Ready to buy the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X? If so, this article will give you guidelines on what parameters you need to consider in order to properly chill – and get the best performance out of – your new CPU.

The Ryzen 5 7600X has a TDP of 105 Watts, which is quite the leap from the previous generation’s 65W requirement. This means you’ll need substantially better performance from your cooler, which is more akin to the last gen’s higher-end processors, like the R9 5900X.

There is more than one way to properly cool the CPU. The two main methods are AIO (All In One) liquid cooling and HSF (HeatSink and Fan) – more commonly known as ‘air’ or ‘tower’ coolers. When considering which to choose, you need to take into account the following:

1. How much available space does your case have?
2. What does your budget allow?
3. How good is the cooling in your case?
4. What’s the threshold of noise you can tolerate?
5. Which type of CPU cooler is compatible with your case?
6. Are your workloads primarily active or passive?
7. Are your rig’s aesthetics important to you?

Air coolers take up more space (generally) but are cheaper than their AIO counterparts. They also produce less noise on average and are easier to install. AIOs don’t clutter the space around the CPU, can be more pleasant to look at, and provide better cooling for extended periods – as opposed to the cooling in bursts of the HSF. Of course, the R5 7600X is designed for active (gaming, editing, modeling, etc.) rather than passive (rendering) workloads, so the HSF does have the advantage in terms of performance for the price. Still, the AIO cooler allows more thermal headroom for those looking to consistently overclock the 7600X.

To help you decide which to choose for your setup, let’s look at the best CPU coolers to pair with the Ryzen 5 7600X – for both cooling types.

Best Coolers for Ryzen 5 7600X – Our Recommendations

1. Best Air Cooler for Ryzen 5 7600X: Noctua NH-U14S

The NH-U14S is a U-type air cooler (it only has a single vertical tower/heatsink) and comes with one NF-A15 140mm fan. 

It is an excellent choice for the R5 7600X because it provides more than ample cooling even at extreme thermal loads (according to Anandtech’s benchmarks). In fact, at a 340 W load, it outperformed even dual-tower coolers like the Dark Rock Pro 3. 

Another favorable aspect of the NH-U14S is that it is upgradeable. You can add a second 140mm fan and have a push-pull fan configuration around the heatsink. This allows for further cooling potential, especially if you have a smaller rig with fewer case fans.

Pros: 

• Slim design that’s easy to install and compatible with most cases.
• Can assist with proper airflow in the case.
• Benchmarks prove barely audible noise emissions.
• Excellent for active workloads and overclocking, especially with a second fan. 

Cons: 

• Even as a U-type CPU cooler, it is still rather tall.
• Rather expensive at $79.95.
• Does not have the most stylish look.

2. Best Budget Cooler for Ryzen 5 7600X: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE

Moving on to a D-Type (dual tower) HSF cooler, we have the Peerless Assassin 120 SE. Despite its low price, it offers exceptional performance even for high CPU power limits. Tom’s Hardware proved it averages only 61 degrees over ambient at 200W, which is very impressive for an air cooler. At 140 Watts, temperatures went down to 42 (50% fans) and 47 degrees Celsius – beating or tying with 360mm AIO coolers.

The same benchmarks show a noise level of only 34.5 dbA produced with the fans working at maximum speed, which is incredibly impressive for an under $40 CPU cooler. If you’re looking for a cheap cooler, the Assassin 120 SE truly is Peerless.

Pros: 

• Quiet operation.
• Great for active workloads and low TDP performance.
• More than sufficient cooling for overclocking.
• $36 price tag.

Cons: 

– Can be unappealing visually.

– Large dual-tower design may translate to compatibility issues. 

3. Best Low-profile Cooler for Ryzen 5 7600X: Big Shuriken 3 Rev.B  

Next, we have a top-flow, low-profile (L-Type, or LP) CPU cooler: the Big Shuriken 3 Rev. B. 

Of course, each SFF (small form factor) case will benefit differently from various low-profile coolers. This is why it is always best to check CPU cooler benchmarks specifically for your SFF case.

There are, however, reasons why the Big Shuriken 3 Rev. B is an excellent pick for almost any build. The most important reason is that it has high cooling potential, as proven by OptimumTech’s benchmarks. Within these benchmarks, you’ll notice another selling point of the Big Shuriken 3: it is upgradable (given you have the clearance). With a 25mm fan attached to it, it can cool your R5 7600X even while overclocking. Also, it allows for full-sized RAM, something that its competitors, like Noctua’s L12-S, cannot guarantee.

Pros:

• Quiet operation that maxes at 35 dB, according to TweakTown.
• Excellent compatibility with most cases and RAM sticks.
• Upgradable with a 25mm fan. 
• Great price at under $50.
• RGB variant for those looking for some extra flare.

Cons: 

• It is not quite at the level of cooling performance as some of its competitors, like the Noctua L12-S.
• Though upgradeable, doing so will increase the price significantly.
• Requires adequate case cooling, as the top-flow configuration will push the CPU’s hot air into the case.

4. Best AIO Cooler for Ryzen 5 7600X: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240

Last but not least, we have the liquid cooling category. All things considered, the best choice here is the Liquid Freezer II 240. It has excellent thermal performance, proven by several benchmark tests like those carried out by Tech4Gamers and EnosTech, low noise output (especially for an AIO cooler), and costs under $100. In fact, out of the 17 240mm AIO coolers EnosTech tested, Arctic’s model performed the best in the noise normalized (44 dBA) thermal performance tests.

What makes the Liquid Freezer unique, when compared to its competitors, is the 40mm VRM fan (PWM controlled) that cools the base and voltage transformer. This extra feature can be crucial when overclocking the R5 7600X.

Pros: 

• Excellent price for an AIO cooler.
• No maintenance water loop.
• VRM cooling.
• Low noise output for an AIO cooler.
• Thermal performance that rivals 360mm AIO coolers.

Cons: 

• Can be tricky to install due to the 40mm fan. 
• Not as visually appealing as other AIO coolers, especially on the pump. It does, however, have a variant with A-RGB lit fans for $14 extra.

The post 4 Best CPU Coolers for the Ryzen 5 7600X appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

AMD’s latest Zen 4 chipsets are finally here – with their flagship model, the Rzyen 9 7950X, being marketed as the ‘fastest’ desktop processor for 2023. Whilst being fast, this new Zen 4 generation really runs hot, with a reported operating temperature of 95 degrees under load. With a raised 230W TDP from 170W of the Zen 3 line, AMD now recommends to cool this flagship Zen 4 processor, you’re going to need a beefy cooler to dissipate all of that heat, and a liquid one at that – with a 240mm AIO cooler being the minimum official recommendation for the Ryzen 9 7950X. Going for a better cooler you necessarily won’t get better temperatures with this Zen 4 processor, but you can squeeze more performance out of it.

Having had time since their release to analyse and understand the thermal performance of the Ryzen 9 7950X, we are able to offer you our recommended CPU coolers to pair with the 7950X, and which coolers to avoid! Our selections will include the best AIO cooler, 240mm cooler, 360mm cooler and 420mm cooler for the Ryzen 9 7950X.

Before we begin, I would like to note that although the official recommendation is a minimum of a 240mm AIO, we will offer an Air-cooled CPU cooler pairing for the 7950X for those who don’t want to run a AIO system. However, when possible, we recommend going for a liquid cooler for the Ryzen 9 7950X for 2023.

240mm vs 280mm vs 360mm vs 420mm for Ryzen 9 7950X?

Before we go into our AIO recommendation for the Ryzen 9 7950X – it is worth considering which size AIO you would fit your requirements and demands out of your 7950X system – as the different AIO sizes offer different benefits and drawbacks. If you’re looking for maximum performance but don’t mind a higher noise output, go for the 420mm AIO for the 7950X. If you are looking for the overall best performance-to-size ratio and relatively quiet operation – opt for the 280mm size – this has 90% the surface area of the 360mm AIO size and utilises 140mm fans rather than 120mm fans you see in 240mm and 360mm AIOs. If you’re looking to build an ITX system with the Ryzen 9 7950X, then a high performance 240mm AIO cooler will be your best bet. There is a great amount of useful discussion and advise on /r/BuildAPC on Reddit we would recommend checking out on this topic, too.

Best CPU Coolers for Ryzen 9 7950X – Our Recommendations

1. Best AIO Cooler for the Ryzen 9 7950X (240mm, 280mm, 360mm, 420mm): Arctic Liquid Freezer II

Whether we’re recommending a 240mm, 280mm, 360mm or 420mm AIO for the Ryzen 9 7950X, our answer for the best AIO to pair with this CPU will always the be same – go for the Arctic Liquid Freezer II series. The Arctic Freezer II is hands down the best CPU cooler for the Ryzen 9 7950X thanks to its best-in-class thermal performance and competitive price – making it a no brainer for any builder. It does feature a no-thrills design which is optimised for cooling performance, but if you are looking for something a bit more blingy, then go for the ARGB version of the Liquid Freezer II – it will make for a great aesthetic Zen 4 build with impressive performance. As mentioned above, its worth considering the AIO size for the 7950X based on your personal needs and how much performance you want to squeeze out in sacrifice for noise and case size – but we think the best AIO size for the Liquid Freezer II is the 280mm or 360mm option.

2. Best Air Cooler for Ryzen 9 7950X: Noctua NH-D15 Chromax.Black

If you’re not wanting to put an AIO cooler in your new Ryzen 9 7950X system, despite AMD’s official recommendation of using a 240mm AIO or above, then you’ll be relieved to hear that there are some air coolers that will be sufficient for pairing with the Ryzen 9 7950X. Techpowerup posted an informative article outlining that a decent air cooler will offer enough performance for the Ryzen 9 7950X. As mentioned in many of our other part recommendation articles, by far the best air cooler and the best tower cooler for the Ryzen 9 7950X is the Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black. This best-in-class cooler from Noctua offers the best cooling performance of any tower cooler on the market, at a competitive price and a sleek all-black design. If you’re looking to game with the 7950X, the NH-D15 would be perfect – but for any intensive workloads you might be better off with an AIO instead for the 7950X, this is because you may gain up to 3% in clock speeds using an AIO vs the NH-D15.

