About ROG Strix B660-F (semi-budget DDR5 board)

[sylvik]

Hello. I recently bought a ROG Strix B660-F (DDR5) yesterday and it will arrive next week. Was around $303 (1315 Romanian LEI) here at my local PC parts store. Of course, there are other better or too good enough B660 and a few Z690 boards that exist and are cheap and not costs too much but I decided to go on a ASUS board for the first time. I'm planning to pair it with an Intel i5 12400 and 8GB DDR5 4800MHz at first until I will save some money and get something better like a better DDR5 kit and a better B660 or Z690 board like MSI. Anyway, from what I've seen, no reviews appeared or any other info about of that motherboard anywhere yet. I do have a few questions about that motherboard.  Will it suffer the same issues as most ASUS Z690 motherboards (e.g. ROG Strix) such as Intel I225-V lan issues (even if it is a B3 revision) or not recognizing / dying M.2 SSD storage on the first M.2 top slot and other stuff? Or should not to concern too much? Pro and Cons about ASUS boards in general? Opinions? Thanks!

 

P.S. It's for my third custom build for gaming. I already have the case (Corsair 4000D), 500GB M.2 SSD NVMe and soon will get a 1TB SSD with PCI 4 interface and a discrete 2.5Gbps network card or a RJ45 switch to connect it to my ONT router from my internet provider just in case the NIC from the board won't work at all.

[RONOTHAN##]

13 minutes ago, sylvik said:

8GB DDR5 4800MHz

You want to avoid these sticks. They have half the bandwidth of DDR5 yet all of the latency of it. If you want to go DDR5 you really want to be going with at least 16GB DIMMs. They're the worst parts of DDR4 and DDR5. 

 

15 minutes ago, sylvik said:

Pro and Cons about ASUS boards in general?

Pros: They're usually built pretty well. 

Cons: Horrible customer service and are very overpriced for what you get. 

 

17 minutes ago, sylvik said:

Opinions?

Return the board and either get a Z690 board or a midrange B660 board. The MSI Z690-A Pro is a much better motherboard, more features, more IO, etc. for less money. It would let you spend more on the things that matter like CPU, GPU, or RAM. If you really want DDR5 this is the way to go, though for the prices being charged, DDR4 is probably a better choice anyway. 

[Jurrunio]

Investing in crappy DDR5 now for the future, but planning to upgrade the board and memory in the future anyway...? You're not making sense.

 

DDR4 is the better priced option today and even the best DDR5 today will look bad years later (just like DDR4 had back when X99 launched). Imo it's better to stick with a B660/Z690 board and DDR4 until Intel cuts the compatibility again. They do it every 2 generations so it's not that far into the future.

[sylvik]

3 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

You want to avoid these sticks. They have half the bandwidth of DDR5 yet all of the latency of it. If you want to go DDR5 you really want to be going with at least 16GB DIMMs. They're the worst parts of DDR4 and DDR5. 

 

Pros: They're usually built pretty well. 

Cons: Horrible customer service and are very overpriced for what you get. 

 

Return the board and either get a Z690 board or a midrange B660 board. The MSI Z690-A Pro is a much better motherboard, more features, more IO, etc. for less money. It would let you spend more on the things that matter like CPU, GPU, or RAM. If you really want DDR5 this is the way to go, though for the prices being charged, DDR4 is probably a better choice anyway. 

How about non-very expensive Gigabyte Z690 boards (DDR4 version) like Aero G or Aorus Pro. Both have WiFi. Aero G has Realtek ALC4080 audio codec. 10 USB Rear ports. A bit nicer BIOS menu than Aorus (with its "Linux Ubuntu" type font) and almost very similar BIOS menu that looks like ASUS bios menu. Physical reset and power button and all stuff but minus Bios Flashback and/or Clear CMOS button and Q-Code Dual Digits(Aorus Pro has at least that Q-Code). 4x M.2 slots. Still is for "creators" but I don't think it matter. Good choice or bad? Also does they (Gigabyte support team) solved that DRAM compatibility issue? Or is still problematic? Or Gigabyte boards are still bad like most users says that are bad boards and they won't work anymore after wake-up from sleep mode? I really want to give a try on a Gigabyte board.

