Avoid Intel 13th Gen BIOS Update Issues With These Z690 Motherboards
Intel’s new 13th Gen ‘Raptor Lake’ CPUs are the fastest on the market, but they don’t come cheap. One of his ways to save money on builds is to use the latest generation Intel 600 series motherboards. These boards will use the LGA 1700 socket required by Raptor Lake, and according to Intel, everything is equal (power delivery and cooling capabilities of the boards, etc.). You should get the same performance as the 700 series boards. (Be sure to check our company. best motherboard A page of the best tested options. )
But there are pitfalls. All 600-series motherboards can theoretically support Raptor Lake chips, but most (or at least many) will need to install a new BIOS to recognize the 13th generation processors.try to pop Core i5-13600Kif you insert a Core i7-13700K or Core i9-13900K into a 600 series motherboard without a proper BIOS, it won’t even POST.
The cheapest Z790 motherboard I found at the time of writing was $169, while the cheapest previous generation Z690 motherboard was $129. And if you don’t want to overclock your CPU, you can find cheap H610 or B660 chipset boards that are perfect to pair with a Core i5 or Core i7 for just $89 or $99.
We contacted the four major motherboard vendors (ASRock, Asus, Gigabyte and MSI) to ask if any of their 600 series boards would work with Raptor Lake chips out of the box. Asus and Gigabyte say some recently produced boards may have his BIOS compatible with Raptor Lake, but there’s no reasonable way to know that before you buy. According to Asus, the version of his BIOS that the motherboard has is looking at stickers (opens in new tab) It’s on the board itself, but it’s not very useful unless you buy it at a physical store where you can open the box before purchasing.
Most (if not all) 600-series boards have BIOS updates that add Alder Lake support, but download these updates before booting up with the 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs. can be installed usingIf you have access to an old Intel 12th Gen “Alder Lake” CPU, you can put the old CPU on board and boot into the UEFI interface to update his BIOS (see How to enter the BIOS If you don’t know how to get there), then you should be ready to go.
However, most people buying Raptor Lake CPUs and new motherboards today don’t have the latest generation processors around their homes. At one point AMD, which had been using the same AM4 socket for five different processor generations, Lending program They send me old CPUs to use for BIOS upgrades, but Intel doesn’t have one.
So if you’re buying a 600-series motherboard to use with Raptor Lake CPUs, your best bet is to buy a model with BIOS Flashback, a feature that allows you to update the BIOS without having the CPU installed at all. BIOS update USB flash drivePlug in the board, press the flashback button on the motherboard and wait a few minutes for it to update.
We’ve created a list of all Intel 600 series motherboards and BIOS flashbacks available for sale to help you find models you can use to save money on your new build.
We found a total of 72 600 series motherboards with BIOS Flashback (Gigabyte calls this feature Q-Flash Plus, but it’s essentially the same thing). There are about 30 models, including Gigabyte SKUs listed on the manufacturer’s website, but I haven’t found any for sale in the US.
motherboard | Current price | RAM type |
---|---|---|
ASRock B660 Pro RS | $109 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660 DS3H DDR4 | $109 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660M DS3H DDR4 | $109 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660M Power DDR4 | $109 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock B660M Steel Legend | $114 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock H670M Pro RS | $119 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock H670 PG Riptide | $129 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660 DS3H AX DDR4 | $129 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660M DS3H AX DDR4 | $129 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 | $139 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte Z690I Aorus Ultralight DDR4 | $139 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock Z690 Pro RS | $144 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock H670 Steel Legend | $149 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660M Gaming X AX | $149 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660M Gaming X AX DDR4 | $149 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock B660 Steel Legend | $159 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock Z690M PG Riptide DDR5 | $159 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Gigabyte B660M Aorus Pro AX DDR4 | $159 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660M Aorus Pro DDR4 | $159 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock Z690 PG Riptide | $168 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock H670M-ITX/AX | $169 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock Z690 Steel Legend | $171 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660M D2H DDR4 | $171 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660 Aorus master DDR4 | $179 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660 Gaming X AX DDR4 | $179 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock Z690 Extreme | $182 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660M Gaming DDR4 | $189 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte Z690 UD DDR4 | $189 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock Z690 Extreme Wi-Fi 6E | $196 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660 Aorus Elite DDR4 | $199 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660M Aorus Elite DDR4 | $199 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
MSI Pro Z690-A | $206 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Asus ROG Strix B660-A Gaming WIFI D4 | $208 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X DDR4 | $209 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte Z690 UD-AX DDR4 | $209 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock Z690 Steel Legend WiFi 6E | $219 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
MSI Pro Z690-A WiFi | $225 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Gigabyte Z690 Gaming X | $229 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Gigabyte B660M Aorus Pro | $236 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB4 | $245 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Elite AX DDR4 | $249 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte Z690M Aorus Elite AX DDR4 | $249 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte Z690M Aorus Elite DDR4 | $249 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
MPG Z690 Edge WiFi | $249 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
MPG Z690 Edge WiFi DDR4 | $256 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
MSI Pro Z690-A WiFi DDR4 | $256 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte Z690 Aero G DDR4 | $259 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 | $259 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Asus ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WiFi D4 | $269 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte B660M D3H DDR4 | $269 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Gigabyte Z690 Aero G | $269 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Asus ROG Strix Z690-G Gaming WiFi | $274 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
MSI MAG Z690 Tomahawk WiFi | $275 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
MPG Z690 Force WiFi | $299 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Asus ROG Strix Z690-F Gaming WiFi | $305 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
ASRock Z690 PG Velocita | $309 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Gigabyte Z690I Aorus Ultra Plus | $309 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
MSI MAG Z690 Torpedo | $328 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Asus ROG Strix Z690-E Gaming WiFi | $365 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi | $369 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Gigabyte Z690 Aero D | $379 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Gigabyte Z690 UD | $387 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Elite DDR4 | $395 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
Asus ProArt Z690 Creator WiFi | $449 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
MEG Z690 UNIFY-X | $459 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
MSI Meg Z690 Ace | $539 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro DDR4 | $592 (opens in new tab) | DDR4 |
ASRock Z690 Taichi Razer Edition | $619 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
ASRock Z690 Aqua OC | $756 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
MSI MPG Z690 EK-X | $766 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
ASRock Z690 Aqua | $889 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
MSI MEG Z690 Godlike | $1199 (opens in new tab) | DDR5 |
The lowest price for a 600 series board with BIOS flashback is $109, a price we’ve seen on many B660 SKUs from ASRock and Gigabyte. If you want to overclock the Raptor Lake chip (something many people want to do with his K-series CPUs), you’ll have to spend at least $139. ASRock Z690 Phantom Gaming 4 (opens in new tab) When Gigabyte Z690I Aorus Ultralight DDR4 (opens in new tab), both are DDR4 boards. If you want a board that uses DDR5 RAM, the cheapest option is ASRock Z690M PG Riptide DDR5 (opens in new tab) $159. In comparison, the cheapest DDR4-equipped Z790 board we’ve seen so far is $179, and the DDR5 model raises that price to $199.
If you want Wi-Fi on your Z690 motherboard, the cheapest options are: ASRock Z690 Extreme Wi-Fi 6E (opens in new tab) for $196. That’s the DDR4 board. If you want Wi-Fi and DDR5 support, the cheapest option is ASRock Z690 Steel Legend WiFi 6E (opens in new tab) $219. The cheapest Z790 board I’ve seen for Wi-Fi is $249, so it’s still a savings. It makes little sense for him to use a Z690 board over a Z790 when you’re spending well over $250.