The post Best CPU Coolers for the Ryzen 9 7950X appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

AMD’s latest Ryzen 7000 CPUs are finally here – and here at PremiumBuilds, we have spent some time with the new mid-range Ryzen 5 7600X – the next newest Ryzen 5 CPU offering from AMD based on their Zen 4 architecture.

If you’re looking to build a system with the Ryzen 5 7600X, or any new Ryzen 7000 CPU for that matter, you’re going to need to heavily upgrade or spend a pretty penny on a new system as these new CPUs are are based on their AM5 platform. This new platform brings a plethora of new trick features – including DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 support.

In this guide, we’re going to take you through some of the best motherboards for the Ryzen 5 7600X – including options for the best overall, budget, mid-range, high-end and overclocking motherboards to pair with the Ryzen 5 7600X.

In addition, we’ll take you through some of the key factors and considerations to take in mind when picking a motherboard for the Ryzen 5 7600X – so if your specific requirements are a little bit more bespoke, you’ll be able to do the research and knowledge to find the perfect motherboard for your new Ryzen 5 7600X system.

With that said, here are the best motherboards for AMD’s Ryzen 5 7600X for 2023.

Best Motherboards for Ryzen 5 7600X – Our Recommendations

1. Best Overall Motherboard for Ryzen 5 7600X – Asus Prime X670-Pro WiFi

Starting with our overall favorite motherboard to pair with the 7600X comes from Asus, with their Prime X670-Pro WiFi. Being a X670 chipset, this motherboard comes in the lower price point than some of its MSI rivals (>$1000!) but comes with plenty of features that will handle everything the Ryzen 5 7600X will throw at it. With a 14+2 Phase 70A VRM with an impressive heatsink for thermal dissipation, this motherboard is perfect for overclocking the Ryzen 5 7600X. Other features include an extensive I/O with USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C support, WiFi 6E, 4 DIMM slots as well as 6 SATA slots. This is a great AM5 motherboard that doesn’t break the bank but offers plenty of performance and connectivity for any Ryzen 5 7600X system.

2. Best Budget Motherboard for Ryzen 5 7600X – ASRock B650M PG Riptide

This is the cheapest motherboard you can use to build a Ryzen 5 7600X system, and boy does it perform for the money. This newest B650 chipset motherboard packs a punch in its micro-ATX form factor and has an impressive 12+2+1 phase VRM, with support up to 6200MHz DDR5, dual PCIe 4.0 support. We’re not happy about the presence of the ALC897 codec, but we think this is outweighed by the solid VRM performance and features making this great for any budget Ryzen 5 7600X system.

3. Best Mid-Range Motherboard for Ryzen 5 7600X – MSI B650 Tomahawk WiFi

If you’re looking for a mid-range motherboard to pair with the Ryzen 5 7600X, the MSI B650 Tomahawk WiFi is the best current option to go for from the AM5 offerings. With most B650 motherboards, you’re really able to build an overkill system but its easy to overspend with these new AM5 motherboards with the price nudging up with each generation. With the B650 Tomahawk WiFi – you get a solid range of features, a overkill 14+2+1 phase VRM design with a oversized VRM heatsink to match. The only downside is that this motherboard doesn’t have support for M2 Gen5 support – so if you’re looking to build a system with this, look for another alternative!

4. Best High-End Motherboard for Ryzen 5 7600X – Asus ROG Strix X670E-E Gaming

When building a high-end system for the Ryzen 5 7600X – we have strong recommendations for pairing this CPU with the Asus ROG Strix X670E-E Gaming. This motherboard is perfect for overclocking with its unmatched 18+2 VRM design with 110A power stages and decent capacitors – kept cool with 2 oversized VRM heatsinks and dissipation features. With support up to PCIe Gen 5 on 2 slots and 3 M2 Gen5 – this motherboard for the 7600X is not short of storage performance. 13 rear ports on the I/O and a S1220A codec and ALC4080 codec help round off this motherboard to be one of the best all-round and high-end picks when picking a high-end motherboard for the Ryzen 5 7600X

5. Best ITX Motherboard for Ryzen 5 7600X – Asus ROG B650E-I Gaming WiFi

If you’re lucky to get your hands on one of these, then we recommend building a ITX 7600X system with the Asus B650-I Gaming WiFi. Whilst the ASRock ITX counterpart has a better VRM design compared to the Asus’ 10-stage 70A VRM, this motherboard is packed with great rear I/O connectivity, DDR5 support up to 6400 MT/s+ and overall feature set is why it gets our pick for the best ITX motherboard for the Ryzen 5 7600X

The post 5 Best Motherboards for the Ryzen 5 7600X appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

The Ryzen 3000 series of CPUs can still offer competitive performance for the budget-conscious builder. The Ryzen 5 3600 is a 6 core 12 thread processor that boasts clock speeds ranging from 3.6GHz all of the way up to 4.2GHz with some tweaking and simple overclocking. With a rock-bottom TDP of 65W, this fast CPU can deliver high frames and speedy workstation performance without spiking your internal case temperature. That low power draw makes this previous generation CPU an alluring buy for those looking to get enough power out of an SFF (small form factor) build or those looking to save additional cost on their PSU. 

Enthusiasts can take further advantage of this powerful little processor with new generation motherboards that can support the newer PCIe 4.0 technology. While those differences may be minimal at this price and performance bracket, builders will find the Ryzen 5 3600’s vast compatibility options and robust feature set a solid pairing with new generation B550 and previous generation B450 motherboards. This guide lays out the four best motherboards for the budget, enthusiast, mini-ITX, and micro-ATX builds with the Ryzen 5 3600.

Related: List of AM4 Motherboards with USB BIOS Flashback (for Zen 2 compatibility)

Best Motherboards for Ryzen 5 3600 – Our Recommendations

Award	Model	Design	VRM
Best Entry-Level Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600	MSI B450 Tomahawk		6 Phase (4+2)
Best High-Performance Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600	MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon Wi-Fi		12 Phase (10+2)
Best mini-ITX Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600	ASRock B550M-ITX		8 Phase (6+2)
Best micro-ATX Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600	ASRock B550M PRO 4		8 Phase (6+2)

Best Entry-Level Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600

The MSI B450 Tomahawk; this board offers excellent price-to-performance, at just under $100, given its range of features, connectivity, and best-in-class VRM quality.

MSI has nailed their B450 lineup, with the B450 Tomahawk leading its price bracket with the best VRM cooling of any B450 motherboard out there – which makes it ideal for overclocking the Ryzen 5 3600 on a budget. Only its bigger brother, the MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC, has better VRM cooling than the B450 Tomahawk. Still, considering the low TDP of the Ryzen 5 3600 and 3600X, either of these motherboards is almost overkill.

Connectivity-wise, the B450 Tomahawk has USB Type C, 6 SATA ports, and 4 DIMM slots supporting up to 128GB of 3466MHz memory.

Drawbacks here are small but present nonetheless, with no VCore offset function, and only a single M.2 slot where most other B450 ATX motherboards have at least two.

Best High-Performance Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600

It’s not necessary to take the leap directly from a B450 board up to a premium board with an X570 chipset like the MSI MPG X570 Gaming Pro Carbon Wi-Fi. However, this board comes with a premium feature list that sets it well above the other contenders on this list. Not only does this full ATX motherboard support PCIe 4.0 technology, but it can also deliver exceptional LAN and Wi-Fi speeds with both Wi-Fi 6 and 2.5G networking built-in. 

This premium-class board supports GPU SLI, custom water cooling, dual Gen 4 M.2 drives, up to 128 GB of DDR4 memory, and it has a jam-packed I/O with all of the connectors an enthusiast needs. The I/O has five USB 3.2 ports, a USB C port, high-definition audio connectors, a handy BIOS flash button, and a couple of additional USB 2.0 ports. This board is equipped with Mystic Sync RGB that can, as the name implies, sync with any other RBG device or fans you may have in your rig. The extended heatsink and onboard “Frozr” fan ensure that your components operate at optimal temperatures. With a steep price set at right around $179, this premium board is meant for only the most serious gamers and professionals out there.

Best mini-ITX Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600

Building a small form factor machine doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of the same premium features that come with full-sized ATX boards. Well, unless you plan to rig up a GPU SLI configuration, but that technology is on the way out in terms of support anyway. ASRock’s B550M-ITX motherboard offers an impressive feature set in a compact size. The B550 chipset means that this motherboard can take full advantage of PCIe 4.0 as well as run the newer 5000 series CPUs with a simple BIOS flash for those that plan to upgrade down the line. 

With form factor in mind, this board offers dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and gigabit LAN, which makes it easy to pick the system up and take it on the go. This B550 board even supports Gen 4 Hyper M.2 and has an included heatsink. Those features are often seen on higher-end X570 boards, so having those features on this B550 board is luxury. 

The I/O has six USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, a rear type-C port, and ports for 7.1 CH HD audio. While it may lack some of the more expansive features that full ATX boards offer, the ASRock B550M-ITX packs a lot of punch at the low price point of $129.

Related: Best mini ITX cases for Small Form Factor builds

Best mATX Motherboard for Ryzen 5 3600

ASRock knows how to make a high-quality and affordable small form factor board. The ASRock B550M PRO 4 supports PCIe 4.0, Zen 2 & 3 Ryzen CPUs, SLI GPU configurations, and it has four DIMM slots capable of handling DDR4 memory with speeds over 4700MHz. Packing all of those features into an mATX board was no easy feat. The sleek white and black metal finish will make this board look at home in any micro-build. 

