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Benchmarks and Final Analysis

Our standard benchmarks and power tests are performed using the CPU’s stock frequencies (including any default boost/turbo), with all power-saving features enabled. We set optimized defaults in the BIOS and the memory by enabling the XMP profile. For this baseline testing, the Windows power scheme is set to Balanced (default), so the PC idles appropriately.

To get the most out of the Intel Alder Lake chips, you need to be on Windows 11 with its updated scheduler. In most cases, Windows 10 performs well. However, some tests (Cinebench R20, Corona and POVRay) take a significant hit. In short, if you’re going with Alder Lake, you must upgrade to Windows 11 for the best results across the board. That may change with patching and updates in the future, though.

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Asus ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WIFI D4 — (Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

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Starting with the launch of the Z690 chipset, we’ve updated our game tests, switching to Far Cry 6 and shifting from F1 2020 to F1 2021. We run the games at 1920x1080 resolution using the Ultra preset (details listed above). As the resolution goes up, the CPU tends to have less impact. The goal with these settings is to determine if there are differences in performance at the most commonly used resolution with settings most people use or strive for. We expect the difference between boards in these tests to be minor, with most falling within the margin of error differences. We’ve also added a minimum FPS value, as that can affect your gameplay and immersion experience.

In F1 2021, the Z690-A Gaming reached 165 frames per second (fps) with minimums of 139 fps, an average result. In Far Cry 6, results were also average at 137 fps, with the minimum at 125 fps, which is also average. In the synthetic benchmarks, the board scored 14,433 in Time Spy, which is dead on average, while the 17,074 score in Fire Strike Extreme is the second fastest. This board is just as capable of a gaming machine as the others.

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Overclocking with Alder Lake is slightly different from what we’re used to due to the hybrid core configuration. Now, you can overclock the P and E cores separately, though they both use the same voltage domain. You can push one and not the other, or both, so there’s some flexibility. We set an overclock to 5.1 GHz across all P-cores and 4.1Ghz on all E-cores. This yields a 200 MHz bump on the P-cores and a 400 MHz increase on the E-cores. We’re topped out on the P-cores, primarily due to temperatures, but the more efficient E-cores still have some headroom.

Overclocking our Intel Core i9-12900K with the Z690-A Gaming proved relatively painless. We manually set our voltage to 1.25V and used Asus’ recommended Load Line Calibration (LLC4), but the system froze almost instantly after starting the stress test. I couldn’t record the amount of vdroop, but whatever voltage the processor received was less than the ~1.25V we need to be stable at these clocks. Setting LLC7 yielded no vdroop and a stable overclock.

Asus’ ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WIFI D4 is a good motherboard overall. It performed very well across our testing suite,posting some of the highest scores and fastest times we’ve seen. It played our games well and power use wasn’t out of line. It’s not all about performance, though. The four M.2 sockets and six SATA ports offer plenty of storage capability, and there are more than enough USB ports (including 20 Gbps Type–C) on the rear IO. On the networking side, the 2.5 GbE and integrated Wi-Fi 6 are fast enough for most users. For those who want to overclock, the 80A VRMs don’t flinch. On top of that, the cool RGB lighting and unique-to-ROG silver-on-black aesthetic looks good, too.

Among Z690 DDR4 boards, the Z690-A Gaming WIFI D4 is one of the most expensive on Newegg, at $322.99. Gigabyte’s Z690 Aero G is $259.99, while the MSI MPG Z690 Edge WIFI DDR4 is $279.99. ASRock’s most expensive DDR4 board is the Z690 Extreme at $196.99. The latter is a board that punches above its weight class (review coming soon). The three less expensive boards offer similar hardware configurations, including six SATA ports, four M.2 sockets, 2.5 GbE, Wi-Fi 6, and the premium Realtek ALC4080 audio codec. Of course, there are differences in power delivery too, but each supports an i9-12900KS when overclocked, so that doesn’t play a significant role.

Price be damned, it comes down to appearance between these similarly equipped boards. If you want black, it’s ASRock or MSI. Silver, it’s the Asus or Gigabyte. If you want to save significant money, ASRock’s Z690 Extreme fits that bill with very few sacrifices (last-gen flagship audio, three M.2 sockets) to get there. In fact, it’s the only board with Wi-Fi 6E and eight SATA ports out of this group. In the end, the Asus Z690-A Gaming WIFI D4 is a competent DDR4 motherboard, but more expensive than its similar competition. Its performance and well-rounded specifications are attractive as is the unique (for ROG) appearance. And while it’s the cheapest way into a high-quality ROG-brand board, there are less expensive and similarly appointed options available.