Eliminando lo innecesario
Eliminando lo innecesario
I'm considering discarding some equipment. It was purchased for testing Intel GPU transcoding—first the DG1, then Arc once it became available. The DG1 performed well, but our company struggled to obtain hardware in the US or with server versions; we had hoped for Arc but it didn’t materialize. Now I’m left with a few components: an i5-11400F, an Asus B560M-A AC (Steve Burke’s recommendation from our DG1 notes), and a Gigabyte Z590 Master (which I bought to expand to three GPUs). I wondered if I could repurpose some for a personal machine, as my old X58 system is still in use but I plan to retire it. The i9-11900KF I bought was a misstep—it doesn’t add anything beyond what the i5-11400F already offers. It’s good at heating air, nothing else. Selling it could help recoup more than I spent. Should I part with it? After comparing, I value the i5-11400F even more. The Z590 Master board is a favorite, but I think I can recover most of what I paid for it. I appreciate the WiFi 6E and the 6GHz band, though the onboard Marvell 10G NIC surprised me with a loud 30mm fan. In my home, that won’t work. Gigabyte met my expectations well, overall. This brings us to the B560M-A AC board. I didn’t use it much—initial tests with DG1 worked, so I upgraded to the other model. It had some POST issues with DG1 cards and ended up in a box. Will this board affect power limits for the i5-11400F? Gear 1 or Gear 2? Can it run my OEM DDR4-2400 at 3200 and 1.3V like the other one? I think swapping the WiFi modules between boards would help. Overall, the Asus board isn’t great, but if I can manage, I’ll do it. Am I overlooking something? Recovering another $300 seems reasonable. I really try to live my words. What are your thoughts on my plan? I’ve got a 12GB RTX 3060 arriving soon; saving about $300 by skipping Arc makes sense. Fun fact—my birthday is tomorrow, and you’d think I’d treat myself, but I’m actually looking to get rid of the extra stuff.
If you manage to secure a solid price on the 11900KF, that’s fine. From what I recall, it doesn’t hold much appeal, which means selling it could be challenging unless you set it very low. The VRM cooling appears average. It might improve with additional cooling, but you’d likely need a more capable board to avoid overheating on an 11400. You’d probably want to try it out before discarding the Master. BIOS settings are generally consistent across Intel boards, though confirming maximum performance capability is another matter. Every LGA 1200 board I know offers this choice and should default to Gear 1 as intended. It supports memory overclocking, so running at 3200 should be feasible. Best of luck with the upgrade—both Gigabyte and ASUS often solder WiFi modules directly onto the boards, making that unlikely. Personally, I’d hold onto the Master regardless of the situation if this is your goal. Z590 boards are quite common on the used market, partly due to past reception issues and partly because Newegg sometimes included these boards with hard-to-find 30-series cards, leaving many users stuck reselling them for minimal profit. You might expect to find a few dollars for one—refurbished on eBay is around $100, while a brand-new unit in the box was about $85—and if you’re lucky, you could get $40–50 for the B560M-A AC, making an extra $20–30 for a better alternative seem reasonable.
I wasn't certain about the connector's standard, so I didn't mention it initially—it was my first encounter. Asus labels it "V-M.2 (Key E) for Wi-Fi," and both boards use this connector; the module size matches and they're upright. A year prior, I managed to get a Z590 Master for around $150, which was significantly more expensive. However, I required a test board with a split design, and this was the most affordable option available then. I haven't tested it yet, but I don’t expect too much of it. Indeed, the Asus board seems quite subpar, which I concur with.
Sold for $280, after fees I could earn around $40 on top of what I paid, though I expect a loss in other areas so it balances out. The i5-11400F was listed at the same time, but prices have dropped significantly lately. It’s a good deal at $100, but selling it would cost me money. I’ve heard the NIC fan is fine and closed, which is reassuring. I like the board, but the Z590 Master might need to be replaced. It’ll be interesting if I end up selling everything—then I’d just return to buying like everyone else here.
Found it in another discussion, so I’ll add here that core deltas were another concern with the i9-11900KF. Core 2 and 4 were up about 5°C, while 3 and 5 were up 10°C—really significant! I think that might have been resolved only by removing the deltas and using liquid metal. It was getting quite slow, so I got rid of it, even though the system still felt responsive. When I switched back to i5-11400F, Windows didn’t boot as quickly as before, but aside from that, everything else stayed consistent—same gameplay frame rates. On the flip side, it’s running at 90W with a hefty undervolt and a cool 55°C, which is exactly what I prefer. Given no demand shown, it seems unlikely this model will be offered anytime soon.