Verdict and Conclusion
The Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Ultra is a solid performer that comes packed with some great features. I like the full cover heat shield with Fins Array II, and I also like the 16+1+2 direct digital VRM design, along with their SMD design which is found on the PCIE 5.0 x16 slot, as well as on the reinforced DDR5 slots.
The motherboard is heavier in weight than most motherboards I’ve tested, and that’s due to the large heatsinks/heats shields included. The other interesting feature is the M.2 Raid function. If you install all 3 x PCIE Gen4 (2nd Gen) SSDs together, each with 7000 MB/s, you will get unparalleled sequential Read/Write performance of up to 21053 and 15499 MB/s respectively.
Using the Intel Core i9-12900KF processor, we managed to get some really good scores in all of our benchmarks. It produced Cinebench R23 scores of 27,474 (multi core) and 2,018 (single core). For PCMark 10, we got a score of 7,841, and a score of 10,317 for PassMark9.
For UL’s latest Procyon Photo Editing Benchmark, we got a score of 8,424 and 3,756 for the video editing suite. And finally, for Timespy and Firestrike, we got de cent scores of 5,354 and 13,320 respectively.
I do like the small extras that Gigabyte have included, such as the diagnostic LEDs, power-on/off button, clear CMOS button, QFlash button and the numerous headers for extra fans and RGB.
The full cover heat shield with Fins Array II does an excellent job of cooling the whole system. It helps to cool not only the Mosfets, VRMs, but also the 4 x M.2 connectors for your SSDs, which are known to run very hot.
The only thing missing in my opinion, is onboard RGB. There isn’t any RGB lighting onboard. It’s something I would have liked to see. But you get a total of 4 RGB headers on the motherboard, which more than plenty to install your own RGB components I guess.
You can buy the Gigabyte Z690 AORUS ULTRA
Pros:
- Great value
- Very good performance
- Intel Z690 Chipset
- Supports Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake processor
- Supports PCIE 5.0
- Supports DDR5-6200 (O.C.)
- Feature-rich
- Intel 2.5G LAN
- Support WiFi 6
Cons:
- No RGB onboard
Final Words:
The Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Ultra is a feature-rich motherboard that offers good performance and solid stability. The full cover heat shield with Fins Array II provides excellent cooling performance, while the wealth of features make it an attractive motherboard for both gamers and content creators alike.
You can buy the Gigabyte Z690 AORUS ULTRA
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2 comments
Can you set the GPU normally (horizontal) without the fins to mess with it? Also, do you have a tutorial on how to update the bios? Thanks for the help!
The GPU should be able to mount both horizontally or vertically depending on your case. For BIOS update, please check Gigabyte’s website or online tutorials on YouTube.