Discussion My Saturday project based on a MSI MEG Z790 ACE motherboard.

[Puffnstuff]

3 years ago I left my trusty 4790k build and migrated to the AMD X570 platform with a 3900X. Then I upgraded that to the 5950X which I've run up until now but AMD's lack of support on known issues has been frustrating not only with the CPU side of the house but with the GPU side as well since I also run a AIB 6900 XT graphics card. Add to that Gigabyte's slow support for AGESA and software updates pretty much sealed the deal as I had no intention of spending any more money on a EOL platform.

Today I received the replacement motherboard for that system which will be my Saturday project as I migrate back to the Intel Z790 platform with a 13900k. I chose this one because it offers 5 nvme ssd support on the board without the need for an add in card like the Asus board I had on order. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate a rtx 4090 at msrp or that would be in the picture too. I was tempted today by the BB 4080 fe drop and had it in my cart at a good discount but decided to just hold out for the better card.

SInce I've been away from Intel for a few years can anyone offer any advice before I install this stuff? What settings should I be looking to set?

 

[BoomerD]

What are you running for PSU and cooler? Those i9-13900k pro essoes are supposed to be notoriously power hungry and run HOT when they're pushed hard.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I have an EVGA Supernova 1300W G2 PS and EVGA CL360 AIO with Antec Prizm X fans and will use Arctic MX-6 thermal paste so power and cooling are under control.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Don't forget to install the contact frame: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermalright-lga1700-bcf-contact-frame

 

[BoomerD]

I have an EVGA Supernova 1300W G2 PS and EVGA CL360 AIO with Antec Prizm X fans and will use Arctic MX-6 thermal paste so power and cooling are under control.

Sounds like you're good to go.
See igor's comment about the frame below. Apparently bending is an issue.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...wqsBegQICxAB&usg=AOvVaw2q8O_tHO_4NMDdk_HBIs98

[/URL]

 

[Puffnstuff]

Well gents we never made it to Saturday. First I tried using the clean install I was already on but it refused to boot even with all of the AMD drivers removed so I was force to do another clean install. I also encountered the forced network screen that didn't offer a way off unless you open task manager, launch command prompt and enter the network go around command forcing me to create a local account and come back to the MS account after installing network drivers.

The MSI software behaves differently than the Gigabyte did so I'm having to learn my way around it and if I'm honest windows feels a bit sluggish compared to the 5950x. On the other hand running a radeon with an Intel cpu does garner more performance. Now I've just got to get all of my software reinstalled and things configured to my liking.

 

[igor_kavinski]

if I'm honest windows feels a bit sluggish compared to the 5950x.

Could be the E-cores. Try disabling them to see if you can get the system to feel more responsive.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Well gents we never made it to Saturday. First I tried using the clean install I was already on but it refused to boot even with all of the AMD drivers removed so I was force to do another clean install. I also encountered the forced network screen that didn't offer a way off unless you open task manager, launch command prompt and enter the network go around command forcing me to create a local account and come back to the MS account after installing network drivers.

The MSI software behaves differently than the Gigabyte did so I'm having to learn my way around it and if I'm honest windows feels a bit sluggish compared to the 5950x. On the other hand running a radeon with an Intel cpu does garner more performance. Now I've just got to get all of my software reinstalled and things configured to my liking.

View attachment 73348

3Dmark's usefulness lies in being able to ensure hardware is performing where it should by comparing it to the same configurations of CPU and GPU in the database. Not in comparing between vendors. That's not to say you didn't help the CPU bottleneck in games that expose it, of course.

I understand why so many of you don't like the requirement of the MS account, but I don't share it. In fact, I am a fan of it. I swap parts frequently, and being able to sign in to MS, Firefox, and Chrome after a new install, and have everything back like I never left is value added. If the build was for someone else, I contacted them and setup the account with them. Then showed them how to change the password, if they were not already familiar with it.

Anyways, it sounds like you are having fun with new toys, which is what this hobby is all about. Enjoy.