[RONOTHAN##]

1 hour ago, sylvik said:

How about non-very expensive Gigabyte Z690 boards (DDR4 version) like Aero G or Aorus Pro. Both have WiFi. Aero G has Realtek ALC4080 audio codec. 10 USB Rear ports. A bit nicer BIOS menu than Aorus (with its "Linux Ubuntu" type font) and almost very similar BIOS menu that looks like ASUS bios menu. Physical reset and power button and all stuff but minus Bios Flashback and/or Clear CMOS button and Q-Code Dual Digits(Aorus Pro has at least that Q-Code). 4x M.2 slots. Still is for "creators" but I don't think it matter. Good choice or bad? Also does they (Gigabyte support team) solved that DRAM compatibility issue? Or is still problematic? Or Gigabyte boards are still bad like most users says that are bad boards and they won't work anymore after wake-up from sleep mode? I really want to give a try on a Gigabyte board.

Part of the problem is that Gigabyte screwed something up with their memory design on the DDR4 boards, so booting higher speed memory (pretty important for good performance) is a bit difficult. It still hasn't been fixed yet. MSI boards really have won this generation of Z690 and are the best bet if you want one.

[sylvik]

7 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Part of the problem is that Gigabyte screwed something up with their memory design on the DDR4 boards, so booting higher speed memory (pretty important for good performance) is a bit difficult. It still hasn't been fixed yet. MSI boards really have won this generation of Z690 and are the best bet if you want one.

I don't want to be or sound disrespectful, but why not ASUS motherboards (especially the ROG STRIX Z690/B660 DDR5)? Are they really that bad? I mean, sure DDR5 costs very much and is still difficult to find some good sticks that would worth it (in a somehow way) and DDR4 still a better choice but I really want to try and see how DDR5 and a 12th Gen Intel cpu performs and works and to tests especially games and much more (for example I really want to test Serious Sam Classics Encounter or Fusion, SS2,NFS,MK11,Half Life,Far Cry and much more on the new platform). I already have a motherboard from MSI on my secondary custom build. More specific I have an MAG B460 Tomahawk paired with an i5-10500 and 16GB 2666MHz. I understand that all MSI boards, especially those Z690 are very good and better choice and stuff like that but related to the cost of such a better board is... eeh well *raising my hands and shoulders* not quite cheap yet. Excluding the PRO-A because have a very horrible and outdated audio codec (ALC897 seriously?!) and missing its other M.2 slots heatsink and Mortar (nooooo because I don't want mATX boards anymore). And Tomahawk (very good board but its model on the VRM heatsink is meh). Those boards are not expensive. Although, Force and Carbon(NFS XD) would a better choice and better boards but those are not very quite cheap. Especially for my budget. Same with the Edge (only DDR4 version).

Edited January 16, 2022 by sylvik

[RONOTHAN##]

15 minutes ago, sylvik said:

I don't want to be or sound disrespectful, but why not ASUS motherboards (especially the ROG STRIX Z690/B660 DDR5)? Are they really that bad? I mean, sure DDR5 costs very much and is still difficult to find some good sticks that would worth it (in a somehow way) and DDR4 still a better choice but I really want to try and see how DDR5 and a 12th Gen Intel cpu performs and works and to tests especially games and much more (for example I really want to test Serious Sam Classics Encounter or Fusion, SS2,NFS,MK11,Half Life,Far Cry and much more on the new platform). I already have a motherboard from MSI on my secondary custom build. More specific I have an MAG B460 Tomahawk paired with an i5-10500 and 16GB 2666MHz. I understand that all MSI boards, especially those Z690 are very good and better choice and stuff like that but related to the cost of such a better board is... eeh well *raising my hands and shoulders and

coughing* not quite cheap yet.

