so it might be different from regular use with a graphics card
Regarding the coil whine issue on this board, I found a temporary solution by disabling C-States in the BIOS (i.e. forcing the processor to stay in C0/1). On my 12600k, this increased power draw while idle from 1W to 10W which is not ideal but a sacrifice I was willing to make as the coil whine was so bad I was getting headaches.
Thanks for sharing and sounds like it’s not a one-off issue. May I ask what BIOS version you are on? I don’t recall this happening until updating to F5 on the board and wondered if it had anything to do with that.
@@MachinesMore No problem! And I agree it definitely seems widespread, it was some of the worst coil whine I've ever had in a build. For BIOS I'm currently on F3, which was the only available version when I received the board. I updated it right when I got the board in order to fix the missing M.2 issue so unfortunately I don't recall if the coil whine was present on F1.
I bought this board and i would hate to return it. XMP profile is the culprit when enabled the system crashes. The other thing about this motherboard when it does work the reset in Windows 10 doesn’t work it would reset with no boot screen
Thanks for the video, my PC died and I'm in need of an urgent replacement. Was going to pull the trigger on an alder lake build with this board but your review gave me doubts on whether it'd be good. Just hoping for the B660i version to come out soon, else I might have to just take the hit to the wallet.
Hi, i have big shuriken 3 scyhthe. Can i install it without the lga 1700 mounting bracket on this motherboard (i dont have the mounting bracket of lga 1700).?
The B550i did have BT and LAN issues until BIOS and driver updates this year and for a while I wished I had gone Asus B550i or waited for Intel, but its half the price of the GB Z690i and a third that of the Asus Z690i , it worked fine with 3600 DDR4 and M2 SSD, and no probs with Noctua coolers
I had the previews gigabyte Z590i ITX board and was very happy with it. But this new Z690i has been a headache. Spend a whole day to figure out how to get my m.2 to work. And when it eventually worked, it gets super hot, 81C at load, if placed in the bottom slot. Have an Arctic LF ll AIO laying around but i have been waiting 3 weeks for a LGA1700 kit. Such a messy company Arctic is, yea really, seems to be run by a bunch of lost teenagers. Its a long story.
Sadly there are no good Z690 ITX board supporting DDR4. The only other option is the ASRock Z690M-ITX which looks terrible. I really hope there are more B660 DDR4 options
what is terrible about asrock if you run on stock 12600k? should be significantly cheaper, fits coolers, vrm is bit inferior but has great port support
Just built in the z690i aorus ultra, watched your video closely and I'm really thankful that you vid has prepped me well! bios-flash to the latest F5 version makes the board bootable, but the software side of things (audio drivers, gigabyte's own app-things) are definitely still a mess. Really hope they can fix those problems, given that this board is an awesome package otherwise!
Hey Legend_OZ, just a heads up dude, I am seeing an F6 BIOS now listed on Gigabytes website which lists some good improvements. @Machines & More, great video and an interesting take on this board. I have purchased it already and am building in an NZXT H1 so most of the criticisms don't apply for me, however I did find the m2 daughterboard a strange addition - especially after using the x570 version of the aorus pro wifi ITX board. Will let you know how I get on and what issues I run into - as soon as my H1 AIO adapter arrives from NZXT..
@@jordanbennenbroek9042 Hey thanks, and yeah I flashed to F6 as soon as it released but still have to set pcie to gen 3 for pc to post properly (have a gen4 riser in nr200p). Other than that, memory oc is ok and system runs well with no errors.
@@owen7342 Awesome dude, thanks for the feedback. Looking forward to hopefully no dramas in my H1 build once this AIO bracket arrives (or actually gets shipped, COME ON NZXT).
Someone knows if they fixed it nowadays? Wanna swap to 12600k and keep some sweet b-die (2*16gb B-Die 4400cl17 ripjaws). I am thinking to downsize to SFF from an Air Mini + 10th gen and this board seems the only one (on paper) that can get the job done.
@@BonusCrook I've kept my o11 air mini and got a z690 tomahawk ddr4 wifi. Ddr4 4000 c14 with tight subs. Also went for a 12700k. Works like a charm tbh.
Unfortunately I also got this board. Had all the same experiences. Super annoying to deal with all the headers under that super large M2 heatsink. Also my WD850 M2 drives didn’t load first boot either. Had to flash the bios to F5A bios and it works now. Didn’t notice coil whine on my but also my 3080 is super loud so doubt I could tell
@@Macho_Man_Randy_Savage sorry I didn't try that one since once i updated everything seems to work. however I do get random blue screens of death not sure if mobo or video card. so annoying.
I’m building an nr200 with an i9-12900k, so I was considering a 280mm rad over a 240mm rad. Is there a significant difference in their cooling ability for this application? (I will not be using my cpu at max load very often)
@@MachinesMore it’s Corsair Vengence RGB Pro 32GB 3600MHz . I tried changing to Gear 2 but it didn’t work. I also tried to play around with the voltages and it didn’t work. I don’t know what to do in this case
The board was actually recently recalled because issues with gen 4 in the x16 slot (which is kinda funny considering I don't even think he mentioned had this issue and still warned about getting it, it's just such a bad product). Although they did release a "fixed" version (with a higher MSRP than the original) and a pretty cheap Pcie 3.0 limited version, so those might be interesting for him to review.
