Question Z690-A...

SPECOPS70

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Nov 29, 2018
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Hello all.

OK I am building me another gaming system to replace the one in my sig. I was thinking hard about getting a R9 5800x or a 5900x with a ROG B550-A gaming mobo.

I am also thinking very hard about getting (thanks to these forums advice) an Intel i7 12700K with a Prime Z690-A.

Now, this prime board is ddr5 and the prices for these dimms are pretty high up there. I would like some advice from all here on which setup I should go for and if you dont mind stating why?

Any other advice like on psu etc would be great. I am thinking of getting an RTX 3060Ti for it.

Thx
 
The 12700k is a good idea, I just upgraded myself from a 6700k to the 12700k. The difference in anything CPU intensive is significant. Single core is much higher, but for anything that is really well optimized for multithreaded processing and especially if you tend to do much multitasking, the additional cores are huge as is the increase in IPC especially for the performance cores. Even the "efficiency cores" have better single core performance than the last gen standard cores.

But DDR5 is ridiculous right now, and there is really nothing to be gained with it unless you want to intentionally plan to again buy more memory later because as of now this is a new architecture and the latency is very high yet. If you have your heart set on buying expensive memory so that perhaps you are already on DDR5 for some future upgrades, that's understandable, but I'd wait for it to mature so that prices come down, speeds go up and latency, which right now is probably as big of a factor as the price, also comes down. I can't see any reason to spend hundreds of dollars for memory that is no faster than a lot of DDR4 is currently, which is why I didn't.

I just got done building my Aorus Elite AX DDR4 with 12700k and the difference is very substantial. I'll have to get some screens together but my benchmarks on things like Passmark, Timespy, Superposition and Cinebench jumped by leaps and bounds, and real world application and game play is just so much smoother and faster.

Not to mention the Z690 platform has things you can't get with Ryzen yet, which might be desirable in the future like PCIe 5.0, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, and so on. Being able to use my 32GB of 3200mh CL14 DDR4 a few more years, considering the expense of that memory kit, made what I invested in this platform well worth it.
 
I also upgraded to the 12700k recently, from an i5-7600k. The difference is like night and day. When my old processor struggled to even have other programs besides the game I play open at times and shot to 100% load on all cores at times, the 12700k is barely even feeling the load. It's an awesome processor worth its money. However, I have to say, I wouldn't go the DDR5 route just yet, either. DDR4 is plenty fast right now and the difference, outside some very specific workloads, negligible. And I still got the other goodies mentioned above. I picked the MSI Pro Z690-A, btw. Great board for a small price and quite inexpensive. Quite popular in my country, too, and got no issues with this CPU at all.
 
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Here's another option to consider. This cpu down below uses less power and creates less heat while netting you similar results.

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-12700F-2-1GHz-6xxChipset-BX8071512700F/dp/B09NPJDPVG/
Intel Core i7-12700F $312.96

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...2700f-processor-25m-cache-up-to-4-90-ghz.html

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Mortar-Gaming-Motherboard-Socket/dp/B09PXD16F6
MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 $179.99

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B660M-MORTAR-WIFI-DDR4

or ...

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Tomahawk-Gaming-Motherboard-Socket/dp/B09PXL3ZZB
MSI MAG B660 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 $189.99

or ...

ASUS TUF Gaming H670-PRO WiFi D4 $229.00

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/TUF-Gaming/TUF-GAMING-H670-PRO-WIFI-D4/

https://www.antonline.com/Evga/Computers/Video_Cards/Graphic_Cards/1445333
EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti XC GAMING 8GB GDDR6 LHR Graphic Card + EVGA SuperNOVA 650W G5 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply + EVGA X17 Wired Customizable Gaming Mouse $679.97

Review of that cpu with benchmarks.

https://www.techspot.com/review/2391-intel-core-i7-12700/
 
Last edited:
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Thankyou all for the info. Appreciate it. Yeah that is the reason I asked about the ddr 5. very expensive. I will stick with the ddr4 platform.

Darkbreeze:

I have a 2060. PSU I know it is a 850 but not sure of the model. I am giving that pc to my son. So i am getting everything needed for the new one.
 
Here's another option to consider. This cpu down below uses less power and creates less heat while netting you similar results.

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-12700F-2-1GHz-6xxChipset-BX8071512700F/dp/B09NPJDPVG/
Intel Core i7-12700F $312.96

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...2700f-processor-25m-cache-up-to-4-90-ghz.html

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Mortar-Gaming-Motherboard-Socket/dp/B09PXD16F6
MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi DDR4 $179.99

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B660M-MORTAR-WIFI-DDR4

or ...