ASUS boards aren't really bad, it's just that they really don't know how to price them. Take the Strix Z690-A board for example. Other than a slightly nicer VRM and an integrated IO shield, it has almost the exact same feature set as the MSI Z690-A Pro, a board that costs over $100 US less. The TUF Z690 is just as bad, since the IO is slightly worse than the Z690-A Pro, the VRM solution is about equal, yet the board costs $50 more. Their Prime boards are a bit different, since while they are still a bit overpriced for the features and VRM solutions that they offer, they aren't nearly as bad as the Strix and TUF line. The problem with them is they explicitly remove the ability to read certain sensors (depending on the board) and lock out features for things like memory overclocking. Similar boards from manufacturers like MSI and Gigabyte don't have the same drawbacks as the Prime boards, and are thus more feature rich. Their Prime B660 line does look promising on paper for the price, but that's if they don't nerf the BIOS options in the same way they've done on their Z690 prime boards. As for their B660 Strix/TUF lines, they cost the same or more than the MSI Z690-A Pro, a board that offers more features in every possible way. If you're fine with spending the extra $100 on a motherboard that will give you no appreciable improvement, sure get an ASUS board, but remember that you're just paying for the names ASUS and Strix and not getting anything more from that but a couple stickers in the box.

 

I will advise you against it, but if you're really serious about going DDR5 (there really isn't a reason to for gaming, latency is what matters for gaming and even the highest end DDR5 kits have mediocre latency at best), then you do have more options. Gigabyte's DDR5 support has generally been pretty solid, same with all the major manufacturers (either that or like X99 they're all about equally bad, only time will tell). If you do want to spend more on a motherboard than the gold standard Z690-A Pro (there is a DDR5 version of that board), I'd get the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro (DDR5 version, I've already said my peace on their DDR4 versions of boards), since it's the cheapest board that has a POST code, and personally I can't live without a POST code on my motherboard. There really isn't much point in getting it, since you're only planning on running an i5 12400, but it is an option. 

 

My general rule when picking a motherboard is to spend somewhere between 50% and 75% of the cost of the CPU on the motherboard. If you're spending $300 on a CPU, try to keep it around $150-225 for the motherboard. If you're spending $500 on a CPU, spend between $250 and $375. Spending any more than that, you might as well get a better CPU and get a slightly cheaper motherboard. Spending less than that, it's possible that you get a motherboard without an adequate VRM solution or you'll be missing out on features that are very nice to have. There are exceptions to that, especially to the bottom end depending on board availability and quality for the price (If you get a 12700K for $250, you really should be spending close to that amount of money on a motherboard) or if you are planning a CPU upgrade in the future and it's currently a stop gap solution, but for the most part, especially with mid-tier power consumption parts like the 12400 it applies pretty strictly. (I'm gonna talk in US pricing because it's what I know and you never said what country you're in, but it should translate over pretty easily) The 12400 is a $200 part, so by the rule above you should be spending about $100-150 on a board. That puts you strictly in B660 territory. The ASUS Prime B660-Plus D4 falls right in the middle of that category, and would thus make a really good pairing with that chip (again, given that ASUS doesn't disable half the BIOS options). More motherboards like the MSI B660-A Pro are likely to fall in the same price range, but an official price has yet to be released, so you're likely to have more options in that price category. If you want to spend more than $250 on a motherboard like it sounds like you want to, you'd be better off spending that extra $100 on a 12600k and getting still getting that Prime B660-Plus D4 or one of the other ~$150 B660 motherboards. The VRMs are strong enough (especially with a bit of airflow) and you can still overclock the memory.

 

I get you want to test DDR5 and everything, but since you are on a budget it really doesn't make sense to do. It is your money and everything and you can spend it however you want to, but spending it in the way you describe is not the most reasonable. Save money on the motherboard, it's just a fancy cable, you only need one high enough quality for your CPU and with enough connectors. Use that money to get a better CPU.

[sylvik]

31 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

ASUS boards aren't really bad, it's just that they really don't know how to price them. Take the Strix Z690-A board for example. Other than a slightly nicer VRM and an integrated IO shield, it has almost the exact same feature set as the MSI Z690-A Pro, a board that costs over $100 US less. The TUF Z690 is just as bad, since the IO is slightly worse than the Z690-A Pro, the VRM solution is about equal, yet the board costs $50 more. Their Prime boards are a bit different, since while they are still a bit overpriced for the features and VRM solutions that they offer, they aren't nearly as bad as the Strix and TUF line. The problem with them is they explicitly remove the ability to read certain sensors (depending on the board) and lock out features for things like memory overclocking. Similar boards from manufacturers like MSI and Gigabyte don't have the same drawbacks as the Prime boards, and are thus more feature rich. Their Prime B660 line does look promising on paper for the price, but that's if they don't nerf the BIOS options in the same way they've done on their Z690 prime boards. As for their B660 Strix/TUF lines, they cost the same or more than the MSI Z690-A Pro, a board that offers more features in every possible way. If you're fine with spending the extra $100 on a motherboard that will give you no appreciable improvement, sure get an ASUS board, but remember that you're just paying for the names ASUS and Strix and not getting anything more from that but a couple stickers in the box.

