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 B550 chipset represents the current sweet spot for PC builders looking to maximise the Ryzen 5 5600X and 7 5800X CPUs. It offers a full-featured and cost-effective basis for a high-performance PC for gaming or general use.

We’ve rounded up a selection of some of the best B550 motherboards on offer, going into 2022. We’re going to take a look at them to find out their features, any weak points or flaws, and use this information to make recommendations to you as to the best options for your Ryzen-based PC build. We’ll break our recommendations out into a separate article, so this one isn’t too cluttered with too much information. 

At the lower end, we’re testing the MSI Pro VDH WiFi and the Gigabyte Aorus Elite. These are both mATX boards at or close to the $100 price point.

In the mid-range selection of B550 motherboards, we’ve got the Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus WiFi and the MSI B550M Mortar Wifi. 

And to look at the higher end we’ve got the Asus ROG STRIX B550-F Wifi and the ASRock B550 PG Velocita. These boards are a little more expensive and take different approaches to offer you value, so we were interested in finding out what they offer over more budget-friendly B550 options. 

We’ll take a look at performance overall, then dive into each B550 motherboard to investigates its strengths and weaknesses.

B550 Motherboard Performance Testing:

We’ve conducted our testing with a Ryzen 7 5800X in the knowledge that if these boards handle that CPU well, there will be no problems with the less demanding 5600X. The Test system consisted of a 650W Gold-rated PSU, RTX 3060 Ti (not relevant to testing), and G.Skill 3600Mhz CL16 RAM set to XMP and 1:1 Infinity Fabric and Memory clock ratio. A 240mm AIO was used to maximise CPU performance without thermal throttling. 

B550 Motherboard Benchmark Comparisons

1. Cinebench R20 and R23

In this test we ran both single and multi-core workloads, to ensure that the Motherboard allowed the CPU to boost correctly and also didn’t limit the CPU with power draw. You can see that the boards behaved almost identically.

2. 3D Mark Testing: Fire Strike & Time Spy

We also ran Time Spy and Firestrike CPU tests. These show a little more variance in results but looking at CPU metrics we couldn’t identify any substantial change in CPU performance; This is likely down to variables such as cooler fitment or even ambient temperatures of the test and we don’t consider it anything of concern.

The long story short here is that we could not find any discernible difference in performance between any of these B550 motherboards. In single and multi-core tests they all performed remarkably closely, within a margin of error. In fact, if we normalise the scores and average them for each board we find a total variance of less than 0.2% – That’s well within the margin of error. They all held up well to longer duration testing, with no drop in performance after a 30-minute work loop. 

RAM Compatibility

We also checked RAM Compatibility, although it’s not possible to really test this exhaustively. All the boards worked flawlessly with our 3600Mhz Cl16 G.Skill RAM kit, as you’d expect. They were also all capable of running ‘known good’ overclock settings of 4000MHz CL 16-16-16-32 at 1:1 infinity fabric and memory clock on our Samsung B-die test kit, which represents the upper end of Zen 3 RAM speed optimisation. All of these boards have identical RAM overclocking and CPU overclocking settings available in BIOS, and whilst we wouldn’t choose them for dedicated overclockers, they all run RAM stably at acceptably fast speeds.

So, the good news on performance is that across the range of B550 motherboards we’ve tested we’re confident that you’ll be able to extract the maximum potential from a Ryzen 5600X or 5800X as well as reasonably fast RAM, to optimise your system’s performance. 

The ‘Best’ B550 Motherboards, Reviewed

So, with performance covered let’s look into each board. We won’t list specs as they’re actually very similar across all of these motherboards, and you can look them up yourselves. Instead, I’ll point out the most important features or omissions, the things we think you’d most want to know before buying any of these B550 motherboards. 

1. MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi – Entry Level Board

The MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi is a full-featured and good value B550 motherboard currently retailing at about $110.

Pros:

• Great value
• Understated looks with RGB switch.
• Inbuilt Wi-Fi
• Simple BIOS Flashback
• Internal USB C (USB 3.2 Gen 2) header
• 6 USB rear outputs
• 5 fan headers in total – 3 system, one CPU fan, one AIO pump header. 

Cons:

• Only One full length PCIe slot for a GPU. No 4X slots.
• Basic Audio – ALC 892 and 3 rear audio outputs. 
• No rear USB C – make sure your case has usb C if you require it, to make use of the internal header. 
• MATX so it might not look great in an ATX case.

Conclusions: 

Overall we were really impressed with this B550 motherboard. Whilst it has a ‘no-frills approach, MSI has made sensible decisions over what to include. Performance is great, on a par with motherboards that cost twice as much. We’d really just advise that you ensure you won’t need more than that single PCIe x16 slot as the 2 single length slots could limit your ability to add expansion cards down the line. The USB specification also isn’t the best, so make sure you’ll have adequate connectivity between the rear I/O of this board and any case you choose. Overall though for an understated and great value option, we heartily recommend the MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi.

2. Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite – Entry Level Board

The Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite is the most affordable AORUS motherboard in Gigabyte’s B550 lineup and is available at just $105.

Pros: 

• Good Value and a good looking board with Aorus branded heatsinking.
• Equivalent performance to the more expensive boards on test.
• BIOS Q-Flash.
• Inbuilt I/O shield helps with installation.
• Lower First PCIe slot position – can fit large air coolers.
• 8 USB ports on the rear.

Cons:

• Second full length PCIe slot is blocked by any GPU larger than 2 slots. 
• No Internal USB 3.2 gen 2 header and no USB C on the rear IO.
• No Diagnostic LEDs – can frustrate when troubleshooting boot issues.
• Only 3 fan headers in total – 1 CPU and 2 System. You will likely need fan splitters. 
• No M.2 Heat sinking – not vitally important but helps with a consistent look. 
• No RGB on board.
• Awkward SATA socket location: Using 90 degree cables blocks other SATA ports, large GPUs may block SATA ports. Flush mount SATA ports would have solved this issue. 

Conclusions: 

Overall this is a good value B550 motherboard that gets the job done for the Ryzen Zen 3 builds. However, in terms of value, it loses out to the MSI B550M Pro-VDH which includes USB 3.2 gen 2 and WiFi for just $5 more. The price-cutting on this motherboard with limited fan headers, awkward SATA ports, lack of any boot diagnostic LEDs and slightly awkward PCIe slot placement all means that in all but the most basic PC builds this board is likely to frustrate. In particular, if you want WiFi or any additional add-in PCIe card you need to ensure that your GPU is no more than 2 slots thick – and many are nowadays with most designs intruding on the third PCIe slot beneath them. If your GPU is long you may have issues connecting SATA cables to some or all of the ports.

At the right price, the B550M Aorus Elite is still a good motherboard, but we’d consider that price to be around $90 to compensate for the shortcomings here. We recommend the MSI B550 Pro VDH Wifi over this for the additional features and fewer compromises of that board. 

3. Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus WiFi – Mid-Range Board

Moving into the mid-range selections, we have the ASUS TUF Gaming B550M Plus WiFi. The TUF lineup offers some really good products and this B550 board is no exception, but at the moment it’s retailing at $160 which is pretty steep for a B550 motherboard.

Pros:

• Great looking with hefty heatsinking and nice RGB highlights. 
• Inbuilt WiFi 6
• Asus BIOS Flashback functionality
• USB C on the rear and 7 USB A ports of various speeds.
• Higher quality Audio CODEC – Realtec S1200A
• Strong VRM – easily capable of running a 5900X.

Cons:

• Expensive
• Slightly awkward SATA socket positioning. Not as bad as the Aorus Elite, but still annoying.
• Limited Fan headers – 2 System, 1 CPU fan, 1 AIO pump optional header. 
• No internal USB 3.2 Gen 2 header. 
• Second PCIe slot blocked by a larger GPU in the first, but the 1x slot is mounted high to keep it accessible. 
• RGB may be obscured by a GPU

Conclusions:

Overall we like this B550 motherboard but not the price. At $130-$140, it’s a good buy but it has enough compromises to make us look elsewhere at $150-$160. Little things like the number of fan headers and lack of an internal USB 3.2 header are the sort of detail you’d expect a board like this to get right. However, it performs well and looks great, so if you find it at the right price there’s no reason not to buy it. Just make sure the compromises this board makes won’t interfere with your planned build. 

4. MSI MAG B550M Mortar WiFi – Mid-Range Board

The MSI B550M Mortar Wifi is the B550 motherboard we’re most familiar with in this test, we’ve actually been using it for about nine months on our test bench. It’s a good mid-range option but let’s see how it stacks up against the competition.

Pros: 

• USB 3.2 Gen 2 internal header plus USB C on the rear I/O panel.
• Plenty of fan headers: 3 system fan headers, 1 CPU, one AIO.
• Full length PCIe slots are 3 slots apart – you can fit 2 GPUs into this motherboard without conflict.
• BIOS flashback
• Inbuilt IO shield
• Inbuilt WiFi 6: A non WiFi option available with a darker colour scheme.
• 6 SATA slots (most mATX have 4)

Cons:

• Expensive at the moment – $170
• Only 5 USB A sockets on the rear.
• mATX form factor may look strange in ATX builds.

Conclusions:

This mid-range B550 motherboard does a lot of things right. The layout is good and it has a good range of internal connectors. The main weakness is the slight lack of USB A options on the rear IO. Subjectively, the silver aesthetic of this WiFi version matches white or silver themed builds nicely, and also somewhat subjectively we find the MSI bios one of the more intuitive to navigate and tweak. There’s a non WiFi version also available at about $155. Overall, this is a great board and we can heartily recommend it, but just be cautious on pricing. 

5. ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F Gaming WiFi – High-End Board

Now we move up to the higher end of B550 motherboards with the Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi. This full ATX board adds some more PCIe slots and USB connectivity to the mix, as well as some higher-end components like a strong VRM configuration and a good quality Audio Codec.

Pros:

• Full ATX with plenty of well-spaced PCIe slots.
• Great looking board with RGB and solid heatsinking, including both M.2 slots.
• Lots of Fan headers, with AIO pump, CPU, CPU Optional and 3 chassis fan headers for 6 total.
• High end S1220A Codec for audio. 
• BIOS Flashback
• Six SATA slots.
• Strong VRM

Cons:

• Still only 2 M.2 slots
• No internal USB 3.2 gen 2 header.
• Hard to see the value at near $200

Conclusions:

Moving up to the higher end and a full ATX B550 motherboard, we come to the Asus B550-F ROG Strix Gaming. There’s a lot to like about this motherboard, not least the looks. However, we think it’s hard to find the value on offer here when you compare the specification to, for example, the MSI B550M Mortar you don’t really gain much. Multiple X1 PCIe slots are of limited value on a board that has WiFi inbuilt anyway. There’s still just 2 M.2 slots, and no internal USB 3.2 Gen 2. On the plus side, you get loads of Fan and RGB control options, heavy heatsinking, a great VRM – but remember you’re not buying any more performance with this board, every board here performs the same with a 5600X or 5800X. Overall, if you like the looks and features, and don’t mind the ROG Strix tax or slight compromises in the specification, this is a solid option and we’d recommend it for a showy 5600X or 5800X gaming build. 

6. ASRock B550 PG Velocita – High-End Board

The ASRock B550 PG Velocita is a B550 chipset motherboard with a lot of features aimed at overclockers, but one glaring omission, so let’s take a closer look.

