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The best, high-end 12th gen motherboard
ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero WiFi
Best Intel 12th Gen Motherboard 2023
Finding the Best Intel 12th Generation motherboards for i9, i7 and, i5 CPUs
Updated: Jan 3, 2023 11:42 am
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Whilst this article focuses on 2023, it still contains hardware from 2022. We have still deemed all the hardware in this article relevant, but as soon as that changes it will be updated.
The motherboard is at the core of your system, and it can be hard to understand what exactly makes for the best motherboard, or why. But we’ve done all the hard work, and found the best Intel 12th gen motherboard to house your brand-new Alder Lake CPU.
The next generation of computing power has arrived. The Intel 12th generation of CPUs, codenamed ‘Alder Lake’ has brought Intel back into the game, and now has a viable competitor to AMD’s razor-sharp Ryzens.
NOW READ: These are the other best 12th gen premium, mid-range and budget Intel motherboards
Picking up a motherboard to house all this power without wasting a single drop is integral to squeezing the best performance out of your shiny new 12th Gen CPU. The best 12th Gen CPUs need the best 12th Gen motherboard, we have outlined a selection of the industry’s best 12th Gen motherboards.
The 19-12900KS has been released and it is one impressive beast, check out our 12900KS review if you’re in the market for a serious upgrade.
Are you looking for the best Intel motherboard of 2022? Maybe even the best AMD motherboard? or the best 12th Gen compatible CPU coolers? We have articles for those!
Intel’s 13th generation
Check out all the content we have around Intel’s latest generation. The 13th generation of CPUs promises to be one of the best Intel has ever released, with massive projected performance improvements and lowered prices, what is there not to love?
Check out all of our where to buy pages if you’re in the market for a new Intel CPU.
The Intel 13th gen release date is already confirmed but check out our Intel 13th gen release time article if you fancy knowing exactly when the Intel 13th gen is releasing.
Top picks
02
The best 12th gen motherboard for enthusiasts
GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master
03
A mid-range 12th gen motherboard
ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi
What Chipset should I consider getting for Intel 12th gen?
Currently, there aren’t that many options out there, with the only released chipset thus far being the Z690. The H670 and B660 boards should be following suit shortly. The Z690 chipset is primarily aimed at PC enthusiasts.
The Z690 chipset offers a more plentiful set of features over other lesser chipsets. This includes PCIe Gen 5, overclocking support, or even the speed of USB or Thunderbolt headers could be rare, or even nonexistent on lower-end H670 or B660 boards.
With the Z690 being the more feature-rich chipset, it’s fully equipped to handle any Core i9-12900K/KF, Core i7-12700K/KF, or, Core i5-12600K/KF respectively.
Z690 Vs Z590
The most glaringly obvious change between the Z590 and Z690 is the socket type, moving from the LGA 1200 to the brand-new LGA 1700, which carries the standard for this new socket type. But, it still remains to be seen if this socket will have longevity beyond Intel’s 12th generation of processors.
Z690 motherboards introduce with them a new generation of PCIe – Gen 5. Featuring double the PCIe bandwidth for 16X slots. PCIe gen 4.0 could handle access speeds of up to 16GT/s (Giga transfers per second) while PCIe gen 5.05 offers 32GT/s.
Another major difference between Z690 and Z590 chipsets is the Z690’s support for DDR5 RAM. A huge advancement in RAM technology, which achieves speeds beyond the capabilities of even the world’s fastest DDR4 kits.
With Intel’s 12th generation of CPUs, which are designed with blazing-fast clock speeds and a brand-new socket, you’re going to need to pick up a brand-new motherboard to process all of that sheer power.
Currently, the only available chipset is the high-end Z690 boards. They come at a cost but are well worth the plethora of features you’re getting when opting for the creme-de-la-creme of high-end boards.
Form Factor
Regardless of whatever motherboard you choose, its form factor is one of the most important factors (pun intended), as you might miss out on some crucial features, or bells and whistles when downsizing.
