MSI PRO Z690-A WiFi ProSeries Motherboard (12th/13th/14th Gen Intel Core, LGA 1700 Socket, DDR5, PCIe 5, 2.5G LAN, M.2 Slots, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, ATX)

I had an issue with install - no display and no posting to bios. After flashing the bios to the latest version, it posted fine with display and stable through stress testing. Steps below.CPU: Intel Core i5-12600KF LGA1700 600CPU Cooler: Thermaltake TH240 ARGB All-in-One Liquid Cooling System 240mm CL-W286-PL12SW-CMotherboard: MSI PRO Z690-A WiFi ProSeries MotherboardStorage: WD_BLACK 1TB SN850 NVMe WDS100T1X0EMemory: TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan DDR5 Ram 32GB 5200MHz FLBD532G5200HC40CDC01PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower PF1 850W 80+ Platinum PS-TPD-0850FNFAPU-1GPU: 1070 - swapping to RX 6700 XT--------------------------------This is a great DDR 5 board. Looks good, but, missing a lot of bells and whistles you don't need anyway for gaming. This is the best budget gaming motherboard to pair with DDR5 memory. I paired this with 32gb Vulcan memory for $200 less than the next mb/memory combo.Getting download speeds of 450+ (max under my service provider) in the room furthest away from my router on a different house level.When I first installed this board, I was getting no display no posting to the bios. The LED troubleshooting lights were flashing cpu then solid green on boot. I was afraid the board was DOA.I started running through troubleshooting steps. I checked the power connections, made sure my CPU was set correctly and went to one stick in dimm A2 (as outlined in manual). The kf chip does not have integrated graphics so swapped to a GPU I knew was working 1070. Still no post.I opts to flash the bios using the bios flash port. search for "MSI® HOW TO use Flash BIOS Button"Flash your bios at your own risk, but these steps worked for me.1. using a different device, I download latest bios to usb drive (8gb+ formatted to fat 32) 2. renamed bios file to msi.rom.3. plugged usb drive to flash bios port4. with power off (psu hooked into CPU_pwr1 and ATX pwr1 and plugged into the outlet)5. Hit flash bios button6. usb drive and lights on mb flash/blink during installation (do not mess with board during this). Board will restart a few times when finished and lights will turn off. 7. Install CPU, GPU, cooling, memory if needed.Bios posted and I was able to install windows and it has passed every stress test so far. Works great and very stable/fast. If you run into issues don't give up just yet. This is a new board with new architecture. you may need to update the bios if you run into issues. At time of this review, you will not find a cheaper wifi ddr5 board through amazon.

I used this for my first official ground-up build. I've used worked-over used PC's for years with great results and wanted to do an actual build this time for a Win11-compatible machine capable of light gaming. Here are the steps you should take:-Install mobo in tower with other components-Download ALL available drivers (for Win10 or Win11, whichever you install) using another computer and put them on a USB thumb drive-Power on the machine-Install Win10/Win11 but DO NOT HAVE A NETWORK CABLE PLUGGED IN (YET)!!-While in the OS, plug in your USB thumb drive with the MSI drivers and move all of the driver zip files to the new computer, unzip them, and install them; make sure to have your Device Manager open so you can confirm all of the hardware is being detected-Plug in your network connection (or connect via wifi) so you can access the internet and allow Windows Updates to do it's thing-Install your personal stuff (browser, games, files, etc) from your old machine-You're done!The install overall was a breeze. All of the drivers worked and there were no unknown devices showing in Device Manager afterward. I used an old Win7 Pro key I had to activate Win10 and it worked like a charm. I'm just waiting for my GPU before I can start using the new rig full-time and decommission my old desktop. I'm using a Samsung 512GB NVMe as a boot drive and two 3TB HGST HDD's as slave drives for everything else. I installed an Intel 12th gen I7 and this thing boots in under 10 seconds. 32GB of DDR5 memory as well. All of this in a Rosewill Cullinan blue LED case and an Rosewill ARC750 PSU with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB CPU cooler.For a first-time real-deal build, this motherboard worked out nicely. I'll play around with the RAM and CPU overclocking features down the road a bit, but otherwise I'm very pleased with this build!

This is an inexpensive Z690 motherboard for those who want some room for mild overclocking. I only planned to use air cooling and only do mild overclocking so all the extra features of the higher-priced boards are unnecessary for my use.It has PCIe 5.0, but it is likely the next generation of GPUs won't utilize this. However, I do expect this to get utilized before the natural lifespan of this board. Intel has confirmed Gen 13 CPUs will Socket 1700, and it is generally understood that Gen 14 will also (no official statement on Gen 14 CPUs as far as I know).DDR5 will become the standard and likely be utilized more with Intel Gen 13. PC5600 will be a part of the JEDEC standard for 13th Gen CPUs.Now for the gripes: Why on earth are motherboard makers sending optical disks with drivers? Absolutely terrible practice. You better have a LAN cable to do a fresh install because you can't use WiFi out of the box even on Windows 11 installers. This doesn't bother me excessively, but I could see this being an issue for many buyers.The BIOS has been and continues to be MSI's weakest point. I'm used to it, so that doesn't bother me as much but it really could use a revamp.Overall: Excellent motherboard especially when you consider cost. Handles minor overclocking without issue. I think MSI should charge the extra $5 for USB sticks with drivers on them.