Timstamps: 0:00 Intro 1:18 Pricing 1:50 Cheap Windows and Office keys from our sponsor 3:23 Differences between Z690 and Z790 N7 boards 11:13 Unboxing and board overview 15:33 Issues with this motherboard 18:43 EFI overview 21:19 More issues! 23:35 Benchmarks - Audio and thermals - VRMs and M.2 25:34 Water-cooled system build 26:58 - Conclusions
Yeah with how popular rgb lights are you'd think more companies would put even just a little bit more into aesthetics. This board is beautiful but compared to boards that are the same price it lacks in features. Hell you can get a board with more features for 2/3rds the price.
I had issues with CAM years ago but used it recently with an AIO and it was issue free thankfully. Maybe they could add something to the EFI for fan control though as I kinda prefer having fan control there. Good review though man! thanks!
thanks for the in-depth review. Wrt the fan control (starting at 19:57) there is no cool graphical interface to set up fan curves but you can still manually set it up for each fan with the drop downs, correct? I think that's what you're saying in the video but I just want to make sure as I really do not want to have to use CAM
It does sadly. You will need to use NZXT CAM to control the fans as the BIOS has very basic fan control. It’s possible but it lacks the advanced graphical interphases of other boards so will take a lot longer. RGB lighting depends on the memory you have but again you need to use CAM to control the motherboards RGB ports.
Hello, good evening? I recently bought this NZXT Z790 motherboard. I wanted to install the Intel Core i9 14900 processor. But the box says that it only supports up to the 13th generation. The manufacturer's website says that it supports the 14th generation. Do I have to update the BIOS to use the mentioned processor?
please help me how would i update my motherboard if it was a prebuilt i have the n7 690 and i think i need to update it my pc stutters on a lot of games i’m running a rtx 3080 i5 13600kf and 4000 ram
Wait when you were showing that you cant control RGB via software.... Do you mean me using Lian Li fans with the hub connected to the usb 2.0 port I couldent use the L-Software like usual? I was thinking of switching to this board but if it messes up with me configuring things normally for my Z73 and Lian Li Uni Fan SL-Infinity fans IDK how great that is...
I have this motherboard and i am having some issues if anyone has knowledge would appreciate it, had the same 2 sticks of dominator 6000mhz ram since i built it and recently got 2 more of the same with them in however the thing will boot loop with no display maybe 5 times but eventually i get a screen says press delete to bios or wait 10 seconds once i wait the 10 seconds the pc boots normally to desktop🤷🏽♂️😂 obviously something to do with having 4 sticks and not 2 from what i have found so far seems maybe doing something in the bios could solve it but i have no idea what and i don’t want to change settings willy nilly and break anything without some confidence im doing the right thing
@7:08 lol, I’m sitting here with a N7 Z790 and an i7 14700k that would have ruined my brand new N7 if I hadn’t stumbled onto a random Reddit post. I just bought it a week ago, I was a little bummed it didn’t include a BIOS reset switch. I wasn’t too concerned as all the marketing material states it’s compatible with 14th gen. However, recently discovered that they this requires a bios update that also requires a 12th or 13th gen CPU. How dumb is this! They wanted to save a few cents on a BIOS switch so they’re forcing thousands or more people to not buy or return their $299 motherboard. They’re so greedy they’re actually throwing away sales. It’s penny wise and dollar foolish, and has me considering returning the entire lot of NZXT products I recently purchased. I just don’t know if I want to entrust $2,000 of my money building with components from such an incompetent company.
Yeah - eating my own hat as I said! But again - back when Z790 boards were being designed, 13th Gen was seen as the last gen to come to LGA1700 so including a flashback function was seen as pointless. It's essentially Intel's fault for ditching Meteor Lake and doing a Raptor Lake refresh instead. Also, most people would be upgrading from 12th or 13th Gen to 14th Gen so could update their BIOS. Buying a new board and going for 14th Gen is probably not wise - 13th Gen is cheaper and just as fast and will be supported on new Z790 boards.
@@CrazyTechLab Seriously, hats off to you for mentioning it in your review. It does drive me crazy that companies get cute with saving costs like this. A BIOS flashback button would cost almost nothing, literally a fraction of a percent of the $299 asking price. Not to mention there are other good uses for a flashback button. Really, it probably has little to do with NZXT and more to do with ASRock wanting to push buyers into buying a higher tier/margin boards. My judgment of NZXT was a little harsh. I am annoyed that they are marketing this as 14th gen compatible, just dumb on their part. It might boost their sales a little, but most of these extra sales will be frustrated customers who return the board. Or even worse, customers who RMA their board. I’m glad I caught this before I actually built the PC. In all honesty, I’ll probably keep the board and just return my 14th gen CPU for a 13th gen. I really love NZXT’s design aesthetic, and I’m willing to pay a premium for it. It’s just a hard pill to swallow that you pay that premium and get substantially less functionality at the same time. Or maybe they’ll be willing to exchange it with a board that has the newer firmware and reconsider their marketing and product development (assuming they get enough complaints or requests) idk. Rant over. Again, at least you brought it up in your review. Too bad I only saw it after buying this board and a 14th gen CPU. At least it’s not too late and will only cost time instead of money. Thanks for the content and your reply, Cheers!
