Introduction
I’m particularly very biased towards the ProArt line from ASUS when it comes to motherboards. ASUS is obviously still learning how to best equip their ProArt motherboard. Born in the Z490 era, it was stuck with Intel until the birth of the B550-Creator. ASUS is hoping that changes with this generation. With Z690 motherboard bumping price tiering, ASUS has managed to utilize the offerings of the Z690 chipset along with the Alder Lake CPUs to push their ProArt board to stratosphere. With onboard 10GbE, four M.2 slots, eight SATA ports, built-in Thunderbolt 4, the ASUS ProArt Z690 is made for maximum IO in-mind for multimedia professionals who may need to work locally or via network, this ProArt is simply next level. Let’s check it out more in this review.
ProArt Z690-CREATOR WIFI | PHP 24,850 |
ASUS PROART Z690-CREATOR WIFI Specifications | |
---|---|
CPU Support | Intel 12th-generation Core CPU (LGA1700) |
Power Delivery Design | 16+1 |
Chipset | Intel Z690 |
Memory Support | 4 x DIMM, Max. 128GB, DDR5-6000 (OC) |
Expansion Slots | 2x PCIe 5.0 x16 or x8/x8 (CPU) 1x PCIe 3.0 x16 1x PCIe 3.0 x4 2x PCIe 3.0 x1 |
Storage Interface/s | 4x M.2 8x SATA |
Networking | Intel 2.5GbE Marvell 10GbE 2×2 WIFI-6E Bluetooth 5.2 |
Audio | Realtek S1220A |
Fan Headers | 7x 4-pin 1x pump header |
Dimensions | ATX 30.5cm x 24.4cm |
Rear I/O Ports | 2 x Thunderbolt™ 4 USB Type-C port(s) 6 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 port(s) (6 x Type-A) 2 x DisplayPort (Input only) 1 x HDMI port 1 x ASUS Wi-Fi Module 1 x Marvell AQtion 10Gb Ethernet port 1 x Intel 2.5Gb Ethernet port 5 x Audio jacks 1 x BIOS FlashBack™ button |
Features | ASUS 5X PROTECTION III
ASUS Thermal Solution
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
AURA Sync
|
Packaging and Box Contents
The ASUS PROART Z690-Creator WIFI’s retail package includes a user manual, an installation disc, the Q-connector for the front panel connectors, a pair of spare M.2 Q-latch screws, M.2 support pads and two pairs of SATA cables.
I will take this time an make a statement and I will do this for every review I make going forward for motherboards: THERE IS A VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF PEOPLE WHO STILL HAVE CD-ROM DRIVES. Please provide software and drivers via USB flash drive.
Design and Layout
ASUS has redesigned the look of the ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI from the ground-up. They do keep the straight lines but have taken some of the more premium design treatments that the ROG Strix and ROG motherboards have been enjoying and have integrated it here.
This is most notable in the I/O shroud with the translucent plastic shroud that overlaps the metal portion of the shroud gives a really subtle look to the board.
That plastic panel and metal I/O cover actual sits on top of the actual VRM heatsink. The ASUS ProArt Z690 Creator WIFI is a 16-phase power delivery design with 70amp smart power stages designed in teaming mode. Notice the coating on the lever on the CPU release mechanism: that’s a small touch to protect the upper VRM area from rubbing against the level. Very nice attention to details there.
Another slight upgrade in looks is this stacked acrylic on metal heatsink on the PCH. Nothing vital, I just want to praise the design choice here.
In actual use, the ASUS ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI has a rich array of connectivity options. For those on network systems, the board features 10GbE Marvell LAN as well as 2.5GbE Intel LAN. This is then further supported by WIFI-6E, covering 2.4, 5 and 6Ghz range. The most important IO option here though is for the local IO including Thunderbolt 4 with video output support. The ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI supports Thunderbolt 4 Type-C both of which can do video output from the the two DisplayPort passthrough feed on the upper side of the rear IO ports. Both Thunderbolt4 ports seems to be able to out to USB-C to DP simultaneously but we will confirm once we get the proper cables.
