EVGA Z690 Dark Kingpin Motherboard Review

In this review we looked at the EVGA Z690 Dark, this is a late entry into the Alder Lake product cycle and by the time this review has gone live you will have seen that EVGA has announced the Z790 Dark variant supporting Raptor Lake.

It is not much of a surprise to see that the EVGA Z690 Dark and the EVGA Z790 Dark look almost identical.  They both feature the same motherboard layout.  The CPU sockets are the compatible between the processor versions and given EVGA’s track history for the Dark Series they never change that much.  Most of the technical changes are directly related to overclocking “that” generation of processor leaving the rest of the formula alone.

This is a trend that I can fully support as I do the same with my programming projects but, deep down I feel that the designers are taking the easy way out, at least when it comes to the overall design and layout.

As with most modern motherboards the EVGA Z690 Dark doesn’t come with a plethora of additional accessories.  You’ll get the minimal components to make the motherboard work.  The motherboard supports a number of high-end onboard features like USB Type-C, High-quality audio and WiFi but, has dropped onboard video sockets.  Storage on the Z690 Dark is above and beyond with options to use up to eight SATA drives and a total of three M.2 Sockets under an extremely good factory heatsink.

As mentioned before the Z690 Dark features the same rotated motherboard design from the previous editions and despite a few visual changes the overall layout remains the same.  I am a fan of “less exposed copper” though still like the gold accents on the PCB.  You still only get two full length PCI Express slots with a third hidden under a cover at the bottom of the motherboard.

Oh, and did I mention the new Backplate!!  Super strong and made from rather heavy gauge aluminum plate with DARK removed giving the logo a multi-layer effect.

The UEFI layout is quite good and displays exactly what you need to see.  This is an important feature given that many manufacturers tend to overcomplicate the interface by trying to show "everything" or do the opposite and hide everything within a complex list of menus.  I find the EVGA UEFI to be very straight forward showing you the current state of your system while giving you appropriate menus to make adjustments.  My only real complaint is that I find myself attempting to exit a menu only to have the UEFI asking me to save and exit.  I find this code for “Hey idiot, you are at the top, pay attention”

Some of what makes this motherboard great can also be its biggest detractor.  The most obvious is the size of the motherboard and at 11inches wide will require a pretty big case to install it correctly.  The 90 degree power sockets will give you grief when using a “smaller” case so keep that in mind when planning your build.  Of course, when this board is on the bench the cable orientation isn’t a big deal and is actually quite nice.

Maybe the Z800 series might introduce a Mini ITX version of the Dark Kingpin.  Cooling such a system in a SFF chassis can be a challenge but, if we think “Exotic Supercar” the overclocking aspect isn’t as important as the image provided you still have the same potential for performance.

Oversized VRM Cooler with Active Cooling
Backplate!
Unique Motherboard Shape
Great Out of Box Performance
Excellent Memory Performance
Black on Black on Gold Color Scheme
Awesome UEFI Menus
6600Mhz+ DDR5 Performance
Drivers on Flash Drive
ARGB Onboard
Finally Less Exposed Copper

VRM is heavy!
Some 90-degree power connections are difficult to access in a case