@@CrazyTechLab OK, so after digging and trying to find out if there was a way to update the BIOS without an older CPU (There isn’t) I found users on Reddit who installed 14th gen CPU’s with their older FW revisions. Apparently 13th & 14th “Gen” are so similar they don’t require updates. An NZXT representative on Amazon mistakenly stated that it required an update prior to the 14th gen’s release. They haven’t updated the response and it’s thrown me and quite a few people off. Anyway, I’m going to throw my 14700k in after Christmas and hope I have all this straight 🤞😆 I’ll still be in my return window. But I’m fairly confident it will be fine. Now I remember why I stopped building PC’s 20 years ago. My kids better put this to good use once it’s all put together. You’d think getting the correct compatibility information would be easier than it was 20 years ago 🤷♂️ Again great content, thank you
I agree it is a dumb idea to put ddr5 on this board... and 14th gen not being LG1700 makes me want to go AM5, but I've heard of big problems with those but usually it's with ASUS boards. Are there any debug features? A $300 board should have a 7-segment debug LED... :(
How is switching to ddr5 on a Z790 mobo a questionable decision?? lol like bruh wtf are u talkin about. Who’s buying a brand new z790 board and using ddr4? Ur completely outta ur mind here my guy. We’re talking about ddr6 coming out in 2025 and u want brand new high end mobo’s costing $300+ to come with ddr4???? U need to stop talking and/or giving ur opinion on computers immediately.
You know this video came out over a year ago? You're comment would be valid if it came out today. When DDR4 Z790 boards were COMMON and this board's predecessor Z690 used DDR4. I know because I have it so that was absolutely a valid comparison. You seem to have utterly failed to realise that and it is you that need to stop talking like you know everything when you clearly know absolutely nothing. 🤣🤣🤣
when you say configuration with the rgb, is that saying that if i had corsair fans plugged into a command pro and corsair ram that my rgb for the fans and ram would not work because i have to configure it through CAM on nzxt?
Nope if you have a Corsair ecosystem then that will work fine as its separate - iCUE, fans, RAM - you're good. It's just that the RGB control in CAM for fans connected to the motherboard is a little limited and if your RAM relies on Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte or MSI RGB software, this probably won't work.
@@CrazyTechLab alright thats cool, i plan to use corsair fans with either g skill ram or corsair ram im just undecided currently. Was worried i would have some rgb issues if i went with those since they were not CAM software rgb
@@DokiKimori not yet - just ordered everything for a complete new build before learning of this issue. Now I'm wondering if there is a solution, or do I cancel this RAM and go with something else..
Timstamps:
0:00 Intro
1:18 Pricing
1:50 Cheap Windows and Office keys from our sponsor
3:23 Differences between Z690 and Z790 N7 boards
11:13 Unboxing and board overview
15:33 Issues with this motherboard
18:43 EFI overview
21:19 More issues!
23:35 Benchmarks - Audio and thermals - VRMs and M.2
25:34 Water-cooled system build
26:58 - Conclusions
I wish more mb manufacturers would do these types of boards, as I usually paint my mb covers.
Yeah, super easy to take all that white off and paint it.
Yeah with how popular rgb lights are you'd think more companies would put even just a little bit more into aesthetics. This board is beautiful but compared to boards that are the same price it lacks in features. Hell you can get a board with more features for 2/3rds the price.
Dell needs to be like NZxt more for motherboards
I had issues with CAM years ago but used it recently with an AIO and it was issue free thankfully. Maybe they could add something to the EFI for fan control though as I kinda prefer having fan control there. Good review though man! thanks!
Thanks for the detailed review. Wish they / ANYONE used a White PCB & White I/O shield
Tbh white PCBs look fucking ugly.
Thanks for the detailed review.
If I were to buy this board would you recommend leaving the covers off for the bottom m.2 slots seeing that they don't have a heatsink.
you can add a heat pad, it is still metal so provide some cooling
thanks for the in-depth review. Wrt the fan control (starting at 19:57) there is no cool graphical interface to set up fan curves but you can still manually set it up for each fan with the drop downs, correct? I think that's what you're saying in the video but I just want to make sure as I really do not want to have to use CAM
Yep that’s correct. It’s a LOT more time consuming than using a graphical interface with a graph but it can be done
im confused. so does the N7 Z690 support 13th gen cpus or not?
