Items tagged with motherboards
If you've been eyeing up a new system based on Intel's 13th-generation Core series (codenamed 'Raptor Lake') but balking at the high prices of Z790 motherboards, don't fret—Intel may have some relief on the way. The B760 chipset is rumored to be coming along early next month, but it might not save you as much as you...
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No matter if you search high and low or far and wide, you'll be hard pressed to find a socket AM5 motherboard for less than around $150. Many of the initial entries cost north of $200, and a few even top $1,000. Here's the thing, though—AMD said users could expect AM5 motherboards to start out at $125, but it's been...
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In due time, Intel will release its Core i9-13900KS Special Edition CPU to retail, and with it will come a 6GHz max turbo frequency out of the box. It's officially the world's first 6GHz consumer desktop CPU. That's all well and good, but if you don't want to wait and/or splurge on the upcoming flagship, you can try...
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AMD's Zen 4-based Ryzen 7000 processors have attractive performance, but their value proposition is questionable. That's due to the cost of entry: you need speedy DDR5 memory for the best performance, and the available X670 motherboards aren't cheap. Inexpensive B650-based boards are on the way, with AMD holding a...
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You've almost certainly heard the bombshell news that EVGA is leaving the graphics card business entirely over a purported personal dispute with NVIDIA. The company insists that it isn't going anywhere despite graphics cards comprising some 78% of EVGA's revenue, at least for now. Almost as if to prove that point...
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AMD is on track to release its Ryzen 7000 series CPUs to retail less than three weeks from now (September 27, to be exact). So begins the Zen 4 era. Of course, processors are only part of the platform equation—the other half belongs to the chipsets and related motherboards. To that end, MSI has gone and posted MSRPs...
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Looked at the prices of DDR5 memory lately? The newer, faster, all-ECC system RAM is coming down in cost slowly, but it's nowhere near as cheap as ubiquitous DDR4 SDRAM. Plus, due to the latency advantages of hot-clocked DDR4 versus the less-expensive DDR5 modules on the market, DDR4 systems often end up faster in...
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Some of the older overclockers will recall the days when the biggest gains to be had were by overclocking a processor's "FSB", or "Front Side Bus". FSB overclocks haven't died, exactly, they're just not called that anymore because we don't have FSBs anymore. On modern systems, there's a "base clock" (often shortened...
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AMD's X570 chipset was stacked with potent I/O, but presented a significant annoyance for buyers: it required active cooling. That meant a return to the days of yore when the use of faster and faster memory meant that motherboard chipsets—where the memory controller used to reside—started to require heatsinks with...
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ASUS wasted zero time teasing a handful of socket AM5 motherboards for AMD's upcoming Ryzen 7000 series processors, following AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su's keynote at Computex 2022. She took to the stage to reveal more details about Zen 4 and also formally introduced a trio of next-generation chipsets, which in turn paves the...
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Having trouble deciding between DDR5 or DDR4 memory for your Alder Lake desktop build? You're not alone—this motherboard can't decide either. It actually rocks DIMM slots for both types of RAM, and as far as we are aware, it's the only socket LGA 1700 motherboard to swing both ways. This raises the question of what...
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Intel's current-generation 12th Gen Core-family processors employ DDR5 memory for optimal performance, at least in theory. In practice, a lot of folks building Alder Lake systems are sticking with DDR4 DIMMs instead of the newer standard, because DDR5 memory is in short supply and seriously scalped. Testing has shown...
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The land of luxury of motherboards is paved with premium features for enthusiasts, and like a penthouse apartment, there's a higher cost of living to match. In this case, you're looking at $829.99 for EVGA's flagship Z690 Dark Kingpin, a decked out motherboard loaded with bells and whistles for your Alder Lake...
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Buying open box, refurbished, or recertified merchandise at a discount carries an inherent risk, though vendor or manufacturer inspections and appropriate return policies are supposed to be mitigating factors. Simply put, if an item arrives damaged or otherwise doesn't function properly, you should be able to return...
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You don't actually need to be a god (or like a god) to own MSI's new flagship motherboard, the MEG Z690 Godlike (the same that appeared in a photo shoot two months ago), but you will have summon a large bag of cash. Going all out on this bad boy will set you back a cool $2,099. However, that's really a bundle price...
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As contentious as the topic is among certain enthusiasts, for the most part, the presence or absence of 512-bit-wide vectors in Intel's desktop CPUs is a largely academic consideration. Very little software makes use of AVX-512. Certainly there's not much that Intel expects purchasers of its mainline desktop and...
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The transition to DDR5 memory on a large scale is going to take some time—it will likely be years before DDR5 outpaces DDR4, even as more platforms arrive that support the newer memory standard. As such, the beginning of the transition phase can be a bit clumsy, particularly right now as there's also a DDR5 shortage...
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Update (12/29/21):
It's official—a reversed capacitor is the culprit. ASUS reached out to Hot Hardware and confirmed its preliminary finding, and provided a statement that it is sending out to customers. Here's what it says...
To our valued ASUS Customers,
ASUS is committed to producing the highest quality...
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Around a month ago, MSI teased us with renders depicting its stunning MEG Z690 Godlike motherboard for Intel's Alder Lake platform. We're still waiting for it to release. Until it does, we have some delightful photos to feast our eyeballs on, courtesy of a popular leaker who uploaded a small handful of product shots...
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As was the case with the move to DDR4 memory with Skylake and the move to DDR3 with Core 2-series processors, Intel's first DDR5-enabled platform is also backward-compatible with DDR4 SDRAM. That means that we'll be seeing motherboards for Intel's Alder Lake-series processors that accept DDR4 memory instead of DDR5...
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There have been a few pricing leaks related to Intel's upcoming Alder Lake CPUs, but if you're planning to build a PC around a 12th Gen Core CPU, there are other components to consider as well. Such as DDR5 memory (or DDR4, if going that route) and a Z690 motherboard. Mobo makers will be ready to go at launch, and at...
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You can safely assume that motherboard makers will not be caught flat-footed when Intel's 12th Gen Core desktop processors based on Alder Lake arrive. There's plenty of work that goes on behind the scenes between CPU and motherboard players. Especially so with Alder Lake, I imagine, given all the new technologies. So...
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