Unfortunately, this board does lack Wi-Fi. It has speedy gigabit LAN built-in, but enthusiasts on the go will want to pick up an external Wi-Fi card. Thankfully, this board has plenty of room for those expansions with the additional PCIe connection. 

The ASRock B550M PRO 4 also supports dual 4.0 M.2s that can be kept running fast and cool with the included heatsinks. Builders will be able to enjoy Nahimic audio with optional HDMI output, Polychrome RBG, and an impressive array of I/O connections. You get 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, a USB C port, and a solid array of eight USB 3.2 GEN 1 ports. This board has plenty of options for expandability despite its small size and even smaller price point at just $109.

Summary

The Ryzen 5 3600 is a bit of a game-changer, as it opens the door for a lot more users to 6c/12t processors than ever before. With this level of price-to-performance supported by platforms that are just as feature-filled and low-cost as the unit that drives them, it’s hard to say “no,” to Team Red these days.

Best Entry-Level: MSI B450 Tomahawk – Excellent VRM and feature-set at an extremely modest price.

Best High-Performance: MSI MPG X570 Gaming PRO Carbon Wi-Fi – One of the most robust VRM solutions in the X570 lineup, coupled with a comprehensive feature set and USB Type C support – this is a great motherboard pairing for the Ryzen 5 3600 in high-end builds.

Best mini-ITX: ASRock B550M-ITX – this ITX B550 motherboard packs a lot of punch at just $129 – with a decent feature set, VRM, BIOS flash inbuilt as well as type-C support.

Best mATX: ASRock B550M Pro4 – A great feature-set micro-ATX motherboard for the Ryzen 5 3600. Plenty of expansion options, RGB, a decent I/O – this board has plenty of options despite its small size and even smaller price point.

Have you recently built a system with the Ryzen 5 3600? Let us know in the comments below, and thanks for reading!

• Related: Best CPU Coolers for the Ryzen 5 3600
• Related: Best Graphics Cards to Pair with the Ryzen 5 3600
• Related: Best RTX 2060 Super Aftermarket Cards

The post Best Motherboards for Ryzen 5 3600 Builds appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

To put things bluntly, Intel should be pretty shook by the upcoming Zen 3 processors from AMD, especially considering the Ryzen 7 5800X. There’s still no telling if Zen 3 will have any worthwhile overclocking headroom to speak of, but even if the eight-core/sixteen thread 5800X is flat out incapable of boosting past 4.7GHz, it spells trouble for Intel’s current flagship 10900K.

AMD has boasted roughly 20% instructions per clock (IPC) improvement for Zen 3 over Zen 2 thanks to their new architecture and L3 cache restructure. This means that, despite the 5800X having fewer cores and slower clock speeds than the 10900K, it may not matter in the face of superior technology on a smaller process. Worst of all, for Intel, the 5800X will be nearly $100 cheaper than the 10900K.

Even though we’re due for an announcement of Intel’s 11^th Generation CPUs, the fact that they’re still stuck on 14nm, compared to AMD on 7nm, there’s no guarantee that Intel will be able to maintain their last bastion: gaming performance. AMD isn’t pulling any punches, and they may very well end up with another crown.

Of course, we will have to wait until Zen 3 and Rocket Lake are both out (and Intel is holding off until next year) to see how they truly stack up. Regardless, the 5800X might not be the guaranteed best bet, but it’s guaranteed to be a damn good one. So if you’re placing that bet, today we’re going to help you also place your order for the best motherboards depending on your preferred style of build.

Best Motherboards for Ryzen 7 5800X – Our Recommendations

Award	Motherboard	Design	VRM	Price
Best Entry-Level Motherboard for Ryzen 7 5800X	Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AC		50A 14 Phase (12+2)	$180
Best Overall Motherboard for Ryzen 7 5800X	Asus ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming		60A 16 Phase (12+4)	$300
Best High-Performance Motherboard for Ryzen 7 5800X	MSI MEG X570 Ace		60A 15 Phase (12+2+1)	$360
Best mATX Motherboard for Ryzen 7 5800X	Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus (Wi-Fi)		50A 10 Phase (8+2)	$175
Best mini-ITX Motherboard for Ryzen 7 5800X	Asus ROG STRIX X570-I Gaming		70A 10 Phase (8+2)	$250

Best Entry-Level Motherboard for Ryzen 7 5800X

Perhaps you’re not only eyeing a brand new 5800X, but you’re interested in a brand-new chipset as well. Thanks to B550, builders have the option to save a bit of money (or opt-out of the slightly more extensive PCIe 4.0 and connectivity support) they’d potentially waste on an X570 platform. That is where the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AC comes in!

B550 motherboards are somewhat restrictive due to having only a PCIe 3.0 link between the CPU and chipset, where X570 has PCIe 4.0. While you still get PCIe 4.0 lanes from your CPU, the lower bandwidth PCIe 3.0 chipset link forces motherboard manufacturers to sacrifice some features in favor of others, chief among them being rear I/O USB connectivity. Some B550 motherboards only have a total of 5 USB ports on their rear I/O, with maybe a couple of USB 3.2 Gen 2 or Gen 1 ports. However, a handful of B550 boards prioritize the rear I/O, especially the B550 Aorus Pro AC, which is usually the deciding factor when determining the best B550 options.

Featured on the B550 Aorus Pro AC are 50A Power Stages, a direct 14 Phase VRM (12+2), support for up to 128GB DDR4-5200MHz memory, 2x M.2 slots (1x PCIe 4.0 x4), Intel AC 3168 Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.2, Realtek 2.5G LAN + ALC1220-VB Audio CODEC, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 is Type-C), 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 + 6x USB 2.0 ports, 6x SATA III 6Gb/s ports, an internal USB 3.2 Gen 1 header, and BIOS Flashback.

At $190, the B550 Aorus Pro AC manages to pack some impressive connectivity options, on top of a real finned VRM heatsink and integrated I/O shield, into a package that lives up to the stellar design and build quality of the Aorus name. If you’re looking for a reliable platform to get the job done in gaming and light productivity work, the B550 Aorus Pro AC won’t disappoint.

Best Overall Motherboard for Ryzen 7 5800X

The 5800X, if the 3800X was any indicator, should be a powerhouse in workstation tasks but should also be exceptional for gaming, and one of the best overall homes for it is the Asus ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming for $300.

The X570-E Gaming is another remarkable entry to Asus’s ever-popular ROG STRIX series. ROG/STRIX components have always offered top-tier features and performance and some of the best proprietary software solutions, user interfaces, and build quality, all complimented by strong design language.

The X570-E Gaming offers 60A Power Stages, a 16 Phase VRM (12+4), support for up to 128GB DDR4-4400MHz memory, 2x PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, Intel Gigabit LAN + AX200 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0, Realtek 2.5G LAN, SupremeFX S1220A Audio CODEC, 8x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 is Type-C) ports, 8x SATA III 6Gb/s ports, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 2 + 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 internal headers, BIOS Flashback, and a POST code readout.

Asus has been one of the most popular and premier PC hardware manufacturers for what seems like an eternity for one main reason; consistency. Of course, every company makes mistakes or missteps here and there, but it’s no coincidence Asus controlled at least 45% of the market share in the motherboard market (2017-2019). You’re always going to find rock-solid motherboard options in nearly any Asus lineup, and the X570-E Gaming is one of the best overall X570 motherboards available for the 5800X.

If you’re not fond of Asus for some reason, or if you’re specifically looking for features like onboard Power/Reset and Clear CMOS buttons, check out the MSI MEG X570 Unify for the same price!

Best High-Performance Motherboard for Ryzen 7 5800X

When it comes to enthusiast-class X570 motherboards, at least ones that won’t cost you a month’s worth of utility bills, you have only a few options, all with relatively similar features and pricing. Today, our award for the best high-performance motherboard for the Ryzen 7 5800X goes to the MSI MEG X570 Ace. The X570 Ace certainly isn’t the king of the hill over the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme regarding VRM thermals, but that board costs $700. Further, if you want that highest tier VRM for AMD with a cheaper price tag by opting for their B550 Aorus Master, you end up losing out on the bandwidth/connectivity of an X570 chipset. Hence our decision, because MSI’s X570 Ace is one of the most popular, well-reviewed, and well-rounded enthusiast X570 motherboards ($350-$700) with arguably the best balance of features, build quality, and aesthetic design.

Here, $370 nets you 60A Power Stages, a 15 Phase VRM (12+2+1), support for up to 128GB DDR4-5000MHz memory, 3x PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, Intel Gigabit LAN + AX200 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0, Realtek 2.5G LAN + ALC1220 Audio CODEC, 4x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 is Type-C) + 2x USB 3.2 Gen 1 + 2x USB 2.0 ports, 4x SATA III 6Gb/s ports, an internal USB 3.2 Gen 2 header, onboard Power/Reset buttons, Clear CMOS + BIOS Flashback buttons, and a POST code readout.

The X570 Ace is one of only two platforms MSI didn’t decide neglect after the release of X570 about a year ago. Many of the options priced under the Ace at the time, like the Gaming Edge Carbon and Gaming Edge (Wi-Fi), had worrisome issues with thermal throttling, even for some Zen 2 chips! However, MSI eventually addressed those issues and, as a response, released their MEG X570 Unify, which is essentially a slightly more affordable, blacked-out version of the Ace. If you want one of the sleekest and most potent X570 motherboards on the market, though, consider MSI with their “ace in the hole” .

Best mATX Motherboard for Ryzen 7 5800X

mATX motherboards are overlooked and underappreciated. It’s a disservice and a tragedy that we don’t see as many high-end mATX options as we should. Until recently, there was only one mATX option for the X570 chipset from ASRock, and it was mediocre at best. Thankfully, with the release of the new B550 chipset, we now have access to several mATX Ryzen motherboards with great VRMs, and the best of the bunch is the $180 Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus (Wi-Fi).