Yeah it does
Yes.
so yeh z690 boards support 13th gen cpus, just need to update the bios first to make sure you can boot properly
does the N7 z790 support 14th gen ? I tend to get the new 14700k but i hear that they remove the bios flash ,only clearCMOS stay
I second that question@@theskywalker8416
Hi, complete noob here 😊 so shall we buy the N7 Z690 then? Or does it have the same RGB lighting software and fan curve control issues? Thanks Dan
It does sadly. You will need to use NZXT CAM to control the fans as the BIOS has very basic fan control. It’s possible but it lacks the advanced graphical interphases of other boards so will take a lot longer. RGB lighting depends on the memory you have but again you need to use CAM to control the motherboards RGB ports.
@@CrazyTechLab oh okay thanks, if it has the same issues but is cheaper than i may as well buy the N7 Z690
Hello, good evening? I recently bought this NZXT Z790 motherboard. I wanted to install the Intel Core i9 14900 processor. But the box says that it only supports up to the 13th generation. The manufacturer's website says that it supports the 14th generation. Do I have to update the BIOS to use the mentioned processor?
the 14th gen will be utilized as 13th you will not see 14th gen benefits.
please help me how would i update my motherboard if it was a prebuilt i have the n7 690 and i think i need to update it my pc stutters on a lot of games i’m running a rtx 3080 i5 13600kf and 4000 ram
no display port :-|
Gpu doesn't have?
I see it only has one display port…does this mean you can only average one monitor hooked up to this computer?
You plug your display port to your graphics card, not the motherboard
Wait when you were showing that you cant control RGB via software.... Do you mean me using Lian Li fans with the hub connected to the usb 2.0 port I couldent use the L-Software like usual? I was thinking of switching to this board but if it messes up with me configuring things normally for my Z73 and Lian Li Uni Fan SL-Infinity fans IDK how great that is...
No as long as you have your own software you’re fine. It’s when you don’t that’s the issue.
Plus if the fans have standard RGB connectors they’ll work too. It’s stuff like software-less RGB memory where you have to get creative
I have this motherboard and i am having some issues if anyone has knowledge would appreciate it, had the same 2 sticks of dominator 6000mhz ram since i built it and recently got 2 more of the same with them in however the thing will boot loop with no display maybe 5 times but eventually i get a screen says press delete to bios or wait 10 seconds once i wait the 10 seconds the pc boots normally to desktop🤷🏽♂️😂 obviously something to do with having 4 sticks and not 2 from what i have found so far seems maybe doing something in the bios could solve it but i have no idea what and i don’t want to change settings willy nilly and break anything without some confidence im doing the right thing
Anyone here know if I need to to a BIOS update to use this motherboard with a Ryzen 7 7900x?
does it have to be an nzxt fan to work in nzxt cam?
No it can be any fan if you connect it to a normal fan header
how would this board go with a Core i7 12700F
Very well. Would be out of the box compatible too.
does anyone know the height of the VRM heatsink on this motherboard?
If u measure it, u will know the answer very easily. Hope this helps!
I wish they made the z690 in white and for amd instead of only for intel
You know they do b550 and b650 for and in white right?
@CrazyTechLab can't find any one besides this one here in white everything else is black and grey edition where I live
heatsinks ?? how many? where? for what?
13:46
is there only 1 heatsink/thermal pad on this whole board? so disappointing
@7:08 lol, I’m sitting here with a N7 Z790 and an i7 14700k that would have ruined my brand new N7 if I hadn’t stumbled onto a random Reddit post. I just bought it a week ago, I was a little bummed it didn’t include a BIOS reset switch. I wasn’t too concerned as all the marketing material states it’s compatible with 14th gen. However, recently discovered that they this requires a bios update that also requires a 12th or 13th gen CPU. How dumb is this! They wanted to save a few cents on a BIOS switch so they’re forcing thousands or more people to not buy or return their $299 motherboard. They’re so greedy they’re actually throwing away sales. It’s penny wise and dollar foolish, and has me considering returning the entire lot of NZXT products I recently purchased. I just don’t know if I want to entrust $2,000 of my money building with components from such an incompetent company.
Yeah - eating my own hat as I said! But again - back when Z790 boards were being designed, 13th Gen was seen as the last gen to come to LGA1700 so including a flashback function was seen as pointless. It's essentially Intel's fault for ditching Meteor Lake and doing a Raptor Lake refresh instead. Also, most people would be upgrading from 12th or 13th Gen to 14th Gen so could update their BIOS. Buying a new board and going for 14th Gen is probably not wise - 13th Gen is cheaper and just as fast and will be supported on new Z790 boards.
