Question Which motherboard from among these?

[ShaQBlogs]

Looking for suggestions for a mobo + CPU combo, which is both durable and future proof.
Leaning towards either 13600k or 14600k (14600k is surprisingly slightly cheaper where I live. I presume 14600k is recommended considering similar pricing?)

As for the mobo, I am leaning towards the Z series mobo, DDR 5 (2x16GB 6000MHz).
Shortlisted mobos,

• MSI PRO Z790 P WiFi
• MSI PRO Z790 A-MAX WiFi

May I know what is the difference between the A-MAX, A, P and S series? Should I just go with the A-MAX?

 

[Lafong]

Have you looked at the specification sheets for the motherboards at MSI.com?

Most likely the primary difference is features......

Reliability?? Flip a coin.

Which features do you insist on?

Which would you like?

How many chassis fan ports? How many NVMe ports? What speed? How many USB ports? What speed?

Do you care about built-in NVMe heatsinks?

Do you want to be able to change the BIOS without a CPU?

And so on and so forth. All of this should be mentioned in the spec sheets.

The difference in price might be 50 or 75 dollars. You get to decide how much you will pay for additional features.

Have you deliberately rejected the upcoming (this month) new Intel CPUs and motherboards?

 

[MCH170]

The A-Max is a bit more fancy:

• Supports S/PDIF output
• more fast usb ports
• WiFi 7 (instead of 6E on the other)
• Bluetooth 5.4 (instead of 5.3)
• preinstalled io shield
• faster ram support

Should I just go with the A-MAX?

If the above features justify the price difference yes, it's up to you to decide.

 

[ShaQBlogs]

The A-Max is a bit more fancy:

• Supports S/PDIF output
• more fast usb ports
• WiFi 7 (instead of 6E on the other)
• Bluetooth 5.4 (instead of 5.3)
• preinstalled io shield
• faster ram support

If the above features justify the price difference yes, it's up to you to decide.

Thank you for the info. I will certainly need the SPDIF out, and faster USB ports.
Other features, not sure.
Any recommendations for a cooler to go with the CPU? I think I should be good with an air cooler.

 

[Lafong]

Thank you for the info. I will certainly need the SPDIF out, and faster USB ports.
Other features, not sure.
Any recommendations for a cooler to go with the CPU?

Any above average air cooler should work, as long as it is short enough to fit in your case.

40 or 50 bucks on up;

Peerless Assassin is one...I think from Thermalright. Pretty cheap.

Noctuas are commonly recommended if you want to spend a bit more.. U12S for instance. Single tower.

You shouldn't need a heavy duty dual tower like the Noctua D15 unless you are terrified by temps.

You can always fiddle with the BIOS settings to drive power and temps down....with little effect on performance. Those Intel CPUs will rev up and run as fast as the cooler will allow, subject to the BIOS settings.

 

[ShaQBlogs]

Any above average air cooler should work, as long as it is short enough to fit in your case.

40 or 50 bucks on up;

Peerless Assassin is one...I think from Thermalright. Pretty cheap.

Noctuas are commonly recommended if you want to spend a bit more.. U12S for instance. Single tower.

You shouldn't need a heavy duty dual tower like the Noctua D15 unless you are terrified by temps.

You can always fiddle with the BIOS settings to drive power and temps down....with little effect on performance. Those Intel CPUs will rev up and run as fast as the cooler will allow, subject to the BIOS settings.

I am not too worried about CPU temps.
The mentioned cooler is not available back here. Here is what is available to me.

Looking at either the Cooler Master Hyper 212 or 620S, very reasonably priced. Is there any reason why i should not be buying either?

 

[geofelt]

In the waay past I had a very hard time mounting a hyper212 level.
I think I would pick one of the twin tower AK 620 coolers

The 13600K or 14600K are outstanding chips.
They will run fine on lesser coolers, but can speed up more with better coolers.