Motherboard selection for an Intel i7-13700K

[TheTiesThatBind]

Hey everyone! I'm looking for a motherboard to buy for my next build. At first I had a MSI Z790 Tomahawk DDR4 but ended up being faulty so I decided to move on to a DDR5 board instead. 

Though, the Z790 "budget friendly" boards are limited so I was also looking for Z690 boards. Is there any reason not to buy a Z690 board? All of them come with Flashback BIOS so I can update to the latest version before installing a 13th gen CPU.

 

So here are my options: 

• GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS MASTER (My previous board was the Z390 one so I'm pretty familiar with it, also I like the debug LED).
• MSI MEG Z690 UNIFY-X
• ASUS ROG STRIX Z690 -F (I'd think this is a tier lower than the 2 previous mentioned)
• MSI Z790 PRO-A 
• ASUS TUF Z790 PLUS WIFI

Those are the options I'm considering. In my country they cost from 320€ (For the Z790 PRO-A) up to 430€ (for the UNIFY-X).

 

I'd love to get a solid board, but also worth the money I'll spend on it.

 

I'm going to pair them with 32GB 6400CL32 memory.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Mister Woof]

Been running on an MSI Z690 DDR5 Wifi Edge with my 13700KF since October; G. Skill 6000 CL32

 

No issues

 

edit for clarity: at the time of assembly the newest BIOS flashback didn't post; I flashed the previous one and it worked fine. there's been new BIOS posted since then but I haven't bothered to try them

[will0hlep]

How to buy a motherboard:

 

buy the cheapest board that has all the freatures you need and is compatiable with your components.

 

All those boards seem expensive to me...

 

So, what exactly are the other components of the build? and are there any specific features you want?

[TheTiesThatBind]

2 minutes ago, will0hlep said:

How to buy a motherboard:

 

buy the cheapest board that has all the freatures you need and is compatiable with your components.

 

All those boards seem expensive to me...

 

So, what exactly are the other components of the build? and are there any specific features you want?

I'm just upgrading my 3 year old build. I've already got the 13700K + the Tomahawk board which ended up being faulty so I sent it back (costs about 340 EUR). I'm not looking at any specific features apart good VRMs and also being good looking / fitting my build's red / black color selection. I'd go for the MSI Z790 but I don't think the white color fits   I wouldn't mind paying a bit extra if Intel plans to support more gens of CPUs on the current boards (like AMD did with AM4). My GPU is the 3070 Ti which I might consider upgrading later to either 6950XT, 7900 XT or 4070. 

[RONOTHAN##]

I do run a Z690 Unify-X for my 13700K, so I can give you the experience I've had with it if you want to know. Long story short I probably wouldn't recommend it over other Z790 boards outside of some very specific situations. 

 

The board itself is very feature rich, no problems with that. Feature wise it's probably the best board out of the bunch, so if you want some of the things that board does (x8/x8 support in case you want to run SLI 1080 Tis for 3DMark runs, for example) it really is a good option, but at the same time the vanilla Unify exists with the same feature set and usually a little cheaper so if that's all you care about go for that (or the Carbon/Force which also have a very similar feature set).

 

The problems this board has are memory and 13th gen related. MSI hasn't put in the efforts to truly optimize that board for 13th gen Intel, so there are some things with it that are just plain broken. V/F curves, for instance, aren't fully functional even on the latest BIOS. The VRM also isn't that great at voltage regulation, so you have to run a rather droopy LLC and therefore a very high idle voltage in order to get your overclocks more stable. 

 

Still, those things you can live with, they aren't that big a deal, just a little annoying. The real problem with this motherboard comes from memory support. When you buy a 2 DIMM motherboard like this, you expect it to be absolutely amazing at memory overclocking, when in reality it just isn't. Most of these boards have an issue with the A channel which limits the max memory speed in that channel to somewhere between 7200MT/s and 7600MT/s, and the board also has issues retraining memory when above frequencies of 7600MT/s even if you get lucky and have a board without a limited A channel (I got lucky with mine and can boot up to 8000MT/s, but 7600MT/s is still the fastest I can run daily). If you're running Hynix M die this board is fine for that, but at the same time most 4 DIMM Z790 boards perform about the same with M die as this board does, so there's nothing special to for that, and 8 layer Z790 boards perform the same in terms of max memory speed that this board has. I wouldn't really care if it weren't for the fact that memory support is the biggest marketing point surrounding boards like this, so the fact that the Z790-A Pro will perform about as well as this for significantly less is really disappointing. 