Pros:

• Full ATX format with good PCIe slot layout.
• Seven Fan/Pump headers, giving extensive cooling options
• Really nice LED highlights.
• Very strong VRM with 14 phase set up. You can maximise any Zen 3 CPU on this without concern.
• Excellent heatsinking with a heat pipe to spread heat load.
• Internal USB 3.2 gen 2 header. 
• Good USB connectivity on rear I/O
• Wifi compatible M.2 slot and pre cut I/O plate antenna holes – you can add Wifi without using a PCIe or M.2 storage slot. 

Mixed:

• Power and reset buttons – we found them helpful on our test bench, but how much are you really going to use them in a built PC?
• Fault code display could be a nice touch, but the code index is so generic and unhelpful that it’s really no more use than simple LED lights.
• Love it or hate it styling with red and grey accents. 

Cons:

•  No BIOS Flashback! An unforgivable sin, and this is the only board that required us to swap to a compatible CPU to update the BIOS and get it working with Ryzen 5000 CPUs. 
• Only two storage M.2 slots. 
• Expensive
• You’re not buying any extra performance

Conclusions:

This ASRock B550 PG Velocita is the B550 motherboard in this review that sparks the most mixed feelings for us. We really WANT to love it, but the overall impression is of a board that hasn’t been designed with actual use in mind. The most glaring issue is the lack of any means to perform a BIOS flash without an existing CPU. We bought this board at the start of summer 2021 and it wasn’t Ryzen 5000 ready – forcing us to use our Ryzen 3600 to update the BIOS. For a board aimed at enthusiasts, and when it’s available on boards at literally half the price, it’s just not acceptable not to include this feature. 

The other ‘overclocking’ features really feel like they’ve been added for marketing, not with functionality in mind. The Power and reset buttons were nice whilst we tested this board, but useless if you intend on actually building a PC in a traditional case. Likewise the Numeric LED Fault code display COULD be really useful, but the codes are so cryptic and poorly explained in the manual or online that actually, they’re no more helpful than simple diagnostic LED’s pointing at a problem with the CPU or RAM for example. On the plus side, it’s got great water cooling and system fan flexibility, a good range of connectors, and a hugely capable VRM. That said, you’re not getting extra performance from an overkill VRM, and short of exotic cooling methods you won’t need the VRM on offer here even for a 5950X – the overclocking headroom just doesn’t exist. It’s also, in our opinion, a great looking board with some really nice RGB highlights around the IO panel heatsink. If you’re aware of the shortcomings, have a plan to get around the BIOS flash issue, and find this board at the right price (say under $200) then it makes a solid basis for a high-end B550 based PC build. Otherwise, we’d recommend the Asus B550-F ROG Strix Gaming WiFi which has more features at a lower price and doesn’t feel as quirky as the ASRock PG Velocita. 

Closing Thoughts:

I hope you’ve found this article useful and that it has helped you decide which board is right for you. The nice thing with B550 Motherboards is that there are very few products to avoid – so long as you’re not shopping at the bargain basement they offer the same basic features and functionality as well as equivalent performance. When you’re looking to buy just ensure that the board has BIOS flashback functionality, and adequate slots and I/O for your needs. Also ensure that between the case and the motherboard, you’ve got the USB 3.2 Gen 2 connectivity that matches up, so you’re not left with dead USB-C slots on your case. Consider these points and you’ll have the foundation of a great system using the Ryzen 5600X or 5800X CPUs.

The B550 chipset represents the current sweet spot for PC builders looking to maximise the Ryzen 5 5600X and 7 5800X CPUs. It offers a full-featured and cost-effective basis for a high-performance PC for gaming or general use.

We’ve rounded up a selection of some of the best B550 motherboards on offer, going into 2022. We’re going to take a look at them to find out their features, any weak points or flaws, and use this information to make recommendations to you as to the best options for your Ryzen-based PC build. We’ll break our recommendations out into a separate article, so this one isn’t too cluttered with too much information. 

At the lower end, we’re testing the MSI Pro VDH WiFi and the Gigabyte Aorus Elite. These are both mATX boards at or close to the $100 price point.

In the mid-range selection of B550 motherboards, we’ve got the Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus WiFi and the MSI B550M Mortar Wifi. 

And to look at the higher end we’ve got the Asus ROG STRIX B550-F Wifi and the ASRock B550 PG Velocita. These boards are a little more expensive and take different approaches to offer you value, so we were interested in finding out what they offer over more budget-friendly B550 options. 

We’ll take a look at performance overall, then dive into each B550 motherboard to investigates its strengths and weaknesses.

B550 Motherboard Performance Testing:

We’ve conducted our testing with a Ryzen 7 5800X in the knowledge that if these boards handle that CPU well, there will be no problems with the less demanding 5600X. The Test system consisted of a 650W Gold-rated PSU, RTX 3060 Ti (not relevant to testing), and G.Skill 3600Mhz CL16 RAM set to XMP and 1:1 Infinity Fabric and Memory clock ratio. A 240mm AIO was used to maximise CPU performance without thermal throttling. 

B550 Motherboard Benchmark Comparisons

1. Cinebench R20 and R23

In this test we ran both single and multi-core workloads, to ensure that the Motherboard allowed the CPU to boost correctly and also didn’t limit the CPU with power draw. You can see that the boards behaved almost identically.

2. 3D Mark Testing: Fire Strike & Time Spy

We also ran Time Spy and Firestrike CPU tests. These show a little more variance in results but looking at CPU metrics we couldn’t identify any substantial change in CPU performance; This is likely down to variables such as cooler fitment or even ambient temperatures of the test and we don’t consider it anything of concern.

The long story short here is that we could not find any discernible difference in performance between any of these B550 motherboards. In single and multi-core tests they all performed remarkably closely, within a margin of error. In fact, if we normalise the scores and average them for each board we find a total variance of less than 0.2% – That’s well within the margin of error. They all held up well to longer duration testing, with no drop in performance after a 30-minute work loop. 

RAM Compatibility

We also checked RAM Compatibility, although it’s not possible to really test this exhaustively. All the boards worked flawlessly with our 3600Mhz Cl16 G.Skill RAM kit, as you’d expect. They were also all capable of running ‘known good’ overclock settings of 4000MHz CL 16-16-16-32 at 1:1 infinity fabric and memory clock on our Samsung B-die test kit, which represents the upper end of Zen 3 RAM speed optimisation. All of these boards have identical RAM overclocking and CPU overclocking settings available in BIOS, and whilst we wouldn’t choose them for dedicated overclockers, they all run RAM stably at acceptably fast speeds.

So, the good news on performance is that across the range of B550 motherboards we’ve tested we’re confident that you’ll be able to extract the maximum potential from a Ryzen 5600X or 5800X as well as reasonably fast RAM, to optimise your system’s performance. 

The ‘Best’ B550 Motherboards, Reviewed

So, with performance covered let’s look into each board. We won’t list specs as they’re actually very similar across all of these motherboards, and you can look them up yourselves. Instead, I’ll point out the most important features or omissions, the things we think you’d most want to know before buying any of these B550 motherboards. 

1. MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi – Entry Level Board

The MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi is a full-featured and good value B550 motherboard currently retailing at about $110.

Pros:

• Great value
• Understated looks with RGB switch.
• Inbuilt Wi-Fi
• Simple BIOS Flashback
• Internal USB C (USB 3.2 Gen 2) header
• 6 USB rear outputs
• 5 fan headers in total – 3 system, one CPU fan, one AIO pump header. 

Cons:

• Only One full length PCIe slot for a GPU. No 4X slots.
• Basic Audio – ALC 892 and 3 rear audio outputs. 
• No rear USB C – make sure your case has usb C if you require it, to make use of the internal header. 
• MATX so it might not look great in an ATX case.

Conclusions: 

Overall we were really impressed with this B550 motherboard. Whilst it has a ‘no-frills approach, MSI has made sensible decisions over what to include. Performance is great, on a par with motherboards that cost twice as much. We’d really just advise that you ensure you won’t need more than that single PCIe x16 slot as the 2 single length slots could limit your ability to add expansion cards down the line. The USB specification also isn’t the best, so make sure you’ll have adequate connectivity between the rear I/O of this board and any case you choose. Overall though for an understated and great value option, we heartily recommend the MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi.

2. Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite – Entry Level Board

The Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite is the most affordable AORUS motherboard in Gigabyte’s B550 lineup and is available at just $105.

Pros: 

• Good Value and a good looking board with Aorus branded heatsinking.
• Equivalent performance to the more expensive boards on test.
• BIOS Q-Flash.
• Inbuilt I/O shield helps with installation.
• Lower First PCIe slot position – can fit large air coolers.
• 8 USB ports on the rear.

Cons:

• Second full length PCIe slot is blocked by any GPU larger than 2 slots. 
• No Internal USB 3.2 gen 2 header and no USB C on the rear IO.
• No Diagnostic LEDs – can frustrate when troubleshooting boot issues.
• Only 3 fan headers in total – 1 CPU and 2 System. You will likely need fan splitters. 
• No M.2 Heat sinking – not vitally important but helps with a consistent look. 
• No RGB on board.
• Awkward SATA socket location: Using 90 degree cables blocks other SATA ports, large GPUs may block SATA ports. Flush mount SATA ports would have solved this issue. 

Conclusions: 

Overall this is a good value B550 motherboard that gets the job done for the Ryzen Zen 3 builds. However, in terms of value, it loses out to the MSI B550M Pro-VDH which includes USB 3.2 gen 2 and WiFi for just $5 more. The price-cutting on this motherboard with limited fan headers, awkward SATA ports, lack of any boot diagnostic LEDs and slightly awkward PCIe slot placement all means that in all but the most basic PC builds this board is likely to frustrate. In particular, if you want WiFi or any additional add-in PCIe card you need to ensure that your GPU is no more than 2 slots thick – and many are nowadays with most designs intruding on the third PCIe slot beneath them. If your GPU is long you may have issues connecting SATA cables to some or all of the ports.

At the right price, the B550M Aorus Elite is still a good motherboard, but we’d consider that price to be around $90 to compensate for the shortcomings here. We recommend the MSI B550 Pro VDH Wifi over this for the additional features and fewer compromises of that board. 

3. Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus WiFi – Mid-Range Board

Moving into the mid-range selections, we have the ASUS TUF Gaming B550M Plus WiFi. The TUF lineup offers some really good products and this B550 board is no exception, but at the moment it’s retailing at $160 which is pretty steep for a B550 motherboard.

Pros:

• Great looking with hefty heatsinking and nice RGB highlights. 
• Inbuilt WiFi 6
• Asus BIOS Flashback functionality
• USB C on the rear and 7 USB A ports of various speeds.
• Higher quality Audio CODEC – Realtec S1200A
• Strong VRM – easily capable of running a 5900X.

Cons:

• Expensive
• Slightly awkward SATA socket positioning. Not as bad as the Aorus Elite, but still annoying.
• Limited Fan headers – 2 System, 1 CPU fan, 1 AIO pump optional header. 
• No internal USB 3.2 Gen 2 header. 
• Second PCIe slot blocked by a larger GPU in the first, but the 1x slot is mounted high to keep it accessible. 
• RGB may be obscured by a GPU

Conclusions:

Overall we like this B550 motherboard but not the price. At $130-$140, it’s a good buy but it has enough compromises to make us look elsewhere at $150-$160. Little things like the number of fan headers and lack of an internal USB 3.2 header are the sort of detail you’d expect a board like this to get right. However, it performs well and looks great, so if you find it at the right price there’s no reason not to buy it. Just make sure the compromises this board makes won’t interfere with your planned build. 

