We have yet again reached the end of another review, and it is time to consolidate everything covered in this article in the conclusion. As with previous reviews, I will start with what I think Gigabyte could improve upon before finishing on a positive note.

Now that Intel's new LGA 1700 platform has been out on the market for a bit, we can step back and get an idea of the newly established trends. I've touched on this previously in other reviews, and I'll reiterate again. In short, prices are higher than consumers expected before the release, which left many unhappy and unwilling to spend more money over what they are accustomed to. This price increase can in part be justified by the new DDR5 and PCIe Gen 5.0 support, though not entirely. Both require better signal integrity, which is in turn more expensive to manufacture. The ongoing rare metals and chip shortages only inflate prices further. Looking through the Z690 chipset catalog, it is possible to purchase significantly cheaper motherboards, but in doing so, many of the extras are stripped down or eliminated entirely.

That being said, Gigabyte has done well with the Z690 AORUS Master overall, it only having minor faults when it comes to its feature set. By only including a single PCIe Gen5 slot and disabling one of the lower PCIe x4 slots when an M.2 drive is in use, Gigabyte has limited the amount of add-in cards that can be installed. Those who are looking for a full array of supporting PCIe slots will need to look elsewhere.

Those are minor issues considering the motherboard already has a full set of M.2 sockets and built-in 10 Gb LAN. My thought on this is that the average gamer or PC enthusiasts will only ever install a single video card, thus leaving the bottom slots vacate for the duration of the computer's shelf-life. Besides installing an audio or Thunderbolt 4 add-on card, it's hard to think of many common devices that could be put to use in these extra PCIe slots.

What truly sets this motherboard back from stardom is the BIOS. Quite frankly, it is something I would expect to find in a budget series that is unlikely to see users interacting with it in the first place. I believe Gigabyte can resolve most of the current lack of enthusiast-oriented OC features with future BIOS updates. However, this is a good time to disclose that during my initial review process, I could not run any XMP profile above DDR5-4800 stable without endlessly fiddling with settings prior to the newest F6c release. Some days, it would boot DDR5-6000, and the next time time I cleared the CMOS, it simply failed to post again. This continued with no real rhythm or reason. After updating to the newest BIOS (F7a), this all went away. Strange things still persist. For example, any voltage applied to the CPU override function is ignored in favor of a higher CPU voltage. The next biggest concern I have is the inability to set the E-core voltage offset and memory controller voltage, which I feel should be included at this product-tier.

Whether it is solely due to my actions or those of others who have brought up concerns as well, Gigabyte has been listening to my feedback, which is worth a mention. All too often do we hear of companies avoiding blame or pretending it was never an issue to being with. Gigabyte's Z690 AORUS Master has the potential to be a top-tier product, but is held back by a somewhat inferior BIOS to others on the market. Those who rather use software to control overclocking may not notice the flaws, but those who like to dive in and meticulously set each function permanently may be left frustrated until Gigabyte rolls out further BIOS revisions.

What Gigabyte has done exceptionally well is to design a motherboard as a practical high-end product without the LCD screens or other premium, non-essential features found on the ultra high-end of the spectrum. It has a robust power delivery system and equally rugged heatsink to cool this monstrosity. Let us not forget about the 10 Gb LAN and numerous points of connectivity strategically placed around the motherboard; USB 3.1, USB 2.0 and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 headers, temperature senor headers, voltage measuring points, watercooling monitoring for flow-rate and Thunderbolt add-in card connectors. The list goes on, but the point has been made. The Z690 Aorus Master is brimming with connectivity for devices and supporting hardware, and it is all tied neatly together into a single package.

Gigabyte has created a product that is designed for those who want these extra enthusiast-grade features without the extra premium cost of stylish designs and additional non-essential add-ons commonly included with the ultra-high end. Even though the BIOS is severely flawed in my opinion, the Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Master is something to seriously consider because of the extensive feature set you get at a reasonable price. Just be warned that some oddities may linger in the BIOS and not work as intended until Gigabyte sorts those out eventually.