Bluto

2023/09/22 The beast has landed.

• motherboard: ASUS Z790-PLUS WIFI (amazon)
• memory: G.Skill Trident Z 5 RGB (DDR5)
• GPU: ZOTAC RTX 4090 (amazon)
• CPU: Intel Core i9-13900K (amazon)
• CPU cooler: (amazon)
• PSU: 1000W (ouch) (amazon)
• Drives: WD M.2 4TB (amazon), 1TB (amazon)

History

• shit motherboard I had to send back: Gigabyte Z690 Aero D (amazon)

I ranted on reddit:

AFTER A DAY OF WORK I STILL FAILED with my Gigabyte Z690. My tricks:

• I used an old USB 2.0 stick that "flashes" on write (remember those?) so i could tell it was reading from the stick. Without being able to tell I was just shooting in the dark.
• I grabbed an older firmware F21 instead of F26 (which would not work), based on some far flung internet comment in some lost forum.
• I renamed the BIOS firmware to "gigabit.bin". That was weird but I think required.
• I stripped everything out but the CPU and motherboard/CPU power connectors.
• I flipped on the power switch, pressed the case power button to start it up, held the power button to power it down into "standby".
• I pressed the Q-Flash button on the mobo, saw the thumb flash, then saw the Q-Flash led on the mobo start to flash too, indicating it actually liked the BIOS and would consume it.
• I redid everything again to go from F21 to F26.
• After finally getting it to start POST, it stuck on codes listed as "internal use" HOW DOES THAT HELP ME? The memory light was lit. I was done and sent it back for an ASUS board.