4. MSI MAG B550M Mortar WiFi – Mid-Range Board

The MSI B550M Mortar Wifi is the B550 motherboard we’re most familiar with in this test, we’ve actually been using it for about nine months on our test bench. It’s a good mid-range option but let’s see how it stacks up against the competition.

Pros: 

• USB 3.2 Gen 2 internal header plus USB C on the rear I/O panel.
• Plenty of fan headers: 3 system fan headers, 1 CPU, one AIO.
• Full length PCIe slots are 3 slots apart – you can fit 2 GPUs into this motherboard without conflict.
• BIOS flashback
• Inbuilt IO shield
• Inbuilt WiFi 6: A non WiFi option available with a darker colour scheme.
• 6 SATA slots (most mATX have 4)

Cons:

• Expensive at the moment – $170
• Only 5 USB A sockets on the rear.
• mATX form factor may look strange in ATX builds.

Conclusions:

This mid-range B550 motherboard does a lot of things right. The layout is good and it has a good range of internal connectors. The main weakness is the slight lack of USB A options on the rear IO. Subjectively, the silver aesthetic of this WiFi version matches white or silver themed builds nicely, and also somewhat subjectively we find the MSI bios one of the more intuitive to navigate and tweak. There’s a non WiFi version also available at about $155. Overall, this is a great board and we can heartily recommend it, but just be cautious on pricing. 

5. ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F Gaming WiFi – High-End Board

Now we move up to the higher end of B550 motherboards with the Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi. This full ATX board adds some more PCIe slots and USB connectivity to the mix, as well as some higher-end components like a strong VRM configuration and a good quality Audio Codec.

Pros:

• Full ATX with plenty of well-spaced PCIe slots.
• Great looking board with RGB and solid heatsinking, including both M.2 slots.
• Lots of Fan headers, with AIO pump, CPU, CPU Optional and 3 chassis fan headers for 6 total.
• High end S1220A Codec for audio. 
• BIOS Flashback
• Six SATA slots.
• Strong VRM

Cons:

• Still only 2 M.2 slots
• No internal USB 3.2 gen 2 header.
• Hard to see the value at near $200

Conclusions:

Moving up to the higher end and a full ATX B550 motherboard, we come to the Asus B550-F ROG Strix Gaming. There’s a lot to like about this motherboard, not least the looks. However, we think it’s hard to find the value on offer here when you compare the specification to, for example, the MSI B550M Mortar you don’t really gain much. Multiple X1 PCIe slots are of limited value on a board that has WiFi inbuilt anyway. There’s still just 2 M.2 slots, and no internal USB 3.2 Gen 2. On the plus side, you get loads of Fan and RGB control options, heavy heatsinking, a great VRM – but remember you’re not buying any more performance with this board, every board here performs the same with a 5600X or 5800X. Overall, if you like the looks and features, and don’t mind the ROG Strix tax or slight compromises in the specification, this is a solid option and we’d recommend it for a showy 5600X or 5800X gaming build. 

6. ASRock B550 PG Velocita – High-End Board

The ASRock B550 PG Velocita is a B550 chipset motherboard with a lot of features aimed at overclockers, but one glaring omission, so let’s take a closer look.

Pros:

• Full ATX format with good PCIe slot layout.
• Seven Fan/Pump headers, giving extensive cooling options
• Really nice LED highlights.
• Very strong VRM with 14 phase set up. You can maximise any Zen 3 CPU on this without concern.
• Excellent heatsinking with a heat pipe to spread heat load.
• Internal USB 3.2 gen 2 header. 
• Good USB connectivity on rear I/O
• Wifi compatible M.2 slot and pre cut I/O plate antenna holes – you can add Wifi without using a PCIe or M.2 storage slot. 

Mixed:

• Power and reset buttons – we found them helpful on our test bench, but how much are you really going to use them in a built PC?
• Fault code display could be a nice touch, but the code index is so generic and unhelpful that it’s really no more use than simple LED lights.
• Love it or hate it styling with red and grey accents. 

Cons:

•  No BIOS Flashback! An unforgivable sin, and this is the only board that required us to swap to a compatible CPU to update the BIOS and get it working with Ryzen 5000 CPUs. 
• Only two storage M.2 slots. 
• Expensive
• You’re not buying any extra performance

Conclusions:

This ASRock B550 PG Velocita is the B550 motherboard in this review that sparks the most mixed feelings for us. We really WANT to love it, but the overall impression is of a board that hasn’t been designed with actual use in mind. The most glaring issue is the lack of any means to perform a BIOS flash without an existing CPU. We bought this board at the start of summer 2021 and it wasn’t Ryzen 5000 ready – forcing us to use our Ryzen 3600 to update the BIOS. For a board aimed at enthusiasts, and when it’s available on boards at literally half the price, it’s just not acceptable not to include this feature. 

The other ‘overclocking’ features really feel like they’ve been added for marketing, not with functionality in mind. The Power and reset buttons were nice whilst we tested this board, but useless if you intend on actually building a PC in a traditional case. Likewise the Numeric LED Fault code display COULD be really useful, but the codes are so cryptic and poorly explained in the manual or online that actually, they’re no more helpful than simple diagnostic LED’s pointing at a problem with the CPU or RAM for example. On the plus side, it’s got great water cooling and system fan flexibility, a good range of connectors, and a hugely capable VRM. That said, you’re not getting extra performance from an overkill VRM, and short of exotic cooling methods you won’t need the VRM on offer here even for a 5950X – the overclocking headroom just doesn’t exist. It’s also, in our opinion, a great looking board with some really nice RGB highlights around the IO panel heatsink. If you’re aware of the shortcomings, have a plan to get around the BIOS flash issue, and find this board at the right price (say under $200) then it makes a solid basis for a high-end B550 based PC build. Otherwise, we’d recommend the Asus B550-F ROG Strix Gaming WiFi which has more features at a lower price and doesn’t feel as quirky as the ASRock PG Velocita. 

Closing Thoughts:

I hope you’ve found this article useful and that it has helped you decide which board is right for you. The nice thing with B550 Motherboards is that there are very few products to avoid – so long as you’re not shopping at the bargain basement they offer the same basic features and functionality as well as equivalent performance. When you’re looking to buy just ensure that the board has BIOS flashback functionality, and adequate slots and I/O for your needs. Also ensure that between the case and the motherboard, you’ve got the USB 3.2 Gen 2 connectivity that matches up, so you’re not left with dead USB-C slots on your case. Consider these points and you’ll have the foundation of a great system using the Ryzen 5600X or 5800X CPUs.

The post 6 Best B550 Motherboards for 2021: Tested, Reviewed & Compared appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

In this article, we overview the five main tech developments to look out for in the fourth quarter of 2021. Enjoy!

1. Intel Alder Lake – A new generation of Intel CPUs/

Intel is scheduled to release a completely new CPU lineup in October 2021, finally moving away from their ageing 14nm process and “Skylake” architecture.

The 12^th Generation Alder Lake CPUs mark a complete departure from traditional CPU design: The high-performance K series and high-efficiency T series combine powerful ‘Golden Cove’ cores with a number of smaller ‘Gracemont’ cores aimed at tackling less demanding background and system tasks. Combined with this new thinking on CPU design there’s support for next-generation GDDR5 RAM operating at native speeds up to 4800MHz, and PCIe 5.0 GPU interconnects. The CPUs will be manufactured on a new 10nm process which should benefit performance and efficiency. The socket moves to a larger LGA 1700 socket and the bracket has been redesigned. The operating system also has to know how best to schedule tasks to these unequal cores, so Windows 11 will have full compatibility with this platform although it’s reasonable to expect that Windows 10 will get an update to add compatibility. Lower end CPUs and motherboard chipsets will still support DDR4 Memory and PCIe 4.0 whilst the flagship Z690 motherboards will allow overclocking and the full suite of support for these next-generation technologies. We’re certainly eager to find out how Alder Lake stacks up against AMD’s offerings and if it can reignite the fight not only for performance but also value. 

Most relevant Alder Lake gaming variants:

2. AMD 5000 series Refresh – Stacked Cache

AMD has announced a late 2021 refresh of the higher end ZEN 3 CPUs which will incorporate ‘Stacked V-Cache”. Cache is extremely fast memory on or close to the CPU die itself, which allows the most frequently needed data to be held right where it’s needed. Cache is one of the primary factors in a CPU’s gaming performance, and whilst more is always better there’s a trade-off between how much of your chip area you dedicate to the processor cores themselves, and how much you allocate to cache memory. AMD has introduced technology that addresses this problem: They’re using 3D manufacturing techniques to ‘stack’ a layer of cache on top of the CPU die itself. It’s strongly rumoured that AMD will be adding 64MB of stacked cache onto the Zen 3 chiplet which includes 32MB already. This makes for 96MB L3 Cache on a single chip or 192MB on 2 chiplet variants like the 5900X or 5950X. This cache will be accessed by an extremely high bandwidth interconnect from CPU to cache, although latency will be higher than the cache located on the same die as the CPU cores.

This is a prodigious amount of high-performance memory (Intel CPUs typically have 16-20MB of L3 Cache) and should provide a large boost to overall processor performance across a range of cache-sensitive tasks. AMD are claiming 5-15% gaming performance uplift from this cache upgrade, but as ever we’ll have to wait for independent testing to find out if that’s accurate. It’s likely the slight discounts we’re seeing on higher-end Zen 3 Ryzen CPUs at present are aimed at clearing the shelves before these higher-performance variants come onto the market. They will be compatible with B550 and X570 motherboards but may require a BIOS update. If you’re interested in the highest performance CPUs, these will be the ones to beat but may face stiff competition from Intels Alder Lake.

3. X570S Chipset AMD Motherboards

Rumoured since early 2021, we’re now seeing a few examples of AMD’s refreshed ‘X570S’ chipset motherboards on the market. These include the MSI MAG Tomahawk and the Gigabyte Aorus Master. Asus has also announced ROG STRIX motherboards with this chipset.
The primary change is that this chipset has better thermal properties and so doesn’t require active cooling. The small fans required by the original X570 motherboards had a habit of running fast and loud when the chipset was working hard. Otherwise these boards continue to use the AM4 CPU socket, supporting the latest Ryzen 5000 CPUs, but best information at present suggests that they will not support the next generation ZEN 4 CPUs which will move to AM5 sockets.
If you’re looking for a high end AMD Motherboard but want to avoid the compromise of a chipset fan, it’s well worth seeing what X570S motherboards exist – they’re the most recent options for a high end Ryzen PC at the moment and address the single major criticism of the X570 chipset: The loud fan. 

4. DDR5 RAM Releases – limited benefits and applications at present.

DDR4 was released in 2014 has been the standard system memory ever since. However, in the quest for improved speeds, the new standard DDR5 has been implemented and is available to consumers for the first time this year. Corsair, G.Skill and Team all currently have kits available, although prices of around $300 for 32GB are common.
At release, only high-end Alder Lake CPUs and Z690 chipsets will support this memory, and we will likely enter a cross over period where DDR4 and DDR5 co-exist for a year or more. Early DDR5 kits show substantially higher latency than high-performance DDR4 at the moment, although they do have higher bandwidth thanks to very fast operating frequencies. DDR5 is at present not a great deal faster than high-performance DDR4, but the specification has a number of advantages that mean that as processes and manufacturing methods are refined it will eventually outstrip DDR4 for speed. For the time being it seems sensible to stick with DDR4 whenever value is part of the equation, but keep an eye on DDR5 as prices and availability improve: In another couple of CPU generations it will usurp DDR4 and become the standard RAM option for PCs.