Motherboards come in a multitude of different shapes and sizes, from E-ATX, all the way down to the incredibly small Mini-ITX. The form factor of which you choose usually coincides with your choice of case.
There’s no point going for an E-ATX motherboard for an ITX case, it simply wouldn’t fit. More often than not, the smaller the motherboard, the less feature-rich it will be, you only have so much you can pack into such a compact piece of silicon.
As a rule of thumb, we generally push towards ATX as this is the standard of form factor and most cases support it, or are built around it. For the most part, there are no compromises on features with the ATX form factor either. Intel first introduced the ATX form factor in 1995, and since then it’s become an industry standard.
Socket
With a new generation, chipset and CPU often comes a new generation of sockets. Enter LGA 1700. This socket replaces the LGA 1200 socket seen in prior generations. LGA 1700 is present on Z690 motherboards featuring an additional 500 contact points. This has increased the socket size from the traditional symmetrical square of 37.5mm x 37.5mm (LGA 1200) to 45mm x 37.5 mm (LGA 1700).
This means your current cooler likely won’t fit the socket of Z690 motherboards, you’ll have to get yourself extra LGA 1700-compatible mounting hardware.
Some cooler manufacturers offer mounting hardware as separate products to upgrade, but it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.) Sorry, everyone, it’s not just plugged and play this time, unless you want to splash for a brand-new cooler, too.
RAM
It’s not just Intel that’s been upgrading its hardware, RAM has made headway in the industry showing off its brand new blisteringly fast DDR5 DIMMs. There are Z690 boards that do still support the older and more affordable DDR4
ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero WiFi
01
The best, high-end 12th gen motherboard
ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero WiFi
ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero WiFi
Form Factor
ATX
Socket
LGA 1700
Chipset
Z690
DDR5?
Yes
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Pros
- Dual Thunderbolt 4 USB-C
- PCIe Slot Q-Release
- 20+1 power stages (90A)
Cons
- No 10Gb Ethernet
- Less power stages than more premium models
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero is one of the best Z690 options on the market currently. It is an incredible option despite what it may lack in power stages and ethernet bandwidth.
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero’s design is fairly different from the previous generation of Hero motherboards. Featuring incredible personalization with the Polymer Lighting I/O cover and accompanying fully customizable RGB lighting.
The Z690 Hero ships with 20+1 power staging and intelligent control, which is ASUS’ Ai overclocking feature proven to be pretty much unrivaled in the industry today.
Cooling is handled by a very large fully aluminum heatsink and integrated aluminum I/O cover, of course with a very highly conductive thermal pad to increase contact surface area.
The M.2 SSDs are kept nice and cool with three M.2 heatsinks and two backplates. With an additional ROG water cooling zone, for further customization.
Additionally, there are a plethora of features that truly matter for everyone gamer or not. Full PCIe gen 5 support, ultra-fast DDR5 ram slots with support up to 6400Mhz.
Dual Thunderbolt 4 USB-C and a ROG Hyper M.2 PCIe gen 5 card. Gives you some pretty powerful connectivity where you need it the most.
GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master
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The best 12th gen motherboard for enthusiasts
GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master
GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master
Form Factor
ATX
Socket
LGA 1700
Chipset
Z690
DDR5?
Yes
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Pros
- 20+1+2 Direct Digital VRM Design
- 10 GB BASE-T LAN
- Thunderbolt 4
Cons
- Extremely pricey
Gigabyte’s Aorus motherboards are certainly show-stoppers when it comes down to design and functionality. Although very expensive, the Aorus Master is irrefutably one of the best choices for the most avid PC gaming enthusiasts.
The design of this generation of Aorus Master is much improved over the last, boasting a sleek and stylish I/O cover and matching heatsink. The Aorus Master features an incredible 20+1+2 Direct Digital VRM design, making power delivery much cleaner and more efficient.
Tantalum polymer capacitors keep power where it’s needed. The thermal ‘reactive’ armor uses nano-carbon fins to greatly increase the cooling capacity of the thermal armor alongside the direct touch heat pipe and a nano-carbon backplate.
