Intel 13th Gen CPU's

[Spinelli]

I use the contact frame. Exact same one you linked to (Thermalright). I made sure to never munt my 12900KS until I had the frame as using it without the frame for a while could potentially render adding the frame later not as beneficial so I can't give you personal CPU core temp comparisons but most people report around 3-8 degree C improvements. Could be more or less depending on how concave (or was it convex?) your CPU is and if you ran it long (months) without the mount.

For such an inexpensive price, I'd get it anyways out of sheer curiosity. As Rasmus stated though, if temps are already fine and you're not doing anything where you really need those lower temps then I wouldn't really worry about it.

 

[tweaks_mcgee]

If you change the cooler anyway or are just building the system, then I'd definitely get the frame!
Especially with that big fat cooler

I thought you might have your system running already and were thinking about taking off the cooler + CPU, putting the frame in place and remounting everything.

It's basically a new build. I ordered the one in the link. Should be here Friday.

 

[Spinelli]

If it's a new build thwn I'd definitely get it especially considering the low cost and ease of install. Follow the directions though you want the screws turned as evenly to each other as possible. You also don't want it screwed in very tight.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Intel has said they are just going to refresh the current CPU lineup for desktops this year and not go to a new process!

But it will also be pin compatible with the existing motherboards, so if they can get a decent bump out of it, It would be an easy upgrade.

So likely a much lower bump in performance, but less expensive overall upgrade, assuming my MB manufacturer upgrades the bios again to support it.

Still thinking awwwww POOP! But we will see.

 

[Spinelli]

Ya. I've been telling people for months to keep their current setup and just wait for the Raptor Lake refresh CPU to upgrade to instead of shelling out money, time, research, work, etc. into a new motherboard-CPU-RAM setup. Then wait, at least, for Intel Arrow Lake or AMD's equivalent for the full upgrade if they like upgrading often.

As you stated, it sucks that the upgrade is smaller than usual - being just a "refresh" - but, on the other hand (as you also stated), that upgrade can essentially be dropped into any current system which is nice especially if you're still on something like a Z690, 12th gen CPU, DDR4 setup.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Impressive but expensive. 600W cooling for about $1K with no fans. Given the current copper shortage, the $2-3K copper version seems a bit over the top.

They show a PC with 4080 running at 100% and staying 60C

 

[Neilski]

Given the current copper shortage, the $2-3K copper version seems a bit over the top.

Yeah, just a little

Edit: I should have added though that the basic Al version is indeed pretty damn impressive and I'm sure people will be queueing up to buy it even at $1k.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Yeah, just a little

Edit: I should have added though that the basic Al version is indeed pretty damn impressive and I'm sure people will be queueing up to buy it even at $1k.

Those fins "look" like simple brute force ways to radiate heat.

If they had used AI to design a very cool radiator modified to conduct the most heat away using the least material, that might have generated more attention. It looks interesting now, but didn't press my "OMG that's cool!" button.

 

[RCHeliguy]

So now that the dust has settled and Intel is going to release a new CPU with the same socket, I'm curious what might be a good MB for my i9-13900K that would hopefully handle the 14gen assuming that upgrade is remotely worth bothering with, and I'm not sure it will be.

Also planning on updating my PSU to a Corsair RM1200w Shift.

I'm getting ready to take my old Corsair 1200W PSU and i9-12900K and put it back into my existing MB, along with my old 2080Ti for my daughter's gaming computer.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Asus TUF Gaming Z690-PLUS​

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PS45157

I'm willing to give ASUS a shot since I've never owned one of their MB's. If I just want to reuse my existing DDR4 memory, how does this look for a MB that I might support the 14th gen CPU later on this year, if I decide to bother with it? Any thoughts?

 

[Spinelli]

Any board will be fine for the majority of DDR4 kits unless you're looking for ultra high performance kits/overclocking.

It would be best to ask in the following threads:

[Official] Intel Z690 / Z790 DDR4 Daily Memory Overclock

www.overclock.net

and:

*Official* Intel DDR4 24/7 Memory Stability Thread

www.overclock.net

here too but the above two more so:

Overclocking Raptor Lake - 13900k,13700k, 13600k etc...

www.overclock.net

 

[tweaks_mcgee]

I finally got my build bench tested and mostly cased... The 13600k and the MSI board I have created a few hiccups with voltages but got them to acceptable levels. Looking forward to this. Got a 24k on multicore using Cinebench, which I am led to believe is good? That bracket was a bit of a headache and not sure I installed it properly tho. Temps aren't ideal, but the voltage adjustment got it to a tolerable spot. Just need to run some gaming tests. I really don't want to reinstall anymore hardware LOL

 

[Spinelli]

Asus TUF Gaming Z690-PLUS​

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PS45157

I'm willing to give ASUS a shot since I've never owned one of their MB's. If I just want to reuse my existing DDR4 memory, how does this look for a MB that I might support the 14th gen CPU later on this year, if I decide to bother with it? Any thoughts?

I completely didn't notice that that board you linked to is a DDR5 board. Hope you didn't purchase that one.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I completely didn't notice that that board you linked to is a DDR5 board. Hope you didn't purchase that one.

