The performance of the 12th generation Core has been greatly improved, and the i5-12600K multi-thread directly hangs the 11th generation flagship i9-11900K, who else? Not only is the performance powerful, but also brings PCIe 5.0 technology and DDR5 memory, and the future of the battle is completely fine. However, now installed 12th generation Core platform, only Z690 motherboards are optional, and the lower positioning of B660 motherboards will wait until next year. The Z690 motherboard has a DDR4 version and a DDR5 version, how to choose?
Now the price of a set of DDR5 memory is equal to or even higher than a Z690 motherboard, there is no cost performance to speak of, and DDR5 memory timing is generally high, bandwidth has advantages, latency is terriblely high, playing games may not be as good as DDR4 memory. How to see, now the 12th generation Core processor + Z690 motherboard (D4 version) + DDR4 memory is the most cost-effective combination at present. Today, I recommend a D4 version of the Gigabyte Magic Eagle Z690 GAMING X motherboard.
Although the 12th generation Core upgraded the process to Intel7 (the previous 10nm process), the energy consumption ratio performance has been significantly improved, but the product specifications are high, the performance is strong, and the power supply requirements for the motherboard are not low. Therefore, the Z690 motherboard with the 12th generation Core has generally improved its power supply significantly.
Gigabyte Magic Eagle Z690 GAMING X motherboard is even more called the "King of Stacking Materials". It adopts 16+ 1 + 2 phase efficient integrated power supply design, of which 16 phases power the CPU, each phase reaches 60A; 1 phase is the core display power supply, the same 560A; the other 2 phase power supply is to the CPU integrated PCIe and memory controller, each phase up to 70A, such a powerful power supply specifications, enough to give full play to the performance of the 12th generation Core processor. In the details, the power supply sockets are solid pins, which can bring better conductivity and signal transmission capabilities, and later use is more durable.
The power supply area, covering the integrated molding of the heat dissipation armor, has a large area, increases the surface area, and improves the heat dissipation of the power supply. With multiple channels and inlets on the heat sink, this design allows airflow to pass through, and with high-quality thermal pads, it has a higher heat dissipation efficiency. Even flagships like the Core i9 12900K work at full capacity for a long time without worrying about the motherboard VRM overheating.
This Gigabyte Magic Eagle Z690 motherboard is the D4 version, there is also a D5 version of the Magic Eagle Z690, and the price difference between the two is 200 yuan. As mentioned earlier, the price of DDR5 memory is mainly ridiculously expensive. From the perspective of cost performance, blindly enter the DDR4 version, and there will be no big difference in experience. As for the motherboard, only the memory is different, and the other configurations are exactly the same.
The picture is the D5 version
The GIGABYTE Z690 Magic Eagle motherboard uses a PCIE-5.0 x16 SMD slot and a custom Layer 6 PCI-E 5.0 low-impedance PCB line design, which has twice the transmission bandwidth of PCIe 4.0x16, waiting for the arrival of RTX 40 series graphics cards.
Although there is revolutionary PCIe 5.0 technology, but only available to graphics cards, on SSD support, GIGABYTE Eagle Z690 offers up to 4 M.2 slots, three of which are PCIe 4.0 x4 specifications, one supports PCIe 3.0x4 specifications, and all cover thermal armor.
The I/O interface of the motherboard can be described as everything. Provides 4 USB 2.0 interfaces, 3 USB 3.2 Gen 1 interfaces, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C interface, 23 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A interfaces, 1 DP interface, 1 HDMI interface connector, 1 RJ-45 network cable interface and audio interface.
The USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 interface is designed to double the performance of the previous generation USB 3.2 Gen 2, which enables high-speed data transfer of 20Gbps, and through the USB Type-C interface, users can enjoy the flexibility of reversible connections, quick access and storage of large amounts of data. Equipped with an Intel 2.5Gbps network card, it brings 2.5 times the data transmission bandwidth of traditional gigabit network cards.
In terms of support for RGB lighting effects, in addition to setting the light strip on the back, the Gigabyte Z690 Magic Eagle Motherboard also provides multiple sets of RGB synchronization pins, which is convenient for players to expand RGB devices and improve the appearance of the entire host. Through GIGABYTE's RGB Fusion software, users can not only adjust the light color and lighting mode according to their own preferences, but also allow the hardware with RGB lighting effects to be linked with the motherboard, presenting a uniform cool lighting effect.
As a GIGABYTE Magic Eagle Z690 GAMING X motherboard for performance users, with a luxurious 16+1+2 phase direct digital power supply design, high-specification heat dissipation configuration and powerful expansion configuration, the ferocious stacking material not only makes the motherboard have super high stability, but also lays the foundation for supporting various high-performance hardware. Whether it's a content creation app or a gaming performance, the GIGABYTE Magic Eagle Z690 GAMING X DDR4 motherboard has a pretty impressive performance. Recently, if you want to build a high-performance 12th generation Core platform, you may wish to consider this D4 version of the Z690 motherboard.
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