New pc 13600k - check this spec! - Z690 compatibility

[llama]

Hi, I would like to purchase a pc. At the moment I`m on a PCS laptop I purchased in June 2019. The laptop runs fine (very happy with the purchase) but I would like something more in terms of performance (also under stress the fan becomes very noisy - which is normal I know, but I don`t like).

I have a 4K monitor, USB speakers mouse and keyboard by Razer already. I Also have a desk and a comfortable chair. We just need the PC!

I would like to play games like Warhammer 3, The Witcher 3, Crysis, Cyberpunk etc..

I have made a configuration. I`d be interested in your opinion. The point I am really concerned is that I could not find Z790 motherboards available on the configurator (apart from one extremely expensive). There is one from Asus but it is pre order only, while the GIGABYTE Z790 GAMING X is still given as grey, so it might be a good while.. Also I will be on holidays 2 weeks for Christmas and back early January, so if PCS ships the PC during that period because the Z790 is late I would not be able to collect the package...

I am concerned that even if the 13600k is listed in the supported cpus there might be issues. On the Gigabyte Z690 GAMING X page I see the BIOS should be updated to support the 13600k. Also I have attached a screenshot where I read:

"Please make sure Intel VMD driver is updated to v19.5 or above before installing 13th Gen Processors.
Windows crashes with 13th Gen Processors when Intel VMD (RAID) has been configured on 12th Gen without v19.5 updated."

Could someone share some light on it? Is it only for people upgrading from 12th to 13th gen? Basically if PCS updated the BIOS for the 13th gen it should be fine?

I have not included the Windows as I reinstall it anyway once in a while (like every year). Also on the GPU I am still deciding.

I am oriented to buy a cheap one for now like AMD 6600 (which is a jump from what I have now) and keep it just few months, then sell it and have a new gen AMD or Nvidia spending somewhere between £500 and £700. (maybe an AMD 7700XT or Nvidia 4060ti/4070 for example) when they will become available at reasonable prices which could be 6 months. Then maybe in another 2-3 years go again with a new gen video card.

It would be appreciated if you could leave me a comment on the Z690 + 13600k idea which also allows me to save money with the ddr4..

Any suggestions? I guess PCS would update the BIOS for the 13th series already.

Many thanks in advance.

I leave my configuration below:

Case
COOLERMASTER MASTERBOX TD500 MESH ARGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 14-Core Processor i5-13600K (3.5GHz) 24MB Cache
Motherboard
GIGABYTE Z690 GAMING X DDR4 (LGA1700, USB 3.2, PCIe 5.0) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
ASUS PCE-AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 2400Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,141.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[llama]

Alright, I have checked and it looks like it is extremely common to have Z690 with the new 13th series. So I don`t think I should have problems once PCS updated the BIOS, and if any I trust PCS will deal with them before shipping

I have made the order! ✨✨✨ I will let you know how the pc will perform

 

[sck451]

In terms of the motherboard and CPU combo, it'll work fine. I'd suggest some other changes, though. The cooler might be enough, but personally I'd be inclined to look towards an AIO, even for the i5 model (for a decent cooler that'll also mean a different case). I'd be inclined to have two SSDs, maybe a 500GB 980 and something lesser, say a 1TB Solidigm drive, as a secondary games drive. Finally, I'd personally spend just a little more and get a 1000W PSU.

The 6600 idea is probably a decent one, though be aware that it will not do even a vaguely good in those games at 4K. It will in theory work, but not well. If you're OK with that, awesome.

The only downside of this system is that it is essentially end-of-the-line. You won't be upgrading it significantly. For that reason, I'd be inclined to look towards the 5800X3D: it has better performance and exactly the same (i.e. zero) upgradability. The equivalent build to yours is £1182. Here's an option with my suggested changes and that 6600:

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D Eight Core CPU (3.4GHz-4.5GHz/100MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6600 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 6900MB/R, 5000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ - MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
Corsair iCUE H115i RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
ASUS PCE-AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 2400Mbps/5GHz, 600Mbps/2.4GHz
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Price: £1,590.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/sbmj42ANEK/

 

[llama]

Thanks for the idea Sck451 I already ordered the pc yesterday afternoon (13600k) I should have it with me in a couple of weeks.
I might follow your suggestion and add another ssd later on. At the moment I do not have a whole lot installed on the laptop so it might be ok for a while.
Yeah unfortunately I do not like water coolers, I would have picked a high end air cooler but FrostFlow was all that was available 😬
Also I do not like noise and high temperatures so I might look into undervolting a bit the cpu. Coming from a laptop the jump in performance will be so high anyway, so I am not too worried about a little bit more or less in terms of performance Also I might play in 1440p for a while the heaviest games or start with something lighter like The Witcher 3 and Civilization VI then change video card with something else (new gen around £500 and £700).
I will let you know how it goes, I`ll post some pictures on the forum when I receive the new PC

 

[sck451]

The 150 might be OK. If you really want air cooling, I'd suggest going for the bigger 200 model. The 13th gen chips can get very warm indeed.