 

I will advise you against it, but if you're really serious about going DDR5 (there really isn't a reason to for gaming, latency is what matters for gaming and even the highest end DDR5 kits have mediocre latency at best), then you do have more options. Gigabyte's DDR5 support has generally been pretty solid, same with all the major manufacturers (either that or like X99 they're all about equally bad, only time will tell). If you do want to spend more on a motherboard than the gold standard Z690-A Pro (there is a DDR5 version of that board), I'd get the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro (DDR5 version, I've already said my peace on their DDR4 versions of boards), since it's the cheapest board that has a POST code, and personally I can't live without a POST code on my motherboard. There really isn't much point in getting it, since you're only planning on running an i5 12400, but it is an option. 

 

My general rule when picking a motherboard is to spend somewhere between 50% and 75% of the cost of the CPU on the motherboard. If you're spending $300 on a CPU, try to keep it around $150-225 for the motherboard. If you're spending $500 on a CPU, spend between $250 and $375. Spending any more than that, you might as well get a better CPU and get a slightly cheaper motherboard. Spending less than that, it's possible that you get a motherboard without an adequate VRM solution or you'll be missing out on features that are very nice to have. There are exceptions to that, especially to the bottom end depending on board availability and quality for the price (If you get a 12700K for $250, you really should be spending close to that amount of money on a motherboard) or if you are planning a CPU upgrade in the future and it's currently a stop gap solution, but for the most part, especially with mid-tier power consumption parts like the 12400 it applies pretty strictly. (I'm gonna talk in US pricing because it's what I know and you never said what country you're in, but it should translate over pretty easily) The 12400 is a $200 part, so by the rule above you should be spending about $100-150 on a board. That puts you strictly in B660 territory. The ASUS Prime B660-Plus D4 falls right in the middle of that category, and would thus make a really good pairing with that chip (again, given that ASUS doesn't disable half the BIOS options). More motherboards like the MSI B660-A Pro are likely to fall in the same price range, but an official price has yet to be released, so you're likely to have more options in that price category. If you want to spend more than $250 on a motherboard like it sounds like you want to, you'd be better off spending that extra $100 on a 12600k and getting still getting that Prime B660-Plus D4 or one of the other ~$150 B660 motherboards. The VRMs are strong enough (especially with a bit of airflow) and you can still overclock the memory.

 

I get you want to test DDR5 and everything, but since you are on a budget it really doesn't make sense to do. It is your money and everything and you can spend it however you want to, but spending it in the way you describe is not the most reasonable. Save money on the motherboard, it's just a fancy cable, you only need one high enough quality for your CPU and with enough connectors. Use that money to get a better CPU.

Update: I cancelled the ordered I did (ROG Strix B660-F Gaming WiFi) and will buy that Z690 Carbon from MSI. I will have wait maybe a week or two until I get my paycheck to complete my savings I already have. That board has really enough features and it looks very premium. It is okay if I will pair it with an i5-12400F and 16GB DDR5 4800MHz(when it will be on stock and available)for now and later with an i5-12600KF as a upgrade?! For my needs it's more than enough. Also will i5-12400F bottleneck with my RX570 8GB for example? My display/monitor is 24inch 1080p 144Hz 1ms.

 

[RONOTHAN##]

7 hours ago, sylvik said:

Update: I cancelled the ordered I did (ROG Strix B660-F Gaming WiFi) and will buy that Z690 Carbon from MSI. I will have wait maybe a week or two until I get my paycheck to complete my savings I already have. That board has really enough features and it looks very premium. It is okay if I will pair it with an i5-12400F and 16GB DDR5 4800MHz(when it will be on stock and available)for now and later with an i5-12600KF as a upgrade?! For my needs it's more than enough. Also will i5-12400F bottleneck with my RX570 8GB for example? My display/monitor is 24inch 1080p 144Hz 1ms.

