Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master DDR5 Motherboard

The Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master D5 Motherboard supports Intel LGA 1700 for 12th Gen Core, Pentium Gold and Celeron processors, features up to 4 x DDR5 memory slots, PCI-E 5.0 expansion slot, 5 x M.2 slots, 6 x SATA ports (6GB/s), 11 x rear USB ports (1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C, 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 5 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C), 5 x front panel header USB ports (1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2v2, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 that supports an additional 4 x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 2 x USB 2.0 that support an additional 4 x USB 2.0), Marvell AQC-113C 10GbE LAN, Intel Wi-Fi AX210, Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio codec and an E-ATX motherboard form factor.

Warning: This product contains a button battery - If swallowed, a lithium battery can cause severe or fatal injuries with 2 hours. - Keep batteries out of reach of children. - If you think batteries may have been swallowed or placed inside any of the body, seek immediate medical attention.

Features

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Features of the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Master D5 Motherboard at a glance:

Rule supreme with the Z690 AORUS gaming motherboards. The new king of gaming platform continues the legendary AORUS bloodline with the most robust power delivery and dominant thermal design, glorified with the complete memory overclocking technology to crown your PC with the best Alder Lake’s performance in all its gaming glory.

Intel® Z690 AORUS Motherboard with Direct 19+1+2 Phases Digital VRM Design, DDR5 XTREME MEMORY Design, Fins-Array III Heatsink, Direct-Touch Heatpipe II, NanoCarbon Baseplate, M.2 Thermal Guard III, 125dB ESS Sabre Audio, Intel® Wi-Fi 6E 802.11ax, AQUANTIA® 10GbE LAN

• Support 12th Gen Intel® Series Processors
• Dual Channel Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR5, 4 DIMMs
• Direct 19+1+2 Phases VRM Design with 105A Power Stage* and Tantalum Polymer Capacitor
• DDR5 XTREME MEMORY Design with SMD DIMM and Shielded Memory Routing
• Advanced Thermal Solution with NanoCarbon Fins-Array III Heatsink,
• Direct-Touch Heatpipe II and NanoCarbon Baseplate
• Intel® Wi-Fi 6E 802.11ax 2T2R & BT5 with AORUS Antenna
• Audio Solution with ESS Sabre ES9118 125dB on Rear Audio
• AQUANTIA® 10GbE BASE-T LAN
• 5 x Ultra-Fast NVMe PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2 with Thermal Guards
• RGB FUSION 2.0 with Multi-Zone Addressable LED Light Show Design,
• Support Addressable LED & RGB LED Strips
• Smart Fan 6 Features Multiple Temperature Sensors , Hybrid Fan Headers with FAN STOP and Noise Detection
• Q-Flash Plus Update BIOS without Installing the CPU, Memory and Graphics Card

* Power Stage maximum current capacity is based on VCORE Phase.

Unparalleled Performance

With technology moving so fast, GIGABYTE still keep up with the latest trends and provide our customers with advanced features and latest technology. GIGABYTE Z690 Series motherboards come with upgraded power solution, latest storage standards and outstanding connectivity to enable optimize performance for gaming.

Direct Digital VRM Design

To ensure maximum Turbo Boost and overclocking performance of Intel's new generation CPU, GIGABYTE Z690 series equip the best VRM design ever built with the highest quality components.

• 19 VCore Phases - 105A Power stage - To unleash full potential of multi-cores CPU performance
• 1 VCCGT Phase - 60A Power stage - For CPU integrated GPU performance
• 2 VCCAUX Phases - 70A DrMOS - Provide stable power for CPU integrated PCIe & Memory controller

The more advanced manufacturing process and the higher core count on the new generation of CPUs, requires motherboards to utilize a more sophisticated VRM design to make CPUs run at their full potential. GIGABYTE uses fully DIRECT VRM DESIGN, high quality MOSFETs and tantalum polymer capacitors to achieve higher efficiency, lower voltage ripple and lower temperature than traditional parallel VRM design.

Tantalum Polymer Capacitor

• Lower impedance than regular capacitor to reduce voltage ripple
• Stable capacitance under high temperature
• Mounted right under the CPU area to stabilize CPU voltage during heavy loading

With DIRECT VRM DESIGN and TANTALUM POLYMER CAPACITOR, Z690 motherboards transient response, voltage ripple and stability is highly improved under overclocking and heavy loading condition.