In this video, you were using one memory stick because of the tight fit for air cooler. That brings up a question I have been wondering if there is a performance difference in configuring the number of RAM sticks to use , assuming the motherboard has 4 ram slots... 1. 1x32 GB (using 1 slot), 2. 2x16 GB (using 2 slots), or 3. 4x8 GB (using 4 slots) Cheers, Dix
I just installed Aorus B550I board. First thing I did: remove that fake heat sink a the bottom - it just cosmetics. The real, nice heat sync for M.2 is below it.
i just picked up the ddr5 version of this board and i put a i7-12700k on it with a u9s, the u9s just barely fits on with about 1mm space between it and the m.2 heatsink
@@oXiGaming86 I'm still waiting on my ddr5 ram (coming in a few days) and can't boot the computer yet so could you reply to this comment in a week or so and i will probably have the system started up by then
@@oXiGaming86 also, do you know what's the best way to test temps? that way i can help you as much as i can. note: i do not have a gpu for now so the temps may be lower than if i had one
@@WilliamDezunchd yes, install hwinfo and let it run in the background while gaming or normal windows work, and monitor minimum average and highest cpu package temperature, also it will show you consumption in watt for CPU. Thank you for your help, my board is on it's way from US to UK and I will build it just before Christmas.
Kinda sucks that this really is the only z690 itx board with ddr4 compatibility. How much longer do yiu think we’ll have to wait for others? I might just go ahead and build with this one because it seems like nothing else will release
I’d wait for B660 ITX. Boards are releasing now- Asus is still DDR5 but Gigabyte and Asrock should both be DDR4. No info on an MSI ITX model at the moment.
@@MachinesMore as someone with more knowledge than me, when do you think these b660i boards will hit the market? More specifically the ASUS one Actually looks like the US asus b660i link is already live on Amazon (ships early March)
I got a feeling the negatives on this board is neglected when you use the Meshlicious! -Because you're using a riser cable for the gpu -You are most likely to use an AIO which will be better with installation compatibility.
Yeah, unless you have room a bigger full thickness 92mm fan. My preference here if height isn’t an issue is either C14S (tight for the bottom fan but do-able) or U9S.
It’s one heck of a generational leap to 12th but board prices, DDR5, it’s going to make it a very expensive jump, so I’d at least wait until things settle out price wise.
Do you think I can fit a NH-D15 without the big heatsink? I've been debating between this and the ASRock Z690M-ITX/ax but the later option seems like a really low end board.
@@kevinmelendez5339 I'm using the u12a, which despite being smaller performs extremely similar. Also I'm not using the big heat sink from the M2 SSD, I've bought a smaller one for like 10 bucks.
Man you went in on this one. Thanks for making such detailed reviews. The cooling is messed up with these boards. I am guessing the temps are not great but limitations on the cooling solutions are really a bad thing.
Thank you for this review, SFF community is huge and you are doing a great work for us, no reviews at all for this new gen itx boards. Thank you and maybe you can cover some air coolers for this board, I think most of us are going to end up with this board and hopefully will be fixed with future updates.
Insanely good in-depth review! I'll be following your channel closely from here on out. Thanks!
Glad I went with your great review of the Z590 Aorus Mini ITX.
Got the ASRock Z690I using DDR4, thank god I didn't encounter any issues. I was eyeing this MB for my ITX build but thanks to you and reviews online I was able to avoid getting it and wasting my time. I wish MSI had an ITX DDR4 Z690 as I don't have any issues with my MSI Z690 Edge wifi DDR4 board.
Thanks for being the first to review one of the itx z690i boards, Truely helpful keep up the good work.
Awesome, glad you found it helpful.
This was great. I want to upgrade my nr200p itx build with a 12600k eventually. These kind of info-vids are very good. I certsinly hope someone comes up with a mobo 100% compatible with c14s.
I've got this board now, (DDR4) still labeled revision 1, just purchased in July of 2023, and the PA 120 and Noctua NH-D12L both fit using the stock m.2 heatsink without any modification!
Thanks for the coverage
Any chance you could elaborate on the NH-D12L as Noctua list it as "mechanically incompatible" on their site. I'm looking for the best air cooler on the Z790i which looks like exactly the same dimentions as the z690i
@@jameswallace6249 the z690 has a heatsink on the m.2 SSD daughterboard that with the NH-D12L installed in a certain orientation, would just barely clear (or maybe touch). You can use it this way, as I have, or you could remove that ridiculously oversized stock heat sink and just put a normal SSD heatsink on it and it would clear fine.
@@thetewks many thanks for the explanation on this. I can probably use those cooler dimensions to discover more options :)
Another great honest review.. keep up the good work!
Really helpful, thank you! I recently bought an 11400 and a gigabyte 590i for 420 AUD. Was waiting for a cheap 5600x but for that price and the fact the 10400 is only a little worse for gaming than the 5600X, I'm very happy
I've been reading about this motherboard and it seems there's issues with PCIE 4.0 riser cable as well, people are saying there's no display or a messed up screen when connecting the monitor to the GPU.
Thanks for sharing some of the cable management issues, sounds like a pain in the butt. I'm seriously considering waiting for the upcoming b660i and ditching the Gigabyte Z690i. The problem is it is a gamble of whether the itx motherboards will have ddr4. I'm specifically hoping for MSI b660i ddr4 so I can then save even more money on overclocking features which I will likely never use.
