Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro motherboard review
Our Verdict
The Gigabyte Aorus Pro sits in a Z690 sweet spot that combines value for money and a core feature set into a well-rounded package.
For
- Four M.2 slots
- 13 rear USB ports
- Strong VRM
Against
- Lots of grey metal might not blend into your build
- WiFi 6 only
Why you can trust PC Gamer
Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
£279.98
View
No price information
Check Amazon
Intel’s 12th Gen CPUs are pretty darn fast, and now that the 65W CPUs have been released, there are some really affordable options. Sadly, Z690 motherboards have taken a big step up in price since last generation. Though there’s some value to be found, especially if you don’t care for expensive high-end exclusives such as Thunderbolt 4 or 10G LAN.
The Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro will set you back $330 (£290, $569 AUD) and in years past, that would have been high end pricing, but in today’s market that’s positively mid range. If you’re a gamer looking to build a 12th Gen rig, the Aorus Pro will tick most of the boxes. And rather than spending big on an unnecessarily high-end motherboard, you’ll be able to divert the savings over to that other price-inflated necessity, a GPU.
It’s worth noting that while we’re reviewing the Aorus Pro DDR5 model, there’s also a DDR4 version. Sadly, though it’s easily found in my native Australia, is not available in the US or the EU. That’s a real shame as the Aorus Pro DDR4 looks like it’s one of the better featured DDR4 boards, though I guess we can understand the desire to keep the DDR4 models more on the budget end of things.
The DDR5 version of the board features a highly contrasting design, with lots of grey heatsinks. Though a lot of the grey chipset and M.2 cooling will be hidden beneath a GPU, it might not be the easiest board to blend in with your build. There’s also minimal RGB lighting with just a tiny Aorus logo atop the rear I/O heatsink. That’s rare for a gaming motherboard in 2022. There are four RGB headers, though, with two of them being addressable, so you can still add plenty of flashy illumination if you really want.
Z690 Aorus Pro
Socket: Intel LGA 1700
CPU compatibility: Intel 12th Gen
Form factor: ATX
Memory support: Up to DDR5-6200(OC), Up to 128GB
Storage: 4x M.2; 6x SATA
USB: Up to 2x USB 3.2 Gen2x2, 4x USB 3.2 Gen 2, 6x USB 3.1 Gen 1, 8x USB 2.0
Display: 1x DP 1.4
Networking: Intel Wi-Fi 6; Intel i225V 2.
5G LAN
Audio: Realtek ALC4080 7.1 Channel HD Audio
Price: $330 | £290 | $569AU
The board itself comes with a single PCIe 5.0 x1x slot plus another two further PCIe 3.0 x16 physical slots that operate at x4 electrically. There are six SATA ports, seven fan headers, plus another for a water pump. A power button and debug LED are also welcome additions at this mid range Z690 price point.
One of the strengths of the Z690 chipset is its wider chipset-to-CPU DMI link, which runs at PCIe 4.0 x8. That’s double the bandwidth of the PCIe 3.0 x8 link of the last-gen Z590 chipset. This means the chipset is capable of running more devices simultaneously with fewer compromises. In addition to the primary CPU connected PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot, the Aorus Pro comes with a further three slots which all run at PCIe 4.0 x4, and all of which have heatsinks. If you use them all, however, you’ll need to have good airflow to prevent them absorbing heat from a GPU when you’re gaming.
The Aorus Pro comes with a strong VRM and it’s likely this was designed with AVX-512 loads in mind prior to its late official removal by Intel . The overpowered VRM systems are certainly part of the reason that Z690 boards are more expensive than their Z590 predecessors. The Aorus Pro’s 16+3 phase VRM with 90A stages would have been exclusive to high end boards just a couple of years ago. With 1440A on tap, even an LN2 overclock isn’t beyond the board. Air and water coolers will run into CPU cooling limits well before the board itself is stressed.
(Image credit: Gigabyte)
The heatsinks are effective, but we’re sorry to see Gigabyte didn’t include the finned heat sinks of the higher tier Aorus boards. When subjected to a VRM torture test the Aorus Pro returned a peak temperature of 57°C. That’s about the middle of the pack, but 8°C hotter than the excellent finned heat sink of the Aorus Master. As long as your airflow is adequate, the VRM of the Aorus Pro will easily handle an overclocked Core i9 12900K .
The rear I/O is very good, most especially the complement of 13 USB ports! Few modern boards come with more than that, especially at this price point. It’s made up of four USB 2.0 ports, four 3.2 Gen 1 ports, four 3.2 Gen 2 ports and a Type-C 3.2 Gen 2×2 port. There’s a single 2.5G Ethernet port, Wi-Fi antenna ports, and a DP 1.4 port for use with Intel’s Xe integrated graphics.