This board also supports eight (8) SATA ports, pictured are the six side-facing while the other pair is on the lower part of the board facing forward.. M.2_4 shares bandwidth with SATA ports 5~8 so you’ll only have 4x SATA ports if you do decide to use that port.
The ASUS ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI supports 4x M.2 slots, again 1 of which shares SATA bandwidth but can run in PCIe mode. ASUS actually does have M.2 PCIe cards that can house 2 PCIe M.2 device. Those do add to cost and 4x M.2 is already rich so wanting more is obviously a specialized build.
The ASUS ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI does not have RGB lighting but has RGB and ARGB headers onboard.
BIOS Walkthrough
ASUS’ UEFI BIOS for the ProArt line shares the same setup as the PRIME series. These boards features both Advanced and Easy mode UEFI interfaces for new and advanced users. Easy mode shows key features that show clear the toggles you can change to change various settings like XMP or Fan Control. Shifting to advance, the interface presents a larger menu drien system, something familiar to many ASUS users for many years now. This interface is the one they use in all their modern boards, with the looks and amount of features varying between motherboard line.
The ASUS ProArt line is a content-creator-first motherboard line and is aimed at multimedia professional users and as well as system builders that focus on these areas but relatively, the BIOS options are quite rich allowing fine control with a wide array of options for fine control. OC options are actually quite rich, with ASUS actually positioning the majority of the Z690 boards for enthusiasts this makes a lot of sense. For controlling further board options, advance menu options allow changing various features on the board as well.
We tested with BIOS 0236 for this review.
Test Setup and Methodology
All tests are performed in the latest version of Windows 11. For earlier reports of AMD suffering performance issues, please refer to this update published by AMD which notes that the issue has been resolved.
All systems tested use the same version of the application and no data from previous reviews are used for this test. All games are updated to their latest version and are set to details indicated in their charts. Back2Gaming prefers running games in max details with motion blur off.
Test System: Intel (10th/11th) | |
CPU | Intel Core i9-11900K, Intel Core i9-10900K |
Motherboard | ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XIII EXTREME |
RAM | G.Skill TridentZ Royal DDR4-4000 C17 16GBx2 |
GPU | ZOTAC RTX 3080 Ti AMP EXTREME |
Storage | KLEVV CRAS 920 2TB M.2 NVMe |
Cooling | NZXT Kraken X73 RGB |
Power Supply | FSP HydroG Pro 1000w |
Test System: Intel 12th | |
CPU | Intel Core i9-12900K |
Motherboard | ASUS ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI |
RAM | Kingston FURY Beast DDR5-5200 CL40 |
GPU | ZOTAC RTX 3080 Ti AMP EXTREME |
Storage | KLEVV CRAS 920 2TB M.2 NVMe |
Cooling | NZXT Kraken X73 RGB |
Power Supply | FSPÂ HydroG Pro 1000w |
Test System: AMD | |
CPU | AMD Ryzen 9 5950X, AMD Ryzen 7 5800X |
Motherboard | ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Formula |
RAM | G.Skill TridentZ Royal DDR4-4000 C17 16GBx2 |
GPU | ZOTAC RTX 3080 Ti AMP EXTREME |
Storage | KLEVV CRAS 920 2TB M.2 NVMe |
Cooling | NZXT Kraken X73 RGB |
Power Supply | FSP HydroG Pro 1000w |
Special thanks to ASUS, GIGABYTE, Kingston, FSP and ZOTAC for the hardware used in this test. Special thanks to Cybenetics Labs, NVIDIA, PassMark ,OCCT and CapFrameX for the testing equipment and software we use in this review.
All testing for motherboards are done with XMP enabled (DDR5-5200).