Great review. I always appreciate hearing from actual consumers rather than sponsored reviewers.
super helpful review! I'm looking into the Asrock Z690M-itx as well and would love it if you reviewed it next!
Thank you for the info, was about to pull the trigger on this.
Good review. I think this will help a lot of people with their decision on getting this board. I was actually eyeing this particular board since I wasn't able to find a good ITX board to support the Alder Lake chip and also DDR4 support (since DDR5 is almost non-existent at the point of checking). But I've also heard a lot of negatives with Gigabyte boards of late, and with the not to distant exploding Gigabyte PSU saga (the way Gigabyte handled or mishandled the issue) I guess I won't even bother with this board.
High quality work. Thanks!
Great explanation, appreciate the effort.
Just picked this board up for my new build. After reading a bunch online after I picked it up, it didn't look so good. Why didn't I do research? Well I went to the store intending to buy a 10th gen i5, but was talked into getting a 12th gen and therefore they recommended this board which I knew nothing about. I won't be running a m.2 drive, so the whole heatsink and BIOS issues with that are out of the picture for me. Hopefully the rest goes as planned and I don't have any major issues. Your video helped a lot, especially with the cooler selection.
Thanks for the video! I got this board, even after viewing this video and the reviews. It turned OK with BIOS F6. I left everything by default and my NVMe Gen4 (GAMMIX S70) and my RTX2060 (PCIe v3) were recognized right away. My only issues were disabling the onboard audio also disabled USB 2.0 ports (not sure if this is a bug or working as intended) and the onboard LAN was stuck with a code 10 in Windows. As suggested by users, turning the LAN to 10Mbits/full duplex solved the issue. I put it back in auto-negotiation after and so far so good, it has been almost a week. I haven't done any overclocking or XMP yet. I was able to fit a Noctua NF-C14S event thought there is only one configuration that will work, partly because of my tiny case. I put my NVMe on the CPU link, the one at the bottom, connected to the MB heatsink and get max temperature similar to the review (53C). I had no issue with cabling but I only used two fan connectors, USB2 and USB3 connectors and front panel switch/lights. I did not detect coil whine when idle but maybe my hearing is just bad :-D
Do you know if the F6 BIOS update (released 2022/01/12) disables AVX-512?
@@Macho_Man_Randy_Savage I don't know, I don't remember seeing this setting in the BIOS
How did you get bios F6?
@@xxFel415xx on Gigabyte website, support section.
good honest review with all da hiccups... gotten myself the auros itx + 12600k during black friday from newegg... pricey affordable setup. 🙃
Wow, thanks for all the information!
I like your authentic reviews
Man, I should have seen this days ago! I tried to upgrade from my 10700K/AsRock Z490 to the 12600K/Z690. I thought I had waited long enough for revisions and software/hardware kinks to be worked out. My Noctua cooler didn't properly fit on vertical or horizontal. As well as just other software issues. That beefy M.2 area was the buzzkill for me. Thank goodness for Microcenter's return policy.
Thanks for your hard work.
I had considered this board since there are not many itx z690 boards. Not to mention I'm currently using the z590 version of this and haven't had any problems at all but now I'm thinking I will wait a little longer to see if things get flushed out. This kind of stuff is exactly why I've thought about skipping this generation altogether and waiting until this new architecture matures.
Thanks for the honesty. I'm taking a chance with this board on the way to save money so I can re-use my existing DDR4 but it will be paired with a 12700k and going into an NR200P max case so hopefully the cooling/daughter board heatsink/etc won't be an issue.
Have the bios updates addressed the weird display issues? It looks like BIOS revision F6 may have addressed some of the PCIe issues.
Great content man! Thanks
that's main reason of my love of Cerberus-X...ATX Motherboards are so much better/reliable versus ITX. Anyway thanks for your honest review!
To have better AIO clearance I had to remove the stock nvme heatsink and use an aftermarket one.
I've had NVMe, LAN and audio crackling issues, avoid this board and get something else...
I got ADL for it's amazing performance in RPCS3 with AVX-512 but looks like intel has removed this now.
I got the lite /ddr4 version of this motherboard, there's white long label covering the original text saying lite,
I went to flash the bios to latest for the 13600k when I get it, not sure if it flashed since I could not see any Q-Flash Plus LED, only a dark hole. PSU started up & switch off then just a light on end of my FAT 32 stick, I gave it a good 15 mins then tuned all off & packed it up.
Z690 ITX is looking rough, thanks for the much needed info. Also, is that a Sama IM01 behind you? >__>
I must've been one of the lucky ones. NR200P MAX cooler fit fine, and no issues with the m.2 ssd being detected. The front audio connector cable being hidden is a pain in the ass though
I used this board for my first build. The materials seemed high quality but I encountered a few issues that made the experience especially difficult:
The m.2 heatsink doesn't fit right if you run a liquid freezer ii. Based on this review I get the sense that it's a pain with a lot of coolers so definitely do your research. Just because the cooler works with lga1700 doesn't mean it will work with this board.
If your board ships with F1 bios (the first bios version) it won't recognize nvme m.2 drives and you'll have to update the bios to f3. Of course, it's hard to know you'd need to do this because you'd figure it was the heatsink fitment applying uneven pressure
Liquid freezer II has one of the worst compatibility issues because of how the tubes protrudes out vertically and is an unpopular choice with most tight SFF builds. EK AIO, Glacier Zero and Capellix are more popular choices when it comes to SFF aio cooling
@@RyLo18D oof
Do you know if the F6 BIOS update (released 2022/01/12) disables AVX-512?
