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Starting with the launch of the Z690 chipset, we’ve updated our game tests. We’ve updated Far Cry: New Dawn to Far Cry 6 and shifted from F1 2020 to F1 2021. We run the games at 1920x1080 resolution, using the Ultra preset (details listed above). As the resolution goes up, the CPU tends to have less impact. The goal with these settings is to determine if there are differences in performance at the most commonly used resolution with settings that most people use (or at least strive for). We expect the difference between boards in these tests to be minor, with most falling within the margin of error. We've also added a minimum FPS value, as that can affect your gameplay and immersion experience. As with the 2D benchmark results we saw previously, the gaming benchmarks were similar regardless of the settings. However, it does appear that the same updates did help in some of our game titles, specifically Far Cry6, where the 12900K got a 20 FPS increase since we first started testing in November. 1440p Gaming Benchmarks Generally there is a "popping" type sound when Audio hardware is detected as the PC Starts to boot. That is missing with this boards ALC4080. I put the motherboard in a different PC and experienced the same thing. Lightning Fast Game experience: PCIe 5.0 slots, Lightning Gen 4 x4 M.2, Front & Rear USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20G. The MPG series from MSI sits at the higher end of their products but is still quite affordable. The z690 EDGE we have here today is a sleek-looking motherboard and appears to be well equipped so let’s dive in. Specifications and Features
The 3DMark Firestrike results are very similar across the board as well. Power Consumption Power Consumption Comparison Extreme Power Design: Premium digital PWM, direct 19+2 phases with 105A Smart Power Stage, Titanium Choke III and dual CPU power connectors to unleash the true power of your processors. Starting at the left is a large shroud covering the I/O. Unlike most, this shroud is part of the aluminum heatsink with access beneath for the RGB LEDs that illuminate the MSI Gaming dragon. We also have a smaller heat sink for the upper VRM connected via a heat pipe with the “MPG” series embossed on it. For PCIe, we have three full-length PCIe x16 slots, of which only the top one is x16 electrically; we have supplied a bandwidth breakdown in the table below. The top full-length PCIe slot features MSI’s PCI Express Steel Armor technology for added strength with reinforced, heavy solder points and EMI shielding for signal integrity. The upper slot (from CPU) will run in PCIe Gen 5.0 mode, and the two lower full-length PCIe slots (from PCH) are Gen 3.0×4. We also have a single PCIex3 slot for supporting add-in cards. Extreme Power Design: Premium digital PWM, direct 19+1+2 phases with 105A Smart Power Stage, Titanium Choke III and dual CPU power connectors to unleash the true power of your processors.
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If you can’t find it in the OC section, head to the Settings section, as you’ll most likely find it here. We see the Boot settings, Save & Exit, and Advanced subsections here. The Advanced subsection has the remaining system control settings for storage, USB, and Power Management, to name a few.
Above the DRAM slots are 4-pin fan headers and RGB headers. In this location, there are CPU_FAN1 and PUMP_FAN1 headers, plus six others on the board for a total of eight. All headers support both PWM and DC-controlled fans. CPU_FAN1 defaults to auto control and outputs up to 2A/24W. PUMP_FAN1 defaults to PWM mode and outputs up to 3A/36W, while the SYS_FAN1-6 headers default to DC mode and output 1A/12W. There are plenty of headers and power to support your cooling ecosystem through the board. You can control the fans through the BIOS as well as MSI’s Center software. Performance-wise our tests show that it’s more than capable of keeping up with the big boys and even surpassing them in some tests (Procyon Office). Gaming performance was also on par with the other tested boards, so i performs well across a wide variety of applications, even when using the power-hungry i9-12900K. Although during the stress test it thermally throttled (like most others), it otherwise handled the benchmarks we threw at it well. The Z690 EDGE WIFI has four DIMM slots that support up to 128 GB of dual-channel non-ECC, unbuffered memory with speeds up to 5200 MHz. However, the highest-rated kit on the QVL is 5133 MHz single rank memory using one DIMM per channel. We first saw Gear settings with the eleventh-generation Intel CPU, which controls the IMC (internal memory controller) speed. With an updated BIOS, we were able to run our i9 12900K sample at DDR4 4000 MHz in Gear1 or at a 1:1 ratio. Results may vary as this is CPU-dependent. While the pricing for Alder Lake non-K CPUs appears to be quite favorable, their success will also be contingent on the cost of the H670, B660, and H610 motherboards. Additionally, it will be interesting to observe AMD's reaction to the new Alder Lake processors. AMD's Ryzen 5000 (Zen 3) had dominated the market before Alder Lake arrived and stole the show, but a slight price decrease might reintroduce Ryzen.Dual 2.5G LAN with latest Wi-Fi 6E: Onboard dual 2.5G LAN with LAN manager and latest Wi-Fi 6E solution which supports 6GHz spectrum delivering the best online gaming experience. The most expensive chipset for motherboards of course is the Z690 chipset, which is the highest-end model released first. The CPU has 16 (or 2 times 8 PCIe 5.0 lanes), which can be used for graphics or storage, in addition to four NVME 4.0 lanes. What was previously said appears to be correct; the chipset has 12 times gen4 and 16 times gen3 processors. Additional features include support for two DIMMs per memory channel and dual-channel DDR4-3200 or DDR5-4800 with two DIMMs per memory channel. Lightning Fast Game experience: PCIe 5.0 slots, Lightning Gen 4 x4 M.2, Dual Front USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20G.
Latest DDR5 Memory: A huge step of DDR performance enhancement with the latest DDR5 memory. Combines with dedicated SMT welding process and MSI Memory Boost technology, it is ready to deliver the world class memory performance. B660 appears to have a set of specifications that will satisfy the vast majority of the market. You can use a high-performance CPU such as the Core i5 12600K and any GPU you choose, as well as a fast NVMe SSD or two and several hard disk drives for storage. We may anticipate that high-end B660 boards will cost more than their entry-level Z690 equivalents, particularly those equipped with a powerful VRM, enough heatsinks, and Wi-Fi 6E. Certain B660 boards should end up providing a well-balanced core feature set and excellent value for money.Next to the CPU and PUMP fan headers are two RGB headers. There are two 3-pin ARGB headers here, while on the bottom edge of the board is a 4-pin RGB and a third 3-pin ARGB. If the RGB lighting on the board isn’t enough, use these to light up your chassis and MSI’s Mystic Light software to control the lightshow. Moving to the right is the Z690 chipset covered by a good-sized heatsink that sports the EDGE logo six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. Only four of the SATA 6 Gb/s get bandwidth from the PCH and support RAID functionality. The upper two ports labeled “A” and “B” are driven by an ASMedia ASM1061 controller.
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