Build Advice i7-13700K or i9-13900K for CAD/rendering build ?

Mar 1, 2023
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Hi all,

I would like to exchange my old PC with the new one and I am in doubt between the i7 or i9. The price difference is only 200€ if I look in the long term it's nothing. For GPU I would wait for 4070 I think or take the used 3090, that's why there is no GPU inside the specs. Just for your info I don't overclock, so I guess I don't need the best mobo, just looking for some price performance that is needed (I assume i9 needs a better one than the i7). I am open to changes also because I could overlook something even in Mobo's choice.

What I am looking at is:

a) i7-13700K build
CPU: Intel i7 13700K
RAM: KINGSTON FURY Beast RGB 64GB 5600 (2x32GB)
CASE: Lian Li O11 EVO
Mobo: ASUS TUF GAMING Z790-PLUS WIFI
SSD: Samsung 990PRO 2TB
Fans: BeQuite! Light wings RGB 120mm - 7 pieces
AIO cooler: EK-Nucleus AIO CR360 Lux D-RGB

b) i9-13900K build - Here I am struggling with which mobo to take?
CPU: Intel i9 13900K
RAM: KINGSTON FURY Beast RGB 64GB 5600 (2x32GB)
CASE: Lian Li O11 EVO
Mobo: Which, would need help here:
1.) Z790-AORUS-ELITE-AX
2.) MSI PRO-Z790-P-WIFI
3.) ASUS ROG Strix Z790-H Gaming WIFI DDR5
4.) MSI PRO Z790-A Wifi
5.) ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI DDR5 - would say it's much more expensive, so I don't know if it can offer much more than previous ones, because I am not an overclocking dude.
SSD: Samsung 990PRO 2TB
Fans: BeQuite! Light wings RGB 120mm - 7 pieces
AIO cooler: EK-Nucleus AIO CR360 Lux D-RGB

What do you guys think? At first, I was 100% I would go with the i7, but now I see the only price difference is 200€ which is acceptable for me, but will I see much benefit in my work from the i9 compare to the i7? Let us say mainly I use Catia, Solidworks, some renders in Lumion, and Keyshot.

Looking forward to your answers/advice.

Have a nice day!

Best regards.
 
You are correct mostly the more expensive board are for people who overclock. They have parts that can tolerate high frequencies and power. I am pretty sure all boards, even cheap ones, have to be able to run the top cpu chips in stock configuration.

In general you might be better off using non "k" chips and maybe even consider dropping back to previous gen chipset like z690. The main difference is the pcie5 which nothing really uses yet and by the time they do the motherboard and cpu will be out of date.
You could also consider non "z" boards if you are not going to overclock.

From your list I suspect all will work fine with a 13900k even if you do decide to overclock it. Note a lot of those boards are set to overclock on default factory setting you must set it back to the intel default stats.
 
Looks like identical stuff in both systems except for motherboard and CPU.

I suppose you have to evaluate how important it might be to do a set of tasks in maybe 95 minutes rather than 100. But, how often do you find yourself waiting on a CPU in real life?

If you make money with the PC, it might be easier to justify the 13900.....if you in fact are running your CPU near full throttle a substantial part of the time.

You might take pride in saving 200, but you'd have to weigh that against buyer's remorse for not going for the top end.

I have no idea about that cooler. Many would tell you to avoid the 13900k for heat reasons alone.

Tough call.....what would make you disappointed a year after you chose one or the other? Highly personal decision and we don't know how you would react.
 
Mar 1, 2023
11
0
10
You are correct mostly the more expensive board are for people who overclock. They have parts that can tolerate high frequencies and power. I am pretty sure all boards, even cheap ones, have to be able to run the top cpu chips in stock configuration.

In general you might be better off using non "k" chips and maybe even consider dropping back to previous gen chipset like z690. The main difference is the pcie5 which nothing really uses yet and by the time they do the motherboard and cpu will be out of date.
You could also consider non "z" boards if you are not going to overclock.

