Asus Z690 ProArt Creator WiFi (Thunderbolt 4) + i7-12700K + AMD RX 6800 XT

[CaseySJ]

New BIOS released. Version 1003.
Notes:
01. Improve system performance and Window 11 OS stability.
02. Update USB PD FW to 1.0F.
03. Update Intel ME FW to 16.0.15.1620 V3
04. Add Thunderbolt FW update method for onboard Thunderbolt models and ThunderboltEX 4 Card support models
05. Update Intel microcode.
06. Improve DRAM compatibility
07. Change PCIe speed hotkey item from F9 to F6.

I haven’t updated yet. I wonder what the new usb pd firmware does. Unclear whether this bios comes with a thunderbolt firmware update or if it enables the functionality for the nvm to be updated at some later point in the future.

** WARNING: Do not install BIOS 1003 **

Update: BIOS 1003 reboot cycle was solved by performing CMOS reset,
after which the update succeeded. Refer to 2nd post below.​

After installing BIOS 1003, the Asus Z690 ProArt Creator is going into a boot loop as follows:

• Power on
• POST succeeds
• Asus splash screen appears for 1-3 seconds
• System reboots

This repeats in a never-ending cycle.

 

[trs96]

Asus Z690 ProArt Creator is going into a boot loop as follows:

Do they let you go back to an earlier version ?

 

[CaseySJ]

** WARNING: Do not install BIOS 1003 **​

After installing BIOS 1003, the Asus Z690 ProArt Creator is going into a boot loop as follows:

• Power on
• POST succeeds
• Asus splash screen appears for 1-3 seconds
• System reboots

This repeats in a never-ending cycle.

Do they let you go back to an earlier version ?

** UPDATE **​

After performing a CMOS Reset as shown below, the system booted up to update the Cypress Power Delivery firmware, then rebooted again to update the BIOS itself. It is now up and running, but that was not nice...

---

 

[dehjomz]

** UPDATE **​

After performing a CMOS Reset as shown below, the system booted up to update the Cypress Power Delivery firmware, then rebooted again to update the BIOS itself. It is now up and running, but that was not nice...

---

View attachment 540541

Wow that is weird! Other than that weird quirk of needing to clear CMOS for the BIOS update to proceed, I hope everything is working okay? hotplug, etc?

 

[CaseySJ]

Wow that is weird! Other than that weird quirk of needing to clear CMOS for the BIOS update to proceed, I hope everything is working okay? hotplug, etc?

So far the behavior in macOS seems identical, namely:

• Sleep, wake, reboot, shutdown are okay
• Hot plug works after (a) sleep/wake or (b) warm boot, but only one hot plug event works, which means a subsequent hot plug fails

With BIOS 1003 all is well for now...

 

[dehjomz]

So far the behavior in macOS seems identical, namely:

• Sleep, wake, reboot, shutdown are okay
• Hot plug works after (a) sleep/wake or (b) warm boot, but only one hot plug event works, which means a subsequent hot plug fails

With BIOS 1003 all is well for now...

I think the hotplug issue is with 12.2+. 12.1 and Big Sur 11.6.1 have working hotplug…

 

[gandem]

So far the behavior in macOS seems identical, namely:

• Sleep, wake, reboot, shutdown are okay
• Hot plug works after (a) sleep/wake or (b) warm boot, but only one hot plug event works, which means a subsequent hot plug fails

With BIOS 1003 all is well for now...

Looks like I missed some action! Glad it worked out.

 

[dehjomz]

I found another way to reset the AQC113 so that it boots up in macOS (Big Sur and 12.1 and 12.2). One way of course is to cold boot.

Another way is to disable it in the bios (under Onboard Devices), restart, then re-enable it, and then restart. The motherboard will briefly power off and on again.

Cold booting may reset RGB leds that were programmed in windows (e.g., NZXT which allows RGB leds on its various controllers and AIO coolers to remain programmed to whatever CAM programmed it to, until a cold boot). So this may be good alternative for some, if they are so inclined.

I may have some bad news regarding the AQC113 and macOS. But that discussion will have to wait until the public beta release of macOS 12.3.

 

[etorix]

I dont think the Z690 mobo prices are justified at the moment. They are just taking advantage of the current situation. I mean it's double the price for a 10-13% performance increase?

Part of it may be component shortage and/or paying extra to secure supply. But a part of it is actual extra manufacturing costs to meet PCIe 5.0 requirements… even though there aren't yet any peripherals to take advantage of PCIe 5.0 (and possibly no use at all for PCIe 5.0 outside of data centres).

 

[CaseySJ]

I'm in the process of migrating my primary Z390 Designare over to the new Z690 ProArt Creator:

• My 8TB media HDD is currently being copied to an 8TB SATA SSD. Another 12 hours to go! (As if we didn't know how slow HDDs are...) Once the transfer is complete, I'll reorganize the folders in a more structured manner.
• The home folder from Designare has already been migrated and reorganized.
• Will selectively migrate the Applications folder. A handful of key apps have already been migrated manually (i.e. reinstalled and relicensed).
• By end of Saturday I expect the Asus ProArt Z690-Creator to become the new mainline.

Saturday came and went, but the task of fixing, cleaning and reorganizing the media library took much longer than expected. The job is finally complete.

Ended up learning more about iTunes media library than I wanted to, but it was a good exercise! Used the wonderful Mp3tag application from Mac App Store to edit metadata (ID3 tags) and album covers for numerous albums so that:

• iTunes library does not split albums
• iTunes 'search' generates more complete results
• Audirvana organizes files properly
• My standalone music streamer with a local copy of the music library also organizes files properly and displays album covers

I have two versions of the music library: (a) MP3 at 324kbps and (b) Apple Lossless. Hence it took a few days to finish the job, but well worth the effort.

• iTunes (er, the Music app) -- Lossy and Lossless libraries
• Audirvana -- Synchronizes to the iTunes Lossless library without making a copy of the files; also synchronizes to a separate folder containing SACD (DSD) rips
• Standalone Streamer -- Local 2TB SATA SSD with a copy of the Lossless library and SACD (DSD) rips