recommendations for I9 13900k motherboard and air cooler

gjbth

gjbth

gjbth

Associate
Joined
20 Jul 2023
Posts
12
Location
UK
Hello, first time post from new member.

I am looking for advice for a new Desktop build. specifically a motherboard and CPU cooler recommendation.

I am building a new workstation, I intend to use an Intel I9 13900k CPU. I need to select a suitable motherboard.
I do not require RGB, sound or wireless for this PC. It is to be used for 3D cad work with a lot of other task's running
in the background, Document management software etc. no gaming on here either.

Memory will be either 32gb or 64gb, probably ddr4 as it is more economical than ddr5.
connection for 6 ssd if possible and also nvme for a boot drive.

I was hoping to use a 750W power supply if this would be sufficient.

Also I would like to use an air cooler rather than liquid cooler, so looking for a suitable cooler.

I have already obtained the chassis, a Thermaltake H550 TG ARGB. I picked this because the brushed alloy front blends in nicely
with the four HP Gen8 microservers it will sit alongside.
 
The 13900K uses a lot of power when all cores are fully loaded so you do not want to be looking at a budget board. If you look at boards £300 and up then only MSI have any in stock for that use DDR4 and the Tomahawk will suit your needs if it has adequate M,2 slots for your requirements. There is limited choice for DDR4 boards that will not throttle a 13900K.

The prices for DDR5 have come down a lot and it is worth considering, it may add an extra £150 onto the total build cost but there are performance gains to be had with an Intel platform.

Your power supply is easily good enough for just a 13900k. If you add a power hungry gpu then you would need to rethink. Cooler , Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 range are around £40 and an amazing cooler for the price , have to shop around as not available on ocuk last time i checked.

14th gen is due out sometime in next six months. Not going to be much change but they will most likely other more cores for the same money. The mobos that have been shown off have upgraded power delivery so expect even more power hungry cpus from Intel.
 
Thank you for the help.

If DDR4 is going to limit my choice then as per your recommendation, I will go with DDR5. Do you have any recommendations for a DDR5 board.

The GPU would have to be able to drive four monitors as per my current setup. I would like to go with a single card that has four outputs, rather than my current setup of two cards
with two outputs each. displayport would be the preferred connection. I have looked at a MSI RTX 3060 12Gb Ventus. would this require a larger PSU.

Thank you for the cooler info, I am going off to search for Assassin 120 range right now.
 
gjbth said:
I was hoping to use a 750W power supply if this would be sufficient.
Click to expand...

With a 3060? Should be fine.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £407.98 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

The lower-end prime boards tend not to do that well in thermal testing, but the Z690 version seemed to do alright, so I think this one is reasonably priced and will do the job:

www.youtube.com

The Best Value Intel Z690 Motherboard: VRM Thermal Benchmark

Thermaltake ARGENT E700: https://www.thermaltake.com.au/argent-e700-real-leather-gaming-chair-space-gray.htmlSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/h...
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
If you planning for better GPU upgrades in the future upping your psu spec is a wise choice , a 1000w psu will give you more options.


Both psu below are atx 3.0

850w

www.overclockers.co.uk

Corsair RMe Series RM850e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply v2 (CP-9020263-UK)

Order Corsair RMe Series RM850e Fully Modular Low-Noise ATX Power Supply v2 (CP-9020263-UK) now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk

1000w


www.overclockers.co.uk

be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 1000W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply

Order be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 1000W ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold Power Supply now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk
 
Personal preference on my part but I would not use an Asus Prime board for a long term intensive use case. If I was picking DDR5 mobo I would go for the Asrock Steel Legend if it was in stock, shop around is good but that particular range from Asrock are often out of stock. The MSI DDR5 Tomahawk is a bit expensive so If i had to buy today from in stock items I would go for the Gigabyte Gaming X AX.

www.overclockers.co.uk

MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Order MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X OC 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card now online and benefit from fast delivery.
www.overclockers.co.uk www.overclockers.co.uk

According to the description that 3060 has 3xDP and 1xHDMI. I doubt you will get a card with 4xDP but you may be able to find one.

Edit- When you are looking just be aware that a 3060 with 8GB of ram is a very different card to one with 6 or 12.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the help everyone. I did realise the 3060 had three DP and one HDMI, it was a compromise. As you say four DP ports cards are hard to find
unless you go down the Quadro route, where four DP is pretty much standard.