From your list I suspect all will work fine with a 13900k even if you do decide to overclock it. Note a lot of those boards are set to overclock on default factory setting you must set it back to the intel default stats.
Let we say I can overclock if there are some default settings to open some stuff, but generally nothing extreme. So in this case we can leave open Z790 mobos and K chips of CPU.
 
Mar 1, 2023
11
0
10
Looks like identical stuff in both systems except for motherboard and CPU.

I suppose you have to evaluate how important it might be to do a set of tasks in maybe 95 minutes rather than 100. But, how often do you find yourself waiting on a CPU in real life?

If you make money with the PC, it might be easier to justify the 13900.....if you in fact are running your CPU near full throttle a substantial part of the time.

You might take pride in saving 200, but you'd have to weigh that against buyer's remorse for not going for the top end.

I have no idea about that cooler. Many would tell you to avoid the 13900k for heat reasons alone.

Tough call.....what would make you disappointed a year after you chose one or the other? Highly personal decision and we don't know how you would react.
If we talk in a few minutes difference I can live with that. In that case, I think the i7 should be more than enough right?

About the cooler, it's a new one from EWKB which from some reviews looks like a great one and not too expensive.
 
Should you not be aware the high end CPU's from both Intel and AMD run extremely hot. In the case of Intel they are also quite power hungry, it's down to you of course but I doubt you will want to overclock either of these CPU's. I would expect the i7 should be more than enough for your needs, however if you are not price sensitive and will be using this PC for many years then the additional 8 E cores of the 13900K may prove useful. I would personally buy a Z790 board as a matter of course for either of these CPU's just in case you ever need some of the more advanced features.
 

Phaaze88

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If you're looking for some value, why the O11 Evo(which comes with no fans, only the bottom panel has an air filter, and the addons cost money too) and the 7 fans, which are LED($$$)?


Mobo: Which, would need help here:
1.) Z790-AORUS-ELITE-AX
2.) MSI PRO-Z790-P-WIFI
3.) ASUS ROG Strix Z790-H Gaming WIFI DDR5
4.) MSI PRO Z790-A Wifi
5.) ASUS ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI DDR5 - would say it's much more expensive, so I don't know if it can offer much more than previous ones, because I am not an overclocking dude.
Motherboards are about their multiple different combinations of options, or feature sets. They are not just about overclocking and VRMs.
You have to know what you want out of a board to avoid over/under-spending on one. It's a personal choice which everyone else is going to have a hard time answering for you.
Some are going to pick based on VRM and OCing, but again, that's only part of what motherboards are about.
-dual bios
-(A)RGB ports
-wifi
-provides enough usb ports
-digital debug LED
-number of m.2 slots
Those are just a few examples of said combinations.
 
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Mar 1, 2023
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If you're looking for some value, why the O11 Evo(which comes with no fans, only the bottom panel has an air filter, and the addons cost money too) and the 7 fans, which are LED($$$)?



Motherboards are about their multiple different combinations of options, or feature sets. They are not just about overclocking and VRMs.
You have to know what you want out of a board to avoid over/under-spending on one. It's a personal choice which everyone else is going to have a hard time answering for you.
Some are going to pick based on VRM and OCing, but again, that's only part of what motherboards are about.
-dual bios
-(A)RGB ports
-wifi
-provides enough usb ports
-digital debug LED
-number of m.2 slots
Those are just a few examples of said combinations.

Are you targeting on some other case? Which? Cotsair 5000D?
 

Phaaze88

Titan
Ambassador
Are you targeting on some other case? Which? Cotsair 5000D?
I'm not targeting a specific case. I asked about the choice of case and fans because - unless I misread your original post - it looked like you're trying to find some balance of cost to performance?
That case + fan combo is pricey. Some cases come with fans, and including the AIO, there's no need to add so many more - at least, it's something you can do later.
You can then pocket/bank the difference, or spend it towards something else on the list.
 
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With the rendering use case and even for CAD works, clock speeds matter a lot. A good Z790 mobo with a capable cooler will give you higher boost clocks for those single threaded 5.8ghz and sustained 5.4ghz all core clocks.

You would definitely see 250+W power usage in rendering tasks, so a 420 AIO might be better.
 

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