PCIe 5.0 Design

GIGABYTE get Z690 Motherboards ready to work with the upcoming PCIe 5.0 device which is expected to experience Twice bandwidth. To reach the high speed and maintain good signal integrity, Gigabyte R&D selects the low impedance PCB to make it work.

• PCIe 5.0 x16 SMD Slot
• 8-Layer Low Signal Loss PCB

Ultra Durable™ SMD PCIe 5.0 Armor

GIGABYTE' exclusive stainless steel shielding design.

• Double Locking Bracket
• Signal Degradation
• SMD Iron Claw
• Tensile Strength

Hybrid Cores Optimization

With new Intel Hybrid technology, GIGABYTE exclusively creates two new "CPU Upgrade" in BIOS profiles to meet different users’ scenarios by adjusting P-Core and E-Core activation and voltage policy.

Gaming

• Deactivate all E-Core
• Zero compromise on gaming performance
• Up to 20% lower CPU package power
• Up to 5°C lower CPU temperature

Max Performance

• Activate all P-Core and E-Core
• Maximize full multi-cores performance

Xtreme Memory

GIGABYTE Z690 Motherboards feature the latest DDR5 architecture and XMP 3.0 capability. The new DDR5 memory technology brings 50% more bandwidth to the platform and increases the system performance drastically by implementing Unlocked Native DDR5 Voltage, Xtreme Memory Routing and reliable SMD slot. In addition to the hardware upgrades, the user friendly UI provides full functionality to overclock higher with exclusive DDR5 tuning capability.

XMP 6400+

Support for DDR5 XMP Up To 6400MHz and Beyond*

AORUS is offering a tested and proven platform that ensures proper compatibility with profiles up to 6400MHz and beyond. All users need to do to attain this performance boost is to ensure that their memory module is XMP capable and that the XMP function is activated and enabled on their AORUS motherboard.

Unlock DDR5 Voltage

DDR4

DDR4 voltage is managed by MB with wide range.

Native DDR5

Secure Mode- MB provides fixed 5V to Native DDR5 memory and built-in PMIC outputs locked 1.1v to memory IC.

• GIGABYTE exclusive circuit design unlocks Native DDR5 voltage control
• Transforms Native DDR5 memory module to Overclocked DDR5 memory
• Increases DDR5 memory overclocking performance and capability
• Supports all PMIC vendors for maximum compatibility

* Memory overclocking capability will vary based on users' hardware configuration.

Gigabyte Exclusive DDR5 Circuit Design

Programmable Mode - GIGABYTE’s exclusive design unlocks Native DDR5 PMIC secure mode into programmable mode and control Native DDR5 voltage with wide range.

• Unlocked Native DDR5
• 100% Compatible
• Lower CAS Latency
• Higher Frequency

Shielded Memory Routing

All memory routing is under the PCB inner layer shielded by a large ground layer to protect from external interference.

SMD DIMM

Ultra Durable™ SMD DDR5 Memory Armor

GIGABYTE's exclusive stainless steel shielding design.

• SMD High Frequency
• SMD Iron Claw
• Anti-Plate Bending 130%
• Support Plug / Unplug 5000+ times

XMP3.0

DDR5 Auto Booster

Automatically Boost the Native DDR5 frequency to 5000MHz while the system is under heavy loading by a single click.

DDR5 Memory Upgrade

GIGABYTE BIOS offers pre-defined and retrievable profiles for users to get higher performance easily. The profiles are based on a database that is created by checking each memory IC and PMIC vendors to optimize the modules to unleash their full potential. This is a time saving feature to manually configure overclocked DDR5 memory kits.

• Instantly upgrade memory performance
• Overclock Native and XMP 3.0 DDR5 memory to higher frequency easily
• No need to input dozens of memory parameters such as clock, voltage and timings
• Built-in wide variety pre-tuned profiles database for different memory IC vendors

*DDR5 MEMORY UPGRADE involves DDR5 memory overclocking, overclocking capability depends on users’ hardware configuration.

XMP 3.0 User Profile

Define and create your own SPD profile into Native and XMP 3.0 memory modules or apply the pre-tuned profiles to XMP 3.0 User Profile. Two user-defined profiles can be saved, loaded either locally or from/to an external storage device.

