Little PC build for design work: 12700 or 5900X?

stateofjermaine

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 22, 2009
Messages
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Hello,

I just got a new job as a contractor doing multimedia design work, and as the workload seems a bit more intense, I think it feels like time to upgrade my system—I'm currently running a 4790K + GTX 970, which has served me well. 😊

It may not matter much, but for what it's worth, I'm most likely going to build inside the IQUNIX ZX-1 and the only component I've already purchased is an AORUS 3060 Ti Elite.

So, what do I do? Well, up to now I've mainly just worked in Figma, Photoshop and Illustrator, with occasional dabbles in Lightroom, Premiere, and After Effects. I've been using an older Acer XB280HK UHD 60Hz monitor, which I plan to keep for a while. My new job leans much more heavily on those later more-intensive apps, and as the project file sizes have grown, my PC has ground to a halt a few times. I think this decently represents my new workload:

25% After Effects
25% Photoshop, Illustrator, Figma
25% Premiere, Blender [only just getting into this, but I'm very interested!]
25% Games @ UHD or QHD: mainly pretty story games like HZD, Ori, RDR2, but also some Destiny, a lot of Overwatch, and every once in a while some different stuff like PCBS, Dirt 5, Forza, etc. Game suggestions welcome!

Okay, hopefully that sums up my situation, but if I forgot something dumb, please let me know! The build I have specced is below:

Core parts—likely to be the same in either build
99.99 EK Basic 240 AIO
129.99 32 GB V-Color Skywalker Plus
104.99 Team CARDEA ZERO Z440 1TB
79.99 Seagate FireCuda 520 1TB
699.99 AORUS 3060 Ti Elite *Purchased*
269.00
IQUNIX-ZX199.99 Corsair SF 600 80+ Gold
TOTAL ≈ 1500.00

Incidentals—just in case anyone has experience or comments
129.99 pslate Custom Cables
129.99 Fully Jarvis monitor arm
TOTAL ≈ 260.00

The Blue Pill
299.99 Core i7-12700 // 12 cores, 20 threads
289.99 Gigabyte Z690I AORUS ULTRA
TOTAL ≈ 590.00

The Red Pill
399.99 Ryzen 9 5900X // 12 cores, 24 threads
249.99 X570SI AORUS PRO AX
TOTAL ≈ 650.00

I have to say, I'm amazed at the performance we can get these days for the money, chip craziness aside. I know there are some considerations with Alder Lake being newer, that there might be more bugs to iron out, etc. And I've read that the Alder Lake chips run a bit hotter, thanks to their more aggressive boost clock behavior. But I'm intrigued by the P-core + E-core architecture and the performance seems to be there on either side. Especially for an ITX build with a 240 AIO, can anyone shed any light on which of these might be a better fit for my system? Appreciate the help.
 
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Historically, Adobe products run better on Intel (I would argue because Adobe is lazy), so I'd probably go Intel just for that reason as you do a lot of Adobe work.
 
Historically, Adobe products run better on Intel (I would argue because Adobe is lazy), so I'd probably go Intel just for that reason as you do a lot of Adobe work.
Awesome, thank you. When I discovered that the 5900X could be had for such a reasonable price, I thought I'd surely go Ryzen, but these Alder Lake chips have legitimately surprised me! I have read on another forum that Alder Lake also plays better on Win11—or, to be accurate, that Ryzen plays worse—have you read or found that in your experience?
 
Awesome, thank you. When I discovered that the 5900X could be had for such a reasonable price, I thought I'd surely go Ryzen, but these Alder Lake chips have legitimately surprised me! I have read on another forum that Alder Lake also plays better on Win11—or, to be accurate, that Ryzen plays worse—have you read or found that in your experience?

If I was going Alder Lake, I'd definitely get Win 11. I haven't had any issues with Ryzen, but I never migrated my main machine (5950x/X570) to Win 11 before I swapped it out for a 12900k.

Realistically, they are both good. Ryzen may be slightly more energy efficient at the same workload.
 
