Greetings
 
I bought the same thing a week or so ago, and had lots of problems getting the bios to update so I could use a 13th gen processsor(i9 13900kf). I spent most of the week conversing with EVGA via their trouble ticket submission, and lets just say it wasnt great. Really seemed like everytime they would respond to a follow up question or response from me, they didnt look at the history of the ticket submission at all. Kept asking me to repeat the same steps, and asking me questions that I previously answered in tickets. I did finally reach them by phone, but that went about as well as the tickets. I've never had to reach out to them for assistance before, but was always led to believe their customer service was really good. Not been my experience so far.
 
My previous build was using an Asus ROG maximus hero ix. Had to reach out to them once about a specific problem, and their customer service wasnt much better, and that was pre covid.
 
Knowing what I know now, I would buy a board that is 13th gen ready out of the box, which is probably what im going to do to replace the 690 classified.
Good luck, hope things work out better for you!

Khronos_18
Hello to everyone reading this, I currently bought a z690 classified at amazon for 329+tax.

But I would like you guys to convince me not to return it, because I saw a Tomahawk z790 & Asus Prime z790 for arround the same price, but unavailable at the moment.
Willing to wait if necessary, my only concerns are the issues that I might encounter with the Z690 classified.

Planing to use an i7 13700k, 32gb Corsair (CMK32GX5M2B5600C36) & a humble 1080ti FTW3 hybrid & upgrading to a 3080 in the future.
Not willing to do crazy overclock, just a stable undervolt & ram overclock to 5600-6000Mhz. Maybe I'll overclock the cpu in the future, but not a priority.

The only great things that make me rethink from returning the mb that I haven't received yet, are the nice 19VRM(100amps) correct me if I am wrong, EVGA reputation/reliability compared to MSI/Asus, and in general other miscellaneous features of the motherboard.

I will really appreciate your support/advice guys, thanks a lot for taking your time to read this, merry Christmas if applies to your culture/traditions & have a great day!

After building PCs 25+ years, here's my 2 cents:
 
If u want to be totally safe, stick with a 12th gen CPU on the z690 for now and use the BIOS it comes with. But especially, because, if later down the line u want to play around with OCing; here's wat ur gonna' wanna' do:
 
A. Get the z690 running perfect, with the 12th GEN CPU. (i luv mine! been running it for 11 months now NP!!!)
 
B. Later on there will be the best of the best 13th Gen CPUs coming it in 2023. (i forget the specifics but they will be very nice.)
 
C. When u do have a 13th Gen, lined-up in ur sites later on in in 2023; update the BIOS' with ur 12th Gen still in. (Boot into BIOS>>Go To Advanced>>Select Update BIOS. Whatever u do, don't update BIOS in Windows.) Then ur rdy for a 13th Gen CPU.
 
Note: i got my z690 last Jan. Completed building last Feb. And everything has been super silky smooth from day one. Absolutely NPs watsoevers. Notta... nothing wrong... in anyway at all.
 
And for now, focus on a better GPU. That should be priority one. And take ur time getting it! 
 
GL

Bee_Dee_3_Dee

Khronos_18
Hello to everyone reading this, I currently bought a z690 classified at amazon for 329+tax.

But I would like you guys to convince me not to return it, because I saw a Tomahawk z790 & Asus Prime z790 for arround the same price, but unavailable at the moment.
Willing to wait if necessary, my only concerns are the issues that I might encounter with the Z690 classified.

Planing to use an i7 13700k, 32gb Corsair (CMK32GX5M2B5600C36) & a humble 1080ti FTW3 hybrid & upgrading to a 3080 in the future.
Not willing to do crazy overclock, just a stable undervolt & ram overclock to 5600-6000Mhz. Maybe I'll overclock the cpu in the future, but not a priority.

The only great things that make me rethink from returning the mb that I haven't received yet, are the nice 19VRM(100amps) correct me if I am wrong, EVGA reputation/reliability compared to MSI/Asus, and in general other miscellaneous features of the motherboard.

I will really appreciate your support/advice guys, thanks a lot for taking your time to read this, merry Christmas if applies to your culture/traditions & have a great day!

After building PCs 25+ years, here's my 2 cents:
 
If u want to be totally safe, stick with a 12th gen CPU on the z690 for now and use the BIOS it comes with. But especially, because, if later down the line u want to play around with OCing; here's wat ur gonna' wanna' do:
 
A. Get the z690 running perfect, with the 12th GEN CPU. (i luv mine! been running it for 11 months now NP!!!)
 
B. Later on there will be the best of the best 13th Gen CPUs coming it in 2023. (i forget the specifics but they will be very nice.)
 