• Two empty SPD profiles can be defined by users and carry to next computer
• Transfer DDR5 XMP Booster profiles into XMP 3.0 User Profiles
• Quick memory performance simulation based on user input clock and timing parameters
• Profile save and load function to share your memory parameters online
• SPD Re-defined or retrieve from database
• Performance Simulation
• Save/Load Profile
• Overclocked Performance
• Profile Clearance

Thermal Reactive Armor

GIGABYTE Z690 Series Motherboards' Un-throttled performance is guaranteed by innovative and optimized thermal design to ensure the best CPU, Chipset, SSD stability and low temperatures under full load application and gaming.

Thermal Design

• Direct-Touch Heatpipe II - With an extra large 8mm heatpipe and made from a new manufacturing process that narrows the gap between the heatpipe and heatsink, the new Direct-Touch Heatpipe II greatly help transfers heat on the MOSFET
• 2X Copper PCB - 2X COPPER PCBs design effectively lower the component temperature by its high thermal conductivity and low impedance.
• M.2 Thermal Guard III - M.2 Thermal Guard III constructed with 2.6X optimized heat dissipation surface and double-sided M.2 heatsinks to prevent throttling and bottlenecks on high-speed/ large capacity of PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs
• Fins-Array III with NanoCarbon Coating - Fins-Array III upgraded thermal performance by using new extended Irregular fins and louvered stacked-fins design which not only increases surface area by incredible 900% compared to traditional heatsinks but also improves thermal efficiency with better airflow and heat exchange
• 9 W/mK Thermal Pad - By using 1.5mm thicker 9 W/mK thermal conductivity pads, it can transfer 5x more heat compared to traditional thermal pads at the same time
• Enlarged Thermal Guard - Enlarged double-sided M.2 heatsink prevents high-speed, large capacity PCIe 4.0/3.0 SSDs with double side flash from throttling due to overheating

Direct-Touch Heatpipe II

With an extra large 8mm heatpipe and made by a new manufacturing process which has narrow down the gap between the heatpipe and heatsink. The new Direct-Touch Heatpipe II greatly helps to dissipate the heat on MOSFETs.

M.2 Thermal Guard III

GIGABYTE Thermal Guard III ensures PCIe 4.0 SSD running at 7GB/s With No Throttling.

Thermal Guard III

Continuing the advantages of M.2 Thermal Guard II design which using the double-sided thermal pads to elevate the height of M.2 heatsink as increasing surface area to dissipate heats on M.2 SSDs. M.2 Thermal Guard III constructed with 2.6X optimized heat dissipation surface to prevent throttling and bottleneck that high-speed/ large capacity of PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSDs may cause, especially under heavy workload.

• Captive Screw - To prevent missing the M.2 heatsink screw.
• 8X Optimized heat dissipation surface area compared to traditional heatsink.
• Heatsink + Thermal Pad (Top)
• M.2 SSD
• Heatsink + Thermal Pad (Bottom)

NanoCarbon Baseplate

• Base plate made of aluminium instead of traditional iron ensures 3X thermal conductivity.
• A thin layer of NanoCarbon is coated on the base plate through electrostatic adhesion to enhance thermal radiation capability.
• Transfer heat from the back side PCB to the base plate so the NanoCarbon base plate can dissipate heat passively.
• Effectively lowers backside PWM component temperature by 10%.

NanoCarbon Coating

This specialized nanostructure of carbon molecules has extraordinary thermal conductivity.

Fins-Array III

GIGABYTE new generation Fins-Array III delivers the ultimate thermal performance by using Extended Irregular fins to fill all available space and vastly increases surface area. A piece of Fins-Array III heatsink surface area is larger than 2 full size ATX motherboard PCB, therefore it tremendously boost thermal efficiency and heat exchange performance.

Advanced Internal Fins Construction

• 700% bigger surface
• Extended Irregular design used all available space to dissipate heat

Gigabyte Advanced Thermal Solution

• Traditional heatsink
• Fins-Array - Single Fin surface area: 520mm² Increases total heatsink surface area by 300%
• Fins-Array II - Single Fin surface area: 898mm² Louvred fins design to improve airflow and heat
• Fins-Array III - Single Fin surface area: 1678mm² Extended Irregular fins design to increase more surface area +900% total heatsink surface area

NanoCarbon Coated Fin Array Heatsink

As CPUs get more powerful, VRM modules get hotter under ultra high performance. Being the first adopters among industry using NanoCarbon as coating material to enhance thermal radiation speed up heat dissipation. Nanocarbon is coated onto the heatsink through electrostatic adhesion. The coating material covers the entire finned heatsink with 200μm in thickness. In that way, heat is dissipated more quickly. The tests show 10% cooler with the NanoCarbon coating.

