We continue to acquaint you with new motherboards. And today, the Biostar Z690GTA motherboard came to our review, which is focused on fruitful cooperation with the latest generation Intel processors, or rather, on assembling a gaming PC with them. Because, you know, such a PC will definitely be a gaming one.
17-phase power supply, PCIe 5.0, overclocking tools, the ability to install DDR4 RAM if you’re saving, and that’s it.
Specifications
Chipset
Intel Z690
Memory
Dual Channel DDR4-1866/ 2133/ 2400/ 2666/2800/2933/3200/3600(OC)/3800(OC)/4000(OC)/ 4133(OC)/4300(OC)/5000+(OC)
storage
support 3 x M.2 socket and 8 x SATA III (6Gb/s) ports
LAN
Realtek RTL8125B
Audio codec
ALC1220, 7.1 Channels, High Definition Audio, Hi-Fi(Front)
Expansion slots
2 x PCIe 3.0 x1, 1 x PCIe 5.0 x16, 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot (x4 mode)
Dimensions
ATX form factor 30.5 cm x 24.4 cm
The motherboard is supplied in a thick cardboard box, made in the corporate style.
The delivery set, in addition to the device itself, includes four SATA cables, a software disk and a user manual.
We did not find confirmation of this anywhere, however, in terms of appearance, the Biostar Z690GTA is very much reminiscent of the good old film “Throne” – the same lines and geometric patterns, the same neon lighting … In general, if the designers were inspired by the immortal classics, then about this is not mentioned anywhere.
Too bad, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Moreover, it turned out very well – when turned on, the whole thing looks just gorgeous. At the same time, it was not without controlled backlight: one zone is located on a decorative casing in the upper left corner, the second is on a heatsink designed for the chipset. If this seems not enough, it is possible to connect additional ones – 5V and 12V.
By the way, the black color of the printed circuit board and heatsinks goes well with neon blue.
And you can and should control the backlight by means of VIVID LED DJ. The thing is extremely convenient and intuitive.
The power supply system we have here is 17-phase (24-pin ATX, 8-pin and 4-pin CPU) with a high-quality element base. There are two metal radiators, and one of them is additionally equipped with a fan. This system copes with heat removal more than efficiently, in any case, we did not observe any critical temperatures during the tests.
Dual-channel memory is supported, four DDR4 slots with an operating frequency above 5000 MHz are provided for it. The maximum amount of memory is up to 128 GB.
You can also find radiators (three pieces) near the M.2 connectors – 2 x PCIe 4.0, 1 x PCI 3.0. As many as eight SATA are available to organize the disk subsystem. PCIe in the amount of two pieces are reinforced to cope with even the largest video cards. Specifications – PCIe 5.0 x16, PCIe 4.0 x16 (there are also two PCIe x1).
USB 3.2 gen.2, USB 3.2 gen.1, 2 x USB 2.0, and Thunderbolt are available for connection on the front panel. In addition, there is an M.2 slot for a Wi-Fi 6e card, but the card itself, as we see from the package, is not. In any case, if such a need arises, it can be purchased separately.
To connect the LSS, the motherboard has five 4-pin connectors with speed control. The audio codec is good, with a dedicated audio path – ALC1220. Realtek RTL8125B is responsible for the network component, the maximum speed is up to 2500 Mb / s. Connection interfaces are available:
- display port
- HDMI
- DVI-D
- 2 x USB 2.0
- 5 x USB 3.2
- USB.C
- 3 x audio jacks
- RJ-45
The BIOS, in principle, offers a fairly standard set of settings. Here you can both view general information about the device, and delve into the chipset settings, launch options, advanced options, and also overclock. Moreover, which was especially pleasing, for the latter there are manual and automatic modes.
In addition, there is also a proprietary utility for Windows, through which you can simply get acquainted with the current technical data, configure the amplifier for acoustics, decide on one of the three (Normal, Eco, Sport) preset modes for the processor and memory, control the backlight (the aforementioned VIVID LED DJ)…
In general, it is also an extremely useful and convenient thing, you should not ignore it.
TEST STAND:
- Processor: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-12600K
- Motherboard: Biostar Z690GTA
- Video Card: GIGABYTE NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 8 GB GDDR6 (Micron)
- RAM Kingston KF3600C16D4/8GX DDR4-2400 (1200 MHz) 8192 MBytes
- SSD: Crucial P5 CT1000P5SSD8 1TB SSD
- LSS: ADATA XPG Levante 360
- Power supply: Thermaltake TR2 RX1000W Bronze
Traditionally, we summarize
Biostar Z690GTA is an excellent motherboard that has all the necessary modern solutions, a wide choice of connection interfaces, expansion cards, overclocking options (both automatic and manual). And at the same time, it leaves the user the opportunity to install DDR4 memory.
And, given the situation, we are sure that not everyone will immediately run to buy a newfangled DDR5. Actually, this is where the Biostar Z690GTA comes in handy – a modern solution for a reasonable price. In fact, this motherboard is very expensive.
