What are the reasons one should choose a Z790 motherboard over a Z690 motherboard?

[Atrumoris]

Pretty much what the title says. I've found a decent deal on a very good Z690 model and I'd like to know whether I should go for it or I'd be jumping the gun with that move. From what I researched the main advantage of Z790 mobo's is their support for faster RAM speeds.

[envirovore]

Z790 has support for higher RAM speeds and one more USB gen 2.2

Certain models may have more 'overbuilt' VRM for heavier OC support, though you'll likely find Z690 boards with overly sufficient VRM as well - both are 'enthusiast' tier.

[PopinFRESH]

Because 7 is one better than 6 🤣

[Tiberius]

Originally posted by Atrumoris:

Pretty much what the title says. I've found a decent deal on a very good Z690 model and I'd like to know whether I should go for it or I'd be jumping the gun with that move. From what I researched the main advantage of Z790 mobo's is their support for faster RAM speeds.

The Z790 chipset allows multiplier overclocking for “unlocked” processors (those with names enging in “K”, e.g. the i9–13900K), and extra PCIe, SATA, and USB connections compared to cheaper chipsets.

The z790 motherboard has a stronger memory controller and higher compatibility with DDR5 memory compared to the z690 motherboard.


Basically, the Z790 is newer and improved. Definitely go for the Z790.

[kiwikev]

The link below provides good info of the difference betweeen the two chipsets.

https://techedged.com/z690-vs-z790/

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Inarius:

...The Z790 chipset allows multiplier overclocking for “unlocked” processors (those with names enging in “K”, e.g. the i9–13900K), and extra PCIe, SATA, and USB connections compared to cheaper chipsets.

Both chipsets do this.

Originally posted by Inarius:

The z790 motherboard has a stronger memory controller and higher compatibility with DDR5 memory compared to the z690 motherboard.

Modern CPUs, including all that are on this platform, have the memory controller on the CPU. There is nothing "stronger" in regards to the memory controller on either chipset.


OP here are the two ARK pages with their specs

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/229721/intel-z790-chipset/specifications.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/218833/intel-z690-chipset/specifications.html

Z790 supports one more USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port (will depend on actual motherboard
Z690 supports Intel Optane Memory (this was dropped with Z790, you probably won't care about this at all).

Both chipsets have upto 8x lanes of DMI 4.0 to the CPU
Both chipsets have PCIe Gen3 and Gen4 support with the same configurable options and 28 lanes from the chipset.

The Z790 will have newer UEFI/BIOS support and most vendors will have slightly higher unofficial memory OC support; however, this will still also be primarily dependent upon your CPU and also many same-class Z690 boards will have firmware updates that will also support higher memory OC if your CPU and memory will support it.

Which Z690 board were you looking at and what is the deal? Also, which Z790 board(s) were you considering as comparison to the Z690 board you are looking at?

If you are getting a more fully features Z690 board for less than a Z790 board then that is certainly the better value.

[Phénomènes Mystiques]

Modern CPU's lmfao...

[Atrumoris]

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Which Z690 board were you looking at and what is the deal? Also, which Z790 board(s) were you considering as comparison to the Z690 board you are looking at?

If you are getting a more fully features Z690 board for less than a Z790 board then that is certainly the better value.

The Z690 board I was talking about is Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master. It's still available for about $350. However, in the meantime since I started this discussion I've discovered a little detail about it that bothers me. Namely it is considered an E-ATX board because it's 15mm wider than an ATX. My case is mATX/ATX only! While standoff screw holes appear to be in identical positions, its right edge would hang over the cable routing holes if I were to install it. Not enough to cover them completely but it appears it would make fitting the 24-pin connector more challenging. And the tight fit would probably put constant torque on that connector. Maybe I could ignore cable management here to avoid that? Sacrifice some of the airflow?

Anyway, while I didn't research Z790 models in quite the detail as I did the older ones, so far one model did catch my eye - ASRock Z790 Nova WiFi. It seems to be a decent board, to me at least. Could you give me any suggestions, ideally $350 or less? I could go to $400, but only if the board offered amazing price to performance ratio. Thanks! BTW, whatever board I eventually end up with, I was planning to pair it with an i5-14600K, if that info is of any importance.

[PopinFRESH]

Originally posted by Atrumoris:

Originally posted by PopinFRESH:

Which Z690 board were you looking at and what is the deal? Also, which Z790 board(s) were you considering as comparison to the Z690 board you are looking at?

If you are getting a more fully features Z690 board for less than a Z790 board then that is certainly the better value.

The Z690 board I was talking about is Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master. It's still available for about $350. However, in the meantime since I started this discussion I've discovered a little detail about it that bothers me. Namely it is considered an E-ATX board because it's 15mm wider than an ATX. My case is mATX/ATX only! While standoff screw holes appear to be in identical positions, its right edge would hang over the cable routing holes if I were to install it. Not enough to cover them completely but it appears it would make fitting the 24-pin connector more challenging. And the tight fit would probably put constant torque on that connector. Maybe I could ignore cable management here to avoid that? Sacrifice some of the airflow?

Anyway, while I didn't research Z790 models in quite the detail as I did the older ones, so far one model did catch my eye - ASRock Z790 Nova WiFi. It seems to be a decent board, to me at least. Could you give me any suggestions, ideally $350 or less? I could go to $400, but only if the board offered amazing price to performance ratio. Thanks! BTW, whatever board I eventually end up with, I was planning to pair it with an i5-14600K, if that info is of any importance.

Yeah, you'd be better off saving an extra ~$100 and getting something like the Asus Prime Z790-P WiFi D4 or similar that is going to fit in your case. The very top end boards like the Aorus Master, or ROG Maximus Extreme really aren't worth it for the vast majority of people.

You can find the Asus Prime Z790-P WiFi D4 for around $209 on Amazon which is about the same price range as you can find the prior generation Asus Prime Z690-P WiFi.