Any reason to spend big on a z690 motherboard?

[Brando]

I'm looking at the asus z690-p d4 for $220 and the asrock z690 extreme for $325. I like my z370 asrock extreme 4 but it was $145 and now suddenly this gen is almost $200 more for the new socket. All I really need is a single m.2 slot and 2 sata ports with enough power delivery to get a decent oc on air with a 12700k with noctua d15 and to get my ram to 3600mhz at c16 (b-die 2x16gb kit). I can't imagine the asus board can't do this but if anyone has anything bad to say about it please let me know. Thanks!

EDIT: Also curious if the double mounting system is legit and really lets you properly mount coolers with the old lga 1200 hardware. Has anyone tried this yet? Would love to re-use my ouranos cooler.

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[EarthDog]

No reason to get more, especially with a 12700K. I'd go with the best VRM config as each will easily have a single M.2 socket and two SATA ports.

 

[Woomack]

It looks like higher mobos = better BIOS support = better RAM support. Everything else doesn't matter much. At auto settings, these CPUs are not using as much power as the previous gen, so as long as a good power design is important, then I don't think you have to pay premium for some magical 13+ phases.

I run ADATA/Asetek 240 AIO (the most popular AIO OEM) designed for LGA1200 on the Strix Z690I-Gaming with LGA1200/1700 holes. It works fine and I get about 84°C under load on the 12600K (AVX2 stability tests or long Cinebench R23). However, if the cooler mount won't have enough pressure then you can expect a bit worse temps than with the LGA1700 kit. In most cases, you can use a plastic washer here or there to improve the pressure but it will be hard to do anything with the Noctua coolers.
I wasn't testing that with Noctua coolers but I assume you can buy an LGA1700 kit or contact Noctua and they will send you.

 

[Brando]

Thanks for input. I haven't been able to find much real world evidence of the Asus primes oc abilities but it seems to have the weakest power delivery according to at least one source. The more I read it seems like MSI is the company that has their s*** together the most this generation as far as bang for the buck and OC features. A lot of people seem to the like the MSI pro board and I'm considering compromising a little on price to get the tomahawk for $275 to get the better vrms. I started out with that Asus board because it's the only one so far that had my specific memory kit on the compatible list but I think my future self will probably thank me if I splurge a little bit for the beefier power section. The main bummer is not being able to reuse my heat sink but apparently the newer Asus boards have fitment issues with a lot of heat sinks this generation anyways.

 

[EarthDog]

The Prime Z690-A I have sitting here for review... but wont get to it for a while.

I'd imagine it could handle a 12900K without issue so a 12700K shouldn't be a problem. You'll be limited by cooling quicker than the board.

I'd get the Tomahawk over the Pro and Prime.

 

[Brando]

Tomahawk is ordered. Thanks!