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
AURA Sync
|
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.