Simple 3-minute 5866Mhz CL21 DDR4 Overclock! :)

[Braegnok]

Vary nice, I think the Z690 Formula is white this time.

It's been a good week,.. I pulled the trigger on Z690 Apex, and than won the egg shuffle for i9-12900K ,.. and have two DDR5 memory kits on the way.




I even ordered a new block for this build.

[iBruceypoo]

OH MY GAWD!

King Braegnok (most recently crowned) of ROGSLand went full madness and next gen.

This man has money to spend wisely!

Z690 Apex is (functionally) the best Z690 board. imho.

Congratulations to Sir Braegnok. Tell us more about the Z690 Apex!

[Braegnok]

Whoops double post.

[Braegnok]

There were several reasons performance wise for me to go ahead with this Z690 build,.. but another reason was the sweet black button on the edge for top PCIe x16 slot,

.. and the way Asus may have thought out the top x16 slot clearance for cards with active backplate,.. vary simple, just remove the top M.2 heatsink above top x16 slot. I am not 100% sure Asus planed for this clearance, but I will confirm later if my chunky boy 3090 Fe with active backplate now fits nicely in top x16 slot,.. and to remove card just push the black button.

It was almost imposable to remove my card from a standard x16 slot due to width of card covering both sides of slot,.. and card needs clearance above top slot so generally I could only mount card with a riser cable. So I'm vary happy with the new Z690 Apex board's layout,.. truly well done.

Chunky Boy,..



The card is vary heavy with both front & back blocks, the included GPU Support Bracket in motherboard bundle will prevent any issues with sagging, or stress on slot.

[Silent Scone@ROG]

Joining the party with my personal rig. Only have Micron 4800C38 at the moment (5200 C32)

3x 54c 5x 53c 1x 52c 1.37v 12900KF - Apex

Not the best silicon, but as always it is what it is.

[Braegnok]

Silent Scone@ROG, Great looking rig!

Can you confirm something for me, please correct me if I'm wrong.

The Z690 Apex supports 5 x M.2 slots, the M.2_1 slot with 12th gen processor supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode & PCIe 5.0 x4 mode. And if M.2_1 slot is used the top PCIe 5.0 x16 slot will run at x8.

Also please confirm, M.2_2 slot supports PCIe 4.0 x4 & SATA modes. I plan on installing my OS drive in M.2_2 slot with PCIe x4 drive,.. so my top 5.0 x16 slot will run at x16.

Thanks in advance for clarifying.

I plan on not using M.2_1 slot, pulling heatsink to provide clearance above top 5.0 x16 slot for GPU with active backplate.

The active backplate requires 16.8mm clearance from the PCB across the whole GPU.



I will confirm clearance when I get home from work today, we got 4" of fresh snow last night and it's 9 degrees,.. tis the season for running benchmarks.

Edit: Clearance confirmed.

This is so wonderful, my RTX 3090 FE with active backplate will clear DIMM slots, Black button.

The FE card with active backplate is only 212.5 mm long, so it fits nicely with plenty of clearance lengthwise not to have issues with Black Button on edge of motherboard, and will not have any issues with DIMM slot latches,.. it's almost like this motherboard was made for my card.

[iBruceypoo]

Joining the party with my personal rig. Only have Micron 4800C38 at the moment (5200 C32)

3x 54c 5x 53c 1x 52c 1.37v 12900KF - Apex

Not the best silicon, but as always it is what it is.

Sweeeeet rig! The more the merrier!

My rig is a bit unconventional, and may not look like it but there's actually a strong concept in place - efficiency and inaudibility!

That's why I moved 1st to isolated water loops with low fan rpms, and then to test benches and a return to Good Air! Because even when you isolate your D5 completely with Sorbothane Hemispheres, and attach your fans to radiators with Sorbothane and Velcro (no screws at all) you can eliminate all rotational noise energy and the low frequency motor hum, but you still have the sound of air moving through the Hardware Labs low FPI rads from the (6) fans.

Moving to an open test bench was able to eliminate all fans moving air into-out of a closed case, eliminating radiators even fewer fans, and fanless Seasonic Titanium PSU - dropped the number of fans all the way down to:

1) Workstation graphics card fan - rpms reduced to the inaudible range using Afterburner software
2) CPU cooler fan - rpms reduced to the inaudible range using an Aquaero 6 LT

I like Library Quiet when I work, so yea - I'm weird. lolol



@Braegnok: ROG brother you're tempting me to spend $2000 on a new Z690 Apex 12900K or 12600K high-bin and DDR5.

AAAAAAHHHHH!

[iBruceypoo]

King Braegnok, is the DIMM.2 that arrived with your Z690 Apex the same as last gen, or did ROG add the very cool toolless Q-latch feature?



Also, at $720USD really think ROG should include a quality 90deg 24-pin adapter in the box (pic below), it cleans up the build so nicely. Yea I know the hardcore LN2 guys they may not use it, but for the rest of us. lol

And Braegnok, I would never purchase the Formula board, it's not for me, I simply don't understand the concept - except maybe pure aesthetics. Back in 2012 when I grabbed my very 1st ROG board the wonderful Maximus V Extreme, I didn't understand the Formula back then either.

[iBruceypoo]

Some of us like to watch football on Thanksgiving and some of us like to solder. What's wrong with that?

[Silent Scone@ROG]

Silent Scone@ROG, Great looking rig!

Can you confirm something for me, please correct me if I'm wrong.

The Z690 Apex supports 5 x M.2 slots, the M.2_1 slot with 12th gen processor supports PCIe 4.0 x4 mode & PCIe 5.0 x4 mode. And if M.2_1 slot is used the top PCIe 5.0 x16 slot will run at x8.

Also please confirm, M.2_2 slot supports PCIe 4.0 x4 & SATA modes. I plan on installing my OS drive in M.2_2 slot with PCIe x4 drive,.. so my top 5.0 x16 slot will run at x16.

Thanks in advance for clarifying.

I plan on not using M.2_1 slot, pulling heatsink to provide clearance above top 5.0 x16 slot for GPU with active backplate.

The active backplate requires 16.8mm clearance from the PCB across the whole GPU.



I will confirm clearance when I get home from work today, we got 4" of fresh snow last night and it's 9 degrees,.. tis the season for running benchmarks.

Edit: Clearance confirmed.

This is so wonderful, my RTX 3090 FE with active backplate will clear DIMM slots, Black button.

The FE card with active backplate is only 212.5 mm long, so it fits nicely with plenty of clearance lengthwise not to have issues with Black Button on edge of motherboard, and will not have any issues with DIMM slot latches,.. it's almost like this motherboard was made for my card.

1) Yes, the GPU will revert to 8x lane speed.

2) Yes, PCIE 4 & SATA modes are supported

Anything pertaining to slot configuration and lane speed should be available in the manual

I really like the FE EKWB design, personally. Very clean