B760 or Z790 chipset suitable for SFX solution
B760 or Z790 chipset suitable for SFX solution
Hey everyone! I'm working on assembling a compact PC and facing some decisions about the CPU and motherboard combo. My initial idea was to use an i5 13600K with an ASUS STRIX B760-I board. But I found out that 13th gen Intel chips run at full voltage, and it seems you can't safely undervolt them on a B760 chipset. This might not be the best fit for my SFX build since those chips barely lose performance when overclocked.
I'm considering switching to a Z790 motherboard (about 100€ more) instead. Alternatively, I could upgrade from the i5 13600K to an i7 13700F (around 30€ more) and give up on overclocking. For the GPU, I was thinking of pairing it with a Noctua NH-L9x65 or NH-C14S. Which would be better?
For the case, I'm planning a Fractal design Terra build with 32GB RAM, Corsair vengeance DDR5 at 6000MHz, and an EVGA 750W PSU. The GPU options are RTX 4070 or similar. Palit and Gainward are solid choices, but both have affordable overclocking models. I'm leaning toward the ASUS Dual 4070 OC, which is cheaper than the ASUS version and offers decent power efficiency. The 4070 also meets my needs for 12GB VRAM and a 3080 GPU, and it's more budget-friendly in Europe.
Which nation are you checking? Considering power costs, an AMD X3D on AM5 seems like a smarter option.
I reside in Austria and rely on "geizhals.at" for the most affordable component deals. For AM5, I'm not sure about AMD's DDR5 performance—my last impressions were mixed. Overall, I favor Intel's consistent reliability; I've never had issues with more than five systems using it.
It makes sense to choose Intel too for the same reasons; power consumption isn’t the main concern here since prices are lower in the US. Have you checked out Z690 boards for Intel? They’re pretty comparable in cost to B760 models.
You can obtain ITX boards that support BIOS flashback, which allows updating the BIOS file independently of the processor.
Incorrect. The name doesn't convey clearly; "flashback" suggests reverting to earlier firmware or settings, but ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte also support this feature, not just ASRock. It's best to verify the exact board model for inclusion.
The cooler you picked isn't ideal for such high temperatures. Consider a dual slot 4070, which supports the maximum CPU cooler settings on your case, increasing the temperature limit to 77mm. This should accommodate an NH-L12/L12S or comparable cooler, providing much better cooling performance.