5. Continued GPU shortages

Sadly, the GPU shortage is running headlong towards its first birthday and showing no sign of abating. The fundamental conditions that lead to it haven’t changed – The global pandemic disrupting supply chains and leading to an increase in demand, Silicon and fabrication shortages at the supply side, as well as elevated cryptocurrency prices and the current generation of GPUs being adept at mining. Industry spokespeople are hinting at conditions remaining tough through 2022. All of this means that GPUs remain hard to find, and marked up. Whilst we were initially fans of waiting this situation out, it now seems probable that that’s not an option. So what can you do to get hold of a GPU? 

• In the US and Europe, approved Nvidia retailers have MSRP Stock drops. There are youtube channels and discord servers dedicated to giving up to date information on stock levels. 
• Prices at online retailers do vary. It’s worth keeping an eye on retailers to see if cards appear at a more reasonable price. 
• In person shopping can reveal local cards that are for sale online – they may still be marked up, but they are available and support computer shops who are also feeling the effects of this crisis. 
• Careful searches of reputable used marketplaces can yield good value used options, still.
• Using our database and resources, you can maximise your budget by cutting costs in other pasts of the system, to free up cash to pay for the GPU.

Overall, despite the GPU crisis, there’s plenty of interesting technology coming to PC’s in the next quarter: We’ll keep you up to date with the best products and builds as the landscape develops!

The post PC Hardware Outlook & What To Watch For Q4 2021 appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

The answer is ‘usually two’ but read on to find out why!

On most consumer platforms you have the choice of motherboards with two or four slots for RAM, and RAM is sold in single sticks, kits of two or matched sets for four ‘DIMMS’ or memory modules. In this article, we’ll describe how these configurations can influence performance and point out the best options for general use and gaming. 

RAM Sticks and kits: One, two or four

RAM is sold either as individual sticks, pairs, or sets of four sticks. These sticks consist of tested and matched chips: just like a processor’s, the silicon quality and production methods vary from chip to chip and batch to batch. After testing them manufacturers construct RAM modules that will perform to advertised standards in speed and latency. Single sticks simply need to meet a quality specification, but kits will be matched to ensure stable performance: from the systems perspective they must behave identically. This is why a pair of sticks costs slightly more than a single stick in some cases, and a kit of four matched sticks are significantly more expensive than buying two paired kits. 

In order to understand why you need to know a little about how the Processor accesses memory. The Processor has an inbuilt memory controller, and in all consumer processors these are ‘dual channel’. The memory controller has two separate channels to access the memory and each of these channels is connected to one of two or a pair of four memory slots. 

Motherboard configuration

The motherboard itself has copper traces that directly connect the CPU to RAM. In most consumer motherboards these are configured in a ‘daisy chain’ arrangement, first connecting with one socket, then continuing on to the second. Each memory channel uses its own traces, one to each pair of RAM sockets. When using just two ram sticks, they go in the slots that are at the end of the trace and furthest from the CPU: This properly terminates the connection at the end of the trace and prevents signal ‘reflections’ and interference from an unterminated trace that can lead to system instability and poor RAM performance. This is why we see the ‘second and fourth slot’ configuration in most PC’s with four slots but only 2 sticks of RAM installed. When you have two sticks on the same channel RAM sticks, the signal also hits the stick at the intermediate point and can access both sticks simultaneously. With both channels active this allows you to use all four RAM slots at the same time.

Some motherboards have ‘T Topology’ where the traces split prior to the slots and then interface both slots at the same signal distance from the CPU. These are designed to be used with all slots fully populated with matched RAM, so that the RAM chips themselves are equidistant from the memory controller for identical performance. 

‘Dual Rank’ RAM moves this topology inside the stick of RAM itself, with two sets of Memory chips connected to appear in parallel to the memory controller as if they were in their own separate slots on the motherboard and connected with ‘T’ Topology. 

Peak performance and memory controller limitations:

From this you can probably conclude that when you’ve heard about ‘dual rank ram’ or ‘four stick kits’ offering maximum performance, the reason is actually the same: Both configurations allow maximal bandwidth from the memory controller to RAM. But actually, performance is a little more nuanced than that, and this configuration isn’t always optimal. 

Performance impact of Different configurations

In terms of performance, the above information should demonstrate why a single RAM stick should only ever be a last resort: A single RAM stick, even dual rank, will only ever occupy one channel of the memory controller. You are only using half of the potential bandwidth to communicate with your RAM, and this can be seriously detrimental to performance. Whilst it can be acceptable in an office or basic use PC, when on an extreme budget, or if you intend to upgrade as soon as funds allow, you can expect gaming performance to be negatively impacted by as much as 10%.  Of course, it’s possible to install a pair of ram sticks ‘incorrectly’ by placing them in adjacent slots on a 4 slots motherboard, and this introduces the same problem – only half of the potential memory controller bandwidth is utilised. Be sure you read the motherboard manual and configure your RAM as recommended for optimal performance.

In all other cases, you should seek a base configuration of two RAM sticks with matched specifications, preferably sold as a kit. Placed in the correct slots on the motherboard this will enable ‘dual channel mode’ and allow you to use the full potential of your memory controller. The very fastest RAM overclocks tend to be in this configuration as it provides the most stable configuration without subjecting the memory controller to the added stress of accessing four sticks simultaneously. Some specialist overclocking motherboards are sold with just 2 RAM slots for this reason, whilst others prefer mITX boards owing to the shorter signal path from CPU to RAM slot. 

Bridging the gap is ‘dual rank’ RAM, and this allows wide bandwidth access to four ‘ranks’ of memory modules in just two sticks. This configuration can be considered optimal for RAM performance but does impose a higher load on the memory controller which can limit the ultimate speed of the RAM. In most cases this is a moot point as the highest speeds will not be necessary for daily use, nor beneficial to a gaming system. RAM in this configuration may show a 2-5% performance uplift in benchmarks designed to highlight RAM variance, vs identical single rank RAM. However, these gains are hard to realise in actual use, where you will likely be GPU limited.

If you are seeking larger RAM capacities (64GB+) or simply want the aesthetics of four RAM sticks, then you can consider a four stick kit. You will find that the complexities of matching these kits, as well as the additional load they place on the memory controller in large capacities means that they are more expensive and rated for lower speeds. Nevertheless, overclocks approaching or exceeding 4MT/s with tight timings should be possible on high-quality kits although you will pay a hefty premium for them. In this scenario, you will be balancing your need for RAM capacity with the ultimate speed of RAM the system can sustain. Ultimately, it’s likely that CPU performance or GPU capability is the limiting factor of the system long before RAM speed holds it back.

Summary: For most people, a two-stick kit is the right option.

For most users, most of the time, 16GB of DDR4 RAM in a 2x8GB kit is optimal for gaming and general use. Speed ratings of 3600MHz at around CL16 are affordable and easy to find and should be the focus of your search for most high-performance gaming systems. Ensure you install it correctly to take advantage of dual-channel mode!

If you need 32GB for productivity or more demanding tasks, again a 2 stick kit will offer the best balance of price, stability and performance. Whilst there are some small differences between dual and single rank, they’re small and specific enough not to matter unless you’re looking specifically to overclock and maximise RAM performance.

If you seek out faster RAM or four stick kits, be aware of the limitations of the memory controller and don’t fall into the trap of overpaying. Unless you’re specifically seeking out RAM to overclock, you should aim for Ram at 3200-3600MHz rating CL16 as that’s most likely to run XMP on the latest Ryzen Zen 3 and Intel 10^th and 11^th Gen CPUs.

The post Best RAM Configurations for Gaming, Workstations & General Use?: One vs Two vs Four Sticks appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

A CPU cooler is one of the simplest components in your PC, but it can be a real headache trawling through reviews and opinions as to which options are best for you. To help inform your decision making we obtained a selection of entry-level coolers along with the stock options supplied with some Intel and AMD CPUs, and tried them out.

Most of the entry-level air coolers take the format of a tower of heat fins, which dissipate heat carried to them via heat pipes: These copper pipes contain volatile fluid that boils at the ‘cold plate’ and then re condenses at the heatsink. This mechanism uses the energy absorbed in the phase change of the fluid to absorb and transfer heat. The fan and number of heat pipes are the primary variables that dictate the ability of the cooler, and the fan itself defines how noisy or quiet the cooler is. 

We tested for ease of fitting, cooling capability with an appropriate CPU, noise as represented by fan speed, as well as identifying some compatibility issues with one of the coolers here. By the end of this article, you’ll have all the information you need to choose a cooler for a Ryzen 3600 or 5600X or an Intel i5-10400 to an i5-11600K CPU.

We’ve produced a couple of graphs showing the logged data when running these coolers under an all-core load with an Intel Core i5-11500. This chip draws 110W in this test, enough to expose any Coolers that aren’t up to the task. Sadly that includes the cooler that comes in the box with this CPU. 

If you’re interested in more power hungry CPUs requiring more robust cooling solutions, please check out our article on the best high-end air coolers here. We’ve also produced accompanying videos so take a look over on our youtube channel here.

Stock Coolers: Up to the job?

1. AMD Wraith Stealth

AMD supplies the ‘Wraith Stealth’ CPU cooler with their Ryzen 3600 and 5600X. It’s a simple cooler consisting of an aluminium heat sink, with a shrouded fan blowing down over it. Fitment is simple, only requiring removing the plastic ‘hook’ style retaining brackets, and screwing into the existing Motherboard backplate with the sprung screws. Thermal paste is pre-applied, but if you make a mistake in fitting you may want to re-paste before refitting the cooler.

Cooling performance is only acceptable. It doesn’t throttle a Ryzen 3600 under all-core load, but temperatures are high. Fan speeds are also high, meaning this cooler makes an intrusive noise that you will hear in most instances. It’s not acceptable for the Ryzen 5600X, a higher performance CPU with will benefit from a more capable cooler. We’d recommend checking out the affordable tower coolers later in this test if you’re looking at that CPU. A cost-effective solution is to look for an unwanted Wraith Prism from a Ryzen 7 build: These coolers use heat pipes and are much more effective, able to cope with a 95W TDP CPU without issue.

2. Intel Stock Cooler

The Intel Stock cooler has been updated for Rocketlake era 11^th generation CPUs and is supplied with non-K series i5 options. It now has a black plastic frame and a copper core to assist in heat transfer away from the CPU. Sadly, it appears these changes haven’t been enough. Testing this CPU cooler drove the i5-11500 to its 96C limit and thermal throttling was the result, preventing the CPU from hitting its all-core clock speeds and resulting in lower performance. This was on an open test bench, the situation will only be worse in a closed case no matter how good the airflow. Meanwhile, the fan achieved 3400RPM, generating an irritating buzz. We do not recommend that you use this cooler on any CPU more demanding than an i3, and even in that case you will benefit from a cooler with less intrusive fan noise when it’s working hard. 

