MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI DDR4 Motherboard ATX - Supports Intel Core 12th Gen Processors, LGA 1700 - 14 Duet Rail 55A VRM, Memory Boost (DDR4-5200MHz/OC), 1x PCIe 5.0 x16, 3 x M.2, HDMI, 2.5G LAN, Wi-Fi 6

A very good motherboard compared to others in it's price bracket at the time of buying.Firstly I was actually impressed with how much easier it was to build with compared to my last build (was an mATX build.)In terms of the build:Everything about the board feels quality and actually surprised me when building how smoothly everything went. Lots of fan headers and they are really well placed for my build. I was happy with basically all the headers placements and found this far easier to build with than my previous builds.I would've preferred to see more SATA ports horizontal (only 2 out of the 6) as I have multiple drives, and same for the USB 3.0, USB 3.2 Gen 2 port and 24pin cable. But they work completely fine and don't make the system look too cluttered so I can't complain too much.Using the motherboard, pretty happy with the amount of USBs on the back, would've been nice to have thunderbolt, but settling for a 20Gbps is fine.WiFi and LAN work well, but I'd highly recommend downloading the drivers before as these didn't work for me when first booting the system. I had to plug in my phone to tether my WiFi from there to get myself setup. But once the drivers were installed, I haven't had any issues.BIOS is like every other MSI BIOS I've used in the last 5/6 years, very simple once you know your way around, XMP worked flawlessly first time and doing a bit of overclocking my 12900k has worked, but I haven't pushed too much.Aesthetically, very happy to see a blacked out board, as I'm not really one for RGB madness. One thing to note is that the edges of the motherboard have a yellow trim, same as the line separating the audio capacitors and header. I'm not massive on this, as I would've preferred it to be black/grey, but it's subtle enough to not be a major issue. Something that isn't included in the photos that might be of interest for some is stickers for the VRM and heatsinks.Cooling I haven't had any issue with, VRMs stay cool but that's probably helped by my Noctua NH-D15, which was simple to install. (Although if build with a giant air cooler and you have a modular power supply, I'd recommend installing the CPU power 2x8pins cables first before putting into the case as this was a real pain.)Overall TL;DRExactly what you expect from a Z690 motherboard. Good placement of ports. Good amount of USBs, great amount of fan headers. Download network & WiFi drivers before.

I was looking for something to pair with my 12600k and after searching every board I kept coming back to this one. For the price you get so many of the features z690 has to offer.I love the aesthetic, I am not a fan of rgb on my mobo's and this just looks so clean in my build. The board feels solid and "premium" to hold.Installation was simple and all headers are in easy to reach, convenient spots. My only wish would be for a right angled 24 pin connector but i get that might clash with some cases.What really drew me to this was the power phase design of the board. Very solid compared to others in the same price category, only MSI's own edge board really competting here (it also has rgb if thats your thing). This board doesnt sweat putting 1.4v into my 12600k.BIOS is a familar msi layout, which is a good thing! Everything is easy to find, xmp profile works perfectly and I have had no stability issues at all.I spent the last few years using other manufactures boards and I'm glad to be back on a MSI, they just work, zero BS!

It's been a long time since I've used an MSI board, and they've come on a long way. I originally had a Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro DDR4, but it had horrendous coil whine so had to go back. Next, I had an MSI Z690 Edge DDR4, but one of the m.2 mounts wasn't fastened to the board so it also had to go back. Third time was the charm with this one!The board is somewhat no-frills and has no RGB making for a clean look. MSI build quality isn’t as good as Gigabyte or Asus. There’s also sticky residue on the back of both MSI Z690 boards I used, and a little on the front. The UEFI is a bit cluttered and ugly, but functionally it’s exceptional. It is mostly clear and very well featured. A little more effort in usability would make it the equal of an Asus ROG board. That said the control is there, and it seems to work as described which you don’t always get.Despite using the launch UEFI version, stability is perfect and compatibility with DDR4 is outstanding. I have 128GB DDR4 3600 C18, SK Hynix RAM. This is a very heavy load for any system, and this is the first board I’ve ever had where I can set the XMP setting, and it just works with stability. 72 hours of different stress tests could not shake the stability, outstanding! The Gigabyte Aorus Pro on the other hand managed 5 minutes as a comparison.I would recommend also considering the Edge which is a little more money. On the surface the difference is only an extra 5A per phase, and some RGB. However, much to my chagrin there’s more to it. 2 of the USB 3 ports go from 5gbit, to 10gbit with the Edge. On the Tomahawk one of the m.2 slots is PCIe 3.0 x4, this is upgraded to 4.0 x4 on the Edge. Additionally, the lower PCIe 4.0 16x slot is only 1x on the Tomahawk, but 4x on the Edge. This is a shame since I have a 10gbit NIC that can only go in the lower slot, so I can’t max out the NIC anymore. On the other hand, all SATA ports are connected to the Z690 chipset on the Tomahawk, whereas 2 are using an extra SATA controller on the Edge. If you’re using RST this will impact the maximum number of drives you can have in RST RAID.Inside of a case I haven’t heard any coil whine so far. Outside the case in open bench there’s a very small amount. I don’t overclock, so I can’t comment for power delivery in practice but based on the ICs in use, the VRM is basically overkill for anything short of liquid nitrogen.Fan control is excellent, you can control the fan curves from within the UEFI so no need for any intrusive utilities. You can set individual points, and they can be arbitrarily moved. You can also set fan ramp up and down times. This is in stark contrast to Gigabyte where the final point on the curve must be 100%, even if that is added noise for no extra performance.I can only recommend this board if you’re after something mid-range on the Z690. It’s staggering that this kind of cost is mid-range now, but you do get a lot for your money.

