MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4/WIFI Owners Thread

[garikdfox]

The ever so popular MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 discussion thread.

BIOS: v11
https://download.msi.com/bos_exe/mb/7D25v11.zip

 

[garikdfox]

v11, the auto XMP command rate is still reading at 2T. Manually changed to 1T and is fine.

 

[Koldur]

v11, XMP command rate still stuck at 2T

At 3200? Or did you overclock your RAM?

 

[garikdfox]

Yes my XMP is 3200mhz, command rate is supposed to be 1T but this board isn't honoring that yet. No OC

 

[Koldur]

Yes my XMP is 3200mhz, command rate is supposed to be 1T but this board isn't honoring that yet. No OC

Sounds you got very unlucky with the memory controller within your CPU as that is the chip that takes care of the gear. Motherboard and RAM shouldn't have anything to do with that.

 

[garikdfox]

It's a known issue. Lots of other people are having the same problem. Don't get me wrong command rate 2T is still amazeballs fast!

 

[garikdfox]

v11 bug found, well for me anyway.

bug: turning on PSU switch from off results in the MB turning on. this to me isn't normal behavior.

 

[Elgato748]

So, are you better off staying on ver 10 for now?
Are most of you staying with the drivers installed by Windows 11 or upgrading to all the ones on the MSI site?
Any problems with any of the ones at MSI?

 

[kirbyrj]

v11 bug found, well for me anyway.

bug: turning on PSU switch from off results in the MB turning on. this to me isn't normal behavior.

That sounds like a setting in the bios.

 

[garikdfox]

So, are you better off staying on ver 10 for now?
Are most of you staying with the drivers installed by Windows 11 or upgrading to all the ones on the MSI site?
Any problems with any of the ones at MSI?

Use Win11 since it's optimized for Alder Lake

I feel the NVIDIA Windows default driver it pulls in is better than the newer ones so i left it alone. 456.71. The other drivers i used MSI drivers. No problems with them.

 

[garikdfox]

That sounds like a setting in the bios.

It was v10 BIOS

 

[Dan_D]

Sounds you got very unlucky with the memory controller within your CPU as that is the chip that takes care of the gear. Motherboard and RAM shouldn't have anything to do with that.

Not true. I've seen boards that would run 1T with specific modules and not others. It's the combination of hardware, not the individual pieces that determine that. There are a whole lot of reasons why a given module won't achieve 1T timings on a given motherboard. Most of which are BIOS/firmware related.

 

[garikdfox]

I changed mine to 1T a few days ago. I even installed Win11 again. Seems fine. My previous X570 Aorus Master set it's XMP at 1T but this board defaults to 2T.

 

[Krenum]

I'm having an issue with my MSI Z690-A DDR 4 board.

My RTX 2070 is being read as PCI Express 3.0 x8 when it should be x16. I have my graphics card inserted in the top slot, closest to the CPU (12700K)

Is there a way I can fix this? I've heard that the Sata Ports might be sharing lanes with it, but aren't those lanes controlled by the chipset?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Dan_D]

I'm having an issue with my MSI Z690-A DDR 4 board.

My RTX 2070 is being read as PCI Express 3.0 x8 when it should be x16. I have my graphics card inserted in the top slot, closest to the CPU (12700K)

Is there a way I can fix this? I've heard that the Sata Ports might be sharing lanes with it, but aren't those lanes controlled by the chipset?

Any help would be much appreciated.

What's the complete system configuration? Usually when that happens its because you have something in the second PCIe slot or one of the M.2 slots. I know the top M.2 slot on my Maximus Z690 Extreme's top slot shares bandwidth with the primary PCIe x16 slot. Putting something in that would reduce the primary PCIe x16 slot to x8.

 

[Denpepe]

What's the complete system configuration? Usually when that happens its because you have something in the second PCIe slot or one of the M.2 slots. I know the top M.2 slot on my Maximus Z690 Extreme's top slot shares bandwidth with the primary PCIe x16 slot. Putting something in that would reduce the primary PCIe x16 slot to x8.

Should not be the case on his motherboard if I read the tech specs correctly, think they skip a lot of that on the cheaper boards due to the PCIe 5.0 spec. complexity, I have a different MSI board (MPG edge wifi DDR4) with 3 NVMe drives installed and my GPU is still running at X16 PCIe 4.0.