This cooler only serves to highlight the inefficiency of Intel’s latest CPUs. It should not be supplied with them, a few dollars reducing in MSPR to put towards an adequate aftermarket cooler would be more welcome.

Best Entry Level Air CPU Coolers

1. BeQuiet! Pure Rock Slim

Moving to aftermarket tower coolers with 92mm fans, the Bequiet! Pure Rock Slim is a cost-effective option with 3 heat pipes and a brushed silver backplate. Fitting is somewhat fiddly on intel, with a pair of brackets that must be screwed into the cold plate, and then plastic push pins to secure it that do not give the most robust installation force. On AMD, fitting is much simpler with the use of a retaining bar that latches to the standard AMD retaining brackets. Thermal paste is pre-applied so do your best to fit it right the first time! Of note is that on an AMD CPU it will only fit with the fan facing up/down, not the more traditional ‘pointing towards the rear’ so if the aesthetics are important that may not be to your liking.

In operation, this cooler proves capable with mid-range CPUs. It maintains 80C under all-core load, and fan speeds stay under 2000RPM and the noise does not become intrusive. It appears that BeQuiet! have prioritised the sound profile over outright cooling performance but this is a balanced cooler that will deal with the Ryzen 3600 or intel i5 non-K CPUs well, whilst keeping costs down. 

Overall this is a cheap (at $20-$25) cooler with good looks and reasonable performance and we have no hesitation recommending it for an entry-level build.

2. Arctic Freezer 7X

Arctic have a good reputation in the cooling segment with great value Fans and high performance all in one water loops, so we were eager to try out the Artic Freezer 7X. This cooler uses a 92mm fan like the Bequiet Pure Rock Slim but has just 2 heat pipes, although they are in direct contact with the CPU heat spreader. The fan is aggressively profiled and ducted, whilst the sides of the radiator fins are enclosed to create a tunnel for air to be forced through.

Our first challenge with this cooler came in fitting it to our Intel test bench, using the ASUS TUF B560M Motherboard. The cooler has two sprung arms to latch onto a plastic fitting ring, and they were too wide and interfered with VRM and M.2 heatsinking in both orientations. There is an offset angle orientation but the cold plate does not cover the whole CPU surface is mounted in that orientation. This was also a problem with the MSI B560M Bazooka, and whilst it is possible to fit the Gigabyte B560M Aorus pro it means not fitting the Primary M.2 heatsink as it interferes with the retaining clip. We could find no note of a compatibility list on the Arctic site, and our email request to support remains unanswered a week later. Instructions aren’t supplied, there’s a QR code directing you to the Arctic site and the instructions don’t make mention how to adjust the fitting ring for different Intel sockets. 

Fitting on AMD is mercifully simple and universal, using the standard AMD retention clips. 

Once fitted, the cooler performed well. It maintained 70C on our test CPU with the fan at just over 2000rpm, and the noise was audible but not intrusive. That it achieves this performance with just 2 heat pipes is to the credit of the design, the fitting mechanism is to its detriment.

Whilst we had no problems with the performance of this cooler, the confusion and incompatibilities over the Intel fitment were a big disappointment, and as such we can’t recommend it for any Intel system: You absolutely want good motherboard VRM heatsinking for the power-hungry intel i5 CPUs, but there’s no guarantee this cooler will fit, and no easy way to check. Arctic need to provide this information to customers to help them make their purchasing decision. 

For AMD, it’s a good, cost-effective option with decent performance, and it will cool a Ryzen 3600, 3700X, or 5600X acceptably well. We can’t recommend it for Intel due to the fitting issues we encountered, so look to the BEquiet! Pure Rock slim as an alternative, or else the 120mm coolers that follow in this test.

3. Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo V2

This cooler shows it’s age mainly in the hardware it’s supplied with. There’s a large range of posts and brackets to enable it to fit to a number of older intel sockets. This leads to a slightly confusing installation process where the back plate must be configured correctly, and the right stand offs selected for the socket type. The back plate is plastic and feels somewhat flimsy until braced by the cooler itself. The instructions are reasonable, but indicate that you should apply the thermal paste early in the process – a sure fire way to get it spread all over the socket as you fit brackets prior to mounting the cooler itself. 

Performance is good. The fan maintains 1200RPM and noise is low. There’s enough thermal headroom to tune the fan profile to your liking, for either lower noise or lower temperatures at the expense of higher fan speed but at our default test settings temperatures remained under 70C. 

Overall this cooler is still a good performer, but is let down by the legacy fitting options confusing the install process, and by newer designs offering better value and a higher quality package. At the right price, it’s still a solid buy.

4. ID Cooling SE-224-XT RGB

The ID Cooling SE-224-XT is available in a number of configurations, with a basic version, black or white version, and this RGB Version. The cooler is the same basic design throughout with four heat pipes and a 120mm fan compatibility and ID Cooling quote a 180W Capacity.

In the box you get a tube of thermal paste, RGB Splitter to allow the fan and RGB ‘face plate’ to synchronise, and even a stand alone SATA powered RGB Controller if your motherboard doesn’t have 12V RGB compatibility. They also include spare fan clips to enable easy fitment of a second fan.

Fitment is straight forwards, with a solid metal backplate supplied, and a mounting mechanism that works in the same way as Noctuas. There are no RAM or GPU interference issues although Ram with thick heat spreaders will likely touch the fan. Only the RGB on this version slightly complicates set up and install, with a little extra cable management required, but that’s to be expected with any RGB components. The instructions are straightforward to follow.

Performance is good, matching the Hyper 212 with the fan at 1200 RPM and CPU temperatures maintained in the high 60’s. 

Overall this cooler makes a strong case for itself in this segment. It’s attractively priced, with a variety of versions to suit your preferences for color, RGB or cost. The range of accessories is impressive particularly this RGB models inclusion of a stand-alone RGB controller to ensure you can integrate it to any PC build, and we like to see the generous tube of thermal paste included as well: That’s a bonus if you need to refit the cooler for any reason. ID-Cooling has clearly given a lot of thought to the design and implementation of this cooler and it all adds up to a very attractive package, and meets the needs of this section of the market perfectly. It gets the ‘Best in Test’ award for this entry-level cooler roundup.

Fan Speeds and Thermal Performance Testing

Taking a quick look at the data we logged in our testing, we can see the different tiers of performance on offer. This test involved running Cinebench R23 on a 10-minute loop. This CPU pulls 110W in this workload.  We’re showing the first five minutes here as nothing particularly interesting changes after that. The AMD Wraith Stealth is excluded as it is a different workload.

The Intel Stock cooler shows the worse temperatures, with the Intel i5-11500 hitting 96 °C and throttling the CPU. The Bequiet! Pure Rock Slim maintains a much more reasonable 80°C, and does this with no noise. The Arctic Freezer 7X manages to maintain 70°C despite it’s 92mm fan and two heat pipes. 

The two larger coolers are both equipped with four heat pipes and a single 120mm fan. They perform almost identically in this test. Both maintain 65-67°C throughout.

The fan speeds clearly differentiate between the fan size, primarily. The Intel cooler has the smallest fan and spins it the fastest, 3400RPM, whilst failing to adequately cool the CPU. Both 92mm fans spin at around 2000RPM under load, but both remain impressively quiet despite this.

And both 120mm fans maintain 1200 RPM whilst cooling the CPU, meaning they are much less intrusive.

Conclusions and other options

This testing showed the value of a modest upgrade from the stock Intel and AMD CPU coolers. The AMD Wraith Stealth is marginal, whilst the Intel Stock cooler is simply unacceptable for the intended CPUs. On all but the most restricted budgets we’d recommend upgrading them to ensure your CPU achieves it’s potential, and to improve your quality of life through reduced noise. 

In this test, the ID-Cooling SE-224-XT shone through as the best entry-level cooler here. The combination of trouble-free fitting, good bundled accessories, and all-around performance means we are happy to recommend it to you for any build involving an entry to mid-level CPU. 

This test drove home the point that cooling capacity and noise are closely correlated to the size of the fan – we’d recommend opting for at least a 120mm fan cooler provided it fits in your case and you can afford one.

Whilst the Bequiet! Pure Rock Slim and Arctic Freezer 7X both acquit themselves well, without intrusive fan noise, they include compromises: the Bequiet! runs slightly hotter, and can’t be mounted facing front to back on AMD motherboards. The Arctic Freezer 7X has a frustrating fitting mechanism when used with Intel. At the right price, they’re a useful step up from the stock included coolers, once you’re sending $20-$25 we’d suggest finding a few dollars more for the ID-Cooling SE 224. The basic version is available for just $30.

If these coolers aren’t available, we’d recommend the following coolers: The Deepcool Gammax 400 is an excellent value choice, with four heat pipes and a 120mm fan it will perform much like the Hyper 212 EVO V2 and SE-224-XT. The BeQuiet! Pure Rock 2 Black is available at $44 and marries a single fan 4 heat pipe arrangement with a slick black aesthetic.

And whilst the Arctic Freezer 7X disappointed, the Arctic Freezer 34 E-sports uses a more versatile and conventional mounting system, and a 120mm fan. It’s available in a range of colors to match your build and is a good choice at around $35. Finally, The Noctua NH-U12S Redux creeps in at under $50 and uses 4 heat pipes and Noctuas very robust mounting system for a low noise alternative.

The post Best Entry Level CPU Coolers: Our Roundup for 2021 appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

Intel have dropped Windows 11 on us all and it’s caused a furore about ‘TPM’ or trusted platform modules.

Don’t worry, your PC isn’t about to become obsolete and you don’t need to buy anything. Even if it fails the Microsoft check, so long as your CPU is Ryzen 2000 (Zen 2) or newer, or Intel 8^th generation or newer, it has TPM inbuilt.

We’ll show you how to activate it on all the main motherboard brands (Asus, ASRock, MSI, Gigabyte), as it’s a little obscure on some of them. Once done, you can run the Microsoft health check application found here to see if your PC passes muster for Windows 11 – either to test the Beta now or for the future free upgrade. 

How to Enable TPM: By Motherboard & CPU Manufacturer

MSI Motherboards: AMD CPU

1. Enter BIOS by tapping ‘Delete’ as the PC boots.
2. Enter ‘Advanced mode’ by tapping F7
3. Settings
4. Security
5. Security Device Support- Set to Enable
6. AMD fTPM Switch set to [AMD fTPM]

MSI Motherboards: Intel CPU

1. Enter BIOS by tapping ‘Delete’ or ‘F2’ as the PC boots.
2. Enter ‘Advanced mode’ by tapping F7
3. Settings
4. Security
5. Trusted Computing
6. Security Device Support- Set to Enable
7. Security PTT Enable.

