Gigabyte Z690 AORUS ULTRA (DDR5) Motherboard Review

Test Setup

For our tests, we will be using a test rig which is comprised of the Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Ultra motherboard, along with an Intel Core i9-12900KF @ 3.9 GHz / Boost @ 5.2 GHz, as well as 32GB of Thermaltake RC DDR5-4800 (overclocked to DDR5-5600) in quad channel mode.

All tests were conducted at turbo clock speeds at a resolution of 1920×1080. High or Ultra settings enabled.

Unfortunately, I was not able to test the motherboard using a GeForce RXT 30-series due to chip shortage/scalpers/overpricing, so the bottleneck would come from the graphics card itself. Yes, I’m stuck with a Radeon RX 6500 XT … *sigh*

CPU	Intel Core i9-12900KF (Alderlake) 12th Gen 10nm
Cooling	Thermaltake Floe RC Ultra AIO 240mm
Motherboard	Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Ultra
Ram	32GB of Thermaltake RC DDR5-4800 overclocked to DDR5-5600
XMP profiles	Yes XMP 3.0 Profiles
SSD/HDD	Adata Legend 840 1TB (PCIE Gen4x4)
PSU	Thermaltake ToughPower PF1 ARGB 1050W
VGA card	ASRock Radeon RX 6500 XT
Drivers	Latest Software Adrenalin Drivers from AMD
OS	Windows 10

AIDA64 Info

CPU-Z Info

Load Temps

Using the the Thermaltake Floe RC Ultra 240 AIO (fitted with the LGA1700 mounting kit), the processor produced a full load temperature of 94 degrees Celsius, which was lower than I expected. What a surprise. I had anticipated the load temperature to hit over 100 degrees Celsius. I guess the Thermaltake’s TOUGHFAN 12 Turbo fans are doing a great job of dissipating the heat from the radiator.

On a side note. Intel’s Alder Lake processors has a TDP of 125W (241W with Turbo Boost enabled).  I highly recommend you get a decent AIO Liquid cooler for your Alder Lake processors.