The B550M-Plus (Wi-Fi) comes with 50A Power Stages, a 10 Phase VRM (8+2), support for up to 128GB DDR4-4600MHz memory, 2x M.2 slots (1x PCIe 4.0 x4), Intel AX200 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0, Realtek 2.5G LAN + ALC S1200A Audio CODEC, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 is Type-C) + 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 + 2x USB 2.0 ports, 4x SATA III 6Gb/s ports, and BIOS Flashback.

Despite the general disinterest in mATX compared to full-sized ATX and mini-ITX PCs, mATX can offer the best of both worlds. You can reduce your rig’s overall size from standard ATX while avoiding much of the hassle associated with the extensive hardware compatibility research and tedious build process required for most mini-ITX systems. Now, thanks to Asus and their ubiquitous TUF Gaming series, we have a spectacular mATX motherboard that’s capable of driving even a 5950X. However, it may not keep up with any serious overclocking if Zen 3 turns out to have some headroom to play with, which Zen 2 essentially didn’t, so keep that in mind. But, if you’re itching to shrink your footprint and you don’t want a shoebox PC, the B550M-Plus (Wi-Fi) offers some of the best mATX VRM quality and USB connectivity for Ryzen CPUs to date, making it the clear winner for those looking at the 5800X.

Best mini-ITX Motherboard for Ryzen 7 5800X

While we may not ever experience the same sort of droughts for mini-ITX motherboards that we do for mATX, there’s quite often one option to choose from each of the major manufacturers. Today, we’ve chosen the Asus ROG STRIX X570-I Gaming for $250.

Asus has managed to cram an impressive feature-set onto this little guy with; 70A Power Stages, a 10 Phase VRM (8+2) with active cooling, support for up to 64GB of DDR4-4800MHz memory, 2x PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, Intel Gigabit LAN + AX200 Wi-Fi 6 + Bluetooth 5.0, SupremeFX S1220A Audio CODEC, 4x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (1 is Type-C) + 4x USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, and 4x SATA III 6Gb/s ports.

Not only does the STRIX X570-I have competitive VRM performance for ITX AM4 motherboards overall, but it also sports some of the best rear I/O USB connectivity and memory overclocking support. Builders who want the best possible SFF (small form factor) PC for high-end Ryzen CPUs like the 5800X, you cannot go wrong with the X570-I Gaming.

Summary

AMD continues to dominate the CPU market with Zen 3, and based on their consistent and dramatic improvements, things might start to get tense in the GPU market later this year when Big Navi finally drops. Even though Zen 3 brought a price hike, the performance improvements more than justify an additional $50 on top of what was already a reasonable ask for each tier of Ryzen. However you feel about any PC hardware company, competition is almost always a marvelous thing. We have tons of crazy developments headed our way for at least the next few years because of it.

Best Entry-Level: Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro AC – This is the best option under $200 for builders looking to leverage PCIe 4.0 with a 5800X who may not want to “waste” features like support for multiple Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSDs on the more expensive X570. The B550 Aorus Pro AC also prioritizes rear I/O USB connectivity more than most other available B550 options.

Best Overall: Asus ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming – Consistency, quality, and reliability are typically the hallmarks of ROG STRIX products, and the X570-E Gaming is no different. With a rock-solid VRM, plenty of USB 3.2 and SATA III ports, and a POST code readout, Asus has one of the most well-rounded high-end X570 boards perfectly suited for the 5800X. If you’re not a fan of Asus, or you specifically require onboard Power/Reset and Clear CMOS buttons, check out the MSI MEG X570 Unify for the same price instead.

Best High-Performance: MSI MEG X570 Ace – For $370, the X570 Ace is one of the best enthusiast-class motherboards with a competent high-end VRM, gorgeous design, and similar features to even $700 boards like the MEG X570 Godlike or Gigabyte’s $700 X570 Aorus Xtreme.

Best mATX: Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus (Wi-Fi) –  The TUF Gaming series continues to deliver with its digital camouflage aesthetic, excellent build quality, and best-in-class USB connectivity for $180.

Best mini-ITX: Asus ROG STRIX X570-I Gaming – Competitive VRM design for X570 ITX and massive USB connectivity on the rear I/O. If you’re thinking of grabbing a 5800X, there is no better option for SFF systems on the market!

The post 5 Best Motherboards for the Ryzen 7 5800X appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

Intel’s 12^th Generation CPUs have impressed across the board with their performance. To get the most out of them, it makes sense to pay close attention to your choice of RAM. In this article, we’ll explain how RAM specification can help improve CPU performance, show you our testing which demonstrates the effect of different RAM speeds, and then make our recommendations as to the RAM that will help you get the most out of an Alder lake 12^th Generation Intel CPU. 

DDR4 Vs DDR5

One of the features of the 12^th generation CPUs is their support for DDR5 RAM. This is dependent on the motherboard you choose, with your motherboard choice tying you to either DDR5 or DDR4 RAM.
The Case for DDR5 isn’t made out in this generation: DDR5 ram boasts impressive headline frequencies, but the timings show that it’s not a clear cut picture. This is borne out in testing, with DDR5 outperforming DDR4 in certain high memory bandwidth-intensive tasks like file compression and video rendering. DDR4, particularly well-specified faster DDR4, holds its own, particularly in gaming tests. Of course, there’s also the fact that DDR5 is three to four times as expensive as even high-quality DDR4 kits. We’re safe to say that for the 12^th generation, you should opt for a DDR4 kit unless you have excellent reasons to need DDR5, and very deep pockets as well. 

Once you’ve decided DDR4 is right for your Alder Lake Build, what then? Which is the best DDR4 RAM to choose from with this platform? We conducted a number of tests to find out the best RAM for the Intel Core i5-12400, i5-12600K, and Core i7-12700K for 2022 builds.

Testing Set up:

All of our testing was conducted on the MSI Tomahawk Z690 DDR4 motherboard (B09GLD72QH). We used an Intel i7-12700K (B09FXNVDBJ) at stock/default settings. This was paired with an EVGA RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra. Cooling was provided by an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240 AIO (B07WSDLRVP). The power supply is a Fractal Design Ion+ 860W platinum PSU.

RAM used was: 

• Crucial Ballistix 3200Mhx CL16 2x8GB, (XMP and JDEC) (B083TRRT16)
• G.Skill Ripjaws V 3600MHz CL16 2x8GB (XMP and JDEC) (B07X8DVDZZ)
• Patriot Viper Steel 4400Mhz Cl9 2x8GB (XMP and Manual OC) (B07KXLFDL6)

Firstly, let’s define a few terms so that we can interpret our results.

MHz speed is often the headline specification of RAM, but it’s somewhat misleading in that on its own it’s not particularly helpful in determining RAMs potential for performance. It’s the frequency the RAM runs at, but more correctly should be ‘MT/s’ or Million Transfers per Second, as RAM is Double Data Rate – it is accessible twice on every clock cycle. Therefore DDR4 3200Mhz RAM actually runs at 1600MHz, which is the speed you will see in various RAM diagnostic utilities. Faster RAM has the potential to perform better, as the rate of access increases. This primarily increases Bandwidth, and to a degree also lowers latency since the memory controller is waiting less time for an available access window to transact with the RAM. However, faster isn’t always better. Very high-speed RAM (greater than 4000MHz) is difficult for memory controllers to run, and may not be stable particularly in larger capacities. If you’re looking for 32GB or 64GB of RAM, you may find you need to reduce speeds for stability.

CL timings or CAS latency are the numbers you see quoted in listings for RAM: 16-16-16-32 or similar. These lists the primary timings and they are the number of clock cycles it takes to perform certain important functions. Lower numbers are therefore better. By multiplying clock speed with CL, you gain an indication of the ‘first word’ latency of the RAM in nanoseconds. Since it’s measured in time, again lower is better.

Gear 1 vs Gear 2. This is Intel’s naming for the ratio of your memory controller speed to the RAM speed. Ideally, for the lowest latency, it should be 1:1 and this is known as ‘Gear 1’. If your RAM frequency exceeds the stable speed of the CPUs memory controller, then ‘Gear 2’ may be employed, halving the memory controller speed in relation to the RAM. This induces a latency penalty. For Alder Lake, the memory controller appears to be happy in Gear 1 up to around 4000MHz, but individual CPUs may vary. 

1. Synthetic Benchmarks

The CPU test in Time Spy is highly Multithreaded, using our 12700K to the full. As it turns out it’s also sensitive to memory speed. You can see here how detrimental to performance running 2400MHz CL16 RAM is – the score is 1,500 points down on the next set of results. This is what happens if you fail to set XMP, your RAM runs at these basic ‘JDEC’ defined speeds and that can really hurt performance.  Both 3200Mhz and 3600Mhz CL16 RAM kits are commonly available and currently cheap. You can see they perform identically in this test returning 16,000 points each.

Looking at the ‘high performance’ RAM kit, this is a 4400 MHz RAM Kit, using Samsung B-Die chips, that we tweak to further improve performance.

Firstly, at XMP settings this kit runs at 4400Mhz CL19, but in gear 2. This, combined with the looser timings, offsets the higher frequency operation. Tweaking further brings us to a 4400Mhz CL17 settings and our third-highest result. Finally, Tightening timings to 4000Mhz Cl15-16-16-36 brings us to our best score of 17026, but it’s by a marginal 100 points. All three configurations perform near identically.

Rendering is another task that can be memory intensive, but is it dependent on memory speeds? We ran a couple of tests to check.

Cinebench R20 uses a tile-based renderer to complete a scene as fast as the CPU allows.

Ordered by result, we can see that there is essentially no trend here. 60 points are well within the margin of error for Cinebench R20 and we can see that the ‘worst’ RAM specification, 2400Mhz JDEC settings are butting up against one of the best: Manually tuned RAM at 4000MHz Cl17. 2600Mhz CL16 ties 3600Mhz Cl16 as well. This test doesn’t demonstrate any coherent scaling with RAM Speed. The lesson here is that many tasks simply aren’t dependent on RAM speed, and also that you shouldn’t use Cinebench to look for performance improvements if you’re tweaking RAM!