ASRock Motherboards: AMD CPU:

1. Enter BIOS by tapping ‘Delete’ or ‘F2’ as the PC boots.
2. Enter ‘Advanced mode’ CPU Configuration
3. AMD fTPM Switch
4. Select ‘AMD CPU fTPM’
5. Save and reboot back into BIOS
6. Advanced mode
7. Trusted Computing
8. Security Device Support – Ensure it is set to ‘Enable’
9. It will now show ‘TPM20 Device found’.
10. Save and reboot

ASrock Motherboard with Intel CPU:

1. Enter BIOS by tapping ‘Delete’ as the PC boots.
2. Enter ‘Advanced mode’ CPU Configuration
3. Security
4. Intel Platform Trust Technology
5. Set to ‘Enable’
6. Save and reboot

ASUS Motherboard: AMD CPU

1. Enter BIOS by tapping ‘Delete’ or ‘F2’ as the PC boots.
2. Enter ‘Advanced mode’ by tapping F7
3. AMD fTPM configuration 
4. TPM Device Selection : Firmware TPM

OR

1. AMD CPU fTPM : Enabled
2. Exit:Save changes and reboot

ASUS Motherboard: Intel CPU

1. Enter BIOS by tapping ‘Delete’ or ‘F2’ as the PC boots.
2. Enter ‘Advanced mode’ by tapping F7
3. PCH-FW configuration
4. Set PTT to ‘Enable’. 
5. Exit: Save changes and reboot

GIGABYTE Motherboard: Intel CPU

1. Enter BIOS by tapping ‘Delete’ as the PC boots.
2. Enter ‘Advanced mode’ 
3. Select ‘Settings’
4. Set ‘Intel Platform Trust Technology (PTT)’ to ‘Enable’. 
5. Save and Exit

GIGABYTE Motherboard: AMD CPU

1. Enter BIOS by tapping ‘Delete’ as the PC boots.
2. Enter ‘Advanced mode’ 
3. Select ‘Settings’
4. Select ‘Miscellaneous’
5. Select ‘AMD CPU fTPM’ and set it to ‘Enabled’. 
6. Save and Exit

If you don’t find these settings:

Consult this list of Intel CPU compatibility or AMD Supported CPUs.

It is possible on older systems that TPM isn’t inbuilt. In those situations, it may be that you need to purchase a TPM 2.0 module that’s compatible with your motherboard, in order to upgrade to Windows 11. The specification and requirements aren’t set yet, so it would be wise to wait and see how the situation develops before buying any modules that you may not need, and will undoubtedly be marked up to take advantage of the confusion around Windows 11 Requirements.  

The post How To Enable TPM on ASUS, Gigabyte ASRock & MSI BIOS Settings appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

In our review of the best B560 motherboards, we found a number of anomalies in their behaviour. In this article we’ll document what we found, to help you understand the problem and avoid the pitfalls. Some boards can be fixed by paying attention n to their settings in BIOS. Others cannot be saved and should be left on the shelf. So lets’ take a look at the potential pitfalls of the B560 motherboard range.

One of our first tests was a simple Cinebench R23 run, but given that the CPU and configuration were the same it yielded some surprising results:

The MSI Bazooka delivers 1500 points lower score than the two ASUS boards and the Gigabyte Aorus Pro. The ASock B560M HDV is about 800 points down on optimal CPU performance.

Let’s look at what happens if we dig back into BIOS and remove the power limits:

Clearly, something is up here with the ASROCK HDV and the MSI B560 Bazooka. The Bazooka now matches the other boards on test, the ASROCK performs better but still falls a couple of hundred points short of optimal performance.

To work out what’s going on, we compared logged metrics throughout these runs at default settings, specifically power consumption and CPU clock frequencies over time:

This graph clearly illustrates the differences in behaviour between these three boards. Here the solid lines represent core clock speeds, the dashed lines the power delivered to the CPU. The ASUS maintains power of about 110 watts throughout the test, keeping core clocks at 4200MHz. This is the result of ‘Asus multi-core enhancement’ being on by default, although the initial BIOS screen does advise you of this, I don’t expect its explanation to mean much to most users, except it seems like a good idea to leave it on.

The ASROCK board delivers 100 Watts throughout the first portion of the test and holds 4.2GHz all-core clock speed but then drops to 65W the long term power limit after about 50 seconds. This has the effect of cutting core clocks to 3.5GHz and results in longer test duration, and lower score.

Finally, we see the MSI Bazooka: Like the ASUS this initially delivers 110 Watts, and 4.2GHZ clock speed, but ramps down to 65W at just 24 seconds. Thereafter it holds a significantly lower 3.3GHz clock speed for the remainder of the test, finishing last and delivering the lowest score. This is a function of the ‘stock cooler’ settings being applied in BIOS.

This behaviour is the results of different implementations of Intel’s power specifications. Short term power should allow for 125W even on this i5-11500 which has a nominal TDP of 65W – that’s its long term power limit. We see it draw 110W on most of the boards because that’s the power required to achieve its maximum allowable all-core boost clock.

One of these graphs is more insidious than the others, and it’s not the MSI. If we adjust the power limit behaviour through MSI BIOS by selecting ‘Tower’ or ‘AIO’ cooler the MSI performs in line with the other boards. For the ASRock HDV, this means setting the power target, but it won’t allow user input of 125W, just 100W. Why is that?

This graph shows us why: We ran Cinebench for a 10-minute loop with power limits set as high as possible on the Asrock HDV, and the i5-11500. Here is power delivery vs Clock speeds over the duration of that test, 8 loops of the rendering task:

For the first three runs, all appear to be relatively normal, except that the CPU is only getting 100 Watts when it will use 110W for peak performance. By the fourth run we start to see something different though: The board spikes, then cuts power. Core clocks are no longer held at 4.2GHz but instead begin to fluctuate below that. As the runs repeat we see increasingly ragged behaviour. This VRM is failing to deliver clean power even at a reduced 100W level and is throttling the CPU as a result. Performance suffers. In the long term, if subjected to this workload, it’s clear the VRMs are over-extending themselves. And in case you’re thinking: ‘Surely that’s CPU temperature throttling’ The raw data shows that no core exceeded 60C throughout this test, and no core recorded thermal throttling at any point.

So, this is behaviour with a 65W rated part, an entry-level i5 CPU.

i9-11900K Testing

What happens is you dare to put a more power hungry chip on these boards?!

To test, we installed the i9-11900K on each of these boards, using unlimited power settings, to see what they were capable of. For comparison we’ve included the result this CPU gives on the ASUS ROG Maximus XIII Z590, a motherboard with insane VRMS capable of supplying well over 330W to this chip under demanding loads.

Here we can see the consequences of weaker VRMs. Both the MSI and the Asrock HDV, the two cheapest boards in this test, deliver substantially sub-par results. The Gigabyte and two Asus boards both achieve ‘full’ performance for this demanding CPU, nearly matching the Z590 at default behaviour.

Again, looking at the metrics, we can see how default board behaviour has a drastic impact on performance:

The Gigabyte is the only B560 motherboard that delivers sufficient power to reach a 4.7GHz all core speed, at 170W consumption. It maintains this for the duration of the test and records a score of 15,000 representing the potential of this CPU. The MSI initially ramps to 170W deliver as well but fails to lift core clocks beyond 4.2GHz and quickly falls back to a 130W power delivery, PL1. From there it maintains 4.2 GHz of the duration of the test.
Finally, the ASRock HDV starts out delivering about 135W for 18 seconds, then drops to the 65W PL1 limit. That means that the clocks fall back from 3.7GHz to 3.1GHz where they remain until the workload is complete. The ASRocks score in this test is just 10098. And as a reminder, that’s BELOW the score the six-core i5-11500 can post in this test given adequate power. Simply put: The CPU can only do as much work as you supply it power for. This ASRock motherboard limits that power enough to make the 8 core i9-11900K perform the same as a six-core i5-11500 in an all core workload, and if you don’t adjust power limits in BIOS, it’ll even make the i5-11500 drastically underperform. If you do lift those power limits and then subject the i5-11500 to demanding but entirely reasonable workloads, the VRMS can’t keep up.

Conclusions and the root cause

Fundamentally, the blame lies with Intel. This kind of underperformance due to power limitations is down to their inability to make the Rocketlake CPUs more efficient. Remember, none of the Ryzen Zen 3 CPUs, not even the 16 core 5950X demand more than 125W for full performance. Here we have a six-core part needing 115W to perform to full potential and motherboards failing to deliver the 170Watts that the 8 core i9-11900K requires to reach its all core boost clocks.

Then there’s the confusion around power limits. These CPUs quote boost clocks that are only achievable if you can deliver sufficient power and keep them sufficiently cool. Intel’s power specifications quote maximum power delivery and time periods – but there don’t appear to be any consequences for not adhering to them, breaking them, or simply not achieving them. Ultimately, when your boosting mechanisms are as complex and varied as Intels, you’re not setting a clear picture of the level of performance consumers can expect from your products. 

A mid-range CPU that can exceed 100 Watts draw in an all core load poses a significant problem for motherboard manufacturers. The i5-11400 has been touted as the new value champion for gaming – but you need a motherboard to run it. It’s sold with a 65W TDP but that’s not an accurate representation of its power demands. So motherboard manufacturers want to cater to a value-conscious market but need to make a board that can potentially be fitted with any CPU from an i3 up to an i9-11900K, or more realistically perhaps an i7-11700.

ASROCK has abjectly failed to do that. The B560M HDV is plainly inadequate. It throttles an i5-11500 at base settings. It will not allow those settings to be lifted to a point that achieves full performance from the CPU. It cannot sustain an all core workload for ten minutes without the cracks showing through. It’s not acceptable. 

Then we come on to the wider issues: Across the boards, we’ve sampled we’ve seen wildly different behaviour because of the power limits set and implemented by manufacturers. Credit goes to Gigabyte and Asus for manufacturing boards that can achieve the full potential of even demanding CPUs – but they’re not actually adhering to Intel’s specifications either, by allowing power limits that exceed specifications and durations that also run longer than those specifications. MSI are at least open about the need to define power limits when you set the motherboard up.

Some of these boards allow you to set your own power limits to achieve your desired result, but we don’t believe that consumers should have to do that on motherboards that are aimed squarely at the mainstream. If you’re buying a B560 board you have every right to expect it to work well with an i5 or i7 non K CPU without manually adjusting settings or understanding the detail of power delivery and limits, but some of them don’t.

So my ultimate conclusion is that if you do want to make use of an i5-11400 or any other Intel CPU and you’re considering a B560 board, it will take some research and sadly a little more money to get the most of your CPU. You can see out the linked article for the best B560 Motherboard recommendations, in tandem with the information presented in this article.

The post B560 Motherboard Power Limit Analysis: A Real Minefield of Bad Boards, Confusing Settings, Tricky Choices! appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

The GPU crisis has been in full flood for months now, with a near perfect storm of production issues, supply shortages and peak demand meaning that graphics cards are almost impossible to purchase at anywhere near sane prices. In turn this means that if you’re looking to build a PC now, you might be put off because this key component is out of reach.

But there are options. 

In this article we’ll show you a couple of builds that don’t need a graphics card for general use and basic gaming. We’ll also explain how you can use them to play high end titles right now, without a graphics card so you can get gaming without paying outrageous prices. As an added bonus, they form a fantastic basis for a PC without compromises, meaning that when the market corrects itself you can slot a graphics card right in and enjoy all the advantages a GPU brings to a true gaming PC. 

Sit tight for the Premiumbuilds guide to beating the GPU crisis!

Why do you need graphics anyway?

A PC needs some form of graphics adaptor to process a video signal and output it. A discreet graphics card does this job for you in a standard gaming PC, but of course, we’re in a situation where they’re exceptionally hard to buy and vastly inflated in price. Most motherboards have an HDMI and sometimes a Displayport video output but this is driven by the CPU itself, via an integrated graphics processor or ‘iGPU’. This small section of the CPU allows for basic display output but lacks the power and versatility to render game graphics with anything like the performance of even a basic of dedicated GPU. Most AMD CPUs lack an integrated graphics processor, whilst Intel CPUs have traditionally only been capable of the most basic office desktop output and cannot run games.

