Intel’s 12th Gen processors are stuffed with loads of new features, but they’re also fit to burst last generation’s motherboards, courtesy of their larger footprint. That means you need a new 600-series motherboard to put Alder Lake to use in your gaming PC, and we’ve tested the latest and greatest to help you narrow down your search.
You have a few motherboard chipsets to choose from: Z690, H670, H610, and B660. The most fully-featured of the lot are the Z690s, though they’re also likely to be the most expensive. If you find they’re out of your budget, you may want to look towards more gaming-focused B660 boards. These offer a tighter specification but maintain PCIe 4.0 support from the chipset, which means you can still utilise fast PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs to their fullest in your machine.
Z690 Aorus Pro
GIGABYTE $499
An actually affordable high-end Z690
1 By 2010’s standards, the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro would be positively pricey. In 2022, however, it’s practically midrange. The Z690 chipset has ushered in some of the priciest motherboard’s known to man, but not the Aorus Pro. No, this motherboard is actually
