Compare Z690 and Z790 motherboards for gaming to see which suits your needs best.
Compare Z690 and Z790 motherboards for gaming to see which suits your needs best.
You're considering a move from Intel 8th gen to 13th gen processors. The performance gap between the i7-8700 and i7-13700K is substantial, especially with support for faster RAM. Regarding motherboards, the Z790 offers better compatibility with newer chipsets and features, but its higher price in Europe might not always justify the upgrade unless you need advanced overclocking or specific hardware support.
Avoid the Z690; the Z790 fits the latest design better. If you intended the 12th generation, choose the 690—but only if you need the newest tech. Invest a bit more for a more robust setup.
It doesnt matter. It doesnt matter a single bit if you pick z690 or z790. Not a single bit of performance gained or lost in gaming. Also just get ddr4 to save money. Currenr gen ddr5 is basically like earlt ddr4 at 2133+2666 speeds not something youd reuse in a new pc so not worth to pay early adopters tax on it.
More I/O. There is zero performance difference. https://www.anandtech.com/show/17601/int...k-review/3 I'm really not sure where @dr23 is getting their claims.
I'm currently running at 9900K and plan to upgrade to a 13700K soon. The reason I'm considering the Z790 board (specifically the MSI Z790 Carbon) is its compatibility with upcoming faster storage solutions (Gen 5 M.2 slots). I'll need to stick to DDR5 on that board, which means updating it as well—though it's a price I'm willing to pay.
It’s not uncommon to wonder about similar upgrades across different generations. Many manufacturers produce comparable boards for both DDR4 and DDR5 variants, especially in the 700 series. The differences usually come down to specific features or packaging rather than core functionality.
Some lower-end boards that work with DDR4 won’t handle PCIe 5 on NVMe storage. Also, I refresh my CPU models every four years, which means upgrading to DDR5 could be a smart move.
It's not a completely new design—it's merely an improvement on the earlier version. The added advantages are minimal for gaming, since extra input/output connections wouldn't significantly impact performance in that context. While there could be enhanced support for higher DDR5 speeds with the 700 series chipset, as noted before, the gains are already overshadowed by the higher costs of memory and motherboards. It will also take time for software to adapt and reach its full potential, just as with DDR4. You're essentially offering a poor deal at an early stage and making it worse over time.
Is that really notable? I hadn't considered any distinction between those mid to high-end z790 boards. Just moved GPU to the second x16 slot and used an adapter card with PCIe_1.5.0.
Others have mentioned the main points: 1) Backing higher-speed RAM, though it’s likely compatible with other boards too. 2) Additional PCIe 4.0 lanes on the chipset—maybe not essential. 3) Z790 no longer accepts Optane, but that’s rarely used so nothing was lost. A key thing to note is Z790 supports Raptor Lake CPUs by default, while Z690 might need a BIOS update. This matters because many budget boards require a CPU upgrade to enable BIOS updates. If you choose a Z690, look for a board with BIOS flashing capability without a CPU—like Asus’ BIOS Flashback or Gigabyte’s Q-Flash Plus (the plus sign matters). Without such support, you might end up needing an Alder Lake CPU just to upgrade your motherboard for Raptor Lake.