@@CrazyTechLab Seriously, hats off to you for mentioning it in your review. It does drive me crazy that companies get cute with saving costs like this. A BIOS flashback button would cost almost nothing, literally a fraction of a percent of the $299 asking price. Not to mention there are other good uses for a flashback button. Really, it probably has little to do with NZXT and more to do with ASRock wanting to push buyers into buying a higher tier/margin boards. My judgment of NZXT was a little harsh. I am annoyed that they are marketing this as 14th gen compatible, just dumb on their part. It might boost their sales a little, but most of these extra sales will be frustrated customers who return the board. Or even worse, customers who RMA their board. I’m glad I caught this before I actually built the PC. In all honesty, I’ll probably keep the board and just return my 14th gen CPU for a 13th gen. I really love NZXT’s design aesthetic, and I’m willing to pay a premium for it. It’s just a hard pill to swallow that you pay that premium and get substantially less functionality at the same time. Or maybe they’ll be willing to exchange it with a board that has the newer firmware and reconsider their marketing and product development (assuming they get enough complaints or requests) idk. Rant over.
Again, at least you brought it up in your review. Too bad I only saw it after buying this board and a 14th gen CPU. At least it’s not too late and will only cost time instead of money. Thanks for the content and your reply,
Cheers!
@@CrazyTechLab OK, so after digging and trying to find out if there was a way to update the BIOS without an older CPU (There isn’t) I found users on Reddit who installed 14th gen CPU’s with their older FW revisions. Apparently 13th & 14th “Gen” are so similar they don’t require updates. An NZXT representative on Amazon mistakenly stated that it required an update prior to the 14th gen’s release. They haven’t updated the response and it’s thrown me and quite a few people off. Anyway, I’m going to throw my 14700k in after Christmas and hope I have all this straight 🤞😆 I’ll still be in my return window. But I’m fairly confident it will be fine. Now I remember why I stopped building PC’s 20 years ago. My kids better put this to good use once it’s all put together. You’d think getting the correct compatibility information would be easier than it was 20 years ago 🤷♂️ Again great content, thank you
@@CrazyTechLabcan i use a 2 tb ssd with this mobo or not
@@keenes06 yes is absolutely fine
Well, there is a 14th gen atm
I agree it is a dumb idea to put ddr5 on this board... and 14th gen not being LG1700 makes me want to go AM5, but I've heard of big problems with those but usually it's with ASUS boards. Are there any debug features? A $300 board should have a 7-segment debug LED... :(
Wat. 14th gen is LGA 1700
@@AdmrlSpeedy it wasn't confirmed at the time, not that it matters now since 14th gen is a garbage upgrade to 13th
@@Steve-i1q it was confirmed and known months ago, way before your comment lol.
How is switching to ddr5 on a Z790 mobo a questionable decision?? lol like bruh wtf are u talkin about. Who’s buying a brand new z790 board and using ddr4? Ur completely outta ur mind here my guy. We’re talking about ddr6 coming out in 2025 and u want brand new high end mobo’s costing $300+ to come with ddr4???? U need to stop talking and/or giving ur opinion on computers immediately.
You know this video came out over a year ago? You're comment would be valid if it came out today. When DDR4 Z790 boards were COMMON and this board's predecessor Z690 used DDR4. I know because I have it so that was absolutely a valid comparison. You seem to have utterly failed to realise that and it is you that need to stop talking like you know everything when you clearly know absolutely nothing. 🤣🤣🤣
when you say configuration with the rgb, is that saying that if i had corsair fans plugged into a command pro and corsair ram that my rgb for the fans and ram would not work because i have to configure it through CAM on nzxt?
Nope if you have a Corsair ecosystem then that will work fine as its separate - iCUE, fans, RAM - you're good. It's just that the RGB control in CAM for fans connected to the motherboard is a little limited and if your RAM relies on Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte or MSI RGB software, this probably won't work.
@@CrazyTechLab alright thats cool, i plan to use corsair fans with either g skill ram or corsair ram im just undecided currently. Was worried i would have some rgb issues if i went with those since they were not CAM software rgb
@@zolo400 Good idea to ask if you’re not sure! You should be fine!
Has anyone figured out the solution to controlling Team Group RAM RGB with this board yet? Sooooooooo damn frustrating. 😢
21:27 These are you’re only options
is this motherboard compatible with ryzen 7 ?
No you need the b650 version
This build was a waste of a white MB.
👀
Memory support please! You know how hard it is to find DDR5 in white with no RGB?
@NZXT - How do we control the RGB for our Team Group RAM? This is incredibly frustrating and a massive let down.
@@shaynhawley9637 have you tried any of the RGB applications from asus, asrock, or MSI? I heard those work?
@@DokiKimori not yet - just ordered everything for a complete new build before learning of this issue. Now I'm wondering if there is a solution, or do I cancel this RAM and go with something else..
@@shaynhawley9637 Use Asus Aura.
what is the max mhz speed of this mobo?