@@Macho_Man_Randy_Savage no idea, sorry
I just upgraded my NR200 PC and used this motherboard. I am using a Noctua NH-C14S for my 12600k and am able to use a 120mm fan underneath it FYI. I have the 140mm noctua on the side panel as intake and my cpu temps haven't gone over 60c after gaming for hours.
I have no coil whine on my board as well, so this seems to vary, although I did see others mention it and was very worried mine would have it.
I had the 5a bios update ready before installation on a USB and everything has been smooth, I am very pleased with the board so far.
I definitely would recommend this motherboard to everyone if I am being honest. I am not using any of the connections on the B2B connector, and wouldn't though. That seems like it would a cable mess
Good! I think the cabling with the mini ITX board and this setup makes the 140mm super tight under the heatsink. Technically it can fit but in practice… it’s very hard.
You would recommend this motherboard, even if you have to reduce pcie speed to 3?! So any nvme ssd gen 4 would run at gen 3 speed? Regardless of riser cable?! Weird
@@GuestStarMas riser cable? I am not using a riser cable lol. Like I said, i have zero issues.
Not sure why you assume I would be using a riser cable. Weord
@@kev60625 I said regardless of the riser cable. So you're using pcie 4 speed?!
I got an F8b BIOS from Gigabyte. It fixed my issue with the USB 2.0 ports being disabled when audio controller is also disabled although the boot time seem longer than before. I haven't measured with the old BIOS but with the new one, I takes me 21s to the AORUS splash screen and a total of 48s to get to the Win11 login screen. I am running an i5 12600, 32 GB 3200 DDR4 and Gammix S70 NVMe drive.
Curious to see if others have comparable results.
I run this board in NR200P, this was the only choice of ITX boards available for early adopters if you didn't want to blow 400+$ for ASUS STRIX with even worse cooler compatibility and DDR5 which is impossible to get =)
I had same issues with M.2 as described, it wouldn't recognise them, a bios update has fixed it.
I did not run into any other issues. However, cooling is limited here, I did find the ID Cooling SE 226 to be a perfect fit for my NR200P with tempered glass, at least the heatsink was great quality, but the cooler fan was pretty noisy so I went with EVGA 240 AIO and went with the vented panel on NR200 instead
Thanks for great content as always!
So ID Cooling SE 226 will fit this board and tg panel nr200? Can you also add a fan on left side to run intake? Thank you.
@@oXiGaming86 It does fit quite nicely the TG panel, not touching the glass even, but due to high radiator on the left side on the MOBO, i could not fit the stock 120mm from cooler on the left, but maybe a thinner fan or a 90mm will fit
@@Assassin822 Thank you, need to decide on a cooler for 12700k with this board. I don't want aio's, so far id cooling is the best option.
Does the Noctua L12S fit with the heat pipes at the top, where the VRM heat sink is? Or, will the heat pipe ends then poke the GPU?
It’s worth mentioning that Noctua doesn’t recommend coolers to be mounted with the heat pipes up but I wonder what the impact is on performance.
I unfortunately got the L9i as Noctua recommended it... big mistake. I was wondering how the thermals are with the N9S since you have used it. Thanks !
Typically before Intel releases their new CPU, motherboard and cooler companies would've known before its release and would've prepared their product launch at the same time as the intel launch. It's a bit disappointing and surprising to see LGA1700, while being such an impressive CPU is getting drawn back due to lack of good hardware support...
Just doing research, seems to fit my build perfectly (as of IO, rgb headers placement etc.). However the storage support list is very meh if you want to use the full potential of your gen 4 m.2 and or have 2,5" SSDs for mass storage, also not alot of options if you go for lowest cas latency with the highest clock speed (when it comes to RAM). I would love to go for the ASUS Z690 ITX mobo, but the 8-pin and fan headers would get all mangled. Again, just a different POV from a pretty "normie build" 2x240mm + 1x92mm LC NR200P.
My Z690I AORUS ULTRA LITE DDR4 (rev. 1.0) is running great with an Intel i5-12600k and a Thermaltake Contac 9 SE air cooler that isn't even tightened down. (It was the least expensive LGA 1700 cooler that the store had.) All core overclock is a stable 4.7 GHz using Intel's Extreme Tuning Utility, but I use the Windows Power saver power plan most of the time. On an open testbench the idle CPU temperature is 28 °C and the highest temperature that I saw during stress testing is 85 °C.
(I don't recommend this cooler because its clipping mechanism doesn't fit this motherboard due to how close all of the heatsinks are to the CPU socket. You could force fit it, but why bother? Just get something that uses screws instead of clips.)
Special thanks to Gigabyte for screwing up the initial release of this family of motherboards which allowed me to get such a great deal on the Lite version (US $150).
Pcie bus errors on hwinfo with rtx 30 series… did u experience? Had to manually switch to 3.0… ram instability?? Having issues with mine
Would the arctic liquid freezer mot have any clearance problem with the "vrm fan" on the cpu block?
Do you think the is-60 could fit on this board? I saw that the big shuriken 3 can if you remove the m.2 shroud.
It's now March... and the state of 12th Gen ITX boards are just miserable! Not to mention the lack of cooler support.