With Z690 supporting the all-new DDR5 RAM, the Aorus Master is no exception. Allowing support of up to 6600MHz, this motherboard allows for some exceptional speed, aesthetics, and functionality.
ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi
03
A mid-range 12th gen motherboard
ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi
ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi
Form Factor
ATX
Socket
LGA 1700
Chipset
Z690
DDR5?
No, DDR4
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Pros
- 14+2 power stages
- Thunderbolt 4
- 4x M.2/NVMe SSD
Cons
- DDR4
The ASUS TUF Gaming motherboard remains a fan favorite, offering incredible value for those on a budget with its almost unrivaled price-to-performance ratio.
The TUF Gaming Z690 offers a revised and enhanced power solution over the previous generation of boards. With 14+2 DrMOS power stages and Digi+ VRM offering incredible durability and performance.
Of course, the cooling is more than adequate, as the motherboard features a PCH fanless heatsink, a VRM heatsink, an M.2 heatsink, and hybrid fan headers along with Asus’ Fan Xpert 4.
Unfortunately, this happens to be a DDR4 model, one of the ways ASUS has managed to keep the cost down on this motherboard. So you can’t have DDR5 RAM but the motherboard does feature enhanced DDR4 capabilities, allowing up to 5333MHz DDR4.
ASUS ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming WiFi
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The best Mini-ITX 12th gen mothebroard
ASUS ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming WiFi
ASUS ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming WiFi
Form Factor
Mini-ITX
Socket
LGA 1700
Chipset
Z690
DDR5?
Yes
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Pros
- 10+1 power stages
- 2x Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C
Cons
- Less power and features than ATX models similarly priced
The ASUS ROG Strix Z690-I is definitely one of the best Mini-ITX motherboards out there for this chipset. It’s incredibly well designed, packed full of features, and reliable beyond most.
The Strix Z690 comes equipped with DDR5 RAM support and PCIe gen 5, but also comes featuring two fully-fledged Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports. We see another 10+1 power stage motherboard here, it could be better, but this is an ITX Motherboard.
With that in mind, it’s still an incredibly feature-rich motherboard. The thermal design has been revised with an integrated I/O cover and beefy VRM heatsinks that feature high-conductivity thermal pads.
This motherboard also supports HDMI 2.1, in addition to industry-leading audio. This small board really packs a punch.
ASUS Prime Z690-P
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The best Budget z690 motherboard
ASUS Prime Z690-P
ASUS Prime Z690-P
Form Factor
ATX
Socket
LGA 1700
Chipset
Z690
DDR5?
Yes
Shop on Amazon Check Price
Pros
- 10+1 power stages
- 2x Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C
Cons
- Less power and features than ATX models similarly priced
The budget pick of the list is the ASUS Prime Z690-P. It’s as low as we would recommend for a DDR5-compatible motherboard, being limited to supported speeds of 6000Mhz. However, the Z690-P is a much-updated version of one of the more reliable boards on the market.
Featuring DDR5, PCIe 5.0, and Thunderbolt 4 support, this motherboard won‘t be disappointing anyone anytime soon. These are the makings of a quality board that is still packed with some good features.
These include 14+1 power stages, Wifi 6, and 2.5Gb Ethernet. The ASUS Prime Z690-P brings performance and a feature-rich experience, without the hefty price tag of some of the other boards that we’ve listed.
Final word
Intel’s 12th generation Alder Lake CPU launch brings a plethora of new features and technology to get excited about, and with the launch of the 12th generation chips coinciding with the launch of DDR5 RAM we’re given the option to consider some serious upgrades.
That’s why we’re here, finding you the best Intel 12th-gen motherboard to build that next-gen experience.
Will the 12th-generation Intel Alder Lake chips finally push things back into Team Blue’s favor with its incredible performance? Only time will tell, your move AMD. We hope you enjoyed our best intel 12th-gen motherboard article.
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