I would start by making sure you got the latest bios, from what I see on MSI's website you have one NVMe 4.0 slot coming from the CPU but that is standard, all the other go trough the chipset.

 

[Krenum]

What's the complete system configuration? Usually when that happens its because you have something in the second PCIe slot or one of the M.2 slots. I know the top M.2 slot on my Maximus Z690 Extreme's top slot shares bandwidth with the primary PCIe x16 slot. Putting something in that would reduce the primary PCIe x16 slot to x8.

I fixed it by going into the Device Manager and turning off the iGPU, apparently it was enabled and sharing a lane with my video card (RTX 2070) Its now reporting PCI-E 3.0 x16 in GPUz as it should. Thanks for the reply.

 

[RogueTrip]

Running a 12700k. Msi pro z690-a. 32gb ddr4 3600mhz.

Has been running ok for the 2 weeks I've had it. Did have to figure out sleep issues and getting help to disable the iGPU.


Today I recieved a samsung 970 evo+ 500gb nvme to move my windows 10 from my older samsung 850 evo 250gb.

Once installed I could log into windows and see the drive. I could not get into the bios (delete key at boot time or from shift+restart method). My monitor would go to sleep after checking inputs. Moved the nvme drive to another slot and still could not get into bios. Ended up jumping the clear cmos and that seemed to fix it. Had to redo all my settings.

Also have a game drive (inland 2tb nvme) installed in a pci-e adapter that worked fine in the bottom slot but reading the manual shows it is a pci-e 3.0 1x so I moved it up to the 2nd from the bottom slot for pci-e 3.0 4x but then windows would not see the drive. Re-seated and still nothing. Pulled the nvme drive and installed it on the bottom right m2 slot and it shows up in windows again.

Sheesh. Nice hour plus of time for this small drive upgrade.

Hope this helps some one out in the future.

 

[garikdfox]

BETA BIOS 1.24 (v12 BETA 4)
-sleep mode fixed
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10mMb4Ne8_Kv4O6n_XYORglTuPXYthIjw

 

[garikdfox]

Good news guys! There actually IS versions of Windows 10 that supports Alder Lake(s) CPU scheduling, We are not stuck to Win11 after all!!

Turns out version 21H2 is the supported version for Alder Lake and the new CPU scheduler, There's a few versions of 21H2. Windows 11 and Windows 10 19044.x

 

[garikdfox]

BETA BIOS 1.24U2
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JgQrjYD8MrpAif-Xwr2LK74o-VgAAVG3

 

[garikdfox]

Good news guys! There actually IS versions of Windows 10 that supports Alder Lake(s) CPU scheduling, We are not stuck to Win11 after all!!

Turns out version 21H2 is the supported version for Alder Lake and the new CPU scheduler, There's a few versions of 21H2. Windows 11 and Windows 10 19044.x

I've been testing Windows 11 vs 10 21H2. I've come to the conclusion that even though Win11 is unpolished I actually do notice a ever so slight speed/performance/zippiness increase of the OS.

Win10 21H2 is still very very good and the normal computer user probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two.

Someone mentioned that 21H2 does contain Alder lake optimizations but Win11 has newer optimizations for it and I'm starting to believe that.

 

[garikdfox]

New Realtek Audio driver posted today. 6.0.9279.1

 

[pavel]

New Realtek Audio driver posted today. 6.0.9279.1

Sorry to interrupt (I don't have this board - I don't even have a build), but I thought this looks like a good basic board if you want to go Alder Lake and stick with DDR4 (since DDR5 isn't readily available and the price reflects that. I was wondering about the Intel LAN i225v - are you guys getting a working lan/ethernet (i.e. no issues)? Also, the realtek chip is ALC897, which is the 'lower end/tier' realtek chip - how does it sound? I don't know when I am building but when I do, I was debating whether to get ALC1220 or not. At the moment, I am thinking I shouldn't care since I will probably use a DAC/A/V Stereo Receiver with speakers setup whenever I set up a new build. Thus, this MSI motherboard would be fine for what I want and is probably the cheapest/best deal out of the Alder Lake motherboards, in my area.

