Motherboard model selection

PROCESSOR SOCKET
We have seen that our selection of a 13500 processor implies a socket LGA1700. This appears to be a good choice. Although (as already commented in our Processor page) Intel is announcing that future processors may have a different socket, there is no present future-proof socket to go for anyway.

CHIPSET
The most important part of the chipset is the Northbridge or NBR, which manages the PC's Input/Output activities. Only a few chipsets are compatible with the 13500 processor. Their code is in the format XABB, where X is a letter and A and BB are numbers. For a relatively future-proof motherboard with best capabilities for expansion cards, M.2 drives and the like, I was advised to go for BB=90.
This leaves only two chipsets available: Z690 and Z790. Their differences are mostly subtle:

• Z790 supports DDR5 memory up to 6800MT/s, while the Z690 supports only up to 6400MT/s.
• Z790 supporst 13th and 14th Generation CPUs natively, while the Z690 requires a firmware update for this, but this is not an issue: see our BIOS Flashback page.
• Z790 can have up to five USB3.2 Gen2x1 ports, the Z690 can have only four.

Considering the present significantly lower price for Z690 motherboards, the latter was my choice.

BRAND
There are a handful of reputable motherboard makers. Some are known for very affordable products, other for luxury ones. Among the most comprehensive ranges are those produced by Asus and Gigabyte, which have been my personal choice for decades. Perfect they are not, but then I have yet to find a motherboard that does not have a detail here or there (sometimes significant) worth improving. Having compared a few Asus and Gigabyte models, their assortment of M.2 ports and PCIe slots and their prices, this time I decided to go for an Asus motherboard.

SERIES
Asus has many "series" of motherboards, at significantly different price-ranges. These are the main ones (the price qualification is mine):
- Expensive: Pro Art, Workstation and others, for the professional/business user.
- Quite expensive: ROG MAXIMUS, for Top Gamers with deep pockets.
- Reasonably priced: ROG STRIX, for Enthusiasts and Gamers.
- More convenient: TUF, for Casual Gaming.
- Low priced: Prime, for general PC building.
Having compared the features of TUF vs ROG STRIX and the relatively low difference in price, I decided to go for the ROG STRIX series. I again compared ROG STRIX Z690 vs Z790 and verified that the significant difference in price did not produce any significant advantage for either general or gaming use. Therefore my choice was the Asus ROG STRIX Z690-F motherboard (which comes with the added moniker "GAMING WIFI"). Please see below a clarification about the "MODEL" represented by the final suffix "F". Henceforth I abbreviate this motherboard as "STRIX Z690".

MODEL
Within each "series" there are different "models", shown by a capital-letter suffix. The following comments reflect just a personal opinion of mine:

• E : ATX format, Best Performance, very expensive
• A : ATX format, special style, specs similar but not identical to F and silver finish
• F : ATX format, Good Performance, standard pricing
• I : Mini-ITX format
• G : Micro-ATX format

I have failed to find comparative tests online. For gaming, I do not believe there will be any significant difference in frame rates between models E, A and F. The I and G are obviously small motherboards for very small cases, and without access to first-rate cooling they are not a good match for very fast graphics cards and very high framerates when gaming.

MEMORY GENERATION
The STRIX Z690 and other Asus motherboards come in two variants according to the memory strips the user intends to fit: either DDR4 or DDR5. DDR4 does not make for a significantly cheaper motherboard or memory: it just allows for compatibility with pre-existing CPUs and RAM strips. If one is getting a new processor and memory, it is worth going for the faster DDR5.

OTHER HARDWARE COMPONENTS
You will find nothing in this website about Graphics cards: except for some preposterously expensive ones, they all are fully compatible with PCIe prior generations, and will be running at full with the PCIe Gen 4.0 supported by the STRIX Z690. Neither will I deal with Power Sources: the computer's power consumption depends mainly on the Graphics card, then on the processor, much less so on the motherboard which is our main concern in this website.