 

OK. You're still overspending on the motherboard by a lot. Spending more on a motherboard than on a CPU is generally a bad idea if you care at all about price to performance. The only reason to spend more on a motherboard than you do on a CPU is if you're doing XOC. That said, at least you're getting a couple features extra, like a POST code. 

 

The Z690 Carbon would be enough for a 12600k. It's overkill for a 12600k. Heck, it's overkill for a 12900k unless you're trying to push it to its absolute limits. I get you want to have a board that looks premium and everything, but quite honestly you're not in the price range for one. 

 

No a 12400F will not bottleneck a RX 570. A 12400F would be fine with up to about a 3080. Remember, it performs about on par with the 5600x.

 

9 hours ago, sylvik said:

Excluding the PRO-A because have a very horrible and outdated audio codec (ALC897 seriously?!) and missing its other M.2 slots heatsink and Mortar (nooooo because I don't want mATX boards anymore). And Tomahawk (very good board but its model on the VRM heatsink is meh). Those boards are not expensive. Although, Force and Carbon(NFS XD) would a better choice and better boards but those are not very quite cheap. Especially for my budget. Same with the Edge (only DDR4 version).

If you care at all about audio, you don't care about onboard audio. You get a DAC. Also, M.2 heatsinks can be had for $2 on eBay, they aren't a selling point. For the amount extra you'd spend on a carbon compared to the Pro-A, you could buy a decent DAC and 50 M.2 heatsinks. 

 

For the Tomahawk, it doesn't even need the heatsink, the VRM is overkill enough. If you don't like it, you can take them off. 

[sylvik]

17 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

OK. You're still overspending on the motherboard by a lot. Spending more on a motherboard than on a CPU is generally a bad idea if you care at all about price to performance. The only reason to spend more on a motherboard than you do on a CPU is if you're doing XOC. That said, at least you're getting a couple features extra, like a POST code. 

 

The Z690 Carbon would be enough for a 12600k. It's overkill for a 12600k. Heck, it's overkill for a 12900k unless you're trying to push it to its absolute limits. I get you want to have a board that looks premium and everything, but quite honestly you're not in the price range for one. 

 

No a 12400F will not bottleneck a RX 570. A 12400F would be fine with up to about a 3080. Remember, it performs about on par with the 5600x.

 

If you care at all about audio, you don't care about onboard audio. You get a DAC. Also, M.2 heatsinks can be had for $2 on eBay, they aren't a selling point. For the amount extra you'd spend on a carbon compared to the Pro-A, you could buy a decent DAC and 50 M.2 heatsinks. 

 

For the Tomahawk, it doesn't even need the heatsink, the VRM is overkill enough. If you don't like it, you can take them off. 

Yeah, I realized too about just what I said and also spending very much just on a motherboard (being also overkill for just an i5-12400F or i5-12600K) wouldn't be a good choice at all. That was my fault. Moving to Fast Forward, that Z690 Carbon (as I read some reviews that MB has around 18 power stages at 75A which is plenty) as you mention would be a better choice for an i5 12400F or 12600K respectively? Excluding the i9-12900K since it's costs a lot here in Romania and it's way too much for what I need.

[RONOTHAN##]

6 hours ago, sylvik said:

Yeah, I realized too about just what I said and also spending very much just on a motherboard (being also overkill for just an i5-12400F or i5-12600K) wouldn't be a good choice at all. That was my fault. Moving to Fast Forward, that Z690 Carbon (as I read some reviews that MB has around 18 power stages at 75A which is plenty) as you mention would be a better choice for an i5 12400F or 12600K respectively? Excluding the i9-12900K since it's costs a lot here in Romania and it's way too much for what I need.

Both of those chips can easily be powered by the MSI Z690-A Pro and most B660 boards. That board is overkill for a 12900k. I'd still return it and get something much cheaper.

[sylvik]

1 hour ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Both of those chips can easily be powered by the MSI Z690-A Pro and most B660 boards. That board is overkill for a 12900k. I'd still return it and get something much cheaper.

