The GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master Mobo Review: 10GbE Rounds Out A Premium Board

Conclusion

In November 2021, Intel launched its flagship overclockable 12th generation processors onto the market along with its premium Z690 chipset. One of the most significant additions to the latest Alder Lake processors includes DDR5/DDR4 memory support. Other features include a new hybrid architecture of P (Golden Cove) and E (Gracemont) cores on its Core i9, i7, and two of its Core i5 processors and native support for PCIe 5.0. Each Intel Alder Lake processor has 16 x PCIe 5.0 lanes from the CPU that operates the top full-length slot on all Z690 motherboards and an additional 4 x PCIe 4.0 lanes assigned to storage devices.

Translating all of that to motherboards, the leading vendors such as GIGABYTE have a lot of PCIe to play with to create a well-rounded and feature-laden solution for users. It is no secret that the Z690 motherboards have broken cost boundaries and not in a good way, with some of the flagship models surpassing the $1500 mark. Still, one that aims to offer users something of a sweet spot for enthusiasts and gamers with a mixture of premium features and gaming-inspired aesthetics is the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master.

Starting with its most prominent features, the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master has a premium networking array, including one Marvell AQtion AQC113 10 GbE controller, with an Intel AX211 Wi-Fi 6E CNVi that offers support for both wireless and BT 5.2 devices. It also includes support for DDR5-6400, with four slots allowing support for up to 128 GB. Regarding PCIe, GIGABYTE has gone with just one full-length PCIe 5.0 x16 slot, with two full-length PCIe 3.0 slots electronically locked down to x4, as well as a myriad of storage options including four PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 slots, one PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 slot, and six SATA ports.

Touching on the board's connectivity, the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master has an impressive rear panel selection of input and output. This includes one USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C port, one USB 3.2 G2 Type-C port, five USB 3.2 G2 Type-A ports, and four USB 3.2 G1 Type-A ports, for a grand total of eleven USB ports. GIGABYTE also includes one front panel USB 3.2 G2x2 Type-C header for users requiring even more Type-C connectivity. The rear panel also has five 3.5 mm audio jacks and one S/PDIF optical output controlled by a Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio codec and ESS Sabre ES9118 DAC pairing which is quite a premium onboard audio solution.

The GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus has five PCIe M.2 slots (4 x PCIe 4.0 x4 + 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4)

Analyzing the performance of the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master to other boards in a similar price range, it performs competitively in our system tests, with the quickest Non-UEFI POST time of any Z690 model we've tested to date. In regards to computational and gaming performance, the Z690 Aorus Master is again competitive with not much separating it from other models on test; it should be noted that this kind of performance is dependent on the processor, memory, and graphics card, and we saw no anomalies to report during our testing.

In our overclock and power delivery thermal testing, the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master is a serious performer, with very tight VDroop control on the CPU VCore, and it is currently the king in our Z690 VRM thermal testing charts (at the time of writing). We even managed to overclock all of the P-cores on our Core i9-12900K to 5.3 GHz without any issues with a CPU VCore of 1.425 V, although 5.4 GHz was, unfortunately, a stretch too far. Despite this, the Z690 Aorus Master is a solid overclocker. With its large premium 20-phase power delivery operating relatively cool, we have no issues recommending it to enthusiasts looking to push Alder Lake beyond its already impressive 'turbo' clock speeds.

Final Thoughts: A Solid All-Round Performer for Intel's 12th Gen

At the time of writing, the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master can be purchased from Newegg for $470, which is in-line with its MSRP. What makes the Z690 Aorus Master appealing in comparison to the competition at the price point is its inclusion of 10 GbE, which is only typically found on the flagship Z690 models; the ASUS ProArt Z690 Creator WIFI ($480) is the only other outside of the $800+ models to have 10 GbE. 

With its combination of modern and stylish RGB-infused aesthetics lots of premium rear panel connectivity, including 10 GbE and Wi-Fi 6E, the GIGABYTE Z690 Aorus Master is one of the best all-round Z690 models from a price to features and compatibility standpoint. It also has a large 20-phase power delivery, excellent overclocking, and equally impressive VRM thermal performance, making it a solid option for enthusiasts and gamers.