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Tomahawk-Gaming-Motherboard-Socket/dp/B09PXL3ZZB
MSI MAG B660 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 $189.99

or ...

ASUS TUF Gaming H670-PRO WiFi D4 $229.00

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/TUF-Gaming/TUF-GAMING-H670-PRO-WIFI-D4/

https://www.antonline.com/Evga/Computers/Video_Cards/Graphic_Cards/1445333
EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti XC GAMING 8GB GDDR6 LHR Graphic Card + EVGA SuperNOVA 650W G5 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply + EVGA X17 Wired Customizable Gaming Mouse $679.97

Review of that cpu with benchmarks.

https://www.techspot.com/review/2391-intel-core-i7-12700/


Thank you for all this info!!!!
 
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So, for a 3060 ti, the recommendation is 575w. A good 650-750w unit would be fine. Assuming by your avatar that you are in the US, this is probably the best low cost option right now.

PCPartPicker Part List

Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $84.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-03-30 14:32 EDT-0400


You can of course help yourself to finding something more preferable to your own tastes using the following resources, which should help you avoid getting anything undesirable.




As to the AIO, are you looking simply for performance and price or are you wanting an AIO with RGB fans as well? Generally, with few exceptions, fans with RGB require you to take a hit in terms of the fans performance and static pressure. Possibly also bearing quality in a lot of cases.

As for the memory/RAM, I'd personally recommend something from G.Skill. The Ripjaws and Trident Z sticks are pretty hard to beat in terms of quality and the prices are usually better than what's offered by other brands. Anything 3600mhz or higher, or even a lower speed 3200mhz or higher kit with a very low latency should be more than sufficient. Faster memory is nice, but at some point you start trading speed for price and the price simply isn't justified in the grand scheme when you start looking at some of the very high speed kits or the DDR5 kits, HOWEVER, if you are going to give the older system away and not have that memory to reuse with this system, THEN it might be worth considering paying a bit more for DDR5 since that is going to offer you a much longer legged upgrade path later.

And personally, while having been a primarily ASUS and Gigabyte loyalist when it comes to buying my personal motherboards in the past, I've shied away from ASUS in the last few years because I've had multiple customer support issues with them that were clearly warrantable problems and were not ever resolved by ASUS in an acceptable fashion. I also know of a good many others around here including some of the moderators who've had similarly distasteful experiences with ASUS customer support over the course of the last five years so my personal recommendation is that their products are very high quality but IF you should have to deal with them on a CS issue, and there's always a good chance of that with motherboards and graphics cards, it might not go the way you'd like to think it would with a company of that caliber.

Gigabyte on the other hand, I've never had any CS issues with the handful of times I've dealt with them over the past 20-30 years or so.
 
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For that kind of money you could go with a DDR5 build.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails?ItemList=Combo.4484533
ASUS Prime Z690-A LGA 1700 Intel 12th ATX Motherboard + Kingston FURY Beast 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5 5200 Combo $484.99

 
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THank you Breeze once again for all the info. Here is what i got so far.

I was thinking of going for the corsair rm 750 or 850x white. I decided to go with a white pc this time around hence the mobo and tower.

Thank fully I have never had issues with Asus myself.

AIO i was thinking about the th360:
https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Motherboard-Efficiency-Radiator-CL-W302-PL12SW-B/dp/B09LXPLVSV/ref=sr_1_25?crid=19WPQ7NQL5PUC&keywords=lga+1700+aio&qid=1648668309&s=electronics&sprefix=lga+1700+aio,electronics,109&sr=1-25&th=1

Something similar to the above. White and with a temp gauge that will not break the bank as bad.

I agree on the gskill 3600 ram. My sig rig i went with corsair rgb vengeance 3000mhz, great ram

Why me:
i was thinking of going with the ddr5. the mobo i was thinking of getting was the Asus Prime Z690-A DDR5. Which is cheaper than the ddr4 board i am getting. That extra money could go toward the expensive ddr5 dimms. IDK!!!!
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Motherboard-Type-C-ThunderboltTM-Lighting/dp/B09J1SD9J2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1AZEV3N5IXFP7&keywords=ddr5+motherboard&qid=1648668636&s=electronics&sprefix=ddr5+mother,electronics,129&sr=1-1

Some told me to wait and just stay with ddr4 becuase ddr5 is a new era in ram and might give me issues.

I know ultimately it is up to me and my preference. BUT...