(Image credit: Gigabyte)
Perhaps the only omission is a full set of analogue audio ports connected to the Realtek silicon. There are line in and line out ports only but that’s really only nitpicking.
The Z690 Aorus Pro comes with pure Intel networking, consisting of a 2.5G Ethernet and Wi-Fi 6. We’re okay with that at this price, because 5G LAN and Wi-Fi 6E are among the things used to justify the sky-high pricing of Z690 boards costing a lot more.
System performance
Image 1 of 7
Gaming performance
Image 1 of 4
Z690 boards seem to perform within a margin of error of each other for the most part, with few outliers.
The Aorus Pro did well in multi-threaded tests, gaming tests, and storage tests. It seems that Intel’s long duration 241W PL2 limit is leading to a convergence of results. Previously, some makers played fast and loose with Intel’s power settings and tau, which doesn’t seem to be the case now that limit has been extended.
Using CPU overclocking as the measure of a board’s quality is all but useless when any mid-range to high end board will have a VRM thats not stressed before you reach CPU cooling limits. Memory overclocking is a different matter, however, as it relies a lot on BIOS optimization, especially in these early days of the DDR5 era.
Our G.Skill DDR5-6000 test kit is 100% stable at 6,400MHz on some boards, such as the Asus ROG Z690 Apex , but we couldn’t find stability at that speed with the Aorus Pro . The Aorus Pro’s early BIOS really struggled with our Samsung-based G.Skill kit, but after a couple of updates, it ran at its rated XMP speed.
We think 6,400 MHz could well be on the limit of our memory controller, at least without going too crazy on VDDQ voltage.
The takeaway is: don’t forget to update the BIOS of the Aorus Pro if you’ve got a fast DDR5 kit on hand.
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Gigabyte)(Image credit: Gigabyte)
Gigabyte’s Z690 Aorus Pro sits in a genuine Alder Lake sweet spot, where it offers good value for money and a nice, rounded feature set. Features such as Thunderbolt 4, a fifth M.2 slot, or 10G LAN would add considerable extra cost which is hard to justify. With plain Wi-Fi 6, 4x M.2 slots, a strong VRM, and loads of USB ports, most gamers will be happy. And at $330 you’ll have a few dollars that you can put towards the scarcer things, like DDR5 memory or a faster GPU.
With those kinds of key features, and an attractive price, the Aorus Pro is a good, solid mid-range board. It feels like it’s not quite at its best yet BIOS wise, but it’s come a long way from its pre-release state, and the same can be said of many boards. We’re still in the early days of the platform. Make sure you download the latest BIOS, though, once you do that the Aorus Pro is a board we’re happy to recommend for your 12th Gen build.
Read our review policy
Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro
The Gigabyte Aorus Pro sits in a Z690 sweet spot that combines value for money and a core feature set into a well-rounded package.
Chris’ gaming experiences go back to the mid-nineties when he conned his parents into buying an ‘educational PC’ that was conveniently overpowered to play Doom and Tie Fighter. He developed a love of extreme overclocking that destroyed his savings despite the cheaper hardware on offer via his job at a PC store. To afford more LN2 he began moonlighting as a reviewer for VR-Zone before jumping the fence to work for MSI Australia. Since then, he’s gone back to journalism, enthusiastically reviewing the latest and greatest components for PC & Tech Authority, PC Powerplay and currently Australian Personal Computer magazine and PC Gamer. Chris still puts far too many hours into Borderlands 3, always striving to become a more efficient killer.
MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 motherboard review
Our Verdict
A quality little B660 board, with a feature set that will deliver a great mainstream gaming experience.
The only slight note of caution is there are a few Z690s down at this price, and they will offer PCIe 5.0 and overclocking.
For
- Solid feature set
- Good power design for mainstream
- Can power stock i9 12900K
Against
- There are Z690s at this price
- B660 frame rate sacrifice in games
Why you can trust PC Gamer
Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
Intel’s B660 chipset represents the affordable end of the Alder Lake platform, offering a modest home for those mighty 12th Gen Core processors. A more modest one at least than you’ll find in the often inexplicably expensive Z690 motherboards. There is, though, a strange kind of crossover point at the bottom end of the Z690 where you will find affordable motherboards vying with the likes of this $180 MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 in pricing terms.
But, for the most part, the low priced Z690 boards offer less in terms of an overall feature set than a mid-priced B660 such as this wee MSI slab. But what are the actual differences between the Z690 and B660 chipset that we should care about?
