ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus ATX Motherboard

رائعة ما عدا انه لا يوجد بها منفذ يو اس بي 2 في الواجهة الخلفية للأسف إحتجت إليه حيث لم يعمل الهارد الخارجي الخاص بي إلا على منفذ يو اس بي 2 .(لكن يتوفر على اللوحة من الداخل عدد منفذين يدعمانه لذا قمت بشراء كارت يو اس بي 2 وقمت بتوصيله بها و تم حل المشكلة بفضل الله ).

Since DDR5 is still ludicrously expensive I went with DDR4 to pair with my i9-12900k. Checked most options and was deciding between this and the ASUS Prime, but eventually ended up on this one due to some reviews on Prime claiming detection issue with multiple NVMes. Have been using this card at full capacity with all NVMe, RAM, and SATA slots occupied for a month without issue. BIOS is up to date and post out of box without any issue.
Note for regular GPU configuration it does limit the height of the heatsink of the secondary NVMe slot, as it sits directly under the GPU using first PCIe lane.
RGB is not really a huge deal personally but the MB could use some more ARGB headers. It does push you to use Armoury Crate software for hardware monitor and variation configuration options, it is fine. I still prefer iCue over it but at the same time it is annoying none of these companies can agree on a single standard.
While ATX is a set standard with defined outer dimension, but would be nice if we can widen the distance between CPU socket and RAM slots, as even small AIO pump tubes are still having clearance issue with that mounting position. It doesn’t make any sense when AIOs are showing such orientation as default but MB design restrict this configuration. It’s been an issue kind of just got ignored for quite some years now.

My previous computer was from 2012 (although significantly upgraded). I always prefer a computer I build myself as I can select components that allow maximum upgradability over time. This MB seems to be working great. Wifi if I need it (although it wouldn’t work until drivers were loaded, so it was not usable for the initial windows install which is when I most would want it as it was not at my desk yet), room for a couple more NVME drives for down the road, seems well built. The heat sinks for all components are pretty good sized. Overall the build went pretty well and I’m very happy with it. This uses DDR4 RAM, which is one reason I picked it as just as I finally decided to buy a 12600k processor, DDR5 RAM had disappeared from stock with no signs of returning. I decided to save the money and go with DDR4 and this MB offered everything I wanted.

Honestly, i was not looking for the best motherboard out there but this one did seem to tick off a lot of box’s i was trying to get in my next build. (First in 10 years for personal)

– Intel CPU socket, Wifi, Bluetooth, overclocking, high speed DDR5, 2X or more M.2 slots, (this has 4) more then 3 system fans and then CPU fan, [4 pins] (this has 1 CPU 1CPU alt 1 AIO and 4 System and all are 4 pin connections) it also has 4+ sata connections (for old hard drives and data ->sadly, only has 4X) and ARGB connectivity. (This has 3 ARGB Aura Sync connectors for easy cable managment)

CPU i bough i knew was not going to have integrated graphics so the on board graphics ports would not be used in my case but good to know this option is offered on this board.
I do no like the top PCIe16X slot placements. Top one makes it so if i wanted to add a 3 fan addon to the rear of my GPU to pull head up and away from the PCB board then it wont fit (or at least with the one i had purchased) and the bottom one is too close to my battery box so IF i say wanted dual GPU’s that were 2 slot cards, then the bottom one cannot fit with the case i picked (tested with my Asus TUF 3060 just to see) sure, another case option may differ for you.

All in all this board is great though, my choice in tower is more of an issue then anything at all on this board. I slapped it together in about an hour and it just worked. the motherboard takes about 10 seconds to boot bios and show the TUF logo for the first time and it kinda made me question myself for a second (I have not changed it yet but i think there’s a fast boot option) (*UPDATE: Not that i could find)

My RAM, CPU, Motherboard, and M.2 NVMe SSD combo works extremely well and would highly recommend, after TUF logo goes away windows login screen comes up in 3-4 seconds then after i type my passcode and press login, my 15 startup programs i use load only another 8 seconds have passed XD i have 0 complaints.

wish i knew how tall my M.2 heat sink was on my Fire Cuda 530 1TB before i bought it because i could not put the shield back on after i installed it so for those i recommend NVMe SSDs not have heat syncs else they may not fit.

The ARGB on the board itself is very suddel and with a lot of other ARGB things in a case you cannot even notice it.

Update: the onboard wifi 6 is not so great as I stated below. After a short time the high speed tests disintegrated. Not that my speeds weren’t still generally high, but rarely at their max of 375 mbs. Disabled it in bios and went back to my pcie card. Better.

Love that it has all USB 3.2 ports: 4 first gen and 2 second gen. Also two USB C ports. The internal wifi 6 is excellent. Had problems with HDMI port using I7 12700K CPU with internal graphics. However, don’t know if the problem is with the port or the internal graphics.
This MB would not power up with a Radeon RX560 card installed in PCIEX16 slot 1. Consulting with ASUS via chat the tech said it should work, but didn’t. Could not test the card in slot 2 because that slot is too close to my PSU to allow installation of a GPU with left side fans. Just no room, so that slot has no utility in my PC case, at least not for a decent GPU. However, all is well that ends well and this MB has no problem with NVIDA’s Geforce series.
Overall, so far, I am not displeased with this MB, and hopefully it will continue to serve well as my latest upgrade.
Oh, also like that it will run both DDR4 and DDR5 RAM. As of now I am running 32 gig DDR4 brought over from my previous build. That saved money on the upgrade and serves well as a potential future upgrade of RAM if ever desired.

ASUS support:
For the time spent waiting on a tech to pick up the phone, and then getting cut off with no call back from the tech, you can get through via chat faster and will likely have a better experience than with a tech on the phone. At least I did. A tech who I was not confident from the get go she was going to be able to communicate with me in any meaningful or knowledgeable way. That she ensured she had my call back number in case of a dropped call, and then did not call back when the call got dropped (very early before we even got far into my trying to explain the problem), makes one wonder, did she drop me on purpose? More than hurt my feelings, I’ll tell ya.
Also the phone had a very bad connection.