I would strongly suggest the two-SSD route, though. It allows you to organise your files better, so you have the OS on one (fast) drive and games on the other. You can then go slightly cheaper on the game storage and not lose performance, so you end up with more storage, better configured, with more GB per £. To keep your boot drive fast, you want to keep it from filling up with files -- games are a very quick way to do that! To me it's a good idea except at very low budgets.

 

[llama]

The 150 might be OK. If you really want air cooling, I'd suggest going for the bigger 200 model. The 13th gen chips can get very warm indeed.

I would strongly suggest the two-SSD route, though. It allows you to organise your files better, so you have the OS on one (fast) drive and games on the other. You can then go slightly cheaper on the game storage and not lose performance, so you end up with more storage, better configured, with more GB per £. To keep your boot drive fast, you want to keep it from filling up with files -- games are a very quick way to do that! To me it's a good idea except at very low budgets.

Many thanks sck. I have followed your suggestion and changed the Corsair 850W with the 1000W RMx SERIES. So whatever gpu I will choose in the future I will not restricted, plus it looks like the 1000W RMx is a very good PSU, I think it`s worth extra £32.

I have looked into the CPU cooler and it looks like the FrostFlow 150 looks similar to the SE-225-XT
The FrostFlow 200 looks similar to the SE207

Looking at reviews on TechPowerup they seem to have almost identical performance with the Intel platform tested so not really sure if it is worth to upgrade.. I think the SE-225 looks nicer inside the case being smaller. What do you think?

SE207

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/id-cooling-se-207-xt-black/7.html

SE-225-XT

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/id-cooling-se-225-xt-black/7.html

 

[llama]

Alright I have also changed the cpu cooler with the "Corsair iCUE H100i RGB PRO XT Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler"..
Hopefully the pump will last and I won`t get the pc flooded with coolant! 😬 How reliable do you think it is? How long does it usually last provided a few hours per day usage? Thanks for the tips! I just need to think about the video card and then everything should be set up!

 

[Martinr36]

How reliable do you think it is? How long does it usually last provided a few hours per day usage?

I've got Corsair H100i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler in the Berserker, and that runs 24/7 without any problems, and has done for over a year so far

 

[SpyderTracks]

How reliable do you think it is? How long does it usually last provided a few hours per day usage?

I've had my H100i on 24/7 since 2014 and never had an issue

The stories about Corsair AIO leaking are from the first gen ones over 10 years ago, just doesn't happen these days and hasn't done for a long time now.

 

[llama]

Many thanks for the feedback Martinr36 & Spyder! I have remained 15 years ago at the time of Crysis, the legend of the game that cannot be played! 😝 I admit having liquid moving in the case makes me feel a bit uneasy!

Will I still get all the PSU cables if I order the video card later on? I think the important part is to get the pc right, still undecided for the video card at the moment, as it looks like in a transition between old and new gen, but I am not going to spend crazy money for the RTX 4080!

PS: "The BERSERKER" looks very strong with its 5900x!

 

[SpyderTracks]

Many thanks for the feedback Martinr36 & Spyder! I have remained 15 years ago at the time of Crysis, the legend of the game that cannot be played! 😝 I admit having liquid moving in the case makes me feel a bit uneasy!

Will I still get all the PSU cables if I order the video card later on? I think the important part is to get the pc right, still undecided for the video card at the moment, as it looks like in a transition between old and new gen, but I am not going to spend crazy money for the RTX 4080!

PS: "The BERSERKER" looks very strong with its 5900x!

You get any spare parts for Mobo / PSU / case etc in a welcome box that's on top of the PC. Doesn't matter what components you order, you get any and all spares that come with any components.

And may I say.... Crysis still rules

 

[Martinr36]

PS: "The BERSERKER" looks very strong with its 5900x!

Cheers, yeah it rocks thanks