The only thing you’re completely missing out on for sure is processor overclocking, everything else is essentially just the same, only less so. So you get a narrower 4 lane DMI interface and only 14 PCIe lanes from the chipset. There are also fewer PCIe port configurations compared with the Z690, and fewer USB ports accessible, too.
You do still get access to PCIe 4.0 support across the board, though, so modern SSDs will stay speedy on the mainstream chipset, and there is even the possibility for PCIe 5.0 support from an Alder Lake CPU… should the mobo maker choose to implement it.
MSI, however, has not opted to include such luxuries on its B660 boards. But that is what they are: luxuries. There won’t be a graphics card that really takes advantage of the bandwidth on offer with PCIe 5.
0 for a long while, especially not at anything like the mainstream level, and Gen5 SSDs are going to be very much high-end offerings when they arrive this year as well.
Everything that you would actually want from a solid, mainstream gaming PC is present and correct here. There’s a full, reinforced x16 PCIe 4.0 slot for the GPU, another full length slot running at x4, and then a final, short x1 PCIe 3.0 slot. Few of us overclock, so that’s not really a miss here, and few have more than one M.2 SSD either. The fact you get a pair of PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots for your drives (one from the chipset and one from your Alder Lake CPU) will be plenty for most users.
(Image credit: Future)
B660M Mortar specs
Socket: Intel LGA 1700
Form factor: Micro ATX
Memory support: 128GB | Up to DDR4-4800
Storage: 2x M.2; 6x SATA
USB: Up to 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C; 3x USB 3.2 Gen2; 2x USB 3.2 Gen1; up to 8x USB 2.
0
Video out: 1x HDMI 2.1; 1x DP 1.4
Networking: Intel Wi-Fi 6; Realtek 2.5G LAN
Audio: Realtek ALC1200 7.1 channel HD Audio
Price: $180 / £180
I say few of us overclock, but more might if MSI had chosen to fit out the B660M with the BCLK overclocking support Asus and ASRock have paired with some of their motherboards. Getting the Core i5 12400 stable at 5.2GHz all-core has been a techie highlight of my year so far. Sadly there is no support baked into the B660M Mortar, though it’s highly likely it’ll eventually get scrubbed from future BIOS releases for those other manufacturers’ boards, too.
As one of the more affordable routes into the Alder Lake platform it makes sense to go down the DDR4 route when it comes to picking a system memory setup. There is a DDR5 version of this exact motherboard, though it’s another £30 in the UK, and then you’ve got the added expense and scarcity of DDR5 modules to deal with.
That and the limited benefit of actually going for the new tech when it comes to PC gaming performance. I’ve not been able to find a listing for the DDR5 version in the US, so maybe MSI thought better of putting it out there.
It is, after all, rather unnecessary at this price point. We’re trying to build affordable gaming PCs, are we not?
Image 1 of 2
(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)
And MSI’s MAG B660M is a great base to build that from. Considering we seem to be getting ever fewer USB ports on a mobo’s rear panel, the Mortar’s got an effective USB game, with eight ports on the back panel (including one USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C), and a bunch of internal headers on the board itself. You also get 2.5Gbps networking, courtesy of Realtek, and WiFi 6 from Intel. Your top Z690 boards offer 10Gbps LAN and WiFi 6E, but for our purposes that is another one of those luxuries we can afford to ignore.
Gaming performance
Image 1 of 3
System performance
Image 1 of 4
Our test rig
CPU: Intel Core i9 12900K
Memory: Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3200
Storage: 2TB WD Black SN850
Cooler: Asus Ryujin II 360
PSU: NZXT 850W
Chassis: DImasTech Mini V2
OS: Windows 11
When it comes to performance, the switch from DDR4 to DDR5 doesn’t make a huge difference at all, and if we’re talking stock CPU performance the same can be said for the switch from Z690 to B660.
The 14-phase power design is configured so the Vcore itself gets 12 phases and, combined with the 60A stages, that means the MAG B660M is able to keep a stock-clocked Core i9 12900K running at the same level as it will on far higher-spec Z690 motherboards.
There is, however, a drop in gaming performance with the B660 boards we’ve tested so far, so the mainstream chipset isn’t going to be the perfect option for a gaming PC if you’re aiming to squeeze the most out of your components. But it has to be said the difference is still slight, and only really noticeable with a super high-end GPU and CPU combination, and even then only at 1080p.
(Image credit: Future)
When you’re more GPU bound—as you would be on a lower-spec build, such as pairing a Core i5 12400 with a GeForce RTX 3050 —the difference is going still going to be negligible. We just wouldn’t necessarily recommend saving a few pennies on a B660 motherboard if you’re dropping an RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT into it.
The MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 is a quality little micro-ATX motherboard, and it’s impressive that a sub-$200 board will still run the i9 12900K at its stock settings. Though we wouldn’t suggest that be your aim. This is, instead, an ideal board to build an affordable, small form factor gaming PC around, and our only real issue is that there are a few DDR4-based Z690s at this price level that might offer a little more for your money. Though they are few and far between, it has to be said. But otherwise, the MAG B660M has got the performance, the base feature set, and a pleasing two-tone aesthetic to boot.
MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 motherboard: Price Comparison
£169.99
View
£178.99
View
£179.
99
View
£219.98
View
No price information
Check Amazon
powered by
Read our review policy
MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 motherboard
A quality little B660 board, with a feature set that will deliver a great mainstream gaming experience. The only slight note of caution is there are a few Z690s down at this price, and they will offer PCIe 5.0 and overclocking.
Dave has been gaming since the days of Zaxxon and Lady Bug on the Colecovision, and code books for the Commodore Vic 20 (Death Race 2000!). He built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 16, and finally finished bug-fixing the Cyrix-based system around a year later.
When he dropped it out of the window. He first started writing for Official PlayStation Magazine and Xbox World many decades ago, then moved onto PC Format full-time, then PC Gamer, TechRadar, and T3 among others. Now he’s back, writing about the nightmarish graphics card market, CPUs with more cores than sense, gaming laptops hotter than the sun, and SSDs more capacious than a Cybertruck.
The Russians created a tiny motherboard for the Baikal-M processor
Technique
|
Share
3Logic Group released the Angara motherboard for Baikal-M processors under the Graviton brand. This is a compact board with dimensions of 170×170 mm for small desktop PCs — nettops.
Production will begin before the end of summer 2022.
Russian board for Russian processor
The Russian company 3Logic Group informed CNews about the announcement of a new Angara motherboard designed to install the domestic Baikal-M processor into it. This solution is for ultra-compact desktop computers, including nettops.
The Angara board belongs to the Thin Mini-ITX form factor, which should not be confused with the regular Mini-ITX. The board itself has the same dimensions (170×170 mm), but the height of the connectors is half that. In addition, the Thin Mini-ITX standard provides for the use of SODIMM memory sticks, as in laptops, instead of conventional DIMMs.
Solutions based on the new motherboard will be manufactured and supplied by the company under the Graviton brand. According to company representatives, the release of the board and devices based on it will take place before the end of summer 2022.
They did not name more exact dates, noting only that Angara will form the basis of a “wide product line”, and that “the first experimental parties.»
When asked by CNews about the country of production, Graviton representatives answered: “The products are included in the Unified Register of Russian Radio-Electronic Products of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, which means that production is carried out on the territory of Russia. The company has a number of established partners, and new sites are being developed.” The company also told CNews that the first batch of motherboards will consist of «several thousand» copies.
What the Russian novelty
is capable of
A new creation by 3Logic, probably named after a river in Eastern Siberia, has received two slots for DDR4 modules. The total supported capacity is 64 GB.
To install expansion cards in the Angara, the manufacturer provided an expansion slot — PCI-E Gen3 x4. Separately, there are two SATA III interfaces with a bandwidth of 6 Gb / s for connecting hard drives, SSDs and optical drives.
For more modern storage media, an M.2 slot is provided for solid state drives up to 2280 in size.
Quick replacement of the processor in the Angara is not implemented. Baikal-M is soldered on the system board textolite, so if it fails, the user will either have to go to a service center or get a new board of the same kind. Holes for the cooling system are available.
Self-replacement of the CPU is not provided here
The
side instrument panel will offer the user VGA and HDMI 2.0 connectors for connecting to a monitor or TV, gigabit Ethernet, separate headphone and microphone inputs, as well as two USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 Gen1 ports, all with additional ESD protection. Additionally, a COM port is provided for connecting specific or very ancient peripherals. There is also a power connector on the rear panel.
In addition, «Angara» is equipped with the control of opening the cover of the Intrusion case and control of the movement of the board in space, the opening and movement are tracked and logged in the absence of the main power supply of the board.
It is possible to use external iButton keys and smart cards.
Deficient processor
When asked by CNews about the first motherboard customers, Graviton representatives answered: “The company has been working with the import substitution market for a long time and has a number of signed contracts with major corporations and departments. Details of the deals were not disclosed.»
Alexander Gubinsky, Samaraavtozhgut: How we received a grant for the implementation of computer vision
IT industry support
The Baikal-M processor, developed by Baikal Electronics, is positioned precisely as a user solution, in addition to the server Baikal-S. The first batches of both processors arrived in Russia in October 2021
Almost a year later, Baikal processors may be in short supply. They cannot be produced in Russia due to the inability of domestic chipmakers to produce microcircuits using relatively modern technical processes.
