What board to replace MSI MPG Z690 Force?

[Rob200sx]

So I'm looking to replace my motherboard (MSI MPG Z690 Force WiFi) as it's been somewhat unreliable. Bluetooth is intermittent on controllers, audio issues meaning I have to unplug, plug back in, usb disconnects, and more recently, two of the m.2 ssd's disconnecting on bootup (fixed by, after 3years of running this spec, forcing gen3 pci-e). It's on the latest FW.

So, what counts for a decent, reliable motherboard these days?

The requirements:
ATX
Socket 1700
Bluetooth & wifi
4+ M.2 slots

If I go with Z790 boards (any reason to go with a B760 or H610?), that gives me 3 choices:

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I'm not fussed about cost, I want something that works, and all features will continue to work for a few more years.


My current spec:
i7 13700k | Corsair 32GB DDR5 | MSI MPG Z690 Force | Corsair O11D EVO | RTX 4090

Thanks!

 

[Purgatory]

So I'm looking to replace my motherboard (MSI MPG Z690 Force WiFi) as it's been somewhat unreliable. Bluetooth is intermittent on controllers, audio issues meaning I have to unplug, plug back in, usb disconnects, and more recently, two of the m.2 ssd's disconnecting on bootup (fixed by, after 3years of running this spec, forcing gen3 pci-e). It's on the latest FW.

So, what counts for a decent, reliable motherboard these days?

The requirements:
ATX
Socket 1700
Bluetooth & wifi
4+ M.2 slots

If I go with Z790 boards (any reason to go with a B760 or H610?), that gives me 3 choices:

Loading…

www.overclockers.co.uk

I'm not fussed about cost, I want something that works, and all features will continue to work for a few more years.


My current spec:
i7 13700k | Corsair 32GB DDR5 | MSI MPG Z690 Force | Corsair O11D EVO | RTX 4090

Thanks!

Are you sure its not the CPU that has degradation issues and causing these symptoms ? 13th gen and 14th gen suffer with degradation issues and can crop up as all the things you have mentioned.

The motherboard you have is a decent motherboard and sounds strange to have all these issues and I personally would look at RMA with Intel first before jumping on a new motherboard or at least testing with another CPU to see if these issues vanish.


Have you tried running this (intel processor diagnostic tool) :- https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005567/processors.html

Also I would test the RAM too with Memtest :- https://www.memtest86.com/

 

[Rob200sx]

I hadn’t thought about the cpu, I bought it right on release date and reading up on the issue now you’ve mentioned it, it would seem prone. I’ll run those tests.

Thanks for the pointer.

 

[Tetras]

(any reason to go with a B760 or H610?)

Not if you want 4+ M.2 slots.

H610 boards don't have VRMs I'd want to use with your CPU and B760 would lack sufficient storage.

I hadn’t thought about the cpu, I bought it right on release date and reading up on the issue now you’ve mentioned it, it would seem prone. I’ll run those tests.

There's a reddit thread which lists some of the other common symptoms:

Reddit - The heart of the internet

www.reddit.com

 

[Rroff]

If you can reliably reproduce any of the symptoms try first running the RAM at 4800MHz (or a similar conservative profile) and see if it still happens then try with the turbo clocks wound down so you aren't boosting above say 5GHz, if either of those fix it then it may not be a motherboard issue but either the RAM or something in the RAM to memory controller chain or the CPU failing.