 

As for the other boards on this list, the Z690 Master has the weakest memory support you can find. 6400 CL32 is the fastest you can possibly get to work, and even then it's hit or miss. TBH I would just avoid all of Gigabyte's Z690 boards, they were pretty weak, though their Z790 boards are really strong for the price (it might be worth checking the price of a Z790 Elite AX, that board is usually one of the best value boards for 13th gen you can get). The Z690-F Strix is better at memory support than the Z690 Master, but it's still not an amazing board. This board is usually a bit too expensive to make sense, as it doesn't really have any feature benefits over a Z790 Tomahawk but costs more and has worse memory support. The Z790-A Pro is a decent option, it being the cheapest among these boards helps it, and it does have some pretty good memory support as well. It should be pretty good, so as long as you can live without the POST code this would be a really good option. As for the Z790 TUF, I'm not really a big fan, it's rear IO is IMO terrible (only 6 Type A USB ports, compared to the 9 on the Unify-X and Master, 8 on the Strix-F, and 7 on the Z790-A Pro), it is the only board on this list to not have BIOS flashback, it's memory support is about on par with the Z690-F Strix, and realistically the only thing going for it is that the VRM is better than the Z690-A Pro. 

 

Basically, price out a Z690 Carbon, Z690 Force (identical to the Carbon, just white), and a Z790 Aorus Elite AX before finalizing your decision, but out of these boards the only one IMO that really makes sense to buy is the Z790-A Pro. The Carbon/Force are also good options though, they just have worse memory support but they still have really good feature sets including POST codes if you care about those, so if you weren't planning on doing memory overclocking these are your best bet, if not the Z790 Aorus Elite or Z790-A Pro would be a little better on that front. 

[TheTiesThatBind]

11 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

I do run a Z690 Unify-X for my 13700K, so I can give you the experience I've had with it if you want to know. Long story short I probably wouldn't recommend it over other Z790 boards outside of some very specific situations. 

 

The board itself is very feature rich, no problems with that. Feature wise it's probably the best board out of the bunch, so if you want some of the things that board does (x8/x8 support in case you want to run SLI 1080 Tis for 3DMark runs, for example) it really is a good option, but at the same time the vanilla Unify exists with the same feature set and usually a little cheaper so if that's all you care about go for that (or the Carbon/Force which also have a very similar feature set).

 

The problems this board has are memory and 13th gen related. MSI hasn't put in the efforts to truly optimize that board for 13th gen Intel, so there are some things with it that are just plain broken. V/F curves, for instance, aren't fully functional even on the latest BIOS. The VRM also isn't that great at voltage regulation, so you have to run a rather droopy LLC and therefore a very high idle voltage in order to get your overclocks more stable. 

 

Still, those things you can live with, they aren't that big a deal, just a little annoying. The real problem with this motherboard comes from memory support. When you buy a 2 DIMM motherboard like this, you expect it to be absolutely amazing at memory overclocking, when in reality it just isn't. Most of these boards have an issue with the A channel which limits the max memory speed in that channel to somewhere between 7200MT/s and 7600MT/s, and the board also has issues retraining memory when above frequencies of 7600MT/s even if you get lucky and have a board without a limited A channel (I got lucky with mine and can boot up to 8000MT/s, but 7600MT/s is still the fastest I can run daily). If you're running Hynix M die this board is fine for that, but at the same time most 4 DIMM Z790 boards perform about the same with M die as this board does, so there's nothing special to for that, and 8 layer Z790 boards perform the same in terms of max memory speed that this board has. I wouldn't really care if it weren't for the fact that memory support is the biggest marketing point surrounding boards like this, so the fact that the Z790-A Pro will perform about as well as this for significantly less is really disappointing. 

 

As for the other boards on this list, the Z690 Master has the weakest memory support you can find. 6400 CL32 is the fastest you can possibly get to work, and even then it's hit or miss. TBH I would just avoid all of Gigabyte's Z690 boards, they were pretty weak, though their Z790 boards are really strong for the price (it might be worth checking the price of a Z790 Elite AX, that board is usually one of the best value boards for 13th gen you can get). The Z690-F Strix is better at memory support than the Z690 Master, but it's still not an amazing board. This board is usually a bit too expensive to make sense, as it doesn't really have any feature benefits over a Z790 Tomahawk but costs more and has worse memory support. The Z790-A Pro is a decent option, it being the cheapest among these boards helps it, and it does have some pretty good memory support as well. It should be pretty good, so as long as you can live without the POST code this would be a really good option. As for the Z790 TUF, I'm not really a big fan, it's rear IO is IMO terrible (only 6 Type A USB ports, compared to the 9 on the Unify-X and Master, 8 on the Strix-F, and 7 on the Z790-A Pro), it is the only board on this list to not have BIOS flashback, it's memory support is about on par with the Z690-F Strix, and realistically the only thing going for it is that the VRM is better than the Z690-A Pro. 

