Been wondering about this myself. Only difference w/ Z790 is 12 -> 20 PCIe4 lanes (+ 16 -> 8 PCIe3 lanes) and somewhat higher supported memory speeds (though I’m not sure how much this part matters). PCIe lane difference shouldn’t matter unless you want more than 4 NVMe slots (CPU has 4 lanes for a total of 16). Meanwhile you can get a like… MSI Z690 ACE for 250$ which is currently less than a Z790 Tomahawk Max and much higher end.

Nothing wrong with a Z690 board. I decided to go higher end z690 instead of lower end z790. Needed a bios update, no big deal.

Just double check that you can update your bios without a CPU.

Here’s a good article explaining the differences.

Z790 vs. Z690 – Key Differences & Which to Choose?

Z690’s are fine on 13/14th gen. I had a Z690 Hero and it’s a great board, even more so with the recent price drops.

I will say that Z790’s, at least mid to higher end ones due tend to do better with 7000+ memory speeds. I could only get 6800 stable on my Hero. And I tried my tail off to get higher. Mind you it was my first time overclocking DDR5. So maybe if I had more experience I would have been successful.

For about the same price I would recommend at least taking a look at the Asrock Z790 Nova WiFi. Pretty good bang for the buck board. There is a thread over at overclock net and it’s getting a pretty positive reception.

The most important factor in choosing the motherboard is how good the vrms are and how well are they cooled. So look for large quantity high quality vrms with large heatsinks from MSI.

Depends on the price. Z690 boards are good quality and tend to cost a lot less. RAM oc is worse on ddr5. For Ddr4 there is no difference.

No meaningful difference , grab a 690