Yeah, it sucks. 🙁
Hey man, just want to say that I just bought this board and installed it today with absolutely no problems so far. I don't know if I just lucky, but I haven't even re-flashed the BIOS and it recognised my M.2, which was sure was going to give me a headache. But, thankfully not.
There is still some odd design choices, though. But, I'm glad to be on Alder Lake for a reasonable price.
I second this. I’m also running an m.2 and the C14S cooler with a fan underneath. No problems for me aside from random audio distortion when playing games but I believe that may be a separate issue.
@@oscartirado8146 Are you running Windows 10 or 11? I had really bad distortion running 10, have been dealing with it for a while and doing endless troubleshooting. But, after upgrading to 11, I haven't experienced it.
@@turbodropbear4624 On this same board? I have a fresh Windows 11 install. It may be the monitor speakers but I highly doubt it. I don't get any audio distortion via headphones 3.5" or Bluetooth. I'm going to test another computer to see if it's the monitor. I'm really hoping it's not driver-related because I'm all out of ideas.
No, my previous issue was with my old board, but now that we have been talking about it, it has started again. So, I'm going to have to do more digging myself.
Possibly a windows/driver related problem. It's very annoying.
@@turbodropbear4624 I feel your pain. If I can pinpoint the issue, I'll come back and let you know what I found. Doubt this is a common issue so it's probably best we work together, lol. Anyhow, good luck!
So were you saying that with the m.2 heatsink removed that a bottom fan still can't be used on the noctua c14s?
Been running this since day 1 of 12900k launch , not a single problem. Meshlicious, nzxt z63 aio, 12900k 32gb vengeance lpx ddr4, rtx3080ti. Hmmm.. lucky I guess, My complaint is the front audio dongle.
Фото покажите?
Where is the MSI z690i board? I can't find it anywhere, not even on their website.
I actually have this board and have been using it for a couple of weeks. I finished off my system in a custom made mesholishous that has a 280 aio and a fan on the top and bottom of the case. And 2 more fans on the radiator. And all but the top case panel close perfectly. So far the issues I’ve noticed with the board are the not detecting drive at first like you said. The second issue was with any riser cable I used it had to be specifically set to that gen of riser cable or it would not detect anything at all. And as far as the coil wine that may be your board but mine has none at all and neither does my gpu.
Hi, what bios have you flashed? Are you able to use the GPU on pcie4 without riser and without bus errors reported by hwinfo?
What aio did you use?
The Noctua NH-D15 S (the high compatibility version of the D15) fits this board with 1 mm clearance :)
Offset upwards I assume?
Hey, thanks for the detailed video. I literally just received this motherboard yesterday and the LGA1700 mounting kit arrived just a few hours ago.
I haven’t built the PC yet but I did test fit a Noctua C14s and was able to stick the 140mm fan underneath. Have also checked Noctua’s compatibility list and the C14s is listed as fully compatible.
Were you unable to stick the 140mm fan underneath because of a clearance issue with the PSU in the NR200?
Yeah, it’s more the tight cabling when built up but thanks for the data point! Hope yours works well!
@@MachinesMore Ok, I got on with it. The C14S only fits in one orientation (with the heat pipes on the IO shield side and a 140mm does fit underneath. I also had display issues and can’t boot into windows. Nagging my neighbour to help me create a usb stick I could use as this is my only pc at the moment. Finally, mine also has coil whine!!! :(
do you have experience with asrock ZxxxM-itx lineup? for the price they seem will get closest to B board pricing late Dec but their VRM x8 50A, half without heatsink makes me question if it's worth putting 12600k stock into it and then possibly thermal throttle :( also thanks for videos, ordered all parts for build except for mobo! from eu
I have used a Z490 ITX from them, not a great board in terms of spec but certainly fine for an i5 level of CPU, especially stock. What I really don’t like is the BIOS and also anecdotally I have heard of M.2 compatibility issues with some models. I wouldn’t say the Asrock Z690 ITX is a hard pass but the thought of B660 I boards from other manufacturers is more promising at this point, just need to be patient.. 😟
Wow looks like a swing and a miss here from Gigabyte. Being an early adopter and having some teething issues is expected but this board looks like it was a bit too rushed. Thanks for calling it like you see it.
@Machines&more has an updated bios fixed this board yet
I have this same board and the issue I have ran into is the pcie 16x slot will only operate at x8 by 4. Could you let me know in gpuz what you are seeing on your end?
Great video, been trying to pull together the scraps of information on this board for a while now. I have one in the mail. I'm in Europe and when I emailed gigabyte about a European release date they said 'a couple weeks'. Other people have been told 'late December'. It sounds like they've delayed the release to prepare another bios update, so hopefully the issues will be ironed out soon.
Edit: I also came across images on reddit confirming the kraken series aios work with this board in case anyone was wondering
I am in UK and on the 18th November gigabyte replied my email with same answer, it will be available in 2 weeks...i have the 12700k but no options for a good board, I don't want to gog asus with ddr5, just too expensive. There is one ddr4 itx available in UK, asrock itx but I am afraid of the vrm quality.
