[SOLVED] Motherboard recommendation for my build (i7-13700k) ?

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Oseriduun

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As the title states, I would appreciate some help with selecting the right motherboard, as of 23rd April, for the i7 13700k. Let me list the other components I currently plan on purchasing;

-Processor: i7-13700k

-CPU Cooler: Corsair ICue H150i Elite
OR Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240


-Ram: Corsair Vengeance DDR5 32g (16 x2) 6000 c40 Intel Optimized

-Storage: Samsung EVO 970 M2
I currently have 3x Samsung EVO 870 Sata SSD's I'd like to keep (or at the very least 2 of them for the while). Will buy another M.2 SSD within the coming months.

-GPU: 4070 Ti Asus Tuf (already purchased, bottlednecked to hell on my current CPU)

My budget for the motherboard is decently large I think, as high as about 400-500$ USD (although spending a lot less is perfectly acceptable!). Other factors influencing my choice are;
1) I'll be honest here, I do not immediately plan to overclock. This is more for future proofing as I do not upgrade my PC very often. I've actually had my current build for close to a decade. I'll be upgrading from an i7 3770k DDR3 on a P8z77-V Deluxe.

2) Decent onboard sound. Although I'm no real audiophile, I do appreciate this feature and I'd kind of prefer to stay away from sound cards/dac's for the moment but I'm not locked into this either. I have some Logitech z5500's for a sound system which I'll run until the day they actually die.

3) WiFi isn't really necessary, more a luxury. This PC will likely always remain connected via ethernet.

Several boards have stood out while doing my own research. They are;
- on the more expensive end
Asus ROG Strix z790
Gigabyte AORUS Master z790
Asus ROG Strix z690

-lower end
Gigabyte AORUS Elite z790
Asus Prime z790

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Any suggestions or recommendations over any and all current components will also be welcome.
 
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Solution
dark_globe
you can go with Z790 aorus elite - it has everything you need .
it is not worth it to pay 400+ dollars for LGA1700 motherboard and i
would not buy older Z690 chipset either .
it would also be good to purchase memory with lower latency and faster m.2 drive -
970 is already fairly old .

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-13700K 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor ($415.87 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 ZERO DARK 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston KC3000 2.048 TB...
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dark_globe

dark_globe

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you can go with Z790 aorus elite - it has everything you need .
it is not worth it to pay 400+ dollars for LGA1700 motherboard and i
would not buy older Z690 chipset either .
it would also be good to purchase memory with lower latency and faster m.2 drive -
970 is already fairly old .

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-13700K 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor ($415.87 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 ZERO DARK 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston KC3000 2.048 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($146.26 @ Amazon)
Case: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh C Performance ATX Mid Tower Case ($138.69 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1285.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-23 09:42 EDT-0400
 
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Solution
Zerk2012

Zerk2012

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Oseriduun said:
As the title states, I would appreciate some help with selecting the right motherboard, as of 23rd April, for the i7 13700k. Let me list the other components I currently plan on purchasing;

-Processor: i7-13700k

-CPU Cooler: Corsair ICue H150i Elite
OR Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240


-Ram: Corsair Vengeance DDR5 32g (16 x2) 6000 c40 Intel Optimized

-Storage: Samsung EVO 970 M2
I currently have 3x Samsung EVO 870 Sata SSD's I'd like to keep (or at the very least 2 of them for the while). Will buy another M.2 SSD within the coming months.

-GPU: 4070 Ti Asus Tuf (already purchased, bottlednecked to hell on my current CPU)

My budget for the motherboard is decently large I think, as high as about 400-500$ USD (although spending a lot less is perfectly acceptable!). Other factors influencing my choice are;
1) I'll be honest here, I do not immediately plan to overclock. This is more for future proofing as I do not upgrade my PC very often. I've actually had my current build for close to a decade. I'll be upgrading from an i7 3770k DDR3 on a P8z77-V Deluxe.

2) Decent onboard sound. Although I'm no real audiophile, I do appreciate this feature and I'd kind of prefer to stay away from sound cards/dac's for the moment but I'm not locked into this either. I have some Logitech z5500's for a sound system which I'll run until the day they actually die.

3) WiFi isn't really necessary, more a luxury. This PC will likely always remain connected via ethernet.

