Question Seeking Advice on a New Build

[Moondoggy51]

My existing rig is 13 years old and I've decided to have a new rig built for me. I've come to understand over the last few days that deciding on hardware is a lot more complex than it was 12 years ago and I need some advice but let me start by explaining what I want.

I'm not a gamer and from what I've been told for what I currently do on my PC, an Intel Core I3 would meet my needs. However, based on my experience with my current rig, if you exceed your needs now, the PC you'll build, will last as long as you don't have a hardware failure so I'm wanting my new rig to have a Core I5 instead. Since I want this rig to last I'm going to put a 13th generation Core I5 in it. I'm also planning on it having a Western Digital 1TB SSD in as well. With the above being stated this rig will probably be a once and done build with probably zero chance of it being upgraded down the road.

One question for starter is whether I should go with DDR5 memory or with DDR4? I was speaking to a tech today that said that for what he does, he can't tell the difference in speed between DDR4 and DDR5. Another person I've communicated with said that the price of DDR5 memory is low right now and that since this is a once and done build I might as well go with the faster RAM. With that in mind my local parts house seems to be geared toward DDR4 boards instead of DDR5 boards so if I were to choose DDR4 I would have a wider selection of boards.

Based on the direction of DDR4 vs. DDR5. I'm looking for a board that's not necessarily a high end gamer's board but I don't want a low end board so something in the middle would probably be best. Note that I'm certainly limited to any of the following boards but these are the boards my local parts house stocks. My problem is that I don't have a freaking clue if these are high end, low end or mid-tier boards but most of them are DDR4 boards instead of DDR5 boards. The store obviously likes Gigabyte boards with a couple of ASUS boards thrown in. Since this is a major purchase I'm trying to avoid a major screw up by not picking a decent board so any help and/or advice folks can offer will be appreciated.

.GIGABYTE B760M DS3H AX LGA 1700 Intel B760 M-ATX Motherboard with DDR5, 2* M.2, PCIe 4.0, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, WiFi 6E, 2.5GbE LAN, Q-Flash Plus, PCIe EZ-Latch

GIGABYTE Z790 UD AC LGA 1700 Intel Z790 ATX Motherboard with DDR5, Triple M.2, PCIe 5.0, USB 3.2 Gen2X2 Type-C, Intel Wi-Fi, 2.5GbE LAN, PCIe EZ-Latch, Multi-Key

ASUS Prime Z790-A WiFi 6E LGA 1700 (Intel 13th&12th Gen) ATX Motherboard (16+1 DrMOS, PCIe 5.0, DDR5, 4x M.2 slots, Intel 2.5 Gb LAN, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Front Panel Type-C, Thunderbolt 4 (USB4), DP, Aura Sync RGB Lighting)

They have the following DDR4 boards:

GIGABYTE B760M Gaming X AX DDR4 (LGA 1700/ Intel/ B760/ M-ATX/ DDR4/ 2* M.2/ PCIe 4.0/ Front USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C/ 2.5GbE LAN/Q-Flash Plus/PCIe EZ-Latch/Gaming Motherboard)

GIGABYTE B760M DS3H AX DDR4 LGA 1700 Intel B760 M-ATX Motherboard with DDR4, Dual M.2, PCIe 4.0, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, WiFi 6E, 2.5GbE LAN, Q-Flash Plus, PCIe EZ-Latch

GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS ELITE AX DDR4 LGA 1700 Intel Z690 ATX Motherboard with DDR4, Quad M.2, PCIe 5.0, USB 3.2 Gen2X2 Type-C, WiFi 6, 2.5GbE LAN

GIGABYTE B660M AORUS PRO AX DDR4 B660 Intel LGA 1700 Micro-ATX Motherboard with DDR4, Dual M.2, PCIe 4.0, USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C, WIFI 6 802.11ax, Intel 2.5GbE LAN

ASUS PRIME B660M-A D4 LGA 1700 (Intel 12th & 13th Gen) mATX Motherboard (PCIe 4.0, DDR4, 2xM.2 slots, 1Gb LAN, DP, 2 x HDMI, rear USB 3.2 Gen 2, front USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, Aura Sync)

 

[VirtualLarry]

GIGABYTE Z690 AORUS ELITE AX DDR4 LGA 1700 Intel Z690 ATX Motherboard with DDR4, Quad M.2, PCIe 5.0, USB 3.2 Gen2X2 Type-C, WiFi 6, 2.5GbE LAN

I would choose this one.

 

[Shmee]

What are the prices of the parts you are looking at? Can you get the parts from online instead? I mention that, because for a basic non gaming build, why not go with a basic B550 board and Ryzen 5600G APU? It could save you a lot of money. This would of course be a DDR4 setup.

Also, I might upgrade from a 1TB SSD to a 2TB if it fits your budget, especially if you don't plan to add upgrades later. The Samsung 980 Pro 2TB drives have come way down in price.

What OS will you be wanting to use? Keep in mind, the a lot of the new Intel CPUs prefer Windows 11 or a very modern Linux kernel to get the most of them.

 

[Tech Junky]

First off DDR5 is still a gimmick and costs more overall with the complete build cots add up.

DDR4 / ADL 12th gen gets you everything RPL / 13th gen does but significantly cheper.