@@oXiGaming86 yup, I initially ordered that asrock then got scared about the VRMs and cancelled. I'm in the UK too and got the gigabyte board shipped by Newegg from the US. Turns out its not such a bad deal since they have free international shipping on orders over £200 - that makes up for the duty fees etc. They also let you pay for the duty in the initial price and guarantee not to charge you any extra. All-in-all it worked out cheaper than the UK msrp
@@finlaymcewan yes, i was looking at newegg, shows me about £280 including delivery and vat, will i get other customs here? How long is the shipping? They had 8% discount last week but i was afraid to order because of all this bad reviews. My 12700k is waiting :)
@@oXiGaming86 yeah I got it on the discount. There shouldn't be any other fees. Delivery is 6-9 days, in my case it's going to be 6 days
@@finlaymcewan excellent, they give a free game now, I will wait 1 more week maybe another discount will come, but I want it before Christmas. Even if it comes in UK retailers I don't see them actually having stock, same as all other itx boards. Thank you for your answers.
L12S is not suitable even with the upper fan arrangement?
Anyone know if the F6 BIOS update (released 2022/01/12) disables AVX-512?
I have the ASUS Z690-i and I found the install and bios seamless and stable, respectively. I tried the Fuma 2 and the Noctua NH-U12S and both fit on that board quite easily as long as you remove the top heatsink on the M.2 sandwich. Heck, people have confirmed the NH-D15 fits on that board. Mine also exhibited no coil whine. I was running a stock 12700k.
Do you think Asus Z690-i could fit well with Noctua U12A by removing the top heatsink of the M.2?
Btw, are you using slimmer 3rd heatsink for the M.2 since the original heatsink was removed?
@@airrwalker I use the m.2 on the lower layer of the sandwich. A U2A should fit. I don't have anything populated on the top m.2. if you put something on the top m.2, I think adding a heatsink to it would make compatibility tough. Tbh, I've never had SSD thermal issues even in motherboards where the SSD is on the backside in a sandwich layout case.
@@mohamedahmed1023 Appreciate the reply. Do you have any idea about MSI Z690-i unify which was considered to have better compatibility with lower M.2 heatsink area compared to Asus Z690-i ? But glad to hear that Noctua U12A could fit on the Asus Z690-i with the top heatsink removed
@@airrwalker no idea. But tbh if you have serious concerns about compatibility, go with the MSI or Asrock boards. I got the Asus because it was the only ddr5 board available at the time.
Hey, I know this an old comment but wondered if you had any insights. Just picked up this board with a 12700k and have been looking everywhere for cpu cooler info for this mobo. Was looking at a thermalright peerless assassin cooler and was wondering if you think that'd fit this layout. There is so little info online about compatible coolers so just wanted to see ur thoughts and maybe pics if you have any of ur setup. I figure if a Fuma 2 can fit so can the thermalright.
I have the very same issue, the bottom-most NVMe drive does not appear anywhere, and that didn't change with updating the BIOS to version F5a (I think?). The initial BIOS it shipped with, version F1, didn't show either of my NVMe drives.
I would recommend updating to f3, not f5a, so you don't have to deal with the instability of beta BIOS versions (the "a" indicates it's a beta version)
@@NicholasSunderland I'll give that one a try
Yeah, I went to F5 as I didn’t see F3 but glad to hear F3 works well for you.
Hey man, nice video! Do you know what the purpose of the molex to 4 pin "external power connector" is? It seems to connect to the m.2 daughter board.
Most folks won’t need it. It will connect to the power supply for additional 12V power (not a standard PSU cable though). Kind of similar to the extra 4 pin EPS header on boards with more real estate, you’ll only need it if you are pushing a crazy OC and need overhead.
I asked Gigabyte. They said it was needed if using m.2…. But was super unclear why. They never answered really what it was for.
Interesting, to me using a molex connector on a board in 2021 will be an odd choice no matter what the purpose is.
@@AdanFS Agreed. I bought a sata to molex adapter just to keep from installing a molex cable on my PSU. I really hoped I could NOT use the connection, but Gigabyte support seemed to indicate it was necessary if using M.2... which, makes zero sense. The Asus Z690 ITX doesn't have, so I assume this isn't on the Intel reference design. I was really assuming it was only required if driving RGBs (which also has a connector on that board).
Seems like Gigabyte's layout *demands* you use a PCIe riser & an AIO. For some mini-ITX builds, sure, but others, seems thoughtless.
Still mind-blowing they released a motherboard that could not boot from M.2 on the official release version. What?!
Mine worked fine. 🤷♀️
my ddr5 version works fine, running 12700k with a u9s
@@WilliamDezunchd How are your temps ? Cheers
@@mrlmaokun the average cpu temps while idle/using windows 11 were 35-37C, highest was 60C, keep in mind i don't have a graphics card for now so it might be different from regular use with a graphics card
@@WilliamDezunchd Thank you very much. The U9S looks the perfect fit for my set-up. The L9i was an awful purchase on my part.
Which z690 ddr4 mini itx motherboard would you recommend to buy besides this one?
Dude. I got the replacement Z690I Ultra Plus motherboard and I'm still encountering issues with it. This is horrible
Regarding the coil whine issue on this board, I found a temporary solution by disabling C-States in the BIOS (i.e. forcing the processor to stay in C0/1). On my 12600k, this increased power draw while idle from 1W to 10W which is not ideal but a sacrifice I was willing to make as the coil whine was so bad I was getting headaches.
Thanks for sharing and sounds like it’s not a one-off issue. May I ask what BIOS version you are on? I don’t recall this happening until updating to F5 on the board and wondered if it had anything to do with that.