Cinebench R23 shows similarly unhelpful results. Again, this is all within the margin of error for this test and there’s no clear trend aligning with RAM performance.

And finally, another rendering test, this time Blender, a popular 3D Creation platform.

We rendered out two scenes on the i7-12700K, with the following results:

We’ve put a bit of a spoiler here in the form of some DDR5 testing as well. You can see that the results in all three instances, 2400Mhz, 400MHz optimised, and even DDR5 at 6000MHZ is the same: This is another task that does not scale with RAM speed to any appreciable degree.

2. Gaming Benchmarks

So, some synthetic tests show memory scaling, and some don’t. But what about gaming?

Well, games as a rule respond very well to reduced RAM latency on previous intel platforms. Getting data to the CPU with less delay allows it to process the game world faster, returning higher frame rates.
We can demonstrate this using a number of tests.

1. Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Firstly, Shadow of the tomb raider makes things easy for us by showing the effects of RAM speed on the game engine thread itself, in the in-game benchmark.

Using the min, average and maximum framerates, we can see a clear trend in performance as we move up to faster RAM specifications. Whilst JDEC specification 2400MHz RAM languishes behind at 202FPS average, the 3200MHz Ram improves to 227FPS, the 3600 MHz kit to 239FPS, the 4400 MHz kit to 244FPS, and the manually tweaked 4000 MHz kit run to 257 FPS on average. Note that minimum and Maximum frame rates increase accordingly. 

Now, this is all well and good but is it representative of anything in the real world? Well, the overall FPS results of this benchmark confirm the Ram speed scaling and demonstrate the extent to which it can help:

Here, we can see that the 4400MHz Kit actually returns the highest results, with the 4000MHz RAM kits actually trailing slightly behind. The XMP 3600Mhz kit is also close to the peak result. You can again see the clear detriment of slow RAM, with 2400Mhz a clear 10% slower than any of the better options.

As for the reversal of fortunes for the 4000MHz manually tweaked ram? – Well, XMP has settings for a number of timings that we did not have time to optimise for this testing. The Render thread often acts as a limiting factor and depends more on Ram Bandwidth than latency. Overall, you can see the broad impact of tweaking RAM, but also the subtle nature of changes in timings and settings that can add noise to the results.

Nonetheless, this test demonstrates how faster RAM assists CPU performance and allows games to run with less restriction from CPU limitations, resulting in higher frame rates.

2. Rainbow 6 Siege

Again in Rainbow 6 Siege, we can see a broad trend favouring faster RAM, with 2400MHz the slowest at 500FPS, the 4000MHz and 4400MHz options posting similar results from 530-540 FPS average, and the 3600Mhz CL16 RAM kit posting the best results at 564 FPS. Again, XMP likely takes optimisations to tRFC and other secondary and tertiary settings that deliver more consistent all-round performance here. Nevertheless, such is the performance of the i7-12700K we’re really splitting hairs looking at RAM speed impacts on this benchmark.

3. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

Flight Sim is a Game, or simulator if you want to be serious about it, that places unique importance on the CPU performance. It’s often the limiting factor in frame rates in this game, and lifting CPU capability directly translates to more frames on screen in a lot of circumstances.

In this test, we fly a Daher at a low altitude across Manhattan and log frame rates for 3 minutes.

Here again, we see the detrimental effect using slow ram, or not setting XMP on your RAM, has on performance. 2400MHz languishes at 98 FPS. Faster RAM scales near linearly across the speeds on test, with 3600Mhz bringing a decent lift to 107 FPS, and 4400MHz and faster continuing to increase performance. Remember, with gear 2 and loose timings this 4400MHz kit isn’t the fastest RAM on test here. The effect is subtle, but the trend is clear: Faster RAM helps this title, which is unsurprising given the CPU heavy nature of performance limits in Flight Sim 2020. 

4. Forza Horizon 5

This modern AAA open-world racer has a detailed inbuilt benchmark that lets us peek under the hood and see how performance is impacted.
Firstly, we can see that the sim engine itself benefits hugely from improving RAM speeds:

This is pretty unequivocal. Going from 2400MHz JDEC specification to 3600Mhz Cl16 nets you a huge 70FPS average gain. Pushing to optimised 4000MHz RAM at CL16 makes that a 110FPS margin, over a third faster again.
Once the game has processed the world, it prepares the render to pass to the GPU, this is the CPU render stat also shown in the results:

Here we see a less dramatic but still significant performance trend: The rendering process gains around 20 FPS or 10% going from the slowest RAM to moderately well optimised 3600Mhz Cl16 RAM.

And finally, do these under-the-hood numbers make any real-world difference? Well, they can do yes, as shown by our results:

Optimising RAM sees an easy gain of around 15FPS in the overall benchmark score. 

Conclusions:

Throughout these tests, we’ve seen an overall trend of faster ram assisting performance, both in some synthetic tests and also in games. We hope you’ll excuse the somewhat ‘messy’ nature of the data. It is what it is, this is real data, and the nuances of RAM speed and timings and how they interact with different software performance is a complex web. There is no one best set of RAM for all circumstances, but you can certainly pick RAM that will give you better results more of the time. As our results consistently show, you can also pick bad RAM or fail to set it up correctly, and this can bring tangible harm to your system’s performance.

We’d also like to address the issue over the gaming benchmarks. We’ve purposefully run these tests at 1080p, High settings, to bring you data that is at least somewhat relevant. But we are still using an RTX 3080 at 1080p. It’s quite correct to say that at 1440p and up the limiting factor becomes the GPU making these results less relevant. However: What is important is that RAM speed sets a baseline for performance in many games. You buy yourself more headroom by choosing better RAM. And that’s important in demanding CPU bound situations or as a system ages. A system with bad RAM may well show performance problems where one with well-chosen RAM won’t, and that could mean the system as a whole survives another generation of graphics cards upgrades.

Alder lake CPUs are exceptionally high performance, and it would be a real shame to limit their potential with poorly chosen RAM.

Recommendations

Overall, on the basis of cost, availability and ease of set-up, we still recommend 3600Mhz CL16 RAM for Alder lake CPUs. This RAM brings you the bulk of performance improvements with a minimum of money and time invested. There are Crucial Ballistix and G.Skill Ripjaws V kits available in 2x8GB Format at under $100. They’ve got decent timings, and represent great bang for buck.

If you need 32 GB, around $150 to $180 gets you G.Skill or those Ballistix kits in 2x16Gb Format.

There are also currently Crucial Ballistix Max 4000Mhz Cl18 Kits available at around $90 for 16Gb. They also represent a nice option, as they run in Gear 1 mode and give roughly the same total latency as a 3600Mhz Cl16 kit. Grabbing those and tweaking timings downwards could yield some pretty impressive results, but they’ll work just fine at XMP.

The post Best DDR4 RAM for Intel ‘Alder Lake’ CPUs (i5-12400, 15-12600K, i7-12700K) appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

The MSI Tomahawk brand gained a huge reputation with its B450 AMD offering, at the time a good value motherboard that supported high-end Ryzen CPUs at a lower cost. Each iteration since has grown in both price and features, and today we have the Z690 Tomahawk DDR4 Wifi. This board makes the most of the Z690 platforms innate strengths with a wide range of connectivity, storage options and expansion slots, as well as a good foundation specification. But it’s $300 and that’s a lot of anyone’s money.

We’ve used this board throughout our evaluation of the Intel i7-12700K, giving us insight into the performance and features of this motherboard, so let’s discover whether it’s the right board for your Intel 12th generation PC build.

Features and specification

The MSI Tomahawk sits right in the middle of the Z690 specification. Overall this is a ‘high end’ chipset, and most boards have four M.2 slots at PCIe 4.0, six SATA ports, plenty of USB connectivity, and strong Voltage delivery circuitry.

The MSI Tomahawk is unremarkable in this regard, including all the features you’d expect to find.

There is a pleasing lack of conflicts, all M.2 Slots and SATA slots can be utilised at the same time. Whilst the additional PCIe slots do not boast the fastest specification, they also do not conflict with any other ports or slots. Whilst this Motherboard is not suited to multiple GPU setups (Except in rendering or non-bandwidth intensive applications where the PCIe 3.0 X4 slot is no hindrance to performance), for all common usage including gaming, production and general workloads it’s well configured and well-appointed.

The features notably missing really relate to more focussed overclocking usage: There’s a Flash BIOS button, but no Clear CMOS, power or reset buttons. A simple array of LEDs indicate boot problems (which we did not encounter at any stage) rather than a more informative segmented display. As for looks, there’s no RGB at all on this motherboard, although there is a handy switch to enable or disable attached RGB devices. Really these are features you wouldn’t expect to find on a mainstream board but at $300 we are looking for places MSI could have offered more value.

Our other slight criticism is the lack of USB ports at the rear and the fact that only a handful of them are high speed. Ideally on a board at this price point, we’d like to have seen a couple more USB A ports there.

Layout

The Tomahawk is pretty well laid out, maximising your ability to fit a wide range of additional cards and storage options into it.

The second main PCIe slot is 3 slots below the primary GPU slot, meaning it’s still accessible even with one of the larger latest GPUs fitted. The PCIe X1 slot does get obscured by any GPU larger than pure 2 slots though. And that lowest PCIe Slot is handily placed for an audio or network interface card, but be aware it is just at PCIe 3.0 X1 bandwidth, so it’s not suitable for high bitrate capture cards, for example.
Our one misgiving is the slightly awkward SATA port placement, four of them are at 90 degrees to the board and down in the lower corner. Whilst it’s not a deal-breaker, it’s not the tidiest of solutions. We prefer to see them flat along the edge of the board.

