This includes SATA cables, a Wi-Fi antenna, a leak tester, thermal pads, etc. Inside the box, along with the motherboard, ASRock includes several accessories to get you started and to compliment the water cooling required to use the board. (8) 4-Pin (CPU, CPU/water pump, chassis/water-pump) The short of it with the Aqua is that if you plan to run this board at stock speeds with stress test-like loads, keep an eye on temperatures and make sure your thermal paste application makes good contact with the block for best results. A negative voltage offset helped temps in our case, but we’re learning that as time goes on, the IHS on our i9-12900K has some slight warping, causing it to run warmer. During stress testing though, temperatures got a little too warm for our taste, reaching over 100C during the 30-minute test. The integrated water block kept the mighty Intel i9-12900K and the VRMs at bay–in most tests–at stock speeds and while overclocked. Performance on the Aqua was as expected, trading punches with most other Z690 and DDR5-equipped boards. I doubt that’s a deal-breaker for most users, but the lack of a PCIe 5.0 M.2 socket is disappointing given the price. You won’t find a PCIe 5.0-capable (128 Gbps) M.2 socket, and there are only three M.2s total, leaving it a bit low compared to other premium boards that come with four (or more). That said, it isn’t without its shortcomings. The black-on-silver/chrome look fits in with most build themes and begs to be the crown jewel of your Z690-based system. To me, the Aqua is one of the better-looking motherboards for the platform, with nearly all of the PCB covered by steel shrouds, heatsinks and the water block. You can’t get much faster or more capable options in Z690. Looking past the watercooling, it comes with 20-phase 105A VRMs, a Marvell 10 GbE NIC and Killer-based Wi-Fi 6E.
Priced at nearly $1150, the Aqua has just about everything you’d expect out of a flagship-class board.
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