They can only offer 65 nm at best, while Baikal-M requires 28 nm, and Baikal-S needs 16 nm.
There are relatively few interfaces on the board, but all the main ones are available
Until February 27, 2022, the Taiwanese company TSMC was engaged in the production of Baikal-M and Baikal-S. She supported anti-Russian sanctions and removed not only all the Baikals, but also the Elbrus from the assembly line. In June 2022, it became known that she refused to renew contracts with her Russian clients.
Thus, relatively few Angara motherboards can be produced, since other manufacturers also want to see Baikal-M in their devices. For example, at the beginning of June 2022, the Omsk company Promobit announced its readiness for mass production of its Bitblaze Titan laptop based on the same CPU.
Competing products
«Angara» is far from the first Russian motherboard designed specifically for the capabilities of Baikal-M. The first such board, as reported by CNews, appeared in July 2020 and was the result of the joint work of developers from the Edelweiss, Basalt SPO and Baikal Electronics companies.
The novelty has a wide range of modern features, including two slots for DDR4 RAM and support for M.2 SSDs.
The world’s first Russian board for Baikal-M
The motherboard, which received the model number TF307-MB-S-C, is made in the Mini-ITX form factor (not to be confused with Thin Mini-ITX), has two full-size DDR4 DIMM slots, a PCI-E 3.0 8x slot. It can connect two SATA devices and one SSD drive in M.2 format up to 2280 with an M key (M-Key), PCI-E 3.0 x4 interface and NVMe support. The list of board interfaces also includes four USB 2.0 ports, an SD card slot, two gigabit Ethernet (one optional), an input for connecting acoustics, two PS / 2 connectors for a mouse and keyboard, and two video outputs for connecting a monitor — HDMI and DisplayPort P2.0. The power connector is a standard 24-pin.
- How to start import substitution of SAP, Oracle and IBM?
Enthusiast made a new motherboard for ThinkPad X200s Some gadgets are lovingly kept and maintained in working order for many years after the manufacturer officially stopped their production and support.
This also applies to iconic IBM ThinkPad laptops.
These robust tools seem to defy the law of planned obsolescence. But they can’t do anything about Moore’s law. ThinkPad processors and other specs don’t match modern times, where a 140-character text message takes up over 100 megabytes of RAM.
ThinkPad laptops have a large and dedicated fan base. In terms of devotion to their favorite model, they will easily give odds to fans of Apple technology, whose MacBook Pro laptops have already become the de facto standard among participants in hacker contests and many developers. In a sense, we can say that the MacBook Pro laptops have replaced the ThinkPad, which almost since its first release in 1992 were the same de facto standard for professionals.
After the purchase of the IBM laptop division by the Chinese company Lenovo, ThinkPad models have changed: 4:3 displays have been replaced by 16:9, some keys have changed on the keyboard. Not everyone liked these changes.
But now classic laptops from IBM can get a second life, writes Hackaday.
An enthusiast from the 51nb.com forum has developed a long-awaited upgrade for his favorite laptops — new motherboards that match the form factor with the ThinkPad X200s case. On the forum, a user with the nickname HOPE describes the upgrade procedure in detail.
Motherboard installation
The pictures above show replacement motherboard for X200s, but in reality, HOPE designed motherboards for three models: motherboard for X62 based on X60/61, motherboard for X210 based on X200/201 and a motherboard for the T70 based on the T60.
Motherboards are compatible with the original frame and chassis of classic laptops, but support the latest generation of Intel Core processors, DDR4 memory, USB 3.0/3.1 interfaces, Thunderbolt 3 and more.
In many cases, old holes in the case made for the interfaces of the old motherboard fit the new connectors. In addition, original heatsinks and coolers can often be reused.
Considering that these computers were built a decade earlier than the hardware that was put into them, the level of integration is really impressive. As a result, the laptop looks like it really just came off the Lenovo assembly line.
This story shows how far love for old computers can go if you have a deep knowledge of the production of electronic components and contacts with manufacturers who can inexpensively produce a small batch of necessary components. In fact, HOPE did not just change the motherboard in their computer — which almost every user did on their own — but actually developed this board from scratch.
It is difficult to say how much this work cost. Even if we do not take into account engineering and design work, but even the manufacture of such boards should have cost a tangible amount, we are still talking about modern complex components: this is a processor with about 1100 pins, DDR4 and PCI-E are also with extremely stringent requirements to the power supply, plus a bunch of peripherals.