Thanks for pointing me towards the Thermalright cooler, I had never come across these before. I have been checking them out this afternoon and they
look to be exactly what I want.
 
gjbth said:
Thanks for the help everyone. I did realise the 3060 had three DP and one HDMI, it was a compromise. As you say four DP ports cards are hard to find
unless you go down the Quadro route, where four DP is pretty much standard.

Thanks for pointing me towards the Thermalright cooler, I had never come across these before. I have been checking them out this afternoon and they
look to be exactly what I want.
Click to expand...

It's a very strong cooler at a cheap price relative to its peers.
 
I have decided to go with the MSI MAG Z790 DDR5 and the Thermalright Peerless Assassin SE cooler.
I have not ordered them yet as I have one more query, if I may. Does anyone have any experience of
the Thermalright cooler fitted to this board. Specifically does it cover the four memory slots and the No 1 M2 slot.

From just looking at images I am guessing that it will cover at least two of the memory slots, but access should
be available by unclipping the cooling fan, providing there is enough height when using Corsair Vengeance memory.

I am not so sure about access to the M2 slot once the cooler is fitted.
 
I don't have the above but you can clearly see from reviews it covers most of the dimm slots but you can move the front fan up to allow for taller memory or put the fan on the back.

I think most large coolers will impede the top m2 slot slightly.
 
Last edited:
That's what I thought, As long there is sufficient height to clear the dimm modules, I can always unclip the fan for access
to remove or refit them.

Access to the M2 slot is a bit trickier, when upgrading or removing the NVMe, it would mean removing the cooler from the CPU.
However I have found another Thermalright Cooler, the PS120SE, it looks similar but I believe the cooling fins are slightly offset
to give more clearance from the GPU and therefore also the M2 slot.
 
gjbth said:
That's what I thought, As long there is sufficient height to clear the dimm modules, I can always unclip the fan for access
to remove or refit them.

Access to the M2 slot is a bit trickier, when upgrading or removing the NVMe, it would mean removing the cooler from the CPU.
However I have found another Thermalright Cooler, the PS120SE, it looks similar but I believe the cooling fins are slightly offset
to give more clearance from the GPU and therefore also the M2 slot.
Click to expand...
Thats the newer version of the peerless assassin with 1 extra heatpipe but will be very simmlar in clearance over the dimms from the pictures I've seen.

Ive been recommended that cooler purley for the extra heatpipe but they perform simmlar.
 
Last edited:
I have just checked it out on the Thermalright website and it does look as if they have offset the base to give a bit more clearance
at the M2 slot
 
gjbth said:
Hello, first time post from new member.

I am looking for advice for a new Desktop build. specifically a motherboard and CPU cooler recommendation.

I am building a new workstation, I intend to use an Intel I9 13900k CPU. I need to select a suitable motherboard.
I do not require RGB, sound or wireless for this PC. It is to be used for 3D cad work with a lot of other task's running
in the background, Document management software etc. no gaming on here either.

Memory will be either 32gb or 64gb, probably ddr4 as it is more economical than ddr5.
connection for 6 ssd if possible and also nvme for a boot drive.

I was hoping to use a 750W power supply if this would be sufficient.

Also I would like to use an air cooler rather than liquid cooler, so looking for a suitable cooler.

I have already obtained the chassis, a Thermaltake H550 TG ARGB. I picked this because the brushed alloy front blends in nicely
with the four HP Gen8 microservers it will sit alongside.
Click to expand...

Not sure about the case as it looks very restrictive for air flow.
 
I was concerned about that, the case manual states that it can accept a 165mm high cpu cooler. The Thermalright is 154mm, but if I have to
raise one of the fans to clear the memory sticks its going to be tight. Also the MSI motherboard has a large heatsink just above the CPU socket
and also to the left the I/O has a large shroud around it. I might just have to order the Thermalright cooler and hope fits.
 
Case and power supply are well worth investing in when it comes to workstations. Personally I’d go with the highest quality Seasonic PSU you can. A really solid case I’ve used a few times are the Silverstone Primera PM series. Very nicely built, flexible for storage with good quality fans and reasonably priced. They can also take a NH-D15 HSF no problem.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom