We're looking at the best motherboards for Intel Alder Lake CPUs (12th Gen), focusing on the best Z690 motherboards for the 12900K, 12700K, and 12600K (OC boards, budget, & more).
Sponsor: be quiet!'s Silent Base 802 https://geni.us/DaGYu

This video looks at a swathe of Intel's current Z690 motherboards and uses internal testing, data, and available online information to try and determine the best motherboards at different price classes. There are a LOT of Z690 motherboards, so we haven't looked at every single one of them; if a particular board isn't on our list, it doesn't necessarily mean it's "bad" -- just that we haven't looked at it yet or don't have it in-hand to make a determination to its quality. The video covers best motherboards for Intel overclocking, cheapest 10GbE motherboard, micro-ATX boards, mini-ITX, best value motherboards for the money, and more. At time of publishing, only the Intel i9-12900K, i7-12700K, and i5-12600K are officially out, so we're evaluating these from the perspective of using those CPUs.

Quick correction: The board shown at around 21 minutes is the Z690-G, but the Z690-I is the ITX variant. Sorry for the error on mixing up the two boards. Our apologies for overlooking the form factor on that one.

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Watch our Intel i9-12900K CPU review here:    • Intel Did It: Core i9-12900K CPU Revi...  
Watch our Intel i7-12700K CPU review here:    • Intel Core i7-12700K & 12700KF CPU Re...  

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RELATED PRODUCTS [Affiliate Links]

Intel i9-12900K CPU on Amazon: https://geni.us/YAlrh9
Intel i7-12700K CPU on Amazon: https://geni.us/MP2tSl
Intel i5-12600K CPU on Amazon: https://geni.us/2gB9h1

BEST Z690 UNDER $150

It doesn't exist.

BEST VALUE MOTHERBOARD (~$180-$220)

MSI Pro Z690-A DDR4 on Amazon: https://geni.us/U1oCY
MSI Pro Z690-A DDR5 on Amazon: https://geni.us/y1Zcwo

BEST $150 TO $200 (and MICRO-ATX)

ASUS Prime Z690M-Plus D4 on Amazon: https://geni.us/OHeNsU

BEST $200 TO $250

ASUS Prime Z690-P D4 on Amazon: https://geni.us/19XkFAX

BEST $250 TO $350

Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro on Amazon: https://geni.us/qnLcRJh

BEST UNDER $500

MSI MPG Z690 Carbon Gaming on Amazon: https://geni.us/XBZeEO
Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master on Amazon: https://geni.us/ia3kRz

EXTREME HIGH-END

ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Apex on Amazon: https://geni.us/pMa4nZm

BEST MINI-ITX

ASUS Z690-I on Amazon: https://geni.us/uXRvV
Gigabyte Z690I Aorus Ultra DDR4 on Amazon: https://geni.us/CDCXD

BEST UTILITY / BEST OVERALL

MSI MEG Z690 Unify Gaming on Amazon: https://geni.us/p5PgnQ

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Best Z690 Motherboards of 2021
03:19 - Best Z690 Under $150....
04:14 - Best Value Z690 - $220
09:05 - Best $150 to $200 / Micro-ATX
11:49 - Best $200 to $250
13:20 - Best $250 to $350
15:47 - Best under $500
19:26 - Extreme High-End
21:03 - Best Mini-ITX
22:33 - Best Utility
23:45 - Conclusion

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Host, Copy Editing: Steve Burke
Writing, Testing: Patrick Stone
Video: Keegan Gallick