Storage and Network Interface Testing
We test the throughput of the primary I/O of our tested motherboard using various devices as follows:
- M.2 NVMe: KLEVV CRAS 920 2TB
- USB 3.2 Gen2: ROG STRIX Arion USB Enclosure + Kingston KC2000 1TB M.2 SSD
- SATA: SAMSUNG 870 QVO 1TB
- LAN: QNAP TS-932PX 10GbE NAS + WD Blue SSD 1TB x2 RAID0
All tests are done in Crystal DiskMark v8.
NOTE: These charts do not show data in decreasing/increasing values.
Performance Testing – Synthetic
SuperPI
wPrime
Cinebench R23
Blender Benchmark
AIDA64 Memory Benchmark
3DMark
Performance Testing – Gaming
All games tested with an RTX 3080 Ti.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO)
DOTA 2
Rainbow Six: Siege
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Power Draw & Temperature
For power draw testing, please refer to my CPU power draw testing for the Core i9-12900K. Due to the short time we’ve had for testing, I’ve yet to develop a formal testing for Alder Lake motherboard to isolate each power load properly. At the moment, we monitor all power lines individually for power testing but have not yet concluded a formal way to measure power testing that would vary enough to justify the board’s actual power draw. That said, this will be developed in a future review.
For temperature testing, we use a thermal logger that capture per second readings from our VRM. Our logger captures the temperature of the VRM arrays with the left array as VRM1 and upper array as VRM2. Our 15-minute split load puts continuous load on our CPU with 5-minute in-between.
User Experience & Conclusion
I’ll be putting my comments on overclocking in this section rather than its separate segment. Just like my other Z690 reviews, the struggle is primary on the CPU side wherein the Core i9-12900K is fairly difficult to tame when it comes to temperature despite a promising 5.4Ghz P-core OC and 4.3Ghz E-core OC. A more stable OC is achievable at around 5.2Ghz and 4.1Ghz P and E respectively with a considerable AVX offset. One point though, for professional usage scenarios and when I mean professionals, I mean deadline-oriented projects. If you plan to present to your client on Monday 9am, your project better be ready by Friday end of day. In cases like these, a crash during render is unacceptable. While ASUS does beef up the ProArt Z690-Creator with a heft VRM, I feel its quite unnecessary specially if they’re marketing to an audience that highly favors stability rather than small bursts of performance.
The upside of this is that with the inclusion of an over-built VRM, we also get a fairly overbuilt heatsink cooler. This is partner with a vast improvement in design language and while this is practically the only progression in the ProArt line that isn’t a copy of a Vivobook, its a very standout design piece and its quite sad sticking a Quadro on the ProArt feels like crapping on the design. That is of course if you’re partially building for looks. ASUS is particularly sure they want this is as a semi-pro motherboard with the board having all the bells and whistles of I/O but without built-in RGB lighting. Yes, we have Thunderbolt4, 10GbE, 4x M.2 slots, 8x SATA ports yet have no RGB lighting is actually an impressive feat as I find it quite difficult to believe some executive greenlit at $500 board and managed to suppress the urge of putting RGB lights on it. Again, like overclocking, you do have the option of using RGB, just not directly with the RGB headers.
The ASUS ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI is a breath of fresh air in the motherboard scene and while I’d hate to lift this board by putting another down, both MSI and GIGABYTE seems to be currently lost in what they deem to be a “creator” motherboard. GIGABYTE thinks a creator motherboard has to be a white motherboard with Thunderbolt 4 ports while MSI believes its a gaming motherboard with different name. Both of which are functional boards regardless but lost in the actual purpose. ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI stays true to its namesake by offering the support needed to create a content creation workstation: expansive options for storage as well expansion devices, it doesn’t get as simple as that. To be fair, the Z690 generation does tie it up for GIGABYTE and ASUS with MSI yet to release their own creator series for Z690. If you’re already at the point that you are sure you wanna jump to Alder Lake, if your decision lies between these 2 motherboards, my most simplest argument for getting an ASUS ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI would be its standard PCIe slot layout. If you do come down to using dual GPUs to do accelerated rendering but still need another slot for an another device, they ProArt would make it work as long as they’re 2 slot cards as the Vision Z690 will only support 2 with the 3rd slot being covered.