Everything else is conventionally and conveniently laid out with no major oversights or issues.

BIOS

MSI use the ‘Click BIOS 5’ which is a relatively intuitive segmented BIOS with both ‘easy’ and ‘advanced’ modes. There’s not much to say here apart from that the BIOS is functional, practical, and depending on your affinity and familiarity, you’ll be able to do what needs to be done here without too much searching around. That said, the Alder lake CPU is complex, and there are a lot of options listed out and not all of them are intuitively titled. MSI claim a useful ‘legacy gaming mode’ which allows disabling of E-cores by using Scroll Lock. This can help in running some titles when anti-cheat or DRM software sees the unequal cores of Alderlake as two separate systems and refuse to run. However, we were unable to get this feature working within Windows 10. 

We also noted that after setting XMP the board likes to boot cycle once, before coming back up for a second boot with the settings and presumably memory training applied. This could be disconcerting for new builders but did not interfere with applying an XMP profile. Fan control is well laid out and easy to tweak. Memory overclocking is straight forwards and assisted by a number of saveable presets. Whilst these can be backed up to USB, sadly they get wiped in a CMOS Reset, which is a common occurrence during Memory overclocking. At least once you’ve settled on a set-up, it can be saved and applied as you please.

Overall, amongst BIOSes, MSI is still the one we get on best with, but we acknowledge that this is likely down to familiarity with the layout and settings on offer.

No BIOS update or tweaking of TPM, GTP, Boot modes or anything else was required to build this PC and in install and boot windows. Note that BIOS updates in future are likely to disable the ability to enable AVX512 following Intel’s mandate that this ‘quirk’ be erased in future BIOSes. 

Performance

Performance was tested as stock, without enhancement or ‘game boost’ mode applied. This board adheres to Intels Power limit specification of 190W PL1 for long term power limits, and the CPU performs accordingly. That is to say it’s bang on the performance of this CPU in any other board, including the more expensive MSI Z690 Carbon. Power limits can be removed entirely although the CPU itself will limit power draw. 

CPU overclocking was intuitive, and relatively successful, with a 5.0GHz all P- core clock easily applied along with a 50mV undervolt. This raised CineBench performance about 1,000 points to 23,000 and there was no detriment to stability.

We spent considerably more time exploring memory overclocking and found this board a flexible and stable platform to tune our Samsung B-die test kit. 4000MHZ CL16-16-16-36 was easily obtainable in Gear 1, without adjusting Memory or IMC voltages. The features and flexibility of this motherboard, and Alderlake, impressed us and with fast RAM being a big performance modifier it’s nice to be able to optimise with ease.

Overall, we had absolutely no concerns over the performance of this motherboard. It’s an excellent pairing with an i7-12700K, it has the power headroom to run an i9-12900K, and there’s plenty of latitude for some overclocking too. 

Value

This motherboard is available in both DDR4 and DDR5 formats. It retails at $300 in the US, Around 300€ in Europe, and a more attractive £249 in the UK at present. The DDR5 version ruins any sense of value by requiring RAM kits that currently retail for at least the same amount again, and confer no real performance advantage vs the DDR4 version with well-specified and readily available RAM.

We feel that this board marks a watershed price point for Z690. With the high performing and versatile i7-12700K costing $400, moving towards that price point for a motherboard does not feel like a sensible allocation of budget. From $200 upwards boards like the MSI Pro Z690-A, and Gigabyte UD or Gaming X provide a rock-solid platform for an i5 or i7 K series CPU.

As we approach $400, not only do boards add a few features besides Thunderbolt connectivity that seems worthy of the price, they also require DDR5 RAM. By that point, we’re looking at a $400 or more premium for very little return in performance or functionality. 

Therefore, given the feature set of the MSI Tomahawk, we feel that $300 marks the absolute threshold price for this motherboard. If it’s more expensive, look at better value alternatives. If it’s closer to $250 in bundles, deals or sales, then it represents good value.

Competition

In terms of MSI’s own products, the notable competitors are the MSI Z690-A Pro which sacrifices the Audio codec to an ALC 897, has a slightly weaker but still capable 14 phase VRM design, and makes do with fewer high-speed USB ports, but otherwise offers the same performance and feature set at around $80 less. The MSI Gaming Edge WiFi is $20 or so more and has a slightly more jazzy aesthetic, along with some onboard RGB and two of the rear panel USB ports are upgraded to the faster 10gbs spec. Otherwise, again, it’s identical.

The ASUS TUF Z690 Gaming offers a slightly reduced specification, with key features on par with the MSI Z690-A PRO. There’s a 14 phase VRM, Four M.2 Slots, Just 4 SATA slots, and an array of PCIe Slots consisting of two full length, two single length, and one X4 length slot. It’s got just 6 rear USB A ports and one USB C, and decently specified Realtek Audio. It’s a little light on fan headers for a board in this price range, with just 3 Chassis fans in addition to the CPU and pump fan headers. It’s a decent board and offers everything you need, but we feel the price point is more $250 than the $300 current asking price. The Gigabyte Aorus Elite is better specified and lower-priced, and the Tomahawk is better specified at the same money.

Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Elite AX DDR4 –This board is MSRP at $269 and offers a very well rounded specification. The VRM is on a par with the MSI Tomahawk, And it boards 2 more USB 2.0 Ports at the rear. It has an ALC 1220 Codec and a cut down 3 port rear audio output configuration. There’s some subtle RGB. Whilst early boards had some issues caused by the pre-release BIOS, these have now been rectified with the ‘F6’ BIOS update, and there’s a BIOS Q-flash function to allow easy updates. At a $30 saving over the Tomahawk, it’s a compelling motherboard for a PC built around the i7-12700K CPU. 

Conclusion

Overall then, there’s a lot to like about the MSI Z690 Tomahawk. It gets most things right, is a great pairing with the i7-12700K, and makes full use of the most attractive features of the Z690 chipset. The question really comes about value, and whether you’re better off with a cheaper board with near-identical features and specifications like the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Elite DDR4, Or perhaps even the Gaming X or MSI’s own Z690-A. Those are the boards we’d choose to pair with the i5-12600K in order to get maximum value. The Tomahawk meanwhile makes the most sense with an i7-12700 or as a cost-effective platform for an i9-12900K.

Pros:

• All the features and connectivity offered by the Z690 Platform
• Discrete looks
• Excellent power delivery and performance
• Plenty of headroom for overclocking and tweaking memory settings.
• Well rounded overall specification and connectivity

Cons:

• Feels slightly expensive at $300
• No RGB
• Slightly compromised USB options at rear panel.

The post MSI Z690 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 Review: The Definitive Mid-Range Z690 Motherboard? appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

As remasters grew in popularity, it was inevitable that we would see a return to the Grand Theft Autos of generations past. GTA 3, GTA: Vice City, and GTA: San Andreas saw the Grand Theft Auto series fully come into its own. Beloved characters, settings, and stories are back with upgrading graphics and modern controls thanks to the new trilogy release.

While it hasn’t been without its problems – many users reported terrible rain effects and optimization ruining the experience – many people are still interested in reexperiencing games that defined their younger years. Still, the overall experience seems greatly improved, and the trilogy serves as a welcome reason to go back in time.

The system requirements are more demanding than Grand Theft Auto V, which surprised some. While that game did come out all the way back in 2013, it set a landmark for graphical fidelity that many games still strive toward.  Let’s see what they are now and how to best upgrade for the nostalgia trip.

Can I Run Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy?

While the system requirements have seen an upgrade since Grand Theft Auto V, they’re still within reach for most gamers. A dedicated graphics card, 8 GB of RAM, and a decent processor will get you into the game with ease. In fact, most systems still in use today will probably hit the recommended specifications as well.

Despite the slight differences in requirements, Grand Theft Auto V is a good benchmark for running the new trilogy remasters. If your system is truly old – a decade or more – you’ll want to start by upgrading your graphics card, followed by your RAM.

For a good place to start, check out our PC building guide. Along with a full showcase on how to replace and build your computer, you’ll find a great list of parts to consider for different budgets. Or, if you want concrete evidence, just compare your computer to the minimum requirements below.

Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy System Requirements

Minimum Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy System Requirements   

Processor: Intel Core i5-6600k or AMD FX-6300

Video Card: Nvidia GTX 760 2 GB or AMD Radeon R9 280 3 GB

Memory (RAM): 8 GB

Storage Space: 45 GB

Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10

Meeting the minimum requirements for Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy won’t break the bank. Lenient RAM and Video Card requirements ensure that most people will have no trouble getting a consistent 30 FPS on low settings. If you want slightly better performance, you can check out our $500 build guide. Everything there will put you above and beyond these requirements while keeping costs low. Otherwise, look at our guide on prebuilts under $500. While the performance will be worse, you’ll avoid the hassle of building and still beat the minimum specs.

Recommended Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy System Requirements

Processor: Intel Core i7-2700K or AMD Ryzen 5 2600

Video Card: Nvidia GTX 970 4 GB or AMD Radeon RX 570 4 GB

Memory (RAM): 16 GB

Storage Space: 45 GB

Operating System: 64-bit Windows 10

These recommended settings represent a sweet spot in PC building right now. The GTX 970 and RX 570 are some of the last graphics cards that haven’t seen drastic price increases over the past few months. Especially for people just entering the PC gaming space, they are attractive options. Plus, most games will run on medium to medium-high settings using the card. Our $600 PC guide is a perfect launching point for those looking to build an entire system around these specs.

If you want to get the maximum experience for Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy, consider upgrading even more. Costs are hard to estimate these days, but our $1000 build will get you firmly into 1440p gaming in San Andreas and beyond.

Running Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy

This game’s recommended specifications hit a wonderful balance of achievable and cheap, which is hard to do right now. Especially if you’re building a new computer or upgrading parts, we suggest aiming for more than the minimum. The price difference between builds is small enough to be worth it.