 

Basically, price out a Z690 Carbon, Z690 Force (identical to the Carbon, just white), and a Z790 Aorus Elite AX before finalizing your decision, but out of these boards the only one IMO that really makes sense to buy is the Z790-A Pro. The Carbon/Force are also good options though, they just have worse memory support but they still have really good feature sets including POST codes if you care about those, so if you weren't planning on doing memory overclocking these are your best bet, if not the Z790 Aorus Elite or Z790-A Pro would be a little better on that front. 

Thanks for the amazing and in-detail answer! This is what I was looking for to begin with. Well I'm not planning to overclock my 13700K, at least not right away. I don't want to waste time optimizing the memory either or try to make it run stable myself. What I want is just to enable the XMP Profile and let them run as they should. I was really disappointed with the Z790 Tomahawk D4 ending up being faulty (thought it looked good and covered my needs). So Z790 Aorus Elite AX is a contender? Thought it ain't worth it. And although aesthetically is close to what I want, that M2 shield is so unfit compared to the rest of the board (seriously Gigabyte?). It's ridiculous that only mid to high end range motherboards come with debug codes nowadays, I always considered them really useful.

 

Anyway: The Z790-A Pro and the Elite AX come to the same price range which is 330 EUR. The Z690 Aorus Master and ROG Strix-F come to 420 EUR. So I guess, you'd recommend going with the MSI Z790-A Pro as they have a better memory support compared to previous gen of Z690? The Carbon one isn't available at all in my country. 

[RONOTHAN##]

9 minutes ago, TheTiesThatBind said:

Anyway: The Z790-A Pro and the Elite AX come to the same price range which is 330 EUR. The Z690 Aorus Master and ROG Strix-F come to 420 EUR. So I guess, you'd recommend going with the MSI Z790-A Pro as they have a better memory support compared to previous gen of Z690? The Carbon one isn't available at all in my country. 

Yeah, that would be my suggestion. The Z690 Master is really bad for memory support, and while the Strix is fine I wouldn't say it's worth the extra 100 euros. 

 

The fight comes down to whether to go Z790-A Pro or Z790 Elite AX. Both have their pros and cons, though personally I'd go for the Elite AX. It's mostly because I like Gigabyte's BIOS better than MSI's and really like the extra 2 USB Type A ports. Still, I wouldn't fault you going either way, and both boards should do everything you want (minus having a POST code, which I will admit really does suck). 

[TheTiesThatBind]

8 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Yeah, that would be my suggestion. The Z690 Master is really bad for memory support, and while the Strix is fine I wouldn't say it's worth the extra 100 euros. 

 

The fight comes down to whether to go Z790-A Pro or Z790 Elite AX. Both have their pros and cons, though personally I'd go for the Elite AX. It's mostly because I like Gigabyte's BIOS better than MSI's and really like the extra 2 USB Type A ports. Still, I wouldn't fault you going either way, and both boards should do everything you want (minus having a POST code, which I will admit really does suck). 

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take everything into consideration and see what it fits better to my rest of the build. Though MSI Z790-A Pro is decent and good looking, those whites are killing me

 

And one more thing, do you think I should get a contact frame? I suspect that the socket caused may damaged the board itself as once I loosen up the socket to clean the CPU (didnt even reseat it), it stop posting / booting. Just RED light constantly on. I tried the CPU on another board and worked fine. (And all of other components as well). 

[RONOTHAN##]

10 minutes ago, TheTiesThatBind said:

And one more thing, do you think I should get a contact frame?

I've got one on my 13700K, and it does help reduce temps by something like 6-8C (though I haven't done proper A/B testing so take that for what you will). If you're gonna overclock your chip I would be investing in one, likely just the Thermalright one you can get for just $10 (have that on my chip, I do quite like it). If you're just gonna stick to stock though, I wouldn't bother. 

 

No idea what caused your board to stop working though, the socket really shouldn't have done that.

[TheTiesThatBind]

@RONOTHAN## Can't think of any other reason. I mean I was instantly hitting 100oC on Prime95 (small preset) and on CB23 (on 2-3 cores) the other P Cores were about 93-95oC with a 360mm AIO (which was working fine). I thought I didnt apply the thermal paste properly, went to re fit the AIO and it never POST again  

[Mister Woof]

I've got the thermalright frame on my 13700k; thermals seem good but then again I didn't really test without so...lol.

 

it looks pretty and feels secure.

[TheTiesThatBind]

19 hours ago, Shimmy Gummi said:

I've got the thermalright frame on my 13700k; thermals seem good but then again I didn't really test without so...lol.

 

it looks pretty and feels secure.

I ordered a Thermal Grizzly one. I'll test without and if it's okay, I'll just return it to Amazon.