C. When u do have a 13th Gen, lined-up in ur sites later on in in 2023; update the BIOS' with ur 12th Gen still in. (Boot into BIOS>>Go To Advanced>>Select Update BIOS. Whatever u do, don't update BIOS in Windows.) Then ur rdy for a 13th Gen CPU.
 
Note: i got my z690 last Jan. Completed building last Feb. And everything has been super silky smooth from day one. Absolutely NPs watsoevers. Notta... nothing wrong... in anyway at all.
 
And for now, focus on a better GPU. That should be priority one. And take ur time getting it! 
 
GL

Hiii, I have updated my z690 bios via windows around three times already and no problems so far! 

I also bought the Z690 classified and paired with a 13900k. I too had BIOS updating issues and I found that I had to use the provided USB from EVGA to get the BIOS to update. Any other 3rd part USB stick would not work for some reason. Once I figured that out it updated without issue. I have just been updating from within Windows ever since.

2.05 is the latest version and you will need it to work with latest version of ELEET x1.  Just got my Classified 690 a couple of weeks ago and like it.  

Khronos_18
Thanks Luke & all of the guys for your support, I'll will be using the USB provided with the MB, and the bios update will be without cpu. May ask which bios version do you guys recomend? I was planning the use of version 2.03, and thinking about 2.05.

Thanks again & have a nice day! :)

I am on 2.03 and Xleet is working just fine for me. There seems to be a lot of issues with 2.05 but I have not personally tried it. Also I just leave the EVGA USB stick on the internal USB header on the motherboard. I did not use the ports on the back for the BIOS update without CPU.

Thanks for the update Khronos, I am in the same situation as you - wanting to get the Z690 classified with my 13700k, but scared of the issues I may face. Keep us updated on how everything turns out! Also, when updating the BIOS, did you just follow the instructions from EVGATech_LeeM's post?

I bought the Z690 Classified to pair with an i5 13600K. I did a lot of research and asked several questions here to clarify the flash process. I was concerned I would not be able to flash and would not be able to use the 13th gen CPU. After some consternation, I gave it a try. No go the first two attempt but the third try looked successful. I installed the remaining components, hooked up a monitor and yes! The computer POSTed with no problem and is running fine. 


I looked at several other boards, including the two you mentioned. Many did not have a debug LED, which is important to me, or other features that I was accustomed to. They also felt thin. When the EVGA Z690’s went on sale the decision was easy. 

orange4jake

Khronos_18
I followed those instructions, and I am planing on recording a clear video on how to do it. So it can help others with visuals, I didn't updated all 3 bios, just one of them.
Not sure if that's an issue, but for now my only issue is a coil whine from the vrm(the ones next to the I/O), it sounded less when c1 state was disabled on the BIOS.
I've been reading forums, and even some strix /aorus MBs have that issue. Overall the mb works fine & with no issues

Good luck choosing mb, it is a pain on this current world stage. I got this one because it was the best arrount the 300usd price tag

If you have any questions, let me know through this thread

A video would be super helpful! Let me know where you end up posting, because I'll likely just be following along with you. Strange to hear about the coil whine too, hope it's not the motherboard's issue.

Of course, I'll record a quick video tonight, it will be a youtube video code, because I can't post videos on the forum yet, it will be a format like this (  L_LUpnjgPso  ), that is a 10h fireplace video, but can be found on youtube or duckduckgo search engine with that code

 
Er-GoHAE2y0:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er-GoHAE2y0
 
^^ Khronos_18's (from post #19), How to update bios Evga z690 Classified
 
Edit: just finished watching all.
10+ vid Khronos_18!!!

I am glad the video worked for you!
For question 1.- The AIO in the configuration that I currently have is a Front/intake, and it was the best position that I found.

According to a gamer nexus video, he explains about the ideal positions to achieve performance & durability of asetek pumps. He recommends the in/out hoses coming from the radiator have to be at the same level or below the level of the pump, to avoid any air bubbles on the loop & less performance.

And in my case I could have placed the pump with the Evga logo facing up. But the way that it is right now with the logo/pump facing down causes less stress on the hoses.

2.- About the RAM, I was a bit lazy to do a specific overclock at the moment. So I just set XMP profile 1, voltage to 1.300 & 6000Mhz.
My RAM dies seem to be Samsung, not sure if A or B. But according to Amazon reviews it can be overclocked even higher with a more precise tweak. It passed a basic windows mem test with no issues, and no apparent instabilities.

I hope this info works for you & have a nice day :)!