The post GTA: The Trilogy System Requirements appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

Intel’s new generation of CPUs was released last month including the core i7-12700K. We’ve been given one to test and review. In this article, we’ll put it through its paces against the flagships from the last year to see how it measures up.

Intel has been lagging behind in the CPU wars for a couple of generations now. The 11^th generation failed to challenge AMD’s Zen 3 line up and the 10 core i9-10900K is the last true powerhouse they released, now 18 months old. 

To remedy this Intel have redefined CPU architecture, releasing the 12^th generation, known as ‘Alder Lake’ with a hybrid design with both powerful P-cores for performance, and more efficient e-cores. This apes ‘big-little’ design CPUs found on mobile devices where efficiency is king, but we still want some high-performance cores for demanding tasks.

This CPU is fabricated at 10nm, which should improve efficiency and lower power use. Meanwhile, there are 8 P-cores on the 12700K, which have hyperthreading and can hit 4.9GHz all core speeds, and 4 e-cores too, which clocks at 3.9GHz maximum and lack hyperthreading. That makes this a 12 physical, 20 logical core CPU. Backing it up it’s got 25MB L3 cache, Intels UHD770 integrated graphics, and the K specification means this CPU is unlocked, so it can be tweaked for performance on Z690 chipset motherboards.

This CPU is vital for Intel to stamp their authority on the enthusiast CPU market, so we’re eager to find out what it can do.

Test methodology and System

We’ve taken great care to ensure this test is fair. To do that we’ve controlled every variable that we can. All the synthetic and gaming results you’ll see are obtained with the same RAM settings across the CPUs under test. We’ve tested using an MSI Tomahawk Z690 Motherboard for the i7-12700K, A Z590 ROG Maximus XIII Hero for the 10^th and 11^th gen Intel CPUs, and the MSI Mortar B550 for the Ryzen 5800X.

For all the gaming and synthetic tests, we kept to Intel’s specifications for multi-core enhancements, power limits, and Thermal Velocity Boost. We did this because to our mind this is comparable to how we’ve tested the 5800X using PBO. Both CPUs were allowed to perform as they do with minimal set-up, according to the manufacturer’s intentions, but with the automatic optimisations in place. It’s also the default behaviour of the MSI Tomahawk Z690. 

We verified this behaviour with A-B testing in a number of metrics and with both our RAM settings and motherboard settings the results represent this CPU performing at its best, outside of more involved manual tuning or overclocking. RAM was set to 3600MHz CL16-16-16-32 in all tests except the specific memory tests.
We tested primarily with a Noctua NH-D15S cooler, but the performance was also verified with an Arctic Liquid Freezer II 240mm AIO. Thermal throttling was not encountered in any of the tests presented in this review.
For the GPU we used the EVGA RTX 3080 XC3 ultra but run our test settings in order to expose the CPU performance as much as possible, this powerful and consistent GPU helped us do that. 

So, let’s dig into our results!

1. Synthetic Tests

Cinebench R20

Cinebench R20 allows us to test multicore or single-core performance whilst rendering a scene. It is almost entirely independent of memory speed which allows us to isolate raw CPU performance. 

We conducted three runs and averaged to obtain these results. The i7-12700K Clearly brings its core advantage to this test, with 12 physical cores overwhelming the 10 cores of the 10850K.  Running a single-core test demonstrates the performance of a single P-Core: The score of 737 points is a clear 100 points above that of the other three CPUs under test. Our main regret here is not having a 12 core 5900X available for test: No doubt it would be a close-run battle here for the multi-core crown. 

Blender

Using Blender to render a couple of scenes, we get a sense of the rendering performance of these CPUs. This test is highly multithreaded, using all cores to maximum capacity until the workload is complete. 

Note that shorter bars are better indicating less time taken: In this test, we can see that for the ‘Classroom’ render, the i7-12700K is a full 100 seconds faster to complete this workload than the next fastest CPU, the Ryzen 5800X. In the shorter BMW27 test, the Alder lake CPU is 30 seconds faster than the second-fastest CPU, the i9-10850K.

We feel obliged to point out that we’re using this as a synthetic test of the CPUs, and if you’re actually looking to accelerate 3D rendering an NVidia GPU will complete the task in a fraction of the time of even the 12^th Gen Intel CPU here. 

Clearly, the i7-12700K is very potent in multi-core workloads, with only the Ryzen 9 CPUs and the i9-12900K able to challenge it. It comfortably wins every test in this section.

3D Mark

Using 3D Mark we focus on the CPU component of the Fire Strike and Time Spy benchmarks. These tests do bring memory performance into play somewhat and also heavily favour higher core counts as it’s a parallel test that uses all cores. 

The i7-12700K stamps its authority on these tests as well, making significant gains over every other CPU on test. Just as in the other synthetic benchmarks, it’s the clear winner. 

2. Game benchmarks

We ran our gaming benchmarks at 1080p and high settings to isolate CPU performance as much as possible, but retained settings that are relevant in the real world. The RTX 3080 helps us see differences in underlying performance. 

Rainbow 6 Siege

Rainbow 6 Siege has an inbuilt benchmark which we’ve found very consistent.

In this benchmark, the i7-12700K turns the synthetic performance results into tangible performance gains, with 80FPS more than the 5800X, and more than 100FPS more than the flagship Intel 10^th and 11^th generation CPUs. 

Doom Enternal

Doom Eternal is also very well optimised and capable of high frame rates and we logged two minutes of play to give us these results:

This test initially showed the Ryzen 5800X beating the 12700K by a small amount: That’s an interesting result given the apparent single-core advantage of the Intel CPU. Brief analysis showed that Doom eternal is one of the games that Windows 11 struggles with on Alder Lake, so a switch back to Win 10 and a re-test showed the 12700K improving to the tune of 10fps average. At 380 FPS the performance is no slouch on either, but the 8 Core Zen 3 CPU still holds its own here.  This result also highlights the challenges of a brand new platform and a new Operating System – performance refinements will continue as the operating system matures and better allocates tasks on this complex CPU.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Moving on to more demanding titles, Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s inbuilt benchmark has exceptional consistency and gives us a breakdown of CPU performance, it’s those numbers we’re looking at here to completely isolate it from GPU performance.

This test swings back to the i7-12700K’s favour, with a clear 40FPS advantage over the other CPUs. Note we have isolated CPU performance here, so this isn’t indicative of actual FPS which will be GPU limited. 

Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is another strong showing for the Ryzen 5800X.

Again it’s surprising to see the Ryzen 5800X doing well against the 12700K, with just a few FPS to the new CPUs favour. It’s possible we’re finding the limits of even an RTX 3080 at 1080p ultra settings, and whilst lower settings might show wider gaps we think it’s more interesting to demonstrate how close these CPUs can be ‘in the real world’. We re-ran this benchmark in Windows 10 and Windows 11 and found no appreciable performance difference, so this isn’t a case of the operating system limiting the new CPU architecture.

Flight Simulator 2020

And finally, the game that places the biggest demand on CPU power here, Flight Simulator 2020. This benchmark comprises a three-minute flight from La Guardia over Manhattan and delivers a stern test of the CPU. GPU utilisation stays under 70% here and performance is ultimately dependent on CPU speed. We’ve omitted the i9-11900K here as recent game updates have invalidated older testing with that CPU.

Here the i7-12700K is again the best performing CPU on test, using that spectacular single-core speed to deliver a 107FPS average. Note that core count doesn’t matter here, you can disable the 5800X or 10850K to 6 cores and obtain the same results. This test is all about cache size, and single-core speed and the 12700K has both in spades. We’ve got tonnes more in-depth testing on this game which will form a separate article, so if this sim is your focus you’ll want to keep an eye out for that. However, as a spoiler, the 12700K is absolutely the best option for this Simulator right now. 

Gaming performance conclusions

Our game testing sees the i7-12700K either match or beat every comparable CPU in gaming. The Ryzen 5800X runs it pretty close in a couple of titles, however, in others we see a commanding 10% or so FPS lead. We’ve purposefully run these tests at more representative settings, do demonstrate rather than overstate the differences you’ll find between these CPUs.

Nonetheless, the result here is clear: At $400 The i7-12700K beats the Ryzen 5800X, and the outgoing Intel flagships. Given what we know of the 5900X and 5950X, where their performance in games is largely dependent on that same single-core speed as the 5800X, they don’t offer any compelling advantage in gaming except for in a few specific titles. 

3. Memory Speed Scaling

RAM is the hot topic of Intels 12^th Generation, since depending on your choice of motherboard you can use either DDR4 or DDR5 RAM. The newer specification remains very expensive and hard to find, whilst performance benefits outside of very specific tasks aren’t clear cut. We’ve tested with DDR4 Ram throughout this review: We feel it’s what the bulk of people will choose for this generation, particularly with the more sensibly priced i7-12700K.

However, the message persists that ‘intel doesn’t scale with RAM speed like Ryzen’ so we wanted to find out if the i7-12700K was sensitive to RAM speeds.

To illustrate this, we ran the Shadow of the Tomb Raider Benchmark in a variety of speed configurations:

These tests cover the spectrum from ‘getting it wrong’ with default JDEC specification RAM, such as you’d encounter if you failed to set XMP, through to commonly available kits from 3200Mhz and 3600Mhz CL16, up to overclocked and somewhat optimised DDR4 RAM at 4000MHz Cl15-16-16-32 in Gear1.

You can see there is relatively consistent performance scaling as RAM latency decreases, but it’s not dramatic. We use Shadow of the Tomb Raider for this demonstration because it is responsive to RAM tweaking, many situations are not. Nonetheless, we can see that with a relatively affordable 3600MHz CL16 RAM kit, we have the bulk of performance on offer with minimal investment in both money and time. It remains our pick for the best RAM option for high-performance Intel CPUs into the 12^th Generation. That said, we found memory overclocking easy and fun on this platform: If you do want to tweak, we can recommend a high-performance B-Die kit, and no doubt timings could be significantly optimised from those used to demonstrate this result.