ASRock has a Velocita MOBO that has a Gen5 M2 slot on it if you want to leave the door open for a stupid fast drive.

ASRock boards have all the tech in them but, not the markup or mishaps lately with GB/Asus. If you dig around you'll find things like capacitors they put in reverse polarity that let the smoke out or backdoors in the BIOS or other dumb stuff along those lines.

Having 4 M2 slots doesn't really sound like something you'd take advantage of and most ADL/RPL boards have 3+ anyway unless you go with a mATX/ITX setup to make the overall size smaller.

The desktop side CPU/iGPU still hasn't flipped over to Iris Xe from UHD and still kind of suck in comparison and you'll want at least some sort of dGPU when needed. Intel does have some Iris dGPU's (A750/A770) out now and you can pick them up relatively cheap compared to Nvidia / AMD options.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The desktop side CPU/iGPU still hasn't flipped over to Iris Xe from UHD

They're all Xe arch on 12th and 13th gen, regardless of the marketing. The dies come off the same assembly line for mobile and desktop.

 

[Tech Junky]

They're all Xe arch on 12th and 13th gen, regardless of the marketing. The dies come off the same assembly line for mobile and desktop.

Having both 12700k/h CPUs I can tell there's a difference in performance.

On the desktop UHD platform it's not snappy like the xe is on the laptop. Going back to the UHD on the laptop with a 9750h I put apps to preference the dgpu as it performed better for mundane things like chrome. On the ADL laptop I started setting apps like the prior and it was worse than using the xe.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Believe what you want to believe, just mentioning the facts of the matter.

 

[BoomerD]

Be aware that with a 13th gen i5 and z690 motherboard, you will PROBABLY have to flash the BIOS to get it to work. Make sure you get a board with "BIOS Flashback" capability that will allow you to flash the BIOS without having to install a 12th generation processor first. A board with the "BIOS Flashback" capability doesn't require a processor or RAM to be installed before flashing. MOST will have that ability built in...but (from what I remember when I was building a few months ago) not all.

 

[Heartbreaker]

Having both 12700k/h CPUs I can tell there's a difference in performance.

On the desktop UHD platform it's not snappy like the xe is on the laptop. Going back to the UHD on the laptop with a 9750h I put apps to preference the dgpu as it performed better for mundane things like chrome. On the ADL laptop I started setting apps like the prior and it was worse than using the xe.

Architecture is All XE/Arc now. Laptop iGPU just has more GPU cores, than desktop parts.

 

[Heartbreaker]

My existing rig is 13 years old and I've decided to have a new rig built for me. I've come to understand over the last few days that deciding on hardware is a lot more complex than it was 12 years ago and I need some advice but let

Another making a big leap Forward!

In March I built a new system after using the same computer since 2008... So 14+ years...

You can see my choices here.

I went MSI for a good budget MB that can handle a lot more powerful CPU than I was getting. I went with a full ATX version of the Board HWUB tested as the best budget B660 board.

If I was doing this today, I might look for the B760 version and a i5-13500, but those were too expensive back in March.

Good Luck!

 

[igor_kavinski]

GIGABYTE Z790 UD AC LGA 1700 Intel Z790 ATX Motherboard with DDR5, Triple M.2, PCIe 5.0, USB 3.2 Gen2X2 Type-C, Intel Wi-Fi, 2.5GbE LAN, PCIe EZ-Latch, Multi-Key

^^^ Choose this if you wanna splurge on some fancy DDR5. Make sure to get at least DDR5-6400 CL32. If the combo is too expensive for your taste, go with Larry's Z690 mobo but make sure to pair it up with DDR4-3600 CL18.

You need 32GB RAM minimum, regardless of what you do because Windows likes to eat up at least 6 GB on a system with 16GB. On 32GB systems, I've seen 25 GB free. RAM is cheap. I personally don't see any reason to stick with 16GB, unless all you will do is launch Microsoft Word and do very light browsing.

 

[Geven]

For your motherboard dilemma, a mid-tier board should be more than enough for your needs. The GIGABYTE B760M DS3H AX LGA 1700 and the ASUS Prime Z790-A WiFi 6E LGA 1700 both look like good options. They have DDR5 support and are equipped with sufficient features for a non-gaming rig.

Remember, what's important is that your chosen board should be compatible with your selected processor and RAM type, and that it meets your needs in terms of ports and features. And always double-check if you need to update the BIOS for compatibility with 13th gen processors, as some users have pointed out.

Good luck with your build!

 

[Moondoggy51]

Thanks everyone. I may go with the ASUS Prime Z790-P board as my local parts store has one in stock. I know that there's a few differences between the Z970-P and the Z790-A but I don't think that the difference is significant unless someone says different. I've found a comparison between the ASUS Z790-P and the Gigabyte Aorus Z790 Elite AX and the comparison found at https://versus.com/en/asus-prime-z790-p-vs-gigabyte-aorus-z790-elite-ax says that the ASUS is better. If anyone can give me a reason not to get this board, please let me know ASAP. Thanks.

 

[igor_kavinski]

The obvious: ASUS Prime is not "Elite". It's kind of their entry level tier. But if it has everything you need and it gives you no trouble, it's not a bad buy.