The Digit Zero1 Awards recognizes and awards the best performing products of the year
Products are evaluated on basis of objective and scientific test processes
These are the winners for the Best Intel Z690 Motherboards for 2021
Intel has really gone all out this year with their Alder Lake launch. For starters, the new hybrid architecture they’ve debuted for the mainstream desktop platform has helped it significantly gain a huge performance lead and also allowed them to slap on additional CPU cores onto the same package. And they didn’t stop just with the CPUs. With the introduction of the Z690 platform, they’ve also incorporated DDR5, the new memory standard, and also thrown in PCIe Gen 5.0. Here we are without even making the most of the bandwidth that PCIe Gen 3.0 offers for graphics cards and now there’s PCIe Gen 5.0 to contend with. While its impact on the performance of CPUs and GPUs can be debated, the fact is that SSD manufacturers are probably going to make the most of this new addition. And motherboard manufacturers will also be able to include a lot more interfaces on the motherboard without having to worry about bandwidth conflicts. As of now, the current motherboard designs haven’t changed much. We saw the introduction of on board Wi-Fi 6E earlier this year even though there aren’t any Wi-Fi 6E routers in the market. Aside from that, not much has changed. And now, for this year’s winner.
Winner: GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS MASTER (Price – ₹51,799)
Judging motherboards is one of the most difficult categories in our Zero1 Awards because the performance delta that a motherboard can impact is so miniscule that the difference is often within a percentage point. Take for example this year’s winner, the GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS MASTER which ended up scoring 89.078 percent points whereas the 1st Runner-Up scored 89.001 percentage points. It’s that close. The GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS MASTER is an extremely well-built motherboard oodles of expansion and storage ports. They’ve put a dense finstack heatsink on the VRM circuitry which helps keep the temperatures on the VRM at a sane level considering how much power the Alder Lake processors draw. It’s also the only board that we’ve received which incorporates a 10G Ethernet port which in itself at this price range is a pretty decent upgrade.
Runner-Up: ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO (Price – ₹54,850)
Close on the heels of the Z690 MASTER is the ASUS ROG MAXIMUS Z690 HERO, an equally powerful motherboard with a tonne of features. ASUS includes an ROG Hyper M.2 card which slots into the PCIe slots to give users access to ridiculously fast storage because one of the ports actually supports PCIe Gen 5.0 with x4 lanes. So if there’s an M.2 SSD which can run twice as fast as any of the 7000 MB/s drives, then this board can accommodate them. The motherboard aesthetics are classy as always, and ASUS Wi-Fi 6E on the board like it did with its siblings from the Z590 platform. This is a heavy board given how much metal goes into all the different heatsinks on the various components to keep them cool during heavy loads. Even ASUS’s BIOS is more enthusiast friendly than any of the other board manufacturers.
Best Buy: MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WIFI (DDR5) (Price – ₹31,500)
Jumping onto the Alder Lake platform isn’t for those who’re on a tight budget because DDR5 is quite expensive compared to DDR4 to begin with. Then there’s the scarcity factor which is driving prices even higher and then there’s the fact that only Z690 boards exist which is the top chipset for Alder Lake. Thus, the need for an economical option exists and the MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WIFI comes to the rescue. It’s quite a decently feature-rich motherboard with plenty of connectivity options, enough M.2 ports to run multiple M.2 SSDs without having to worry about bandwidth conflicts and it’s even got a 2.5G ethernet port. For someone looking to get a decent motherboard without breaking the bank, this year’s Best Buy from MSI should do the trick.
ABOUT THE DIGIT ZERO1 AWARDS
With a legacy of 20 years, the Digit Zero1 Awards is recognized as the Industry’s only performance-based awards. Digit rewards brands for putting in years of research in developing and introducing performance-driven products for their audience. All products are made to pass through a rigorous and scientific test process and compete with competitor brands in the same category. The Winner in each category is announced on the basis of their total score, post complete performance analysis done across an average of 56 tests, conducted for every category, across key performance parameters. The test process for the Zero1 Awards does not consider scores for features, price or design. The aim is to identify the very best products that money can buy, celebrate the innovations that push the industry forward, and reward the products that dare to disrupt the market.
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Mithun Mohandas
Mithun Mohandas is an Indian technology journalist with 10 years of experience covering consumer technology. He is currently employed at Digit in the capacity of a Managing Editor. Mithun has a background in Computer Engineering and was an active member of the IEEE during his college days. He has a penchant for digging deep into unravelling what makes a device tick. If there's a transistor in it, Mithun's probably going to rip it apart till he finds it. At Digit, he covers processors, graphics cards, storage media, displays and networking devices aside from anything developer related. As an avid PC gamer, he prefers RTS and FPS titles, and can be quite competitive in a race to the finish line. He only gets consoles for the exclusives. He can be seen playing Valorant, World of Tanks, HITMAN and the occasional Age of Empires or being the voice behind hundreds of Digit videos. View Full Profile