 

[Puffnstuff]

3Dmark's usefulness lies in being able to ensure hardware is performing where it should by comparing it to the same configurations of CPU and GPU in the database. Not in comparing between vendors. That's not to say you didn't help the CPU bottleneck in games that expose it, of course.

I understand why so many of you don't like the requirement of the MS account, but I don't share it. In fact, I am a fan of it. I swap parts frequently, and being able to sign in to MS, Firefox, and Chrome after a new install, and have everything back like I never left is value added. If the build was for someone else, I contacted them and setup the account with them. Then showed them how to change the password, if they were not already familiar with it.

Anyways, it sounds like you are having fun with new toys, which is what this hobby is all about. Enjoy.

I'm not opposed to the MS account as I use it on all of my machines, however, it was the first time I was hindered by the inability to access networking during a clean install to use it. The performance uplift the Intel CPU gives the 6900xt is on par with tech sites experiences.

If the gpu will stop with the random signal losses to the 2nd monitor then I will be good to go. So far I have not see it happen with the intel hardware but it was annoying the tar out of me with the amd board and they could never fix it even though they promised to in the most recent driver release.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I have never experienced the issue you experienced installing win11 pro. I have only done it on AM4 and Intel 10th gen though.

The CPU uplift being correct versus reviews is good. 3Dmark is still the wrong tool for establishing that.

Can you explain why the platform change corrected a display problem using the same AMD GPU?

 

[lopri]

Well gents we never made it to Saturday. First I tried using the clean install I was already on but it refused to boot even with all of the AMD drivers removed so I was force to do another clean install. I also encountered the forced network screen that didn't offer a way off unless you open task manager, launch command prompt and enter the network go around command forcing me to create a local account and come back to the MS account after installing network drivers.

This is eerily similar to what I had gone through with my 13700K. Is your BIOS showing the network status "disconnected," despite you having connection in Windows?

 

[lopri]

I suggest you test out your LAN speed. Mine was limited to 100Mb/s.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I have never experienced the issue you experienced installing win11 pro. I have only done it on AM4 and Intel 10th gen though.

The CPU uplift being correct versus reviews is good. 3Dmark is still the wrong tool for establishing that.

Can you explain why the platform change corrected a display problem using the same AMD GPU?

I have less than 24hrs on this build but so far my second monitor has not blanked out like it did on the x570 system. The problem was with 6900xt cards when running multiple monitors the extra monitors would randomly lose signal so they would just blank out no matter what you were doing with them. I find it ironic that on the new 7900 cards their power consumption jumps 100w when more than one monitor is plugged in. Obviously AMD's validation process leaves something to be desired.

AMD mentions in in their driver release notes but they also try to blame chrome. In my experience it happened whether or not a browser was open and it could be any browser. If I had FF open it would still happen. If I had no browsers open it would happen. Sometimes it would keep the 2nd monitor off for more than a few seconds and I finally got fed up with it.

In the less than 24 hrs I've been on an Intel based system I have not witnessed the second monitor blank out once. I was on the verge of buying an nvidia gpu to address it and I still might just go ahead and move to a rtx 4090 to move away from AMD altogether.

MPO is disabled on all of my machines. I use a KVM switch and none of my laptops have an issue with these monitors while my desktop was beyond annoying. I also use new 8k cable matters cables so plug and cable quality are not an issue.

I suggest you test out your LAN speed. Mine was limited to 100Mb/s.

I haven't seen that issue.

 

[Shmee]

Meg Ace series are great boards, but I hear the Z790 Meg Ace is a lot of money, compared to say the X570 version. When I ordered mine it was around $300, aren't the Z790 equivalents like $800?

Anyway, congrats on the new system, hope you got some good deals.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Meg Ace series are great boards, but I hear the Z790 Meg Ace is a lot of money, compared to say the X570 version. When I ordered mine it was around $300, aren't the Z790 equivalents like $800?

Anyway, congrats on the new system, hope you got some good deals.

Yes they are expensive at $700 before tax but they are the only ones I've seen with native 5 nvme slots onboard. Then again EVGA Z790 boards aren't cheap either and I was interested in the classified version but it was not available until the day after I ordered this one but I still think I did the right thing.