@@MachinesMore No problem! And I agree it definitely seems widespread, it was some of the worst coil whine I've ever had in a build. For BIOS I'm currently on F3, which was the only available version when I received the board. I updated it right when I got the board in order to fix the missing M.2 issue so unfortunately I don't recall if the coil whine was present on F1.
I bought this board and i would hate to return it. XMP profile is the culprit when enabled the system crashes. The other thing about this motherboard when it does work the reset in Windows 10 doesn’t work it would reset with no boot screen
can you review the Jonsbo V11?
Thanks for the video, my PC died and I'm in need of an urgent replacement. Was going to pull the trigger on an alder lake build with this board but your review gave me doubts on whether it'd be good.
Just hoping for the B660i version to come out soon, else I might have to just take the hit to the wallet.
Hi, i have big shuriken 3 scyhthe. Can i install it without the lga 1700 mounting bracket on this motherboard (i dont have the mounting bracket of lga 1700).?
No, you would need a 1700 bracket. Only the Asus Strix itx board supports older socket mounts
The B550i did have BT and LAN issues until BIOS and driver updates this year and for a while I wished I had gone Asus B550i or waited for Intel, but its half the price of the GB Z690i and a third that of the Asus Z690i , it worked fine with 3600 DDR4 and M2 SSD, and no probs with Noctua coolers
Which BIOS and Driver updates?
Have the B500i in my brother’s pc and he would love to be able to use BT on it.
Lol. Same here, the early bios were pita. Ever since f12, the BT issues were gone.
Gigabyte has gone the drain in terms of bios readiness.
I had the previews gigabyte Z590i ITX board and was very happy with it. But this new Z690i has been a headache. Spend a whole day to figure out how to get my m.2 to work. And when it eventually worked, it gets super hot, 81C at load, if placed in the bottom slot. Have an Arctic LF ll AIO laying around but i have been waiting 3 weeks for a LGA1700 kit. Such a messy company Arctic is, yea really, seems to be run by a bunch of lost teenagers. Its a long story.
How r there just 2 mitx ddr4 boards for alderlake :((
Sadly there are no good Z690 ITX board supporting DDR4. The only other option is the ASRock Z690M-ITX which looks terrible. I really hope there are more B660 DDR4 options
what is terrible about asrock if you run on stock 12600k? should be significantly cheaper, fits coolers, vrm is bit inferior but has great port support
Just built in the z690i aorus ultra, watched your video closely and I'm really thankful that you vid has prepped me well! bios-flash to the latest F5 version makes the board bootable, but the software side of things (audio drivers, gigabyte's own app-things) are definitely still a mess. Really hope they can fix those problems, given that this board is an awesome package otherwise!
Hey Legend_OZ, just a heads up dude, I am seeing an F6 BIOS now listed on Gigabytes website which lists some good improvements.
@Machines & More, great video and an interesting take on this board. I have purchased it already and am building in an NZXT H1 so most of the criticisms don't apply for me, however I did find the m2 daughterboard a strange addition - especially after using the x570 version of the aorus pro wifi ITX board.
Will let you know how I get on and what issues I run into - as soon as my H1 AIO adapter arrives from NZXT..
@@jordanbennenbroek9042 Hey thanks, and yeah I flashed to F6 as soon as it released but still have to set pcie to gen 3 for pc to post properly (have a gen4 riser in nr200p). Other than that, memory oc is ok and system runs well with no errors.
@@owen7342 Awesome dude, thanks for the feedback. Looking forward to hopefully no dramas in my H1 build once this AIO bracket arrives (or actually gets shipped, COME ON NZXT).
Is there a 72mm cpu cooler that can cool a Ryzen 9 5900x
Someone knows if they fixed it nowadays? Wanna swap to 12600k and keep some sweet b-die (2*16gb B-Die 4400cl17 ripjaws). I am thinking to downsize to SFF from an Air Mini + 10th gen and this board seems the only one (on paper) that can get the job done.
Im in an identical boat, just ordered the z690i ultra lite D4 for $150 and i want to keep my dual rank Bdie
@@BonusCrook I've kept my o11 air mini and got a z690 tomahawk ddr4 wifi. Ddr4 4000 c14 with tight subs. Also went for a 12700k. Works like a charm tbh.
did you tried fighting the scythe fuma 2?
Can someone confirm Big Shuriken 3 fit on this board?
Junk the Chunk. Words to live by for this 12 Gen MoBo season
The EK 240 Basic doesn’t fit :(
Unfortunately I also got this board. Had all the same experiences. Super annoying to deal with all the headers under that super large M2 heatsink. Also my WD850 M2 drives didn’t load first boot either. Had to flash the bios to F5A bios and it works now.
Didn’t notice coil whine on my but also my 3080 is super loud so doubt I could tell
Do you know if the F6 BIOS update (released 2022/01/12) disables AVX-512?
@@Macho_Man_Randy_Savage sorry I didn't try that one since once i updated everything seems to work. however I do get random blue screens of death not sure if mobo or video card. so annoying.
@@RaNDoM_MAI I get audio crackle with mine. Not an amazing board, definitely problematic with poor cooler fitment.
I’m building an nr200 with an i9-12900k, so I was considering a 280mm rad over a 240mm rad. Is there a significant difference in their cooling ability for this application? (I will not be using my cpu at max load very often)
To note, I’m considering between the Corsair h100i/115i hydro series
Or could this possibly be air cooled with the noctua nh-u12a? Thanks
I have the DDR4 version of this board. So far works great. Using Be Quiet 240mm cooler with i7-12700k in NR200P. Works great.
Awesome! At least they’re not all duds! 😃
@@MachinesMore largely built my whole build based on your channel. =) The cooler, NR200P, etc. Thanks for having such a great channel.
will definitely admit the audio connector was dumb. =-( literally didn't know it was there until I finally found it in the manual.
oh, sorry, finally watching whole video. the M.2 issue is the stupid Intel Rapid Storage (RAID) stuff. Turn off, I think it's called, VMD. It'll fix the M.2 issue.
Do you know if the F6 BIOS update (released 2022/01/12) disables AVX-512?
Any issues with ram overclocking? heard heaps of gigabyte ddr4 boards cant even XMP speeds
Yup, faster RAM, like in Z590, often needs to be geared down. Not great but AMD is still where it’s at for fast DDR4 RAM.
I have this board and I’m having trouble with my DDR4 ram XMP profile. When I enable XMP the PC no longer boots. What can I do?
What speed is your RAM? For faster clocked RAM you may need to tweak the gearing to gear 2 to post.
@@MachinesMore it’s Corsair Vengence RGB Pro 32GB 3600MHz . I tried changing to Gear 2 but it didn’t work. I also tried to play around with the voltages and it didn’t work. I don’t know what to do in this case
Will the Thermalright SS135 fit?
Coil whine with Aorus x570 ITX and 3700X on it :) asus will be my next mobo
Can you re visit this board and see if it still has the problems you talked about?
The board was actually recently recalled because issues with gen 4 in the x16 slot (which is kinda funny considering I don't even think he mentioned had this issue and still warned about getting it, it's just such a bad product).
Although they did release a "fixed" version (with a higher MSRP than the original) and a pretty cheap Pcie 3.0 limited version, so those might be interesting for him to review.
In this video, you were using one memory stick because of the tight fit for air cooler.
That brings up a question I have been wondering if there is a performance difference in configuring the number of RAM sticks to use , assuming the motherboard has 4 ram slots...
1. 1x32 GB (using 1 slot),
2. 2x16 GB (using 2 slots), or
3. 4x8 GB (using 4 slots)
Cheers,
Dix
I just installed Aorus B550I board. First thing I did: remove that fake heat sink a the bottom - it just cosmetics. The real, nice heat sync for M.2 is below it.
Yeah, that block doesn’t even touch the finned heatsink!
I think B660 DDR4 would be perfect for most ITX gaming systems. Let’s wait for that.
i just picked up the ddr5 version of this board and i put a i7-12700k on it with a u9s, the u9s just barely fits on with about 1mm space between it and the m.2 heatsink
How are the temps with u9s? I have the 12700k, was thinking for u9s also mostly gaming system.
@@oXiGaming86 I'm still waiting on my ddr5 ram (coming in a few days) and can't boot the computer yet so could you reply to this comment in a week or so and i will probably have the system started up by then
@@WilliamDezunchd yes, thank you!
@@oXiGaming86 also, do you know what's the best way to test temps? that way i can help you as much as i can. note: i do not have a gpu for now so the temps may be lower than if i had one
@@WilliamDezunchd yes, install hwinfo and let it run in the background while gaming or normal windows work, and monitor minimum average and highest cpu package temperature, also it will show you consumption in watt for CPU. Thank you for your help, my board is on it's way from US to UK and I will build it just before Christmas.
Kinda sucks that this really is the only z690 itx board with ddr4 compatibility. How much longer do yiu think we’ll have to wait for others? I might just go ahead and build with this one because it seems like nothing else will release
I’d wait for B660 ITX. Boards are releasing now- Asus is still DDR5 but Gigabyte and Asrock should both be DDR4. No info on an MSI ITX model at the moment.
@@MachinesMore thanks so much for the reply!
@@MachinesMore as someone with more knowledge than me, when do you think these b660i boards will hit the market? More specifically the ASUS one
Actually looks like the US asus b660i link is already live on Amazon (ships early March)
I got a feeling the negatives on this board is neglected when you use the Meshlicious!
-Because you're using a riser cable for the gpu
-You are most likely to use an AIO which will be better with installation compatibility.
Waited months to get all my parts...now can't get this board to work for the life of me. 3 days working on it so far
I am also having issues. What were yours, and were you able to fix them?
Geez, man! Just abort my Gigabyte Z690i order. What a coil.
Would an l9x65 with a 12600k in this board be a horrible idea?
Yeah, unless you have room a bigger full thickness 92mm fan. My preference here if height isn’t an issue is either C14S (tight for the bottom fan but do-able) or U9S.
should i just keep my i7 11th gen and asus rog z590 and upgrade 13 or 14th gen?
It’s one heck of a generational leap to 12th but board prices, DDR5, it’s going to make it a very expensive jump, so I’d at least wait until things settle out price wise.
Do you think I can fit a NH-D15 without the big heatsink? I've been debating between this and the ASRock Z690M-ITX/ax but the later option seems like a really low end board.
did you put it?
I need the answer
@@kevinmelendez5339 I'm using the u12a, which despite being smaller performs extremely similar. Also I'm not using the big heat sink from the M2 SSD, I've bought a smaller one for like 10 bucks.
@@inyue. im gonna try my dh15 tomorrow, thanks partner for the tips and the answer, you are truly amazing!