However, things have changed a little recently. AMD pioneered 3D Capable CPU’s, or ‘APU’s’ as they are known with their Zen+ CPUs and the Ryzen 2200G and 2400G. They were later refreshed to as the 3200G and 3400G but these are still Zen+ designs. They incorporate 8 or 11 ‘Vega’ graphics cores respectively and offered surprisingly capable gaming performance, particularly when paired with fast RAM and a motherboard flexible enough to allow overclocking of the memory and iGPU core. But that isn’t the end of the Ryzen APU story as you’ll discover in our build guide below.

Intel have also enhanced the capabilities of their CPUs, with the most recent ‘Rocket Lake’ 11^th Generation CPUs incorporating the updated Intel Xe graphics architectures into UHD750 graphics. These aren’t as capable as the Vega units found in AMD CPUs, but they do allow passable gaming performance in some more basic games.

Importantly, either of these solutions enables you to build a viable PC with no graphics card at all, and that in turn lets you exploit a service to get gaming in high fidelity right now. 

GeForce Now – is now the time?

Of course, we’ve long been advocates of building a stand-alone gaming PC. However the joy of PCs is their flexibility, and it’s that versatility we’re leveraging to get you gaming without a GPU. Nvidia launched its ‘GeForce Now’ service several years ago, but this is a golden opportunity to revisit it. It is a subscription-based service, where for $10 a month you can run games on their data centre, streaming to your PC. It connects to a number of game stores including Steam, Epic Games, and Ubisoft so if you own a game already, you’ll be able to play it without re-purchasing it. There’s also a huge library of free-to-play titles. All the favourites are covered –CS:GO, Rocketleague, Fortnite, CyberPunk 2077, Tomb Raider, Watchdogs:Legion – Enough top-tier titles are available so that you can game in high fidelity on a PC without a GPU for months, whilst you wait for the opportunity to get the GPU of your dreams. 

Given the performance and cost, we consider this the best way to keep PC gaming through this crisis, whilst still enjoying the benefits of your own PC for general use, media consumption and more. $10 per month is an easier price to bear when a GPU capable of an equivalent experience would be $500 or more and take a great deal of heartache to obtain. The fact that you can buy games on Steam or other platforms to experience offline for as long as you want, and are not locked into purchases within GeForce now is an important factor. The primary downsides are the requirement for a high-quality internet connection and very light latency penalty of having the game rendered remotely and streamed back to your PC. We’d call those acceptable trade-offs in the circumstances. 

So, with that ‘one weird trick’ revealed, let’s look at a couple of PC’s you can build right now and get gaming on both offline and via GeForce now. Both of these builds have been uploaded into our PC builder tool, which can be found here.

1. AMD Ryzen ‘Renoir’ APU build

AMD CPUs seem to be at a major disadvantage in this market owing to their lack of integrated graphics. Only a select few options suffixed with a ‘G’ have integrated GPUs, allowing you to get graphics output from the CPU itself. Earlier we mentioned the Ryzen 3200G and 3400G, but these 4 core parts lack the performance and versatility we strive for as the basis for a strong PC. 

AMD have another option though – so long as you’re prepared to go off the beaten path. The Ryzen 4650G and 4750G are 6 and 8 core CPUs that are available to OEMs only. However, they’re available to buy via sites such as Aliexpress for around $250/$350 respectively. Just be mindful of longer shipping times and the lack of a direct warranty, as these parts are not meant to be sold to consumers directly. Keep an eye out also for the higher performance 5600G and 5700G – the more recent versions of these CPUs that have yet to land with OEMs but will no doubt trickle onto the grey market soon. 

These ‘Renoir’ APU’s are really special bits of kit. They pair Zen 2 architecture with Vega Graphics cores, essentially making them a Ryzen 5 3600 or 3700 with an entry-level graphics card built-in. Whilst you can’t expect miracles, the 7 or 8 Vega cores do a great job of rendering 3D graphics, and many games are playable at lower settings and resolutions. Meanwhile, the underlying 6/12 or 8/16 core CPU specification makes them powerful and versatile all-rounders capable of all normal tasks including basic video editing and productivity work.

Motherboard

This build pairs the Renoir APU of your choice with the MSI B550M PRO-VDH WiFi motherboard. This board has a BIOS flashback button that allows you to flash the most recent AMD BIOS even without a compatible CPU. This ensures it will accept the Renoir CPU as old BIOS revisions may not recognise it. It’s a full-featured but good value B550 motherboard with HDMI and Displayport out, integrated WiFi, 4 RAM slots and 2 M.2 slots. It’s fully compatible with the high-performance Zen 3 CPUs for future upgrades. The 4650G is the better value of the two potential CPU options, offering 6 cores, 12 threads and solid underlying gaming performance. If you have a more varied workload, the 4750G offers 8 cores, one more VEGA GPU core, and slightly higher iGPU speeds for better graphics performance, but it is more expensive. 

RAM

RAM speed is really important to help the APU perform: It is used as both system and video RAM. For that reason, we’ve opted for this 3600MHz CL16 kit from Crucial. Using their E-Die Integrated circuits, this RAM has high speed and tight timings, and it’s receptive to overclocking so you can boost performance further if you like to optimise manually. The two stick kit allows operation in dual channel mode, essential for performance, whilst 16GB is ample for both system memory and video memory and forms the basis of a versatile PC. This RAM helps you get the most from your APU in the meantime, for just a few dollars more than slower kits. 

Storage

For storage we’ve opted for the Adata Swordfish. This entry level NVMe drive gives good performance and 1Tb of space at just over $100. It’s a great starting point and since this system doesn’t force you to download large AAA titles to be able to play them, it’ll go a long way. It fits in the primary M.2 slot with no additional cables required. 

Case

For the case, we’ve chosen the great value Cooler Master MB311L. This compact mATX case comes with a mesh front panel and two large RGB fans, reducing the cost if you want a bit of bling. It has a good balance of airflow, build quality and looks and is a cost-effective case. You can of course choose any case you like for this build including the non-RGB version of this one.

Cooler

To further aid cooling and because the Ryzen APU’s are generally sold without a bundled cooler, we’ve opted for the great value and high-performance ID-Cooling SE-224 XT. This four-heat pipe cooler keeps noise to a minimum and by cooling the APU effectively you can get maximum performance without thermal throttling.  

Power Supply

Finally, we’ve selected the Cooler Master MasterWatt 650W 80+ Bronze PSU for the build. This power supply has ample power to add a GPU later and is a lower cost but good quality option. It has zero fan mode so at light loads the fan does not spin meaning it’s silent. The semi-modular design lets you keep the build really clean and simple with no superfluous cables and it comes with a 5-year warranty so you can expect long and trouble-free service.

Performance expectations

This AMD ‘Renoir’ APU build will get you gaming straight away. You can play lighter weight titles at reduced settings and 1080p without a problem as well as ‘desktop’ games. You’ll be able to use the GeForce Now service to play more demanding titles right away. When you can get a GPU, this system is capable of gaming in the most demanding games at moderate to high frame rates and is an excellent all-rounder with equivalent performance to a Ryzen 5 3600. For $750, we think this represents the best possible value at the moment. 

2. Intel i5 Rocket Lake UHD 750 build

Intel’s 11^th Generation ‘Rocket Lake’ CPUs have brought the capability of the inbuilt GPU a long way. Using their newer ‘Xe’ architecture, these iGPUs are particularly adept at accelerating transcoding and some video manipulation tasks, but they’ll also turn their hand to light gaming. Performance still isn’t close to matching the Ryzen APU, with UHD 750 graphics about half as capable as AMD’s Vega 8 iGPU – but it will work to an extent. It will of course also allow you to access the Geforce Now service, giving you a PC that will punch well above its weight whilst the stock shortages persist. 

You can choose between the i5-11400, i5-11500 or i5-11600, and even the i5-11600K if you aim to make a very high-performance machine once you can get a GPU. The i5-11400 makes do with UHD 730 graphics, so if you do intend on running games we’d certainly recommend the 11500 or 11600 both of which include UHD750 graphics, a markedly more powerful iGPU owing to 32 execution units instead of 24. The small lift to clock speeds in the higher tier parts will also aid general performance. If you intend on doing more demanding work, you could also consider the 8 core i7-11700 or i7-11700K. Just make sure whichever CPU you choose it isn’t the ‘F’ version – these lack any iGPU at all so the PC won’t be functional! 

Motherboard

For the motherboard, we’ve chosen the Asus TUF Gaming B560M WiFi. This compact but full-featured motherboard allows memory overclocking even on non-K series CPUs boosting the performance of both the CPU and iGPU. There’s inbuilt Wifi, HDMI and Displayport outputs, and good USB connectivity. You can use the 2.5Gb Ethernet or Wifi 6 for connection to online services.

Storage

We’ve opted for the Adata Swordfish 1Tb NVMe SSD for storage for its great value and decent entry-level performance, but you could spend a little more on the Western Digital SN550 or Kingston A2000 if you prefer.

RAM

For RAM, we’ve chosen the matching ‘TUF’ branded memory from Team Alliance, 16Gb in a 2x8Gb 3000MHz configuration. It’s fast enough to let the iGPU perform and can be set to the XMP profile with one click in BIOS, simplifying the setup.

Case

For the case the Cooler Master MB311 ARGB shines through as the best value offering although it does lack USB 3.2×2 on the front panel, you can still access this via the motherboard IO panel. It has good airflow, is supplied with two fans and is easy to build in. We’ve partnered it with the be quiet! Pure Power 11 Gold-rated 600W PSU, an efficient unit with a low noise profile. Again, we’ve ensured there’s ample power to run a GPU when you’re able to obtain one without further upgrades. 

Power Supply

We’ve partnered it with the be quiet! Pure Power 11 Gold-rated 600W PSU, an efficient unit with a low noise profile. Again, we’ve ensured there’s ample power to run a GPU when you’re able to obtain one without further upgrades. 

CPU Cooler

Finally, we’ve added an ID-Cooling SE224-XT Tower CPU cooler, for both lower noise and lower running temperatures, letting the CPU perform to its full potential. 

Performance expectations

This PC will be an excellent general-purpose PC, capable of office work, photo manipulation, media browsing and even light video editing. It will play more basic games and will allow some simple 3D games to run acceptably well at lowered settings. As with the AMD system, we’d recommend making use of Geforce Now for demanding games until such time as you can find your own dedicated GPU – at which point this $750 starter PC becomes a gaming champ and a great way to bridge the gap until you get your own GPU.

So, there we have it: A choice of two PCs that give you a pathway to gaming and all-round use without breaking the bank, or forcing you to pay over the odds for GPU. Enjoy!

*This article is not sponsored by Nvidia GeForce Now and was written independently of any influence from Nvidia*

The post Best Intel & AMD PC Builds Without GPUs – 2 Gaming Builds for under $800 appeared first on PremiumBuilds.