Update: Eventually I've bought an i5-12600KF (plus a SanDisk 64GB USB Drive as gift promotion from the PC parts store from where I bought the cpu) and probably I would go with either Z690 Tomahawk WiFi or MPG Edge WiFi. The only thing is the Edge has Q code led post while Tomahawk doesn't have that. Both DDR4 version. I see that DDR5 kits are very expensive and hard to find them in stock. I really heard lots of good things about that i5-12600KF and its performance power. Wonder if that Arctic i35 RGB will able to handle that cpu at stock settings. 

[RONOTHAN##]

50 minutes ago, sylvik said:

Update: Eventually I've bought an i5-12600KF (plus a SanDisk 64GB USB Drive as gift promotion from the PC parts store from where I bought the cpu) and probably I would go with either Z690 Tomahawk WiFi or MPG Edge WiFi. The only thing is the Edge has Q code led post while Tomahawk doesn't have that. Both DDR4 version. I see that DDR5 kits are very expensive and hard to find them in stock. I really heard lots of good things about that i5-12600KF and its performance power. Wonder if that Arctic i35 RGB will able to handle that cpu at stock settings. 

OK, that's a more balanced pick. I don't know what you[re talking about for the Q code though, if you're referring to debug LEDs then both boards have them. If you're talking about the 7 segment displays then neither board has them. If its between those two boards, I'd go Tomahawk.

 

As for the cooler, it'll probably run hot but it should be fine. The 12600k is hot, but not overly hot. 

[sylvik]

4 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

OK, that's a more balanced pick. I don't know what you[re talking about for the Q code though, if you're referring to debug LEDs then both boards have them. If you're talking about the 7 segment displays then neither board has them. If its between those two boards, I'd go Tomahawk.

 

As for the cooler, it'll probably run hot but it should be fine. The 12600k is hot, but not overly hot. 

I was meant post code with two digits (the one where it shows an error code like "55" in case the memory sticks doesn't work and post because it isn't compatible with that specific MB or something like that). As far as I know the Tomahawk Z690, while Z690 Edge have that. It's good to know that the i5 12600K doesn't get overly hot. That is a good sign. Yeah, after all I will go with that Z690 Tomahawk WiFi and pair it with i5-12600KF and 16GB DDR4 3200MHz. Short question: What power limits values would be better? For example, to not exceed its PL2 above 225W by leaving it at auto. What value for PL1 and for PL2?

[RONOTHAN##]

2 minutes ago, sylvik said:

I was meant post code with two digits (the one where it shows an error code like "55" in case the memory sticks doesn't work and post because it isn't compatible with that specific MB or something like that). As far as I know the Tomahawk Z690, while Z690 Edge have that. It's good to know that the i5 12600K doesn't get overly hot. That is a good sign. Yeah, after all I will go with that Z690 Tomahawk WiFi and pair it with i5-12600KF and 16GB DDR4 3200MHz. Short question: What power limits values would be better? For example, to not exceed its PL2 above 225W by leaving it at auto. What value for PL1 and for PL2?

Yeah, neither the Edge or the Tomahawk have those. The only LGA 1700 DDR4 motherboard I know of that has the 7 segment display (the POST code/Q code you're talking about) is the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro DDR4, but you should probably avoid it because of the memory issues above 3200MHz. If you're only gonna be running 3200MHz on it, then it should be fine, but since high speed memory isn't much more expensive, you probably should be going for high speed stuff. I know when I was building an Alder Lake system for a friend, It was $20 US more to go 32GB 4400MHz CL19 compared to 32GB 3200MHz CL16, and it's a noticeable performance difference between then. If it costs a lot more to go with something faster, then yeah stick to 3200MHz and go Z690 Aorus Pro DDR4, it's got a POST code and better IO, but if it's not much more to go with something faster like 3600MHz CL16 (that's usually the sweet spot for price to performance, only reason I went higher is that kit was on a really good sale) I'd stick to the Tomahawk. 

 

As for the power limits, I haven't played around with the 12600k enough to know exactly what power limits to do (it was actually cheaper to go 12700k than 12600k at my local Micro Center). I'd just play with it, its not like setting it to 4096w (I believe that's the default on MSI boards) will damage anything. The worst that will happen if its too high is that it will thermal throttle. Basically, start as high as it will go and lower it until you stop thermal throttling (if you thermal throttle to begin with). That will get you the best performance. PL1 you can leave as high as possible, since unless you're on a stock cooler you won't thermal throttle while in PL1. PL2 is what you want to play with, and try to get it as high as you can without letting temps go over 100C.

