Question Asus Maximus Z690 Extreme motherboard completely covers the grommets in a Fractal Design Define S Vision case ?

[Gavsta220986]

I am building a new pc around the intel core i9 12900k and my motherboard out of the ROG line is the beastly Asus Maximus Z690 Extreme, but when fixing it into the
Fractal Design Define S Vision case, the motherboard being an eATX board is completely covering the grommets. The case is designed to mhole eAtx boards but on the Fractal Design website there's a warning that a couple of certain sizes of motherboard will partially or completely cover the grommets. But why do half a job saying the case is eAtx is compatible when it's not completely ?

Has anybody else ran into this issue and any recommendations for alternate cable management or is it a look out for a different case or motherboard??

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

As ET-Explorer says, that case is not compatible with EATX boards:

From Fractal Design website:

Specifications >> Motherboard compatibility >> ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ATX:

Define S

www.fractal-design.com

 

[Gavsta220986]

On the Fractal Design website It actually states

• Motherboard compatibility
  EATX (up to 285 mm wide) / ATX / mATX / ITX

The Asus Maximus z690 Extreme is 277 mm which it does fit but very tight. It should be that E-ATX boards should up to 285 mm up to the grommets but they cover the grommets which is a shame

 

[Karadjgne]

Because E-ATX isn't exactly a standardized size, its really a collection of different formats all kinda lumped into one. There's SSI-CEB, SSI-MEB, SSI-EEB, E-ATX (Asus/Supermicro dual, odd mount holes), E-ATX (standard ATX mount), EE-ATX (supermicro enhanced extended), XL-ATX and a couple others. All larger than ATX in one dimension or the other or both.

But just in Asus and Supermicro alone there's 2 different boards, approximately the same size dimensionally, but has slightly different mounting holes, one is ATX standard, the other isn't. So you'll find that the E-ATX compatibility specified by Fractal only applies to those boards that contain a standard ATX mounting pattern and not other boards lumped into the E-ATX category.

Oh, and there's an error above, the Vision is the Define S2, not Define S, and is E-ATX compatible.
Define S2 Vision RGB — Fractal Design (fractal-design.com)

There's plenty of cases out there where its a 'Pick your Battle' decision. There's a lot of mITX/mATX cases where you can use a standard ATX psu, but you get limited on space for cables, best to use a non-modular , can only fit 145mm or less depth, but that's not advertised, just ATX compatibility is. Better to just use SFX. Or cases with vertical mounted gpus ability, 2-slot cards, but don't mention that if you use an AIB 2-slot card, the fan shroud sticks up so far and close to the glass it becomes pointless, use reference only. That's not advertised either.

If your grommets are covered, wire plan accordingly, place the wires first, then bolt the mobo down. Should be room under for flat cables.

 

[Gavsta220986]

Because E-ATX isn't exactly a standardized size, its really a collection of different formats all kinda lumped into one. There's SSI-CEB, SSI-MEB, SSI-EEB, E-ATX (Asus/Supermicro dual, odd mount holes), E-ATX (standard ATX mount), EE-ATX (supermicro enhanced extended), XL-ATX and a couple others. All larger than ATX in one dimension or the other or both.

But just in Asus and Supermicro alone there's 2 different boards, approximately the same size dimensionally, but has slightly different mounting holes, one is ATX standard, the other isn't. So you'll find that the E-ATX compatibility specified by Fractal only applies to those boards that contain a standard ATX mounting pattern and not other boards lumped into the E-ATX category.

Oh, and there's an error above, the Vision is the Define S2, not Define S, and is E-ATX compatible.
Define S2 Vision RGB — Fractal Design (fractal-design.com)

There's plenty of cases out there where its a 'Pick your Battle' decision. There's a lot of mITX/mATX cases where you can use a standard ATX psu, but you get limited on space for cables, best to use a non-modular , can only fit 145mm or less depth, but that's not advertised, just ATX compatibility is. Better to just use SFX. Or cases with vertical mounted gpus ability, 2-slot cards, but don't mention that if you use an AIB 2-slot card, the fan shroud sticks up so far and close to the glass it becomes pointless, use reference only. That's not advertised either.

If your grommets are covered, wire plan accordingly, place the wires first, then bolt the mobo down. Should be room under for flat cables.

The motherboards fits perfectly and matches the ATX mounting holes. I can just about fit the ATX power cable underneath the corner of the board along with the USB 3 cable and Sata cables but very tight. I have ran into the Q Code 55 problem. First time switching the system on and it doesn't post past the code 55 detect ram. I have installed GSkill Trident z5 6000 64gb with an Intel i9 12900k which is cooled by a corsair h150i elite cappelix on an Asus Maximus z690 Extreme. Would you know anything of this issue. I have been told that there are issues using Gskill ram with z690 motherboards especially Asus. Shall I try different ram or updating the bios via flash as I will have to update it without booting into bios nor Windows as the system won't boot.

 

[Karadjgne]

Most of the listings for pists about Z690 and Gskill are from the same guy posting on everyone's site, reddit, Linus, here, jayz even. The issues with Asus lead back to the Maximus boards with the reverse polarity mosfet, just happens to have 6000MHz Trident Z ram as early adopters jumped on the higher than 4800 speed bus.

It's newer 6000MHz ddr5, it's not exactly a mature platform, so the amount of error reports is disproportionately larger. It's a new design, uses on board regulation vs cpu regulation.

That said, there's usually one of 2 fixes. Reseat the ram a couple of times, use just 1 stick. It might take a minute or 3 to get the memory training done on that platform and one stick is easier. It's also sometimes bent pins in the socket, they don't have to be way out of line, just slightly out and with as tight packed as they are, that's not hard.

 

[Gavsta220986]

I had the same issue with Gskill trident z back with the maximus formula viii. I would dare nor remove the memory once the system got working as it would take a long time to work again when replaced after the q code error 55. You mean the mother board cpu conector pins?? They look ok to me but I will have a better look later today.. Can it take along time for the memory to train?

 

[Karadjgne]

Several minutes sometimes. It depends a lot on the relationship of ram to cpu. The cpu has to sort out all 50+ timings, not just the 5 you see on the package, but the Secondary timings and more importantly the Tertiary timings as they affect stability the most.

I think of it like that kids toy, the big red/blue ball that you gotta fit the shaped blocks into, it takes a second to get those shapes inserted initially, gotta find the right holes etc. But once it's done, it's done. The higher the complexity, the more complex the balance of speed and timings to the memory controller, the longer it can take. Not discounting the frustration factor where it seems to take twice as long lol.

 

[Gavsta220986]

I have checked the cpu connector pins on the motherboard and seem ok but I have taken a photo. I guess its pretty hard to see bent pins but do they look ok??

 

[Karadjgne]

If you look at the very bottom row, there's 2 pins (one about 1/3 from left, the other almost all to the right) that are a different color. Because your photo isn't higher resolution, I can't zoom in closer, but generally that means out of position. It might not, but those pins are pretty exact so will generally all catch the light at the same angle and look the same color.