Review: EVGA Z690 DARK KingPiN

By
CornerJack
-
0

The last word:

In my review of the ROG Maximus Z790 APEX, I told you that it would most likely be my last favorite of the year 2022 and well, I was wrong. With the work done by the EVGA team in the last few weeks, this BIOS 2.05 is finally the BIOS that makes this EVGA Z690 DARK KingPiN the best motherboard for overclocking on the Z690 chipset. Yes, but what about the Z690 APEX? If you read the test, you know that there are two revisions and if you don’t get the 2022 revision, the memory overclocking performance won’t follow. In short, if you have the opportunity to find this card or to buy it second hand, go for it! By the way, I think there is one on our Discord for sale.

We will try to get our hands on a copy of the EVGA Z790 DARK KingPiN but except through import, we don’t see how it would be possible. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the motherboard branch will continue to exist in the coming months and that it won’t go the same way as the GPU branch.

La carte mère EVGA Z690 DARK Kingpin

EVGA Z690 DARK KingPiN

We liked:

  • A high performance power stage
  • The possibility to use high capacity and high frequency memory
  • LN2 mode for testing under liquid nitrogen
  • The presence of three BIOSes
  • A 2.05 BIOS that finally performs!
  • 8000 MT/s profiles within the bios to clock the memory
  • The “tools” inserted on the PCB to facilitate extreme overclocking
  • The presence of two PS/2 slots for clocking under XP
  • The bundle is as interesting as ever

We would have liked:

  • The faster arrival of this BIOS
  • Being able to buy these motherboards directly in Europe

While the dedicated GPU branch just shut down, let’s hope that won’t be the case for motherboards but we have some doubts as we conclude this article. The team has done a great job on the BIOS of this Z690 but also on the Z790 version that has just been released. Let’s face it, this EVGA Z690 DARK KingPiN is the best motherboard dedicated to overclocking on the Z690 chipset, and in the end it is a better choice than some Z790s. If you still have the opportunity to find it, go for it! I think this is officially our last favorite for 2022. Thanks to the EVGA team and Jacob for giving us the opportunity to test this Z690 DARK KingPiN!