2X Copper PCB

By adopting 2X copper on PCB inner layer, it lowers the components' temperature at least 3% by turning the PCB into a super thin PCB size copper heatsink to dissipate the heat from the components effectively, due to it’s high thermal conductivity and lower impedance.

Smart Fan 6

Smart Fan 6 contains several unique cooling features that ensure gaming PC maintain its performance while staying cool and quiet. Multiple fan headers can support PWM/DC fan and pump, and users can easily define each fan curve based on different temperature sensors across the board via intuitive user interface.

Headers & Sensors

• 10 PWM/DC Fan Headers
• 7 Internal Temperature Sensors
• 2 External Temperature Sensor Cables
• 1 Noise Detection Cable

Cooling Features

• High Current Support - Each fan headers support PWM and DC fan and Water cooling Pump, and up to 24W (12V x 2A) with Over-Current Protection
• Precision Control - 7 temperature/fan speed control points for precise fan curve
• Dual Curve Mode - Slope/Stair dual mode for different user scenario
• Fan Stop - Fan can stop completely below users' specified temperature point

Smart Fan 6 BIOS UI

• Improve Fan Curve UI - We increase control points from 5 to 7 and larger fan speed graph for precise and easier fan curve control.
• Slope/Stair Dual Graph Mode - Fan curve can be quickly switch with Slope and Stair modes for different user scenario. Slope is traditional and intuitive linear fan speed curve. With newly added Stair non-linear mode, fan keeps at same speed between specified temperature interval.
• Manual Input - For advanced users, we provide fan speed manual input for more precise control.
• EZ Tuning - Use can place 4 EZ Tuning points at rough temperature/fan speed, and Smart Fan 6 can quickly generate a fan curve.
• Fan Curve Profile - Fan curve profile can be saved in BIOS ROM, profile will be kept after updating BIOS.

Fan Stop

Achieve fan silence. With Fan Stop, map any fan to stop completely when temperatures drop below a specified threshold. Which fan stops, based on readings from which sensor, and at what temperature—all of it can be customized to your liking.

Noise Detection

With the new Noise Detection function, you can monitor noise level of all devices including fans, CPU coolers, graphics card, etc. in real time, and you can determine how fast your fan speed needs to be. Our bundled Noise Detection cable doesn’t include any sound recording function, it simply detects sound pressure while protecting your privacy.

Connectivity

GIGABYTE Z690 Series Motherboards let you experience ultimate connection flexibility and blazing data-transfer speed with next generation network, storage, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

10 GbE LAN

AQUANTIA® 10GbE BASE-T Networking - Next Generation Multi-Gig Gaming

The AQUANTIA® AQC113C is a high-performance, backward compatible with 10GBASE-T/ 5GBASE-T/ 2.5GBASE-T/ 1000BASE-T/ 100BASE-TX Ethernet Controller which is able to provide up to 10 GbE network connectivity, with 10 times faster transfer speeds compared to general 1GbE networking and is perfectly designed for media centres, workstations and gamers.

Multi-Gigabit Support

• Ultimate online gaming experience with faster connection speed
• Backward compatible with 5/2.5/1Gbps network
• No re-wiring needed

Intel 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6E

Intel latest Wireless solution 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6E with new dedicated 6GHz band, enables gigabit wireless performance, provides smooth video streaming, better gaming experience, few dropped connections and speeds up to 2.4Gbps*. Moreover, Bluetooth 5 provides 4X range over BT 4.2 and with faster transmission.

Benefit of Wi-Fi 6E

• Dedicated spectrum in 6GHz band for less interference
• 5.5X throughput than 802.11ac 1x1*
• 4X better network capacity, no traffic jams especially in those dense area with lots of devices
• Network efficiency increase for better user experience

Wi-Fi 6E Advantage

Spectrum congestion is huge problem in current Wi-Fi environment nowadays because too many devices all use existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum, and it cause unreliable connection and slower speed. Wi-Fi 6E is extended standard to Wi-Fi 6, and it use dedicated 6GHz band that it provides not only brand new frequency to transfer data, but also spacious spectrum for future more devices. With Wi-Fi 6E, users can enjoy faster connection and stronger signal than before.