What do yall think?

thx
 
I'm the one that mentioned that DDR5 is new tech, but also, that was assuming you were going to have your old kit to use which would have made a substantial cost savings. If you have to buy memory ANYWAY, then it kind of makes sense to go ahead and go with DDR5 now since pretty much all future systems for the foreseeable future are going to be migrating to DDR5 anyway. Using DDR4 on the latest platforms, because you already have the DDR4, is one thing. But buying into DDR4 now, when we are already transitioning to DDR5 on Intel and will soon be before long on AMD, seems like a waste of money.

Also, Thermaltake doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to the longevity of their AIO units, and aside from that, the TH360 models specifically got called out a while back for arriving with serious damage to the radiators because of poor packaging by the manufacturer. This is pretty similar to what STILL is happening with the tempered glass side panel upgrades being sold by many manufacturers without sufficient protection in transit. Reviews of those various TH Sync models were withheld by review sites for this reason and I don't see any trustworthy reviews since then saying the problem was corrected, or at all for that matter, which leads me to think maybe it hasn't been addressed and that's why there are still no significant professional reviews of the basic or snow versions. You have to think that for a major product by a major brand, there would be if the issues were resolved PLUS the one video review that doesn't seem hokey shows that unit getting worse performance than just about every other compared model.

I'd have to recommend considering another product, and for the record, Thermaltake in general I tend to avoid because they seem to have so many problems on so many of their products other than the Toughpower Grand power supplies.
 
THanks man.

Yeah I agree with you. I should go with ddr5. All i needed was a little push....i am pretty sure i will go with my first choice and get the prime ddr5 mobo with my 12700k. I just used the thermaltake aio as an example of what i want. i want a 360mm white aio. I am thinking of going with a corsair or nzxt BUT i do want one that has the digital temp on the pump. I appreciate all the advice and knowledge.
 
I'll leave finding an appropriate AIO up to you, because I don't think it's too likely you are going to find many (I know of just two, that one, and one by NZXT) white 360mm AIO units with the temp display. I am not a big fan of NZXT either, as they aren't much better than Thermaltake, but in a different way. Mostly, for many of their products, I dislike that they tie you to their CAM software or else they generally won't work at all, and the CAM software sucks butt. Not only does it hog way more than it's share of resources, but it's intrusive and phones home with your information on a regular basis and that can't be disabled or opted out of. But, I'd probably choose that over the Thermaltake unit. Those are just my opinions though. Others may have different ones as may you.
 
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Yes, there are tons of threads out there regarding NZXT's data mining on users, without their knowledge, using CAM. There WAS a ten or fifteen page discussion on this on the CAM forum, but they thought they'd be cute and delete all those discussions so now you can find information about it on Reddit and other sources. Also, CAM uses REALLY unrealistic amount of CPU resources and RAM. I finally had to tear out my Grid+ v2 fan controller and Hue+ RGB controller because it simply caused more trouble than it was worth.

That is why I avoid them. Not to mention crap like THIS:

https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3522-nzxt-smart-device-doesnt-do-anything-cam-deep-dive

And this:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XIKOSrQdQ0
 
Just my 2 cents:
Normally, it is best to let the default turbo mechanism do it's thing and run a couple of cores at high multipliers when conditions permit.
This is particularly good for gaming.
Overclocking is no longer the way to get something for nothing.
To that end, a simpler and cheaper air cooler may be what you want.
Noctua has extensive compatibility charts.
Here is the one for the 12700k:
https://ncc.noctua.at/cpus/model/Intel-Core-i7-12700K-1579
The top cooler tops out at a likely $100.
 
Thanks breeze. Thanks geo.

Yeah i have been using air coolers forever. This last build my sig rig I went with an AIO. Still thinking of what I should go with. If I cannot find a white AIO with the temp screen then it will have to be a heat sink. thx

Ya'll think a 750 or 850 psu is overkill with this new setup. 12700k, 3060ti. thx
 
I'm using a Noctua NH-U14S which is a single finstack cooler, and I've replaced the NF-A15 that came on it with an NF-A14, and added a second NF-A14 to the other side of the heatsink. I've been using this, like this, for about ten years now, and it's working fine on this new build as well.

My 12700k didn't go over about 76°C when I tested it after assembly, even running Prime95 Small FFT with AVX disabled. Which is pretty much the standard you want to test with. I had planned to buy an Arctic liquid freezer II 420mm if this heatsink didn't work, but it's fine. I may even do some overclocking with it as I have about 8-10°C to play with, with the fans configured the way they are right now, and that is seriously dumbed down so that I can't hear anything even while running Prime it was nearly silent. With just a small bump in the fan profiles I probably could increase that to about a 15°C margin which probably would be enough to see some decent all core gains.