Best Intel 12th Gen Motherboard 2022
Finding the Best Intel 12th Generation motherboards for i9, i7 and, i5 CPUs
The motherboard is at the core of your system, and it can be hard to understand what exactly makes for the best motherboard, or why. But we’ve done all the hard work, and found the best Intel 12th gen motherboard to house your brand-new Alder Lake CPU.
The next generation of computing power has arrived.The Intel 12th generation of CPUs, codenamed ‘Alder Lake’ has brought Intel back into the game, and now have a viable competitor to AMD’s razor sharp Ryzens. Alder Lake brings with it new advancements and technologies to the table, such as “Little BIG”, an architecture previously unseen in desktop CPUs. With Alder Lake 12th gen CPUs and DDR5 launching simultaneously, it’s never been as important for enthusiasts to choose a good, brand-new 12th-gen motherboard.
We’ve been testing motherboards with the Intel i9-12900k. This chip is Intel’s new flagship CPU. With eight performance cores clocked in at a turbo frequency of 5.2GHz, assisted by eight efficiency cores clocked in with a max turbo frequency of 3.9GHz, it’s easy to see why this CPU requires a well-equipped motherboard, considering just how fast it really gets.
Picking up a motherboard to house all this power without wasting a single drop is integral to squeezing the best performance out of your shiny new 12th Gen CPU. The best 12th Gen CPUs need the best 12th Gen motherboard, we have outlined a selection of the industry’s best 12th Gen motherboards.
The 19-12900KS has been released and it is one impressive beast, check out our 12900KS review if you’re in the market for a serious upgrade.
Looking for the best Intel motherboard of 2022? Maybe even the best AMD motherboard? or the best 12th Gen compatible CPU coolers? We have articles for those!
Did you know that WePC operates a Subreddit called r/CentralProcessingUnit. You’re more than welcome to come and share your thoughts on CPUs or even motherboards.
Our Top Picks
Best Intel 12th generation motherboards
In-depth Review
ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero WiFi
ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero WiFi
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero is one of the best Z690 options on the market currently. It is an incredible option despite what it may lack in power stages and ethernet bandwidth.
The ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Hero’s design is fairly different from the previous generation of ‘Hero’ motherboards. Featuring incredible personalization with the Polymer Lighting I/O cover and accompanying fully customizable RGB lighting. The Z690 Hero ships with 20+1 power staging and intelligent control, which is ASUS’ Ai overclocking feature proven to be pretty much unrivalled in the industry today.
Cooling is handled by a very large fully aluminum heatsink and integrated aluminum I/O cover, of course with a very highly conductive thermal pad to increase contact surface area. The M.2 SSD’s are kept nice and cool with three M.2 heatsinks and two backplates. With an additional ROG water cooling zone, for further customization.
Additionally, there are a plethora of features that truly matter for everyone gamer or not. Full PCIe gen 5 support, ultra-fast DDR5 ram slots with support up to 6400Mhz. Dual Thunderbolt 4 USB-C and a ROG Hyper M.2 PCIe gen 5 card. Giving you some pretty powerful connectivity where you need it the most.
GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master
GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS Master
Gigabyte’s Aorus motherboards are certainly show-stoppers when it comes down to design and functionality. Although very expensive, the Aorus Master is irrefutably one of the best choices for the most avid PC gaming enthusiasts.
The design of this generation of Aorus Master is much improved over the last, boasting a sleek and stylish I/O cover and matching heatsink. The Aorus Master features an incredible 20+1+2 Direct Digital VRM design, making power delivery much cleaner and more efficient. Tantalum polymer capacitors, keeping power where it’s needed. The thermal ‘reactive’ armor uses nano-carbon fins to greatly increase the cooling capacity of the thermal armor alongside the direct touch heat pipe and a nano-carbon backplate.
With Z690 supporting the all-new DDR5 RAM, the Aorus Master is no exception. Allowing support of up to 6600MHz, this motherboard allows for some exceptional speed, aesthetics, and functionality.
ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi
ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus WiFi
The ASUS TUF Gaming motherboard remains a fan favorite, offering incredible value for those on a budget with it’s almost unrivalled price to performance ratio.
The TUF Gaming Z690 offers a revised and enhanced power solution over the previous generation of board. With 14+2 DrMOS power stages and Digi+ VRM offering an incredible durability and performance. Of course, the cooling is more than adequate, as the motherboard features a PCH fanless heatsink, a VRM heatsink, an M.2 heatsink and hybrid fan headers along with Asus’ Fan Xpert 4.
Unfortunately, this happens to be a DDR4 model, one of the ways ASUS has managed to keep the cost down on this motherboard. So you can’t have DDR5 RAM but the motherboard does feature enhanced DDR4 capabilities, allowing up to 5333MHz DDR4.
ASUS ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming WiFi
ASUS ROG Strix Z690-I Gaming WiFi
The ASUS ROG Strix Z690-I is definitely one of the best Mini-ITX motherboards out there for this chipset. It’s incredibly well designed, packed full of features and reliable beyond most.
The Strix Z690 comes equipped with DDR5 RAM support and PCIe gen 5, but also comes featuring two fully-fledged Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports. We see another 10+1 power stage motherboard here, it could be better, but this is an ITX Motherboard. With that in mind, it’s still an incredibly feature rich motherboard. Thermal design has been revised with an integrated I/O cover and beefy VRM heatsinks that feature high-conductivity thermal pads.
This motherboard also supports HDMI 2.1, in addition to industry-leading audio. This small board really packs a punch.
ASUS Prime Z690-P
ASUS Prime Z690-P
The budget pick of the list is the ASUS Prime Z690-P. It’s as low as we would recommend for a DDR5 compatible motherboard, being limited to supported speeds of 6000Mhz. However, the Z690-P is a much updated version of one of the more reliable boards on the market.
Featuring DDR5, PCIe 5.0 and Thunderbolt 4 support, this motherboard won‘t be disappointing anyone anytime soon. These are the makings of a quality board which is still packed with some good features. These include 14+1 power stages, Wifi 6 and 2.5Gb Ethernet. The ASUS Prime Z690-P brings performance and a feature rich experience, without the hefty pricetag of some of the other boards that we’ve listed.
Final Word
Intel’s 12th generation Alder Lake CPU launch brings a plethora of new features and technology to get excited about, and with the launch of the 12th generation chips coinciding with the launch of DDR5 RAM we’re given the option to consider some serious upgrades. That’s why we’re here, finding you the best Intel 12th gen motherboard to build that next-gen experience.
Will the 12th generation Intel Alder Lake chips finally push things back into Team Blue’s favor with its incredible performance? Only time will tell, your move AMD.