If I was going Alder Lake, I'd definitely get Win 11. I haven't had any issues with Ryzen, but I never migrated my main machine (5950x/X570) to Win 11 before I swapped it out for a 12900k.

Realistically, they are both good. Ryzen may be slightly more energy efficient at the same workload.
Haha, well, I'm already on Win11, so I hope the reverse is true, too. Appreciate the help! Edit: Oh, since you mentioned the energy efficiency, do you think a 240 AIO is enough to manage the 12700 in an ITX enclosure? I haven't found that much about the temperature differences.
 
Haha, well, I'm already on Win11, so I hope the reverse is true, too. Appreciate the help! Edit: Oh, since you mentioned the energy efficiency, do you think a 240 AIO is enough to manage the 12700 in an ITX enclosure? I haven't found that much about the temperature differences.

Yeah, that should be fine. You can always go back in and adjust the PL1/PL2 values in the bios if you find that it's too hot and drawing too much power with sustained loads.

A 12700 should be able to be tamed into 65W with the correct bios setting which a 240mm AIO would be fine with. It would probably do fine with an unlimited boost also, but it depends on your environment and case choice.

I saw above you were looking at the EK basic. I have the 360mm version and it's been fantastic for me on both Intel and AMD systems. I had to get the LGA1700 bracket from EK direct and it cost something like $20 shipped from Europe.
 
Yeah, that should be fine. You can always go back in and adjust the PL1/PL2 values in the bios if you find that it's too hot and drawing too much power with sustained loads.

A 12700 should be able to be tamed into 65W with the correct bios setting which a 240mm AIO would be fine with. It would probably do fine with an unlimited boost also, but it depends on your environment and case choice.

I saw above you were looking at the EK basic. I have the 360mm version and it's been fantastic for me on both Intel and AMD systems. I had to get the LGA1700 bracket from EK direct and it cost something like $20 shipped from Europe.
Oh, awesome. I'm glad you said that because I'd much rather use the EK Basic if I could. I'd read some older posts where people couldn't get the LGA 1700 kits to fit properly, but maybe they've sorted the issue by now. Thanks again. Edit: Oh, the case I'm looking at is the IQUNIX ZX-1, a pretty standard sandwich layout case, but I think the ventilation is reasonable enough.
 
Oh, awesome. I'm glad you said that because I'd much rather use the EK Basic if I could. I'd read some older posts where people couldn't get the LGA 1700 kits to fit properly, but maybe they've sorted the issue by now. Thanks again.

I think it depends on the additional components around the socket. I would double check with your specific ITX board as they tend to be more crowded around the socket due to the limited space. I don't have any firsthand knowledge of that particular ITX board, but it very well might not fit without some modification.

I have an Asus Z690-A D4 ATX board and it fit fine. I think chameleoneel tried using a GB ITX board and had issues with the EK. Maybe he can chime in if I remembered the right person with ITX and EK.
 
Oh, awesome. I'm glad you said that because I'd much rather use the EK Basic if I could. I'd read some older posts where people couldn't get the LGA 1700 kits to fit properly, but maybe they've sorted the issue by now. Thanks again. Edit: Oh, the case I'm looking at is the IQUNIX ZX-1, a pretty standard sandwich layout case, but I think the ventilation is reasonable enough.

I think it depends on the additional components around the socket. I would double check with your specific ITX board as they tend to be more crowded around the socket due to the limited space. I don't have any firsthand knowledge of that particular ITX board, but it very well might not fit without some modification.

I have an Asus Z690-A D4 ATX board and it fit fine. I think chameleoneel tried using a GB ITX board and had issues with the EK. Maybe he can chime in if I remembered the right person with ITX and EK.

Yeah so there is a bit of a situation with the Gigabyte Z690i ITX motherboard.

