ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Motherboard

1/5 Rating Pros Board looks NICE Has Q-Error Code display that gives you a numerical number to let you know what is wrong if it does not boot up Very modern board Supports DDR5 memory Cons I just could not get this board to work. I tried MULTIPLE times with two different boards. First board would not POST, second started smoking at the PCIE slot the first time I powered on. It would not POST unless I plugged HDMI directly into MB. and then it would turn itself off after 5 mins of being on. The new ASUS AIO Riyujin 2 360 cooler just would not work. None of it worked. ASUS Customer Support is BAD.. I must have spent well over 10 hours talking to them over 45 days time and completed 5-6 forms and returned. Ok, where should I start. 1st off. Included are parts New Intel 12th Gen I9 12900 New 2TB Samsung 980 Pro SSD 2 new 16GB X2 RGB Trident DDR5 Ram 36*36*36 ASUS Riyujin 2 360 AIO Cooler New ASUS Rog THOR 1200 Watt Power supply 7 Lian Li AL120 Fans Corsair 7000D airflow case ASUS Strix 1080 TI GPU (Not new.. Current GPU I use in my current build) Was super excited to get this board as I rock with Asus. My current build consists of mostly Asus parts and I even use Asus Monitors - love the brand been using for years. Excitement quickly turned into disappointment. I was so disappointed building this computer. I spent ALOT of money buying these parts only for the first motherboard to never POST. I assembled and disassembled it at least 30 times. I called ASUS and they were the most unhelpful Customer Service I ever encountered. I got fed up and sent the MB back. Amazon provided another. With newer board I assembled using the same parts and first time powering on I saw smoke coming from the PCIE slot - (That's a bad thing). It didn't deter me.. I was determined to get it to work. Assembled using all parts.. Could not get MB to acknowledge Strix 1080 TI GPU. I plugged HDMI cable into MB and it posts!!! But that was short lived as the AIO cooler never turned on therefore overheating MB and Intel chip. MB would shut down after 5 mins. This lasted for 2 weeks. I tried every single thing I could think of until I figured out it could be bad GPU or Bad PCIE slot on MB. It couldn't be bad GPU as the GPU still works in current build. Nevertheless I called ASUS and they put me back through the rat race with Customer Service reps that did not speak clear English and they asked the same questions and sent me the same forms to complete. I gave up. I clearly gave up. To build a computer will normally take 40 minutes to an hour - maybe 2 max. I worked on this build with this MB for over 45 DAYS!!! I troubleshooted my heart out and when I couldn't do anymore ASUS came in with the absolute worst customer service you could ever ask for. So I returned MB defeated. Who knows maybe I will try again after ASUS works out kinks. But this was a complete waste of $1K and 45 days of my life. I even turned down Photo and Video gigs so I could get this rig up and running.