Several boards have stood out while doing my own research. They are;
- on the more expensive end
Asus ROG Strix z790
Gigabyte AORUS Master z790
Asus ROG Strix z690

-lower end
Gigabyte AORUS Elite z790
Asus Prime z790

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Any suggestions or recommendations over any and all current components will also be welcome.
Click to expand...
I like the MSI boards and would look at this one.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/9B...tx-lga1700-motherboard-mag-z790-tomahawk-wifi
 
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Oseriduun

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dark_globe said:
you can go with Z790 aorus elite - it has everything you need .
it is not worth it to pay 400+ dollars for LGA1700 motherboard and i
would not buy older Z690 chipset either .
it would also be good to purchase memory with lower latency and faster m.2 drive -
970 is already fairly old .

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-13700K 3.4 GHz 16-Core Processor ($415.87 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Deepcool AK620 ZERO DARK 68.99 CFM CPU Cooler ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 AORUS ELITE AX ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws S5 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston KC3000 2.048 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($146.26 @ Amazon)
Case: Lian Li Lancool II Mesh C Performance ATX Mid Tower Case ($138.69 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: MSI MPG A850G PCIE5 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1285.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-23 09:42 EDT-0400
Click to expand...
I see your point on the memory and storage and will definitely go with your suggestions.
I've also read about this board and put it down on the list, but may I ask why it's not worth paying 400+ for a lga 1700? After further research, boards like the 480$ Asus also come with a 5.0 M.2 slot, I could just scale back my storage to a 1TB gen4 and later this year or next year when a gen5 becomes reasonably priced with more options purchase a 2TB.
 
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dark_globe

dark_globe

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Oseriduun said:
I see your point on the memory and storage and will definitely go with your suggestions.
I've also read about this board and put it down on the list, but may I ask why it's not worth paying 400+ for a lga 1700? After further research, boards like the 480$ Asus also come with a 5.0 M.2 slot, I could just scale back my storage to a 1TB gen4 and later this year or next year when a gen5 becomes reasonably priced with more options purchase a 2TB.
Click to expand...
because the platform as a whole will be replaced by the end of the year by a brand new socket
and 14th gen intel processors will arrive -
that means you will not be able to upgrade on your 480-500 dollars motherboard even if you wanted to
(13700K/13900K are the best processors for this platform and there will be nothing better)

5.0 drives actually (at least for now) don´t have much better random read or write speeds than top 4.0 drives .
also you can have all this features and 5.0 support along with free upgrade options with AM5 on 200-300 dollars motherboards instead of 500 with intel -
amd also currently has the fastest gaming processor on the market (if gaming is your main priority) .
 
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Oseriduun

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dark_globe said:
because the platform as a whole will be replaced by the end of the year by a brand new socket
and 14th gen intel processors will arrive -
that means you will not be able to upgrade on your 480-500 dollars motherboard even if you wanted to
(13700K/13900K are the best processors for this platform and there will be nothing better)

5.0 drives actually (at least for now) don´t have much better random read or write speeds than top 4.0 drives .
also you can have all this features and 5.0 support along with free upgrade options with AM5 on 200-300 dollars motherboards instead of 500 with intel -
amd also currently has the fastest gaming processor on the market (if gaming is your main priority) .
Click to expand...
This has been very informative and what you've been saying is making more and more sense.

I know I'm going off-topic here but I've noticed that I have in the past, and currently doing right now, getting wrapped up in the large number of available PCIe slots available on all of these boards and the prices tend to scale up and up as the number increases.

I have no intention of ever running two GPU's and I'd like the cut out the one sound card I own. Is there any reason I should be concerned with having more than one PCIe-5.0 slot and maybe 1 4.0 slot? Most importantly to me are the m.2 slot availability and DDR5 memory.

To put things into perspective, I'm comparing the ROG Strix z790-H vs Strix z790-A (not leaning toward these boards, just comparing it in terms of slots on the vendor site). They are exactly the same in every regard except aesthetics and the A has 1 more PCIe-4.0 slot but the A has a +90$ price-tag. Is there any reason a more casual user like me would need this, even for future-proofing sake?
 
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geofelt

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You must be going dizzywith all of the alternatives.
As a general principle, I would stick with the more advanced Z790 chipset.
It is looking like there will be a 14th gen update coming this year for the lga1700 socket.
As a way to compare, find some candidates on newegg. You can select to compare up to 5 boards side by side.

1) You can no longer get something for nothing via overclocking.
Chips are binned and if your 13700K could sustain a good overclock, it would be used as a 13900K or even 13900KS.
Today, for gaming you will do better to let the motherboard and processor turbo up a few cores past what an all core overclock could do.

2) While there may be different sound chips, I have found no reason to pick one vs. another. I suggest you try what you get; you can always install a sound card later. Sound cards can be problematic since they are very tightly integrated, and a flaky one can cause issues. That said, some gamers say that good sound can help locate enemies better. IDK.