[sylvik]

8 hours ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Yeah, neither the Edge or the Tomahawk have those. The only LGA 1700 DDR4 motherboard I know of that has the 7 segment display (the POST code/Q code you're talking about) is the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro DDR4, but you should probably avoid it because of the memory issues above 3200MHz. If you're only gonna be running 3200MHz on it, then it should be fine, but since high speed memory isn't much more expensive, you probably should be going for high speed stuff. I know when I was building an Alder Lake system for a friend, It was $20 US more to go 32GB 4400MHz CL19 compared to 32GB 3200MHz CL16, and it's a noticeable performance difference between then. If it costs a lot more to go with something faster, then yeah stick to 3200MHz and go Z690 Aorus Pro DDR4, it's got a POST code and better IO, but if it's not much more to go with something faster like 3600MHz CL16 (that's usually the sweet spot for price to performance, only reason I went higher is that kit was on a really good sale) I'd stick to the Tomahawk. 

 

As for the power limits, I haven't played around with the 12600k enough to know exactly what power limits to do (it was actually cheaper to go 12700k than 12600k at my local Micro Center). I'd just play with it, its not like setting it to 4096w (I believe that's the default on MSI boards) will damage anything. The worst that will happen if its too high is that it will thermal throttle. Basically, start as high as it will go and lower it until you stop thermal throttling (if you thermal throttle to begin with). That will get you the best performance. PL1 you can leave as high as possible, since unless you're on a stock cooler you won't thermal throttle while in PL1. PL2 is what you want to play with, and try to get it as high as you can without letting temps go over 100C.

After all, I will go with the Z690 Edge WiFi DDR4 since it has that two-digit POST Code, which would be very useful to me and has a little better VRM and cooling than Tomahawk has. Plus that MSI Dragon on the VRM heatsink that looks neat. And as for the values for power limits for 12600KF, I will set 125W as PL1 and 225W as PL2 which I think it should be totally fine.

[RONOTHAN##]

1 minute ago, sylvik said:

it is possible that I will go with the Z690 Edge WiFi DDR4 since it has that two-digit POST Code,

Don't know what you're talking about, that motherboard doesn't have a POST code. Every image of that motherboard has no POST code readout available on it, and it says it nowhere in the manual. If it did, hands down it would be my top recommendation for the platform, but it doesn't. We are talking about the same motherboard, right? https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-Z690-EDGE-WIFI-DDR4

 

If you want a POST code and you aren't planning on running speeds above 3200MHz, then get the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro. It's the only board on the platform with DDR4 that has a POST code readout. If it could run memory speeds above 3200MHz easily it would be my top recommendation.

 

4 minutes ago, sylvik said:

And as for the values for power limits for 12600KF, I will set 125W as PL1 and 225W as PL2 which I think it should be totally fine.

Those numbers are probably a bit low, especially PL1, but again, play around with it and see what the best performance you can get out of it would be. You've got an overclocking enabled motherboard and CPU, you might as well use it. 

[Dogzilla07]

Here's more boards that have a two-digit Post Code readout:

 

https://geizhals.eu/?cat=mbp4_1700&xf=494_Diagnostic+LED+(Segmentanzeige)&asuch=&bpmin=&bpmax=&v=e&hloc=at&hloc=de&hloc=pl&hloc=uk&hloc=eu&plz=&dist=&sort=p&bl1_id=30#productlist

 

As mentioned DDR4 Versions of the Gigabyte models (that already have them) have them as well, as Gigabyte has a DDR4 clone of almost every DDR5 board.

[sylvik]

41 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Don't know what you're talking about, that motherboard doesn't have a POST code. Every image of that motherboard has no POST code readout available on it, and it says it nowhere in the manual. If it did, hands down it would be my top recommendation for the platform, but it doesn't. We are talking about the same motherboard, right? https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-Z690-EDGE-WIFI-DDR4

 

If you want a POST code and you aren't planning on running speeds above 3200MHz, then get the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Pro. It's the only board on the platform with DDR4 that has a POST code readout. If it could run memory speeds above 3200MHz easily it would be my top recommendation.

