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  • Aorus Z690 Pro Motherboard Review
  • Aorus Z690 Pro Motherboard Review

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    Benchmark Configuration

    The System as it was Tested

    Z690 Aorus Pro Gaming – Z690 Chipset
    Intel Core i7 12700k (3.2Ghz) Sixteen Core 12+12 32KB L2 Cache 9+9 x 1.25MB L3 Cache 25MB 
    Cooler Master MasterLiquid PL360 Flux
    1x nVidia RTX 2080 Super
    2x Crucial PC5-4800 16GB DDR5 (40-39-39-76)
    Patriot P200 512GB SSD
    HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
    Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
    Windows 11 Pro 64bit 

    Reference System

    ASUS STRIX Z690-E Gaming WiFi – Z690 Chipset
    Intel Core i7 12700k (3.2Ghz) Sixteen Core 12+12 32KB L2 Cache 9+9 x 1.25MB L3 Cache 25MB 
    Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme
    1x nVidia RTX 2080 Super
    2x Crucial PC5-4800 16GB DDR5 (40-39-39-76)
    Patriot P200 512GB SSD
    HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
    Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
    Windows 11 Pro 64bit 

    Reference System

    EVGA Z590 Dark – Z590 Chipset
    Intel Core i9 11900k (3.5Ghz) Octo Core 8 x 512KB L2 Cache 16MB L3 Cache
    Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme
    1x nVidia RTX 2080 Super
    2x GSKill TridentZ PC4-330000 8GB DDR4 (19-19-19-39)
    Patriot VP4300 2TB NVMe SSD
    HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
    Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
    Windows 10 Pro 64bit 

    Reference System

    Aorus Z490 Master – Z490 Chipset
    Intel Core i9 10900k (3.7Ghz) Deca Core 10 x 32KB L2 Cache 10 x 256KB L3 Cache 20MB 
    Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme
    1x nVidia RTX 2080 Super
    2x Thermaltake ToughRAM PC4-44000 8GB DDR4 (19-25-25-45)
    Patriot P200 512GB SSD
    HP dvd1260i Multiformat 24x Writer
    Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050 Watt PSU
    Windows 10 Pro 64bit 

    CPUz

    Our motherboard testing suite has been compiled to subject the system to a variety of different scenarios that help uncover some of the subtle differences in motherboard design.  Normally these differences are driven by the processor and BIOS programming but with the advent of an IMC and PCI Express moving to the CPU we have discovered that raw performance numbers are virtually identical across most systems using the same processor.  

    Our new approach is to look at total system performance and minimize the variances.  The results will tell us how the system responded as a total package and also give us something to use in our comparisons.

    As with most new processor and chipset releases we will be comparing the current system to previous products not only to see how they stack up but, to better understand how much of an increase we are getting by upgrading.