We’ve demonstrated in our Rocket Lake RAM Speed Analysis article that RAM speeds can make a big difference to potential performance on Rocket Lake CPUs. Even in gaming, when you’re CPU limited there are quite a few FPS up for grabs if you specify a faster memory kit and ensure XMP is enabled. If you’re pushing the boundaries of performance then you can gain even more by selecting fast RAM and manually tuning timings for minimum latencies. It’s important that you balance performance with cost so that you can get the most from your 11900K, whether you want a set-and-forget XMP profile, or have the time and skill to get the most from overclockable RAM on this platform. Whilst B560 and H570 motherboards now allow RAM overclocking and higher RAM speeds, we’d recommend that anyone considering a build with Intel’s new flagship step up to the Z590 platform for maximum flexibility.  In this guide we’ll run through our recommendations for the best RAM for the i9-11900K. 

Best RAM for Intel Core i9-11900K – Our Recommendations

Best 16GB Gaming RAM Kit for i9-11900K

Crucial Ballistix RGB 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 – BL2K8G36C16U4BL

This kit from Crucial uses Micron E-Die modules to achieve its 3600MHz speed and 16-18-18-38 timings. Whilst it’s not the fastest RAM available, it hits the sweet spot of performance gains from RAM latency reduction and a good value price point, as well as guaranteed stability without manual tweaking. E-Die is known to have good overclocking potential so there is scope to further reduce timings if you want to dig into manual settings though. The memory controller can be set to ‘Gear 1’ mode with this RAM, keeping the memory controller clock at a fast but unstressed 1800MHz for improved performance. The kit has RGB and a clean black aesthetic that will match most motherboards. It’s also in common supply meaning you’ll be able to obtain matched DIMMS without too much difficulty if you do decide to upgrade capacity in future. If you just want to get gaming and know you’re not denting the potential performance of your CPU with slow RAM, this is the go-to kit.

Best 32GB Gaming RAM Kit for i9-11900K

G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 – B01MSBS0UT

Balancing looks with gaming performance, and also being mindful of the effect of four DIMMs on the memory controller, we recommend this 3200Mhz 4x8GB Kit from G.Skill if you want a great looking and high  performing 32GB memory kit for gaming. The increased bandwidth of four DIMMs slightly offsets the latency increase from a move to 3200MHz RAM, and you can experiment with Gear 1 vs Gear 2 mode to see which gives most performance in your set up – the difference is likely to be minimal. This is a great looking RAM kit with RGB, and 4 full DIMM slots is undoubtedly the best looking RAM configuration meaning you’ll have a build with the go to match the show but at an affordable price. Whilst higher speeds are available, there is minimal performance increase and the much higher cost isn’t justified. 

Best 32GB Productivity RAM Kit for i9-11900K

G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 – B0171GQR0C

Where RAM capacity matters most, this 2x16GB kit is a cost effective way to get 32GB and allow for upgrades should your needs expand in future. For guaranteed compatibility, G.Skill have a handy ‘reverse’ QVL where you can check with your motherboard choice that everything will work. A browse through this list confirms this kits compatibility with the vast bulk of Z590 Motherboard options. This memory will ensure ample RAM space for complex tasks like 4K video editing, photo manipulation, creative design work and CAD.

Best 64GB Power User RAM Kit for i9-11900K

Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 – B08662S4NK

If you undertake memory intensive tasks like complex code compilation or very high bitrate video editing, you may benefit from 64GB RAM. This 2x32GB kit from Patriot gives you the benefit of fast speeds, whilst keeping 2 RAM slots free for future upgrades and managing costs. 3200MHz speeds means that Gear 1 mode is possible, and stability is guaranteed. The timings are an acceptably tight 16-18-18-36 and the simple black aesthetic will blend into most builds well. If you’d prefer a 4 stick kit then the G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 64 GB (4 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 is available at just $20 more, $359 (B0171GQNH4)

Best 16GB Overclocking RAM Kit for i9-11900K

Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-4400 CL19 – B07KXLFDL6

We’ve come to know and love this RAM kit, the Patriot Viper Steel -over the 9 months we’ve used it to experiment with overclocking on different CPUs and motherboards. It uses Samsung B-Die IC’s which are legendary for their flexibility and resilience to overclocking, even running elevated voltages with ease to secure that last ounce of performance. Whilst it’s not the ultimate fastest specification, it represents phenomenal value in the overclocking space at around $150, with more specialist and exclusive kits costing three times as much. The pair of 8Gb Matched DIMMs make the most stable overclocking configuration, placing lower load on the memory controller. If you want to dig under the hood to find out what makes an i9-11900K really tick, this memory kit is a great starting point to help you get to grips with ram Overclocking. Higher speed enthusiast kits are available, but tend to be three to four times as costly making this kit an excellent choice by comparison.

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Intel’s latest Rocket Lake CPUs may not have set the world on fire at the high end, but the mid i5 parts offer good value and strong performance. They make a great basis for a mid-range gaming machine and importantly the non F versions include integrated graphics, so you can build a functional PC now and get a GPU when you are able to. The F version will require a discrete GPU for any display output. 

This PC balances cost and performance to get the most value from the i5-11400 or 11400F without overspending. By choosing an appropriate GPU it will perform excellently at all resolutions, allowing high framerate gaming and good performance in demanding AAA titles. It’s also perfectly capable of basic productivity work and general use.

In this guide, we’ll take you through our choices for each component in turn for this Intel Core i5-11400(F) build.

Best Intel i5-11400(F) Build – The Parts List

CPU: Intel Core i5-11400

Intels 11^th generation CPUs, named “Rocket Lake” bring a number of new features to the table. They have native PCIe 4.0 support allowing the use of fast SSDs and the most up to date GPU connection protocol. They also have Intel’s most up to date integrated graphics architecture, the Iris Xe powered UHD 730. The i5-11500 and i5-11600 get the next tier up, the UHD 750 which offers slightly more performance, but sadly they’re still not able to play anything but the most basic of desktop games. Nonetheless, this iGPU allows desktop output, basic games, and accelerates some processes like video transcoding and calculations in Adobe suite products making it a versatile addition to the spec of this PC.
The i5-11400 boosts the per-core performance relative to the older generation Intel CPUs and has 6 cores and 12 threads. This means it’s well suited to gaming and all-round use. The peak clock speed of 4.4GHz enables high frame rate play and ensures good gaming performance.

Alternatively, if you have a GPU and will not use applications assisted by the iGPU, you can opt for the ‘F’ suffix CPUs which are slightly cheaper but forgo inbuilt graphics. This saves a little money. You could also opt for the i5-11500 or i5-11600 which have a slightly higher boost speed and the slightly higher performance intel UHD 750 iGPU. However, the performance difference is not marked and it’s not worth paying substantially more for these CPUs. If you’re considering the i5-11600K, then we’d recommend pairing it with a Z590 motherboard in order to unlock its full potential by overclocking.

The i5-11400 mixes high performance, versatility and great value to be a fantastic choice for your gaming PC.

CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING SE-224-XT

The i5-11400 is supplied with a revised ‘all black’ CPU cooler, and if you’re seeking to minimize costs you can happily use that. However, we recommend using an upgraded tower cooler to minimize noise and keep temperatures down. Lower temperatures ensure your CPU will reach and maintain the highest boost clock speeds it can. The ID-COOLING SE-224-XT is a great option at $35. It performs well with 4 heat pipes and an efficient fan, and the cost is lower than some competitors, and it comes with a tube of thermal paste so you can attach and refit it without buying more. It’s a great buy. 

Motherboard: ASRock B560 Steel Legend

Intel’s B560 chipset complements the i5 non-K CPUs perfectly in a gaming or general-purpose build. They have allowed memory overclocking even for non-K CPUs, which unleashes a good amount of additional potential through reduced memory latency with faster RAM. The primary PCIe slot is PCIe 4.0 compliant, and so is the main M.2 slot although PCIe 3.0 drives will work perfectly well in this slot, providing better value. Whilst boards are still trickling into retail availability, the ASRock B560 Steel Legend is a sound choice from the B560 motherboards available at this time. It has both display port and HDMI outputs if you need to use the integrated graphics as a stop-gap. There’s a reasonable VRM configuration, plenty to get the most from an i5 CPU. Three M.2 slots for SSDs and six SATA ports take care of storage, whilst there’s a dedicated m.2 E-Key slot if you want to add an m.2 WiFi adaptor. It has a USB 3.2 header to ensure the USB-C port on the case is functional. There’s a total of six fan headers to allow a variety of cooling setups, and plenty of RGB control headers too.

RAM: ADATA XPG GAMMIX D20 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16

RAM is the working space of the PC, and 16GB is plenty for gaming and general use. This 3200MHz kit from ADATA, the XPG Gammix D20, is relatively cheap, and fast enough to ensure you’re getting good performance from your CPU. Two 8GB Stick enables dual channel mode which is fundamental to aid performance. The CL16 timings are relatively tight, again helping the CPU perform to it’s best. Just be sure to enable the XMP profile in BIOS when you first set the PC up to take advantage of the speed. The simple black heat spreaders give a discrete aesthetic. This RAM is the price to performance sweet spot for a great value Intel system. 

Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 1TB

This NVMe SSD from Western Digital, the SN550 1TB, is truly excellent value. It uses PCIe 3.0 so whilst it lacks in benchmark results compared to PCIe 4.0 drives, it’s indistinguishable in actual use and provides responsive versatile SSD space. 1TB is ample storage for the operating system, core storage, and several large games and the M.2 form factor makes it a cinch to fit to the motherboard, with no additional data or power cables required. If you have a lot of data to store such as videos or music that doesn’t rely on fast access, we’d advise pairing this with a 2TB or larger Hard Disc Drive, to obtain the advantages of an SSD in general use and the large space of a hard drive. 

Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow

We’ve chosen the popular and versatile Corsair 4000D Airflow for this build. It’s a modern well-engineered case with great airflow thanks to the ventilated front panel. It’s solidly constructed and easy to build in, with good instructions and accessories supplied. It has USB 3.2 via Type A and Type C sockets on the front, and tool-less panel removal. All the intakes have mesh dust filters which are easy to remove and clean. Whilst it comes with 2 120mm fans pre-installed, we’d recommend a pair of 140mm intake fans like the Arctic P14 PST. These larger fans can be run slower, for less noise but plenty of airflow to keep the system cool. This case accommodates the largest of GPUs and has plenty of space for expansion, as well as a basement to conceal the power supply, cables and hard discs. 

Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 11 CM 600W 80+ Gold

Power supplies haven’t been immune to supply disruption with prices steadily creeping up and popular units often out of stock. This 600W Semi-modular and gold-rated unit from be quiet! blends the feature set you need with good reliability and an affordable price point. It’s semi-modular so the build isn’t cluttered with cables you don’t need, and uses a quiet 120mm fan. Gold certification means it’s at least 92% efficient. It’s rounded out with a 5-year warranty for your peace of mind. 

The Elephant In the Room: Graphics Cards

We haven’t specified a GPU in this guide. Primarily this is because the market is so unfavourable at this time, any suggestion is going to be out of stock or heavily inflated in price. This PC is well suited to run any GPU from a GTX 1660 Super up to an RTX 3060 Ti, for excellent 1080p to 1440p gaming performance. If you wish to fit a more powerful GPU such as an RTX 3080 or RX 6800 XT for 1440p ultrawide or 4K gaming and can find one, then the only modification required to this build list is a more powerful Power supply, 750W or higher, to support the GPU. So long as you don’t opt for the i5-11400F you can build and test your PC whilst you wait to obtain a GPU and can use it for general tasks, browsing and media consumption as well as some basic games to keep yourself entertained. The addition of a GPU makes this a fantastic gaming PC. 

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