 

Those numbers are probably a bit low, especially PL1, but again, play around with it and see what the best performance you can get out of it would be. You've got an overclocking enabled motherboard and CPU, you might as well use it. 

I'm feel so ashamed! The Z690 Carbon and Force has that two-digit POST Code but they are DDR5 only boards. I don't know why I had the impression that the Z690 Edge DDR4 WiFi have a two-digit POST Code while it doesn't. Totally my fault! 

 

Yes, I know that the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus PRO has that two-digit POST Code and still has some issues with higher memory frequencies above 3200MHz, but I've also heard that in general, Gigabyte boards are either bad or meh. I heard there are a few bad reasons their boards have like the lag input in BIOS menu, blurry BIOS font, long delay from BIOS Post to boot to Windows ... etc etc. I mean the Z690 Aorus PRO (DDR4 varient) would another better choice but I'm not sure if it's worth it or not. I really like what that Z690 Aorus PRO looks like and its features it have. But I'm also afraid that at some point, that Z690 Aorus PRO it won't work as smooth as butter or the fast boot time will be 20 seconds instead of 8-10 or maximum 11 seconds until it boot in Windows. 

[RONOTHAN##]

Just now, sylvik said:

Yes, I know that the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus PRO has that two-digit POST Code and still has some issues with higher memory frequencies above 3200MHz, but I've also heard that in general, Gigabyte boards are either bad or meh. I heard there are a few bad reasons their boards have like the lag input in BIOS menu, blurry BIOS font, long delay from BIOS Post to boot to Windows ... etc etc. I mean the Z690 Aorus PRO (DDR4 varient) would another better choice but I'm not sure if it's worth it or not. I really like what that Z690 Aorus PRO looks like and its features it have. But I'm also afraid that at some point, that Z690 Aorus PRO it won't work as smooth as butter or the fast boot time will be 20 seconds instead of 8-10 or maximum 11 seconds until it boot in Windows. 

Yeah, their BIOS menus have gotten better, though they still are second to basically any other manufacturer. If you're only gonna be running 3200MHz it's still a pretty good board, but I wouldn't fault you for going with the Tomahawk or the Edge instead. Since I like higher speed memory, the MSI boards are where I'd stay. 

 

If only the Z690 Edge DDR4 had a POST code...

[sylvik]

1 hour ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Yeah, their BIOS menus have gotten better, though they still are second to basically any other manufacturer. If you're only gonna be running 3200MHz it's still a pretty good board, but I wouldn't fault you for going with the Tomahawk or the Edge instead. Since I like higher speed memory, the MSI boards are where I'd stay. 

 

If only the Z690 Edge DDR4 had a POST code...

It would have been the perfect budget Z690 DDR4 board from MSI (it really is but no POST code which is a bummer). So yeah, most likely in the end, I think I will go with that Z690 Edge from MSI after all. Sure, it doesn't have that two-digit POST code (which would be very useful) but still have Q-Led (CPU, VGA, RAM, Storage) which it's still very helpful and handy in case the CPU, RAM or Storage doesn't work anymore or aren't recognized and have to update the BIOS in other to work well or other issues. 18 power phases with 75A vs 19 power phases with 90A and a total of 13 USB Ports but no fan header for installing an exhaust fan to remove the hot air from inside the case (I'm talking about the Z690 Aorus PRO DDR4) while the Edge have that. Man, I wish there were more Z690 models with DDR4 and many enough good/premium features and that to worth it. 

Edited January 18, 2022 by sylvik

[sylvik]

3 minutes ago, sylvik said:

 

 

[Dr0idGh0sT]

Probably others alreay said it, But I say it once more.

 

RETURN THIS MOTHERBOARD.

 

[sylvik]

2 minutes ago, Dr0idGh0sT said:

Probably others alreay said it, But I say it once more.

 

RETURN THIS MOTHERBOARD.

 

Wait, which one?!

[Dr0idGh0sT]

3 minutes ago, sylvik said:

Wait, which one?!

 

On 1/15/2022 at 10:31 PM, sylvik said:

ROG Strix B660-F (DDR5)

This. Is there another motherboard?