Essential Audio

ESS SABRE Reference DAC ES9118

• ESS SABRE reference DAC (ESS 9118)
• Hyperstream Dynamic Range (SNR 125dB)
• High-Res music (32bit, 192KHz PCM)
• Super low THD+N (THD+N -112db)

True High-Fidelity Music (Realtek ALC1220)

Paired with Realtek's latest ALC1220 Codec, playback for surround sound audio and DSD enabled music are easier than ever.

Audiophile Grade Capacitors (WIMA , Nichicon Fine Gold)

To ensure a studio-quality experience, WIMA and Nichicon Fine Gold capacitors are used to provide power to the overall system.

Precision Audio Stream (TXC OSCILLATOR)

Provides precise time triggers to Digital-Analog Converters. High resistance to corrosion and oxidation.

Hi-Res Audio

Hi-Res Audio certified, meaning that the product is capable of reproducing frequencies up to 40kHz or above which ensures user with the best audio quality at all times.

DTS: X® Ultra

Recreates an authentic, spatially accurate 3D audio experience for gaming over any headphones or speakers. Supports channel-based, scene based and object-based audio. Provides out-of-the-box calibration for a range of headphones and speakers. Provides post-processing enhancements and device level tuning for DTS® codecs.

DTS Sound Unbound* leverage Microsoft Spatial, enabling the most believable, 3D audio experience for games. Immersion through DTS Headphone:X means in the sonic landscape, stationary and moving sounds can be heard from above, below or around the listener. Sounds pass around the listener with amazing externalization and accurate localization.

*DTS Sound Unbound needs the latest Windows fixes in the Windows 10, please upgrade your Windows 10 OS to Win10 Build 18898 or later versions.

Personalization

GIGABYTE motherboards bundle several useful and intuitive software to help users to control every aspect of motherboard and provide customizable lighting effect with outstanding aesthetics to fit your unique personality.

RGB Fusion

Multi-Zone Light Show Design

Now offering more LED customizations than ever, users can truly adapt their PC to represent their lifestyle. With full RGB support and a redesigned RGB Fusion 2.0 application, the user has complete control over the LEDs which surround the motherboard. Note: Lighting effects depicted are for demonstration purposes only. Actual lighting effects may vary by model.

• Wave
• Cycle Colour
• Static
• Pulse
• Flash
• Double Flash
• Music
• Random
• Game
• Digital A
• Digital B
• Digital C

UEFI BIOS

• New User Interface - All new EASY MODE shows important hardware information in one page including CPU clock, Memory, Storage, Fan.
• My Favourites - Add constantly used items into the favourite menu for quick access.
• Storage Information - Show all kinds of storage information including SATA, PCIE and M.2 interface.
• Changelog - List all changes before saving and exiting bios. Quickly review overall settings modification.
• Intuitive Load Line Curve - Clearly show each load line calibration setting in an intuitive curve graph.

Easy Tune

GIGABYTE's EasyTune™ is a simple and easy-to-use interface that allows users to fine-tune their system settings or adjust system and memory clocks and voltages in a Windows environment. With Smart Quick Boost, one click is all it takes to automatically overclock your system, giving an added performance boost when you need it the most.

MultiKey

• A multi-function reset button that can be reconfigured to other function in BIOS for different user scenarios
• RGB Switch - Turn off all lighting effect on motherboard.
• Direct-To-BIOS - Boot into BIOS menu directly without pressing any keyboard button
• Safe Mode - Boot into BIOS safe mode to change specific option without losing other BIOS settings

Ultra Durable

GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ features its product durability and high-quality manufacturing process. GIGABYTE motherboards use the best components and reinforce every slots to make each of them solid and durable.

Q-Flash Plus - Update the BIOS Easily without Installing the CPU, Memory and Graphics Card

With GIGABYTE Q-Flash Plus, you don’t need to install the CPU, memory and graphics card nor enter the BIOS menu to flash the BIOS. Just download and save a new BIOS file (rename to gigabyte.bin) on the USB flash drive, then press the dedicated Q-Flash Plus button and you’re good to go!

Solid Pin

Solid Pin Power Connectors

AORUS motherboards feature solid plated ATX 24pin & ATX 12V 8pin + 8pin power connectors to offer a stable power supply during CPU overloading.

Solid Pin Power Connector Advantages

• Larger contact area for electricity
• More metal quantity to sustain higher power and generated heat
• Ultra durable and longer lifespan