3) The Z790 chipset includes wifi; you are probably going to get wifi regardless.
That is not all bad. In the MSI board I bought, the lan port needed a driver.
Such driver needed internet access to fetch. Catch 22. wifi saved the day.

What is the make/model of your case?
If it has good front air intake, Would suggest a top end air cooler like the Noctua NH-D15s. It has the cooling capability of a 240 AIO with fewer issues.
For one thing, an aio does not last forever.
Air intrudes through the tubes or the mechanical pump fails or gets clogged.
Think 5 years.
Here is a study of the behavior of a 13900K using less than strong coolers.
www.tomshardware.com

Core i9-13900K Cooling Guide: Testing Intel's Flagship With Budget Air and Big AIOs

The Core i9-13900K can push even the most capable liquid coolers to their limits, but you don’t lose that much performance if you go with budget-priced air cooling.
www.tomshardware.com www.tomshardware.com
How good do you really need to be?

On storage,
Do not be much swayed by vendor synthetic SSD benchmarks.
They are done with apps that push the SSD to it's maximum using queue lengths of 30 or so.
Most desktop users will do one or two things at a time, so they will see queue lengths of one or two.
What really counts is the response times, particularly for small random I/O. That is what the os does mostly.
For that, the response times of current SSD's are remarkably similar. And quick. Fast pcie sequential performance may show up in long(>30 sec.) virus scans.
These experts could not tell the difference:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA
 
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Oseriduun

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Feb 15, 2012
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geofelt said:
You must be going dizzywith all of the alternatives.
As a general principle, I would stick with the more advanced Z790 chipset.
It is looking like there will be a 14th gen update coming this year for the lga1700 socket.
As a way to compare, find some candidates on newegg. You can select to compare up to 5 boards side by side.

1) You can no longer get something for nothing via overclocking.
Chips are binned and if your 13700K could sustain a good overclock, it would be used as a 13900K or even 13900KS.
Today, for gaming you will do better to let the motherboard and processor turbo up a few cores past what an all core overclock could do.

2) While there may be different sound chips, I have found no reason to pick one vs. another. I suggest you try what you get; you can always install a sound card later. Sound cards can be problematic since they are very tightly integrated, and a flaky one can cause issues. That said, some gamers say that good sound can help locate enemies better. IDK.

3) The Z790 chipset includes wifi; you are probably going to get wifi regardless.
That is not all bad. In the MSI board I bought, the lan port needed a driver.
Such driver needed internet access to fetch. Catch 22. wifi saved the day.

What is the make/model of your case?
If it has good front air intake, Would suggest a top end air cooler like the Noctua NH-D15s. It has the cooling capability of a 240 AIO with fewer issues.
For one thing, an aio does not last forever.
Air intrudes through the tubes or the mechanical pump fails or gets clogged.
Think 5 years.
Here is a study of the behavior of a 13900K using less than strong coolers.
www.tomshardware.com

Core i9-13900K Cooling Guide: Testing Intel's Flagship With Budget Air and Big AIOs

The Core i9-13900K can push even the most capable liquid coolers to their limits, but you don’t lose that much performance if you go with budget-priced air cooling.
www.tomshardware.com www.tomshardware.com
How good do you really need to be?

On storage,
Do not be much swayed by vendor synthetic SSD benchmarks.
They are done with apps that push the SSD to it's maximum using queue lengths of 30 or so.
Most desktop users will do one or two things at a time, so they will see queue lengths of one or two.
What really counts is the response times, particularly for small random I/O. That is what the os does mostly.
For that, the response times of current SSD's are remarkably similar. And quick. Fast pcie sequential performance may show up in long(>30 sec.) virus scans.
These experts could not tell the difference:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA
Click to expand...
It has been driving me a bit crazy, I actually had no intention to upgrade until later this year but my pc has been struggling since I bought the 4070 TI to use on a decade old processor. I've actually made plans to test the GPU to see whether it isn't just a GPU problem that's causing random stuttering. Can't get much fps out of it even though games have been running much smoother and the card never seems to jump over 41 degrees which is just odd, half the time it just sits at or near idle temperature.

I've read about the issue with I226-V adapter and that too has been making things a bit difficult selecting but I do see the pros of the WiFi and I know I'll get it regardless on better boards.

My case is a Thermaltake Lvl10 GT. I've actually had a Corsair H100 Hydro going well on 10yrs with no issues but I've made it a habit of properly cleaning it at least once a year. I actually have been looking at that cooler that you've mentioned, that or the Deepcool AK620. Shipping to where I live is extremely expensive and while I would like to change my case, I'd basically pay the cost of the case and more in just shipping fees alone so I'd rather not upgrade unless I have to.
 
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