GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS XTREME and MASTER Motherboards Used XMP 3.0 Overclock T-FORCE DELTA RGB DDR5 Memory to 7950 MHz

[Peter_Brosdahl]

GIGABYTE has shown off how well its Z790 AORUS XTREME and MASTER motherboards can overlock the TEAMGROUP T-FORCE DELTA RGB DDR5 7200 memory. DDR5 is already...

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[Niner51]

If I were to go with a Z790 board (which seems unlikely), I would have a hard time going back to Gigabyte after many years of using them. Glad they accomplished this overclock, but I had many issues with stability with a few of the their Z690 boards. I'd be happy with a stable board which overclocked slightly.

 

[AKBrian]

It's mostly down to the memory die in this case. That particular Teamgroup memory is the newer SK Hynix A-die DDR5 - the kits have been trickling out for the last month or two, in low quantities. There are a few folks over at the Overclock.net forums who have been pushing these sticks into the high 7k range already, and in fact it's pretty likely that there are users posting there with higher stable clocks achieved than the one in the press release.

Prior generation M-die was good to the upper 6ks, maybe low 7k if you got lucky, so these new kits look to push things further by about another 1000MT/s. Sounds good to me!

 

[LazyGamer]

It's mostly down to the memory die in this case.

It's down to the memory controller on the CPU and the motherboard as well. For Alder Lake on Z690, there was basically one combination of board, CPU, and memory that would push >7200MT/s - and that was 2022 builds of ASUS' Z690 Apex,* a golden 12900K or 12900KS, and memory with Hynix M-die ICs. Those with A-die ICs are pushing north of 8000MT/s already as you note with that same combination.

*[Many / most Z690 Apex boards produced in 2021 had bum memory slots and were limited to ~6000MT/s or slightly faster]

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

It's down to the memory controller on the CPU and the motherboard as well.

I admit that I'm continually fascinated by the handoffs between CPU and MB as well as the tradeoffs for the same with different boards. It has made picking boards a bit more tricky with the extra research needed to make sure I'm getting the most for the features I'm focused on, whether drive/lanes or memory related.

 

[LazyGamer]

It has made picking boards a bit more tricky with the extra research needed to make sure I'm getting the most for the features I'm focused on, whether drive/lanes or memory related.

There is exactly one Z690 board that has nearly all of the features I looked for - ASRock's Z690 Aqua OC, currently selling for US$890.

My list:

• Overclocking features in BIOS, with strong power delivery and post-code readout
• 10Gbit LAN with a backup NIC (usually 2.5Gbit)
• at least four M.2 NVMe slots that do not hamper PCIe connectivity (the Aqua has three)
• Two DIMM slots for memory overclocking
• Thunderbolt 4 on rear I/O
• Clear CMOS and BIOS flashback on rear I/O
• Onboard power and reset buttons
• Two USB 3.0 type-A headers for four USB type-A ports up front
• Dual BIOS (Aqua lacks)
• ATX instead of EATX

What I find frustrating is that board makers seem to dance around this list. Instead, there's a focus on bling, ludicrous power delivery, and weird PCIe lane and slot configurations. And this regardless of how much you're willing to spend on a board.

 

[Brian_B]

currently selling for US$890.

Ouch.

Is there a reason for 4 NVMe slots on the motherboard? Could you add more slots on a PCI riser instead?
Same could be asked of 10Gb.

I don't know if that significantly impacts your options or not, but that's a very narrow search result for your parameters.

 

[LazyGamer]

Ouch.

Is there a reason for 4 NVMe slots on the motherboard? Could you add more slots on a PCI riser instead?
Same could be asked of 10Gb.

I don't know if that significantly impacts your options or not, but that's a very narrow search result for your parameters.

What I've done up to this point is use a PCIe 10Gbit controller. Could also do the opposite if a board meeting the other qualifications was available, but in general, there are three 'premium' features that are hard to get together - Thunderbolt on the rear I/O, 10Gbit LAN, and overclocking features like a post-code display.

Such is life!

 

[Ditchinit]

There is exactly one Z690 board that has nearly all of the features I looked for - ASRock's Z690 Aqua OC, currently selling for US$890.

My list:

• Overclocking features in BIOS, with strong power delivery and post-code readout
• 10Gbit LAN with a backup NIC (usually 2.5Gbit)
• at least four M.2 NVMe slots that do not hamper PCIe connectivity (the Aqua has three)
• Two DIMM slots for memory overclocking
• Thunderbolt 4 on rear I/O
• Clear CMOS and BIOS flashback on rear I/O
• Onboard power and reset buttons
• Two USB 3.0 type-A headers for four USB type-A ports up front
• Dual BIOS (Aqua lacks)
• ATX instead of EATX

What I find frustrating is that board makers seem to dance around this list. Instead, there's a focus on bling, ludicrous power delivery, and weird PCIe lane and slot configurations. And this regardless of how much you're willing to spend on a board.

Is your fourth bullet point supposed to read "only two DIMM slots ..."?

 

[LazyGamer]

Is your fourth bullet point supposed to read "only two DIMM slots ..."?

Yes; here's a lineup of memory overclocking boards from each major manufacturer:

• ASUS' Apex (ATX) and Gene (mATX)
• MSI's Unify-X
• Gigabyte's Tachyon
• ASRock's 'OC'
• EVGA's Dark

You'll find these boards released with various chipsets, some with multiple versions per CPU generation, some entirely missing (see X670E for example).