Starting with the top half of the board, we get a closer look at the large heatpipe-connected heatsinks to cool the power delivery. On top, the MSI dragon RGBs are saturated and colorful, while not being too bright and overwhelming. The board gives off a glow that lights up the inside of your case, but does not make it the center of attention. Just above the heatsinks, we spot two 8-pin EPS power connectors (one required) to power the processor. The 1440p results are pretty typical as this resolution relies more on the GPU than the CPU. 3DMark Results 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Results

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. Quintuple M.2 Connectors: Onboard 5x M.2 connectors for the maximum storage performance with quad Lightning Gen 4 solution. Double-sided Shield Frozr design keeps M.2 SSDs safe while preventing throttling, making them run faster.LAN and Intel Wi-Fi 6E Solution: Upgraded network solution for professional and multimedia use. Delivers a secure, stable and fast network connection

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. 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. Enhanced Power Design: 16+1+1 Duet Rail Power System, dual 8-pin CPU power connectors, Core Boost, Memory Boost 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. USB connectivity is also plentiful on the Z690 EDGE, with 15 connections between onboard headers and the rear I/O shield. The rear IO shield has seven Type-A ports, five of which are USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) plus two USB 2.0 and a single USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20 Gbps) Type-C port for a total of eight. The remaining USB connections are headers on the motherboard consisting of two USB 2.0 (for four ports), one USB 3.2 Gen2 (for two ports), and one USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C internal header.

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.

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. Our memory tests show that the different RAM generations make little difference in the CPU and FPU tests aside from Photoworx, which appears to get a significant boost from the extra bandwidth. The DDR5 also had an advantage in the memory benchmark with increased bandwidth but sacrificed latency by nearly 30 ns compared to the EDGE. Looking at the two DDR4 options, the MPG Z690 EDGE pulled ahead in most tests, but the gains are marginal. Real-World Tests Cinebench, Corona, and 7Zip Benchmarks Cinebench R11.5/R15, POVRay, x265 (HWBot), 7Zip – Raw Data 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. LAN with LAN Manager and Intel Wi-Fi 6E Solution: Upgraded network solution for professional and multimedia use. Delivers a secure, stable and fast network connection You can see the dual 8-pin EPS connectors that supply more than enough power for the CPU. Across the top are fan connectors for CPU (2 A) and Pump ( 3 A), two Rainbow LED headers, and one system fan header. Beneath these headers are four DIMM slots, and next to them are the EZ Debug LEDs for troubleshooting. Finishing off the top section of the EDGE is the 24-pin ATX power connector, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 header, and a USB 3.2 Gen Type-C header. MSI MPG Z690 EDGE WIFI DDR4Another issue with ALC4080 while I'm on the subject is that you cannot install the Realtek HD Audio Manager with it. 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. 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 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.

We have also included some DDR5 results in our graphs to compare the two platforms. The DDR5 used was a 2 x 32 GB kit of Corsair Vengeance at 4400 MHz. Memory Performance Tests AIDA64 – Memory Bandwidth and Throughput H610 appears to be a relatively entry-level model. There is still a PCIe 5.0 slot, which is surprising, as well as DDR5 support, but there is no PCIe 4.0 slot, which means your NVMe SSD will work at PCIe 3.0 speeds only. It significantly reduces expansion potential, with only eight total PCIe 3.0 lanes on the chipset. Additionally, the number of USB 3.0 ports is limited. H610 boards are supposed to be affordable, and as long as the VRMs are not heatsink-less trash, they should be capable of performing well in entry-level systems. 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 Alder Lake will enable PCI Express 5.0, which will more than double the bandwidth available from Gen 4, reaching a whopping 64 GB/s over 16 lanes, as predicted by rumors and now confirmed by Intel. Comparatively, PCIe Gen 3.0 (which is fast) can carry 16 GB/s across 16 lanes. Interconnects will be required to connect everything together. AMD refers to this as the infinity fabric, whereas Intel refers to it as the compute fabric; two distinct names for the same concept. The DMI interface between CPU and chipset also has received a massive upgrade to DMI 4.0, 16GT/s (PCIe 4.0 x8). The chipsets On the memory side, the EDGE did well running DDR4 3600 at a 1:1 IMC gear ratio without any extra tweaking in the BIOS and performed slightly better than the Valkyrie. We were also able to run DDR4 4000 MHz Cl17-17-17 1:1 by manually setting the Gear Ratio. The memory ran stable through an AIDA64 memory test and also required no additional tweaking in the BIOS as the EDGE set adequate System Agent voltage on its own.The PCB design has been optimized for higher bandwidth and faster transfer speeds, which is also beneficial for reliable circuit transmission. 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. Using USB 3.2 devices has never been faster! MPG Z690 series motherboards offer a wide variety of options to connect and boost your USB devices, offering never before seen USB speeds up to 20Gb/s when connecting the Rear USB Type-C. This board breaks from the typical Z690 motherboard on the networking front and offers only a single Intel I225-V 2.5 Gbs port. We also have Intel Wi-Fi6 / Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connectivity out of the box with an included Wi-Fi antenna that connects at the rear I/O shield.