GIGABYTE Z690I AORUS ULTRA LITE DDR4 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1700 Intel Z690 SATA 6Gb/s Mini ITX Intel Motherboard

Pros: This board is the same as the ultra version costing more than twice as much, except with PCI Express 3.0 for the graphics card slot. Chipset, VRM, and NVME heatsinks are substantial, far more copper than say, my Gigabyte z390 aorus pro ITX board.

Cons: Front audio header is buried under NVME heatsink, as others have mentioned, so have fun with that

Overall Review: My research suggests that these boards are rebranded versions of the earlier iteration of this board that used to cost about $400, but had hardware problems with PCIE 4.0. The fixed version is now called "ultra", and the still-broken version that has been "fixed" with a bios that disables PCIE 4.0 in the x16 slot is called "lite". The name of the board is on a sticker affixed to the PCB, and I bet if I peeled it off, it would be the former, now-discontinued z690 ITX board that Gigabyte used to make. It may seem shady that Gigabyte has done such a thing, but in the end, if you don't mind PCI-E 3.0 in the x16 slot, you're otherwise getting a board that matches the quality and features of those in the $400 range. Seems like a good deal to me. You can still run NVME at PCIE 4.0 speeds, btw.

Pros: It lets you use cheaper DDR4 RAM or memory you may already have. It has dual M.2 SSD slots with one on the CPU PCI-E bus and the other on the Z690 bus. It has USB-C on the back and a USB-C header if your case has a USB-C jack. Both are the fast gen 2 x 2 variety. It has solid Intel LAN and WIFI 6. It's so far been stable without any over clocking.

Cons: This is a frustrating board to use. The dual M.2 slots are on a difficult to remove daughterboard and heat sink assembly. The front panel audio header is buried underneath the daughterboard so don't forget to plug that in. The M.2 heatsinks don't seem to do that great of job. My SSDs idle at around 50 - 55C. I'm not sure if it's a contact issue or because it's a shared heatsink with the Z690 and power components. There's a normal 4 pin CPU fan connector but the other connectors are non-standard and require dongles to use. You have to run SATA power to the M.2 daughter board using a another dongle with an old school 4 pin molex. It only accepts stock Intel CPU coolers. Finally I think Gigabyte has one of the worst BIOS's around. It's missing features you get from AS Rock and Asus, the fan control is annoying and doesn't work as they imply, and it's overall poorly laid out and poorly designed.

Overall Review: if you need mini ITX there are not many choices anywhere near this price beyond a few bottom-of the line socket 1700 boards. This board is fairly feature rich but hard to work with. It's especially annoying in a tight case. Mine is in a Fractal Node 202 case with Mushkin RAM, i5-12400F, and a GTX 1660 Ti.

Overall Review: Extremely affordable motherboard for getting into 12th gen. I was able to overclock my 12600k to 5.2 p core and 4.1 e core at 1.3v and it looks great in the system.

Pros: -feels like it's high quality(dense) -probably the cheapest intel itx board with all the features it has

Cons: -As others have said the board layout is weird, hd audio is tucked inside nvme tray and is just a cord going to the female connector that has to hide under the gpu if you want to use it? -The slim fan connectors make sense on an itx mobo, but I wish the adapters provided were at least a little longer since they are UGLY, highly recommend a fan hub if you can fit it. -Absolutely crazy that the LAN port(and bt) both do not just work out of the box, maybe on windows 11? But I spent an entire day trying to troubleshoot it and only got BT to work. This is a common issue for the i225-V, but has yet to be fixed for this board.

Overall Review: If you don't plan on using LAN(please fix this GIGABYTE) and don't mind a tray icon for BT, sure. I am pretty sure these are the recalled "ultra" boards locked to pcie gen 3 for the gpu, the tag displaying ultra lite is literally just a sticker instead of being actually written on the board and the pcie armor is written on the board as "pcie gen 5 armor" - not a big deal, I'm glad they aren't just throwing the boards out. Just hope they continue supporting it. With fixed LAN I would give it 4 eggs due to it's value as an itx board.

Pros: -for 150 this board is insane.

Cons: -none

Overall Review: - i would buy this again. it sucks being limited to pcie 3.0 but thats ok for me.

Pros: - Excellent price point for an ITX MB during this chip shortage and inflation period - Excellent build quality and top-of-the-line chipset for Gen 12th are rarely seen in this price range. It weights twice as much as my 5 years old ITX MB. -It has all the latest ports on the back as well as for the front panel, i.e. different USB version connectors - RGB lighting.

Cons: - Only PCIe 3.0 on the graphic card slot. Limits the future upgrade on VC when the VC price is reasonable, if any. (Come on, it is Z690.) PCIe 4.0 is fine on Gen 4S SD and other places. my Gen 4 SSD runs at 6000MBish/s on r/w. - Limit CPU cooler selection. (see below)

Overall Review: Highly recommend for Non-OC budget to mid builts. I bought this to upgrade my old Intel gen 7 ITX system. It pairs with an i5 12600 and other standard kinds of hardware stuff. I DO NOT OC any of them. It runs great and has every feature I look for. I agree with someone who mentioned this MB is a strip-down version of Gigabyte's high-end Z690 ITX MB(no PCIe 4.0 on VC slot). The material, features, and built quality are never seen in this price range, not even in a B660 ITX BM. I researched on it. The high-end version of it costs like $300+. Buyers who pay that much definitely use it for achieving different purposes(OCing) with higher expectations. The high-end version has problems. However, this $150 version doesn't. At least, it doesn't have problems for me. somethings to mention: 1. CPU cooler. If you buy a tower-type cooler, buy a 92MM fan cooler only due to the unique plug-in board and its heat sink. Mine is ID-COOLING SE-914-XT-Basic, a very tight fit. Other 92MM brand coolers would fit based on my research, like Thermalright AK90 and Noctua NH-U9S. There are dual tower versions of 92MM from Thermalright and Noctua if OC or for a high-power CPU. Some 120MM low-profile cooler(none tower styple) may fit too ( I didn't test it out). 2. Remember to remove the M2 SSD slot thermal films before you install an SSD. I almost forgot the transparent one. Overall, if you plan to do a budget to min range ITX built, it is a good board. Where can you find a $150 Z690 MB nowadays? No, not even standard ATX MB is in this price range, not to mention it is ITX.

Overall Review: Doesn't detect M.2 drive