1. Introducing the NZXT N7 Z6902. Testing and Performance: CPU3. Testing and Performance: Gaming4. Testing and Performance: Technical5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

We show in our video there is a setting in the BIOS of the NZXT N7 Z690 that encourages you to select your chosen CPU cooler. Behind the scenes this setting adjusts the power limits for your 12th Gen Intel CPU and that strikes us as a good way to help the novice PC builder who has no clue about PL1 and PL2 and just wants to get on with their life.

The snag, as we also show, is that changing the power limit does not help CPU performance and that makes the process fairly pointless.

That aspect of our testing sums up the N7 Z690 as it has a reasonable list of features and a competent level of hardware, yet it fails to extract decent performance from the Core i9-12900K.

It is entirely possible that a BIOS update would fix this motherboard, however we have our doubts as the underlying ASRock hardware has been on sale for many months. When you are spending this much money on a CPU and motherboard it is only fair to expect you will get plenty of oomph in return.

We don't yet have a buy link for the NZXT N7 Z690 but we have been told the MSRP is £269.99.

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Pros:

• Smart styling is a perfect match for an NZXT case.
• DDR4 support will reduce the cost of your build.
• Decent support for M.2 and SATA.
• Wi-Fi 6E works well.

Cons:

• The BIOS seems unable to use the available power.
• Modest DrMOS VRMs will not appeal to overclockers.
• The price puts this N7 Z690 head-to-head with many other Z690 motherboards.

KitGuru says: While the NZXT N7 Z690 looks the part, it fails to deliver the goods.

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