Sorry to interrupt the thread - 'hope it's okay. :-{

Btw/PS: Steve/Gamers Nexus rated this as a recommended board in the price range $150 - $200 USD (price might vary depending on your area - it's much more than that for me).

 

[Furious_Styles]

Sorry to interrupt (I don't have this board - I don't even have a build), but I thought this looks like a good basic board if you want to go Alder Lake and stick with DDR4 (since DDR5 isn't readily available and the price reflects that. I was wondering about the Intel LAN i225v - are you guys getting a working lan/ethernet (i.e. no issues)? Also, the realtek chip is ALC897, which is the 'lower end/tier' realtek chip - how does it sound? I don't know when I am building but when I do, I was debating whether to get ALC1220 or not. At the moment, I am thinking I shouldn't care since I will probably use a DAC/A/V Stereo Receiver with speakers setup whenever I set up a new build. Thus, this MSI motherboard would be fine for what I want and is probably the cheapest/best deal out of the Alder Lake motherboards, in my area.

Sorry to interrupt the thread - 'hope it's okay. :-{

Btw/PS: Steve/Gamers Nexus rated this as a recommended board in the price range $150 - $200 USD (price might vary depending on your area - it's much more than that for me).

Well almost all the lowest priced Z690 boards were roughly 200-230 on release here in the US.

 

[yourgrandma]

Sorry to interrupt (I don't have this board - I don't even have a build), but I thought this looks like a good basic board if you want to go Alder Lake and stick with DDR4 (since DDR5 isn't readily available and the price reflects that. I was wondering about the Intel LAN i225v - are you guys getting a working lan/ethernet (i.e. no issues)? Also, the realtek chip is ALC897, which is the 'lower end/tier' realtek chip - how does it sound? I don't know when I am building but when I do, I was debating whether to get ALC1220 or not. At the moment, I am thinking I shouldn't care since I will probably use a DAC/A/V Stereo Receiver with speakers setup whenever I set up a new build. Thus, this MSI motherboard would be fine for what I want and is probably the cheapest/best deal out of the Alder Lake motherboards, in my area.

Sorry to interrupt the thread - 'hope it's okay. :-{

Btw/PS: Steve/Gamers Nexus rated this as a recommended board in the price range $150 - $200 USD (price might vary depending on your area - it's much more than that for me).

Intel LAN i225v is the 3rd revision yet all that seems to mean is that they fixed none of the issues with it but now you can't use the old drivers or fixes on it. You shouldn't buy this board if you're going to be using it. It only works maybe 1/3 of the time on boot for me and i have to reboot every time it doesn't.

 

[pavel]

Intel LAN i225v is the 3rd revision yet all that seems to mean is that they fixed none of the issues with it but now you can't use the old drivers or fixes on it. You shouldn't buy this board if you're going to be using it. It only works maybe 1/3 of the time on boot for me and i have to reboot every time it doesn't.

Oh, sorry to hear that. That really sucks and is shameful for Intel not to fix that issue by now. I guess you knew, immediately, why I was asking about it.

The Realtek 8125 LAN is the only other choice. I don't recall if there's any issues with it - I don't think so. If you are looking for an Alder Lake mobo and the Intel issue scares you away or becomes too much of a PITA and you want alternatives, I think the Asus Prime Z690-P Wifi D4 looks like a decent alternative. It has the realtek lan and is a bit cheaper, most places, than the MSI board. It lacks features but is in the same price tier as the MSI board.

Of course, you could buy a LAN card but Imho, one shouldn't have to do that today - unless they need more features/capabilities/speeds than what the onboard ethernet offers. You shouldn't have to get an add-on card because there's issues with the onboard hardware or drivers/performance issues with it.

 

[slurm]

I also have this motherboard, haven't had issues where the Intel i225v NIC doesn't work on boot. The NIC has been okay for me except for one thing: if I'm downloading a steam game AND browsing the web, the NIC slows down to ~250Mbps, web browsing is really slow, and sometimes the NIC just cuts out for a few seconds before recovering back to downloading at ~250Mbps. If I stop browsing the web and do nothing, NIC goes back to maxing out my internet connection downloading from steam. No issues while playing online FPS's, seems like the NIC can't focus on more than one thing at a time before crapping out.

No luck with the NIC driver on MSI's website or the latest Intel driver. MSI released a beta BIOS a few days ago, but I'm not keen on trying it and no mention of NIC issue in description.

 

[slurm]

New Beta BIOS: Improved ethernet LAN connection issue only when ASPM L1 of PCIe device or CPU C-State settings have been changed manually.

 

[Garuda123]

Hello I have a strange problem with the delay of my computer starts up. When I turned on with a screwdriver it was the same.

The bios is the latest

Watch the video:

https://forum.benchmark.pl/uploads/...2701.mp4.5de406fa37dc7c624b68fb05b5010c0a.mp4


Processor::Intel Core i5-12400 Cooling:: Fortis 5 GPU: none

Mobo: MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4

RAM: Crucial 16GB (2x8GB) 3600MHz CL16 Ballistix Black RGB Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GA 750W 80 Plus Gold Disk: Kingston 1TB M.2 PCIe NVMe A2000

 

[RogueTrip]

what are the status leds on the motherboard doing when you hit the power button?

 

[Garuda123]

 

[The_Heretic]

Looks like a standard release V12 now.

 

[pavel]

Do any of you guys use Kingston Fury Beast 3200MHz or Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200mhz with this board? The most recent versions of both memory - I think is hynix but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[The_Heretic]

Do any of you guys use Kingston Fury Beast 3200MHz or Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200mhz with this board? The most recent versions of both memory - I think is hynix but I'm not 100% sure.

Yes, I'm running 64Gb (16 x 4) of Kingston Fury Beast in mine.

 

[pavel]

Yes, I'm running 64Gb (16 x 4) of Kingston Fury Beast in mine.

4 sticks and no problems? Awesome!

 

[The_Heretic]

4 sticks and no problems? Awesome!

pic for reference.

 

[pavel]

Have the intel i225-v issues gone away with the new BIOS? Only two buyers of the board have had trouble? If it was a hardware issue, wouldn't it impact multiple owners/users?
I have read of the issue - but, it was mostly on older revisions - and supposedly fixed. Or was it? I don't need wifi - was going to use the ethernet/LAN. The only other board around that price (with Realtek LAN) is the Asus Prime Z690-P - comparable vrms to the MSI but the I/O leaves a lot to be desired. It's pretty cut down and doesn't have the extra M.2 slot like the MSI does. Similar prices - depends on sales etc. I found a 12700K/MSI Z690 combo - but the Intel lan issue concerns me.

 

[pavel]

Intel LAN i225v is the 3rd revision yet all that seems to mean is that they fixed none of the issues with it but now you can't use the old drivers or fixes on it. You shouldn't buy this board if you're going to be using it. It only works maybe 1/3 of the time on boot for me and i have to reboot every time it doesn't.

I also have this motherboard, haven't had issues where the Intel i225v NIC doesn't work on boot. The NIC has been okay for me except for one thing: if I'm downloading a steam game AND browsing the web, the NIC slows down to ~250Mbps, web browsing is really slow, and sometimes the NIC just cuts out for a few seconds before recovering back to downloading at ~250Mbps. If I stop browsing the web and do nothing, NIC goes back to maxing out my internet connection downloading from steam. No issues while playing online FPS's, seems like the NIC can't focus on more than one thing at a time before crapping out.

No luck with the NIC driver on MSI's website or the latest Intel driver. MSI released a beta BIOS a few days ago, but I'm not keen on trying it and no mention of NIC issue in description.

View attachment 436904

New Beta BIOS: Improved ethernet LAN connection issue only when ASPM L1 of PCIe device or CPU C-State settings have been changed manually.

View attachment 449521

These posts on reddit might interest you guys?:

https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/s8a13a/z690_intel_i225v_nvm_integrity_status_failure_and/

 

[pavel]

Update: if you guys have Intel i225-v revision B3 - and still having an issue - try turning off the power saving feature/settings. See if that changes anything?

https://www.intel.ca/content/www/ca...s/gigabit-ethernet-adapters-up-to-2-5gbe.html

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threads/msi-pro-z690-a-wifi-ddr4-and-intel-i225-v-lan.370128/