Ready!

nice
 
When = "soon"?

Are my eyes tricking me or is the Classified ATX and not EATX. It looks smaller but hard to tell from the pictures.

time to get PWM header control in Eleet X1

redteamgo
time to get PWM header control in Eleet X1

This is something we're looking into.

Jor3llBR
I'm IN! Vince continues.

Wonder if it'll be the last one?

Oh wow the Z790 Dark Kingpin has some really nice changes compared to the Z690 Dark Kingpin. For instance, there are 4 modern ARGB headers on the top right now on Z790 KP whereas before, on the Z690 KP there were only 2 modern ARGB headers and both were on the bottom left of the motherboard (far away from most fan cables). Nice improvement - bringing them closer to the right side of the mobo so cables don't have to stretch as far!
 
I also noticed EVGA extended the M2 shroud slightly more to the left so that it covers up those fugly yellow audio capacitors. Good job 
 
The AIO pump fan header is also on the top right corner instead of near the middle of the mobo. Nice, nice.

And it looks like they've gotten rid of the U2 headers entirely (coz who the heck uses those anyway) 
 
I just hope there's plenty of stock to go around this time with no delays (I had to import my Z690 Kingpin from the USA). It'd be nice if EVGA sent some stock to UK retailers this time around like Scan UK or Overclockers UK. Previously I had bought all my EVGA motherboards from Scan UK but for some reason they never received any stock of EVGA's Z690 motherboards at all.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
I have 2 questions:

1. Is there a 2-pin thermal header somewhere on the board this time (either KP or Classy or both)?
2. Will there be an official bios update to use 13th Gen CPU on Z690, meaning it would be mostly pointless buying a Z790 if I already have a Z690?

Thanks.
 

Nereus
 
I have 2 questions:

1. Is there a 2-pin thermal header somewhere on the board this time (either KP or Classy or both)?
2. Will there be an official bios update to use 13th Gen CPU on Z690, meaning it would be mostly pointless buying a Z790 if I already have a Z690?

Thanks. 

they already released the beta bios 2.0, it's here: https://forums.evga.com/BETA-BIOS-Updates-for-Z690-DARK-KNGPN-200-CLASSIFIED-200-m3574539.aspx
 

zippytek

Nereus
 
I have 2 questions:

1. Is there a 2-pin thermal header somewhere on the board this time (either KP or Classy or both)?
2. Will there be an official bios update to use 13th Gen CPU on Z690, meaning it would be mostly pointless buying a Z790 if I already have a Z690?

Thanks. 

they already released the beta bios 2.0, it's here: https://forums.evga.com/BETA-BIOS-Updates-for-Z690-DARK-KNGPN-200-CLASSIFIED-200-m3574539.aspx
 

But Jacob advised against running it with 12th gen.  May be a bit buggy.  BEWARE!!!!!!

fragility_V1

zippytek

Nereus
I have 2 questions:

1. Is there a 2-pin thermal header somewhere on the board this time (either KP or Classy or both)?
2. Will there be an official bios update to use 13th Gen CPU on Z690, meaning it would be mostly pointless buying a Z790 if I already have a Z690?

Thanks. 

they already released the beta bios 2.0, it's here: https://forums.evga.com/BETA-BIOS-Updates-for-Z690-DARK-KNGPN-200-CLASSIFIED-200-m3574539.aspx

But Jacob advised against running it with 12th gen.  May be a bit buggy.  BEWARE!!!!!!

Yeah I have no intention of flashing to it without having a 13th Gen sitting in the socket, my question was meant to be more stressed towards the second half; "would (it) be mostly pointless buying a Z790 if I already have a Z690?" 


 

zippytek
i just looked at the side by side between z690 and z790 chipsets...and it looks like the only differences chipset wise...
 
-z790 has 1 more usb 3.2 port
-z690 supports optane memory (no mention of it on the z790 page)
 
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/218833/intel-z690-chipset/specifications.html
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/229721/intel-z790-chipset/specifications.html
 
how this translates in to board features i cannot say, as each board maker makes their own choices based on these. i'm sure the magic is in the bios and how the cpu features are best supported by the vrm etc

From what I've read Z790 also slightly improves the PCIe connectivity, 8 at 3.0 and 20 at 4.0.  From 16 - 3.0 and 12 - 4.0 on Z690 :
 
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-13th-gen-raptor-lake-release-date-specifications-pricing-benchmarks-all-we-know-specs#section-intel-13th-gen-raptor-lake-700-series-motherboards-z790-h770-b760-h610
 
Assuming this is true, I'm really interested in the PCIe allocation of Z790 Classified.  Since the press release didn't mention PCIe 5.0 x8/x8 on Classy; I'm guessing slot "PE2" is PCie 3.0 x4, and "PE3" is PCIe 4.0 x8??? or are both x4 electrically?
 
Also, THANK YOU EVGA for including 10GBe on both boards!   Can't wait to see what these are capable of with the new I9

zippytek
i just looked at the side by side between z690 and z790 chipsets...and it looks like the only differences chipset wise...
 
-z790 has 1 more usb 3.2 port
-z690 supports optane memory (no mention of it on the z790 page)
 
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/218833/intel-z690-chipset/specifications.html
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/229721/intel-z790-chipset/specifications.html
 
how this translates in to board features i cannot say, as each board maker makes their own choices based on these. i'm sure the magic is in the bios and how the cpu features are best supported by the vrm etc

yea the chipset diff is a meme. BUT WHERE IS OPTANE... 905P 380GB NVME USER HERE.. NOOOO. the new beta bios improves memory overclocking even on mdie, and adds more features, like power down disabled, tvb(BORKED), the only thing borked on that bios on the 12900KS is RING ratio, cant set it above 47 ecores off for some reason. everything else seems working as expected . i can boot 7400 now.. could never do that prev bios (MDIE 6600 GSKILL KIT)

babayega

Ravenmaster

fragility_V1
On the list, but wondering if it's worth jumping from Z690.  Z690 will support Raptor Lake, so not sure what the additional benefits would be moving up.

The Z790 KP supports up to 7000mhz DDR5 whereas the Z690 KP only supports up to 6600mhz, so there's one lil reason. Also look at the placing of the fan headers, pump headers etc on the Z790 KP, they're better positioned.

i dont think there will be any improvements to mem oc, but z790 dark is on 14 layer pcb , while z690 on 10 layer, does that make much of a diff no.. because we dont know if those extra layers are being used for the memory traces or smth else, and even if the traces are slightly improved it shouldnt make much of a difference, bios optimization is more imp than moar layer count, better components etc .. 

Nereus
 
I have 2 questions:

1. Is there a 2-pin thermal header somewhere on the board this time (either KP or Classy or both)?
2. Will there be an official bios update to use 13th Gen CPU on Z690, meaning it would be mostly pointless buying a Z790 if I already have a Z690?

Thanks.

To the first, yes, there's supposed to be one on both.  Haven't seen a picture yet of the boards sans heatsink so I can't confirm yet, but it's on the spec sheet I have.


To the second, yes, there will be an official BIOS at some point.  Until now, it's been an unreleased product.