13700k Cooling vs. Great Motherboard

harrisonkotre · 11 Oct 2022 at 18:19

Hi all! Sort of weird question here that I'm sure will have many different angles of opinion (hence why I wanted to ask!). Also, new to the site and forums. Please let me know if you believe this question would be better-fit under a different topic.

Planning on buying a 13700k once they come out (unless benchmarks and overall review don't look great), along with a new MSI Z690 Edge Wifi DDR5 MOBO. Was planning on doing push-pull with my current AIO for cooling as I hear the 12700k runs extremely warm, and people are guessing 13th Gen will as well. I am definitely planning on overclocking.

There is currently a GREAT deal on an amazing E-ATX MOBO, the $600 EVGA Classified Z690 going for $300. I have heard nothing but good things about the board, and am leaning more towards buying it than the MSI (better thermals, more slots, higher quality parts, better power delivery, amongst a number of other benefits). The issue is, my case will not allow for push-pull if I buy the E-ATX.

Would you lean more towards better cooling for this CPU and settle with the MSI (which I believe should be adequate), or would the push-pull have fairly negligible gains and should I go with the better motherboard??

I hope that question makes sense. Would love to hear your input!! Thanks in advance!

pastymuncher · 11 Oct 2022 at 19:03

Looking at the support page for the EVGA Z690 Classified they haven't even released a bios to support the 13000 series cpu's yet. Support would be my worry about a company that only dabbles in motherboards from time to time. The Classified is by all accounts a good board but is aimed at hardcore overclockers and that seems to be where most of their support goes. It's a good price for that board but personally I would be looking at a more mainstream motherboard company. MSI released a updated bios for my board to support the 13000 series cpu's on 5th September and they are pretty good at releasing updates when needed.

Tetras · 12 Oct 2022 at 02:54

If you're just gaming, then I wouldn't worry about the cooling.

harrisonkotre · 12 Oct 2022 at 18:08

Thank you both for the replies! Really appreciate the insight. The EVGA model is confirmed to have a bios update for 13th gen incoming... Not sure what the timeframe is but not too worried. I really just wanted to see what the overall opinion was on cooling vs. the motherboard upgrade! Thanks again

8 Pack · 12 Oct 2022 at 19:45

Given actual experience of 13th gen on z690 I have to say that no vendor has currently a great 13th gen bios for this platform. They are all causing the cpu to get very warm with early management engines... Z790 is the focus right now and I don't expect z690 working well for a good while.....

IT Troll · 14 Oct 2022 at 09:57

The trouble is the choice in the Z790 range is rather poor and the boards priced rather high compared to the equivalent Z690 model. I need mATX and DDR5; for which there are zero Z790 options. I contacted MSI and ASUS and they recommended Z690 instead.

I can see why the i9-13900K might be a different beast and need more care. But I would have thought that the other CPUs in the range are quite similar to what has come before, with no surprises from a thermal management point of view.

harrisonkotre · 14 Oct 2022 at 14:10

IT Troll said:
The trouble is the choice in the Z790 range is rather poor and the boards priced rather high compared to the equivalent Z690 model. I need mATX and DDR5; for which there are zero Z790 options. I contacted MSI and ASUS and they recommended Z690 instead.

I can see why the i9-13900K might be a different beast and need more care. But I would have thought that the other CPUs in the range are quite similar to what has come before, with no surprises from a thermal management point of view.

I absolutely agree. I guess we will see once released if there are any true issues with the Z690 + 13th gen, but for now, the cost to upgrade to Z790 vs. the extremely small benefits I am seeing currently (better ddr5 memory OC support and maybe better bios/power management for 13th gen) just don't seem worth it in my eyes.

I'm still pretty back and forth between the nicer E-ATX vs. the ATX with push-pull... I'm reading more and more that the 12700k and 13th gen don't really need to be pushed to overclock as previous gens did. Obviously they benefit from some undervolting, but both boards can handle that. I probably do not need the push-pull, and would benefit more from a better-built E-ATX. Although, I would like to have the push-pull simply for fan aesthetics :cry:

.

Just speaking out loud here, lol. Thanks for the reply

MartinPrince · 15 Oct 2022 at 09:45

As to your query, push pull will not give much improvement especially if you have decent fans in the first place.
So it shouldn't be a factor in your decision making.

Noxia · 15 Oct 2022 at 11:45

So is Z790 just for 13th gen? If intel move away from the 1700 then it's a one gen board?

IT Troll · 15 Oct 2022 at 14:22

Yes. Although in reality it is just a minor revision to Z690.

IT Troll · 20 Oct 2022 at 23:40

MSI and Asus have released updated BIOS for their Z690 board in last couple of days. Good to see they are actively working on these for the CPU launch.

clone · 29 Oct 2022 at 09:07

Just updated my asus board with the latest bios for 13th gen, yet I dought ill buy on as the 12600kf I have is more than enough for me.

bloodraven · 30 Oct 2022 at 15:06

im running one pc with asus z790, ddr 5600mhz 64gb dominator, 13th gen. My cooling on that pc is the new MSI coreliquid 360 on exhaust config but with 3 QL 120 replacing the 3 non rgb msi fans, better thermal paste than stock think mine is 14.2 conductivity. The coreliquid also cools the chipset a bit, mine idles about 24-28C gaming on extreme / max settings the hottest it got was 60C briefly.