Yup, wrong board

 

[RCHeliguy]

I have to give props to ASUS, it immediately ran my memory at top XMP speed.

My Gigabyte motherboard did well when I had a 12900K in it, but when I upgraded to a 13900K it had trouble and I couldn't even get it to boot at it's top speed and I ended up at 3200MHz The ASUS had no problem with 1.4V DRAM voltage and I am getting better performance now.

FYI I did get the wrong MB and decided to get 2 x 32Gb 6000MHz DDR5 memory for it. So far in testing it is actually faster than the DDR4 memory I had before. Yes I know there is a wait state in there now, but 6000MHz of throughput with 3000MHz of random access speed vs. 3200MHz access and 3200MHz throughput still favors the DDR5. I'm sure it's nothing major, but it does load faster and the overall throughput was immediately noticeable.

So I guess I'm not noticing the 200MHz drop in latency, but am seeing the nearly double throughput at least for some things. I've also been told repeatedly that DCS will run better in 64Gb of ram. I've not experienced stuttering, but I know some people have said 64Gb vs 32Gb will fix that.

Not sure if Windows 11 + 13900K is optimized better with DDR5 than Windows 10 and 12900K.

 

[RasmusP]

Nice write up, thanks for sharing!

I'm not sure about the props to Asus for the ram speed though. 13900k + Z590 Board + DDR4 is quite a different thing compared to 13900k + Z690 Board + DDR5.
Different chipset and different ram sticks.

My cheapo B550 Gigabyte Gaming X runs my 2x 16 GB 5600 CL36 without any issues or raised voltages at 6000 CL30.

But ofc I'm happy for you that it all works nicely!

 

[RCHeliguy]

Nice write up, thanks for sharing!

I'm not sure about the props to Asus for the ram speed though. 13900k + Z590 Board + DDR4 is quite a different thing compared to 13900k + Z690 Board + DDR5.
Different chipset and different ram sticks.

My cheapo B550 Gigabyte Gaming X runs my 2x 16 GB 5600 CL36 without any issues or raised voltages at 6000 CL30.

But ofc I'm happy for you that it all works nicely!

I'm not claiming to be an expert.
I've never spent the time to learn how to dial in memory timing by hand.
I just like things that I can plug together and have them work.

The ASUS MB immediately booted up recognized all my drives, network connection and devices and other than selecting the XMP profile for the memory, I did absolutely nothing else to it's configuration. So that was a breeze.

The Gigabyte MB has been painful. I've had to disconnect nearly everything but keyboard and mouse to get it to even let me into the Bios settings when something isn't happy. Overall it was a bad experience.

 

[RasmusP]

I'm not claiming to be an expert.
I've never spent the time to learn how to dial in memory timing by hand.
I just like things that I can plug together and have them work.

The ASUS MB immediately booted up recognized all my drives, network connection and devices and other than selecting the XMP profile for the memory, I did absolutely nothing else to it's configuration. So that was a breeze.

The Gigabyte MB has been painful. I've had to disconnect nearly everything but keyboard and mouse to get it to even let me into the Bios settings when something isn't happy. Overall it was a bad experience.

Ah, fair enough then!
The GB boards that I saw live all worked fine like your ASUS MB:
Z390 gaming x, Z490 gaming x, 2x B550 gaming x

 

[Neilski]

I have to give props to ASUS, it immediately ran my memory at top XMP speed.

When it works nicely, it's a very nice feeling! (Wasn't the case for me of course.)
One recommendation would be to check the voltages, because I've seen additional reports lately of the thing that bit me a few years back, whereby Asus boards are "overgenerous" with voltage and put components at risk. (VCCIO and VCCSA may no longer be the names of the two that were too high for me.)

I've never spent the time to learn how to dial in memory timing by hand.

I think only a tiny minority ever climb that learning curve I've certainly never felt it would be worth the slog.

The Gigabyte MB has been painful. I've had to disconnect nearly everything but keyboard and mouse to get it to even let me into the Bios settings when something isn't happy. Overall it was a bad experience.

Ouch, that's really unacceptable.

I'm not sure right now where to get my next mobo - I know it won't be Asus, but I'm not keen on an experience like you had with GB.

 

[RasmusP]

I think only a tiny minority ever climb that learning curve I've certainly never felt it would be worth the slog.

I can recommend to just check the timings of the big reviewers/PC people.
Right now I'm using the "slightly tuned" settings from Igor's lab.
But depending on your mobo and how far "too much" the timings were, you might need to bridge 2 pins with a screwdriver

I'm not sure right now where to get my next mobo - I know it won't be Asus, but I'm not keen on an experience like you had with GB

The GB mobos aren't great tbh. But they are cheap and packed with features!
I paid 185€ for mine and the cheapest Asus with comparable features (usb ports, speeds, WiFi, VRMs etc) was about 270€.

I'd love to see a comparison between, I don't know, 30 mobo's and 20 RAM sticks and then testing if it's the mobo or the sticks for MHz + timings.
Should be quite easy to do. I don't mean custom timings for all of them.
Just check if the highest xmp profile works or not. And if yes, go a bit higher.