Consiglio questa mobo per qualità prezzo , 4 slot m2 , wifi , 2.5 gbps lanInstallato un 13700k che regge perfettamente anche un oc dopo aver aggiornato il biosHa la funzione flashback quindi potete installare il bios senza una cpu gen 12

Que dire de plus que efficace sans ce perdre dans les fioritures

Missing parts and manual, terrible

Das Board ist für mich der klare Preis/Leistungs-Sieger für Alder-Lake Prozessoren. Es fehlt nichts: WIFI, Bluetooth, schnelles LAN bei Bedarf. Den Ausschlag zum Kauf haben bei dir die 2*8 Pin CPU Anschlüsse (in Kombination mit dem Chipsatz ergibt das Übertaktungsfreiheit ohne Ende) und das 14+1+1 Powerdesign, was in der Preisklasse sonst eher nicht zu finden ist. Einbau war einfach, genug USB Anschlüsse dran, die Software von MSI ist auch okay. Einstellmöglichekiten im Bios begrenzt aber die essentiellen DInge sind drin, insofern: Würde ich wieder kaufen. Vor Allem für den Preis bei der Leistung.

TLDR: Gutes Mainboard, läuft mit dem i7 12700k tadellos, Ausstattung lässt keine Wünsche offen.Rahmenbedinungen:Ich habe das MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WIFI DDR4 für einen Neuaufbau meines Allrounder-PCs (Arbeit + Zocken) gekauft. Ich betreibe es in Kombination mit einem Intel 12700k, einem be Quiet Dark Rock Pro und 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo DDR4-3600 DIMM CL16 Dual Kit RAM (EAN 4713294223463 SKU F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC). Beim RAM musste ich darauf achten, dass er vom Hersteller supportet wird, mit nicht-supportetem RAM habe ich immer Pech gehabt - daher mein Tipp: Schaut beim Kauf des RAMS immer nach, ob der Hersteller diesen offiziell unterstützt.Einbau-Erfahrung:Der Zusammenbau des Rechners ist mir nicht ohne fremde Hilfe gelungen, das Mainboard wollte nicht starten. Ich habe den Rechner zweimal komplett zerlegt und wieder zusammengebaut, trotzdem startete das Mainboard nicht (kein POST). Da es nicht mein erster Rechner ist, den ich zusammenbaue, war das frustrierend. Ich konnte es lösen, indem ich den Rechner dann für 50 Euro bei einem lokalen PC-Spezialisten zusammenbauen lies. Da startete dann das Mainboard auch tadellos. Der Spezialist hat keine Herausforderung am Mainboard festgestellt, daher war es wohl Schiksal.Ausstattung:Die Ausstattung lässt bei mir keine Wünsche offen: Genug Slots für M2s, robuste Slots für die irrwitzig schweren Grafikkarten (Trippleslot 3080TI), gut platzierte Anschlüsse für Strom, Lüfter und Jumper... Genug USB-Anschlüsse. Ich denke, damit bin ich gut 3-5 Jahre gut versorgt.Fazit:Das Mainboard ist etwas teuer, bietet aber eine robuste Verarbeitung und eine für mich optimale Ausstattung für Speicher und Anschlüsse externer Geräte. Ich kann es empfehlen, wenn man nicht so sehr auf die Finanzen achten muss.