That last example may be very specific but trust me, more often than not, these content creation system will see more things plugged into them than a pin cushion and its actually weird to compromise on slot placement. I will say the same for ASUS for skimping on an x2 slot for say a capture card or audio device. But other than, as a straight-up graphics or video editing rig, everything’s pretty much nailed down here with a plus on ASUS for having 2 more extra SATA ports if one opts to go full SATA RAID for larger storage rather than faster ones on the M.2 which would make more sense.
If there’s anything I would nitpick here, it would be that this board doesn’t have onboard buttons. Which is a very. very small matter to complain about. Barring that, everything looks good and there’s really nothing I have to complain about. As someone who directly edits on a 10GbE NAS while also maintaining an internal RAID array, I do feel a certain appropriateness for my use-case with this motherboard and this ring true to my circle of friends whose workflow revolves around getting videos, doing the work, backing them up and putting them in cold storage while also maintaining a library of clips and assets which at 4K and 6K, tend to quickly grow exponentially. With 8K and 12K footages already getting their start, its going to be common eventually that professionals end up working with these files.
In closing, just like any niche product, the ASUS ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI is a solution aimed at a specific portion of the market and tries to answer what ASUS deems is the requirements of modern creators and I agree. The ASUS ProArt Z690-Creator WIFI is an excellent motherboard for a professional video and graphics workstation and built on Intel’s new 12th-gen CPU, would be an direction for anyone serious about their content creation DIY workstation.
ASUS backs the ProArt Z690-Creator with a 3-year warranty.
6 Comments
Great review, how would you compare this mobo to the Asus ROG Maximus Hero Z690? I am a professional editor in need of solid mobos with Thunderbolt 4 support. Looks like this board out benchmarks the Hero in some areas like memory as well as temps?
My rig: 3x PCIE4x4 M2 (may get another later), 2x of those M2 in RAID0, 3x SATA SSD, 2x of those SATA in RAID0, RTX 3080Ti, 64GB DDR5, i9-12900K
Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hJrgTJ
Would love any advise on which would be noticeably better, thanks!
I would get the Hero but it lacked 10GbE and with a slimmer IO range than the ProArt, I personally would go with the ProArt with a new 12900K 4K editing rig I’m building now. That’s a decked out storage rig you got, Thunderbolt would definitely be the wiser choice for local storage if you’re not going the NAS route.
You’d probably feel the Hero is IO limited if you’re just dedicating it for work. The Hero is nice and all but whatever it can do, the ROG Strix and Pro Art models can do as well. I’d say get the ProArt for more IO flexibility.
Perfect thanks for the reply! Yeah I agree the ProArt has an advantage in IO, albeit by just some USB3.2 ports, I think the Hero has the same # of TB4 ports, I just cant see anything in the Hero worth $120USD more, and the ProArt seems more ready for my workload. I needed TB4 mostly because my line of work, I get Thunderbolt-only compatible production drives sent to me often, less so with my own storage solutions. I agree about the 10GbE, I plan to retrofit my old rigs into a fiber homelab server with 10GbE in the future, so it’s nice that it’s baked in.
And I actually like the black/gold simple design elements of the ProArt more than the RGB of the Hero – I’m using Lian Li PSU/GPU RGB cables, but I’m gonna tune them to solid gold color now with this mobo.
Thanks, going to order the ProArt today! Def going to follow B2G a lot more now too, great work!
The Hero is built on “ROG”-tier components which from what I can see on the actual board, is just pure marketing. Many of the 300$ Z690 boards today can pass as the $500 boards of 2020, nothing’s really gonna suck so its best to just sort thru the features to find the right board. Thanks for the kind words, really enjoy helping people make purchasing decisions 🙂
How would this Motherboard do for gaming?
Pretty decent actually. The components used aren’t as technically robust but we’re talking very negligible if not trivial aside from making you feel good. Its a solid board overall, I personally will get it once local stocks arrive.