We have separate content coming expanding on this aspect of Alder lake CPU performance. 

4. Power and Thermals

Power draw and the consequent heat output has long since been the cost of high performance on Intel’s CPUs. We ran tests to explore this on the i7-12700K. We opted for the popular NH-D15S Cooler to examine the performance of a top tier air cooling solution on this CPU.

This CPU Maintains the Intel standard of a 190W PL1 for the duration of this test. Core speeds remain at 4.7GHz throughout – and did not throttle even in an extended 10-minute test. CPU temperature is maintained at a thoroughly manageable 79 °C. We repeated this test with an Arctic Liquid Freezer 240mm AIO and obtained the same results – both coolers were plenty capable of handling this CPU at default settings.
We ventured into overclocking, adding 1000 points to our Cinebench R23 Score with a 5GHz P-core and 4GHz e-core target. Results came at the expense of a 240W Power draw, and temperatures in the mid 90’s despite a -50mV undervolt. If you do intend on overclocking this CPU, we’d advise a 280mm or 360mm AIO as a minimum. That said it was thoroughly manageable and entertaining to see an Intel CPU respond to overclocking positively once again. 

Who is this CPU for?

The i7-12700K suits a broad range of workloads and needs. It’s the sweet spot for high-end gaming, content creation and computational workloads. Whilst the Ryzen 9 CPUs offer more physical cores, the times when they are brought to bear on most peoples tasks are minimal. Meanwhile, the faster individual core speeds of the 12^th generation assist much more of the time, delivering higher FPS in gaming, snappier processing in adobe apps and other tasks of that nature. The iGPU is also a bonus to many workloads, accelerating transcodes and transforms for video editors and digital artists.

The i5-12600K is a very valid option at around $100 less, for those workloads if you’re on a budget or for gamers who don’t need 8 P-Cores. The i9-12900K adds 4 more e-cores and remains the preserve of the high-end enthusiast. Most people will be better off saving money with an i7-12700K and buying a better GPU, more SSD space or more RAM.

The imminent release of the non-K CPUs also looks compelling. The first test of the i7-12700 show it performing incredibly close to the K variant: It may well be a sensible choice to keep budgets in control. Meanwhile, the i5-12400 looks set to become the new budget gaming champion, eclipsing the performance of the Ryzen 5600X in a $200 product.

AMD is now left somewhat out in the cold: Whilst the platform costs of the Zen 3 CPUs are lower, the 5800X at $400 still makes little sense against a $400 i7-12700K, and at $300 the i5-12600K matches or outperforms it an offsets the higher motherboard cost. AMD have a response in the pipeline in early 2022 with the ‘stacked V-Cache’ version of the 5800X, the 5800X3D CPUs, so it will be interesting to see how much 92MB total cache can make up the performance gap. The Ryzen 9 CPUs are still significantly more expensive, and their core counts don’t help most users nearly as much as the faster cores of Intels 12^th Gen. You need a very specific workload for a Ryzen 9 to be the best choice of CPU right now. 

However, if you’re sitting there with an Intel 10^th generation or a Ryzen Zen 3 CPU – I wouldn’t take the hype around this release as a cue to upgrade. This CPU is a good step forwards, but it’s not enough of a leap to warrant a platform change from those relatively recent and still high-performance CPUs unless you’re suffering poor performance due to CPU limitations. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, it has been nice to be impressed by an Intel CPU. The i7-12700K is an absolutely storming CPU and excels across a range of workloads, from heavily multithreaded productivity tasks to gaming. This i7 CPU happily beats the last 2 flagship Intel CPU’s, and it’s only challenged in multithreaded superiority by the Ryzen 9 CPUs and the current flagship i9-12900K.

This generation has righted many of the wrongs from the 11^th generation: Power draw and temperature are once again sensible. Performance is outstanding. Where the i9-11900K felt like you had to work to extract performance from it, the i7-12700K willingly demonstrates its prowess.

This CPU does many things right, and for most people looking to build a PC now, this or the i5-12600K are the right choices. However, if these CPUs and the accompanying $200+ Z690 motherboards push you over budget, keep an eye out: Early 2022 will see the value options become available, the i5-12400 and i3 parts based on this platform, as well as more affordable B660 motherboards. On the evidence of these flagship CPUs, and given the dearth of budget AMD CPU options at the moment, we should see Intel regain a dominant position In the CPU market. 

The post Intel Core i7-12700K Review: Alder Lake to the Rescue? Tested vs 5800X, i9-10850K and i9-11900K appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

The RTX 3060 sits as a mid-range GPU champion. Its MSRP of $329 places it perfectly among the rest of NVIDIA’s stock, although getting your hands on any graphics card at the recommended price is still a challenge. This card is not meant to push 4K gaming or anything close. Instead, it serves the 1080p crowd perfectly, and can respectfully manage a few games at 1440p. Perhaps more than any other card from the 3000 series, the rest of your rig will have to pull its weight for the best performance.

With all of that in mind, the question of the best resolution to play it with this card comes up. Note that everything we just said is about the RTX 3060, not the RTX 3060 Ti. If you manage to upgrade to that even more elusive card, your resolution options open up significantly. While this article focuses mostly on the original 3060, we’ll reference the 3060 Ti a few times. And, to put it out there; if you have the choice between the 3060 and the 3060 Ti at MSRP, choose the upgrade. The extra $70 will be worthwhile.

Above all else, the 3060 is a 1080p GPU. You should always look at what games you play and their requirements, as well as the rest of your rig. However, for those looking to future-proof their build or game in high resolutions, you’ll have a better time waiting for an upgrade. Let’s see why and how to optimize this card.

The Champion of 1080p Gaming with RTX

For those looking to play the most modern games at good frame rates on the RTX 3060, there’s only one resolution option. 1080p became the standard monitor resolution years ago, and for good reason. It’s sharp enough to be usable at almost all screen sizes, games can hit ludicrous frame rates on it, and 1080p monitors are relatively cheap.

Compared to other cards in both the 2000 and 3000 series, the RTX 3060 is an exceptional deal for playing at 1080p. This is especially true for those interested in utilizing RTX technology for ray tracing and special effects. At only $329, it’s one of the cheapest ways to access this tech and get great performance. Across benchmarks, its performance is almost equivalent to the 2060 Super while being slightly cheaper.

Techspot’s analysis of modern games such as Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Death Stranding all place this GPU around the middle of the pack at maximum settings. While this might seem like a lackluster result, it’s actually great performance for the price. Most GPUs ranking higher than the RTX 3060 are much more expensive and made for gaming at higher resolutions. Notably, the 3060 Ti breaks this mold. It’s only $70 at MSRP but consistently beats more expensive cards, even outperforming the RTX 2080.

RTX 3060 performance suffers moving up to the 1440p range. In fact, at maximum settings, it rarely even hits 60FPS on the same titles. While many gamers would be fine using the 3060 for 1440p gaming, it will not be useful for monitors with a refresh rate higher than 60Hz.

What Refresh Rate to Aim for While Gaming At 1080p

As we mentioned earlier, the exact performance you’ll get with this card depends heavily on the rest of your setup. However, assuming you don’t have a major bottleneck for your CPU, there are some general guides we can provide. Most people gaming at 1080p on the RTX 3060 will comfortably hit 120 or 144 frames per second using medium settings. If you bump that up to ultra-settings or care more about RTX, you’ll probably be closer to about 60 frames per second.

If you’re looking to upgrade your monitor, a 120 Hz monitor is a safe bet. With that said, it may not be worth upgrading specifically because of this card. Due to how long 1080p monitors have been the standard, many of them at 60 Hz refresh rates, your current setup may be more than enough.

However, for those of you who need an upgrade, consider grabbing a monitor with a higher refresh rate. We recommend splurging for the upgrade for three reasons:

1. You will likely play many games that can reach those higher frame rates
2. The monitor will be better for future upgrades to your build
3. The difference in price between a 60 Hz and 120 or 144 Hz 1080p monitor is minimal

Choosing A Higher Resolution

While the RTX 3060 performs best at a 1080p resolution, gaming at 1440p is certainly a possibility. If you’re considering leaving behind higher frame rates for graphical fidelity, you’re not making an incorrect choice. We recommend upgrading to a 3060 Ti instead if you can find one, however. It simply performs far better while gaming at 1440p than the basic 3060 can.

Consider that RTX features and ray-tracing capabilities will be limited while playing at 1440p on this card. With these effects on at a higher resolution, it’s easy for the 3060 to fall well below 40 FPS, which many people consider unplayable. Think about your personal tolerance and preferences before deciding.

Closing Thoughts

The RTX 3060 is currently one of the easiest graphics cards on the market to place. When found at MSRP, it is a respectable deal that serves all gamers who aren’t interested in upgrading to 1440p resolution just yet. Its graphical prowess will get you through all modern games and likely the next few years with no issues, even on maximum settings.

It’s not the choice for those with enormous budgets or who want to push the very edge of gaming, but it’s not supposed to be. However, there is enough zip in this to carry a few games through nice 1440p performances. As always, consider what games you play and their requirements to make your final decision. If it were us, we’d choose a 1080p resolution with a high frame rate for this card every time.

Relevant Guides

Want to read more about the RTX 3060 and its capabilities? We’ve written plenty about NVIDIA’s 3000 series and have the answers to all your questions. Check out these articles to get a head start:

• RTX 3060 vs RTX 3060 Ti: What Are the Key Differences?
• RTX 3060 Ti vs 3070 vs 3080: Benchmark Comparison (Real World Tests)
• 5 Best Monitors for the Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti
• AMD RX 6700 XT vs Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti: Which is Best?

The post What is the Optimal Monitor Resolution for RTX 3060 Builds? appeared first on PremiumBuilds.