1. The space around the CPU socket is very limited. It is not compatible with most popular air coolers. Noctua actually had to release a couple of special versions. It is not compatible with EK's AIO's. It is compatible with Corsair AIO, Phanteks, Arctic, probably most which are based on Asetek pumps (Phanteks is an Asetek pump).
2. a lot of people are having tons of errors when they use this board in PCI-E 4.0 mode.
3. I have seen a couple of people also say that they get a lot of coil whine from the VRMs or CPU socket area.


I haven't had the errors yet. But, my board does have annoying coil whine. Its not super loud. But, I do value a silent computer, and it basically constantly makes noise. Gigabyte has a couple of representatives whom post on Reddit and they have unofficially stated that Gigabyte may be planning something to get these boards RMA replaced for customers. But it could be another 3 or 4 weeks before that even starts. It is suspected they will release a revision of this board.

This also sucks, because its currently the only "quality" LGA 1700 ITX board, which supports DDR4.

Gigabyte did paper launch a B660 ITX board with DDR4 support. But its only just now becoming available and if you can find it, the price is usually higher than the Z690 board. Also, it only offers ONE slot for NVME.

At this point, if you want ITX RIGHT NOW for Alder Lake, you should probably get a DDR5 board from Asrock or MSI. Asus new B660 ITX board also seems good. I have heard their Z690 ITX board also has the WHEA errors on some of the boards.

If you still want a smaller computer, you could get an MATX board and get one of the 19 - 21 liter MATX cases. Asus just released a strix MATX B660 which is really nice. But, their TUF B660 seems fine, as well.

Also, it seems like it can still be difficult to get LGA 1700 mounting hardware for some brands. Corsair's is often out of stock. EK is usually available, but you have to ship it from Europe. Be Quiet's has to be ordered. etc.
 
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Yeah so there is a bit of a situation with the Gigabyte Z690i ITX motherboard.

1. The space around the CPU socket is very limited. It is not compatible with most popular air coolers. Noctua actually had to release a couple of special versions. It is not compatible with EK's AIO's. It is compatible with Corsair AIO, Phanteks, Arctic, probably most which are based on Asetek pumps (Phanteks is an Asetek pump).
2. a lot of people are having tons of errors when they use this board in PCI-E 4.0 mode.
3. I have seen a couple of people also say that they get a lot of coil whine from the VRMs or CPU socket area.


I haven't had the errors yet. But, my board does have annoying coil whine. Its not super loud. But, I do value a silent computer, and it basically constantly makes noise. Gigabyte has a couple of representatives whom post on Reddit and they have unofficially stated that Gigabyte may be planning something to get these boards RMA replaced for customers. But it could be another 3 or 4 weeks before that even starts. It is suspected they will release a revision of this board.

This also sucks, because its currently the only "quality" LGA 1700 ITX board, which supports DDR4.

Gigabyte did paper launch a B660 ITX board with DDR4 support. But its only just now becoming available and if you can find it, the price is usually higher than the Z690 board. Also, it only offers ONE slot for NVME.

At this point, if you want ITX RIGHT NOW for Alder Lake, you should probably get a DDR5 board from Asrock or MSI.

If you still want a smaller computer, you could get an MATX board and get one of the 19 - 21 liter MATX cases. Asus just released a strix MATX B660 which is really nice. But, their TUF B660 seems fine, as well.

Also, it seems like it can still be difficult to get LGA 1700 mounting hardware for some brands. Corsair's is often out of stock. EK is usually available, but you have to ship it from Europe. Be Quiet's has to be ordered. etc.
Haha, we just cross-messaged. But thank you for this info! Hmm, DDR5 just seems prohibitively expensive right now for the benefit I would get. What about the other Alder Lake boards? H670, etc.? I think I'm pretty set on the IQUNIX case [I might consider the Lian-Li A4 H20 if it comes in stock] and the ITX form factor. Haven't built a Micro-ATX or larger system in decades. Hmm, if the ITX Alder Lake landscape is ablaze right now, maybe it's safer to just go back to AM4 waters. 😂
 
Haha, we just cross-messaged. But thank you for this info! Hmm, DDR5 just seems prohibitively expensive right now for the benefit I would get. What about the other Alder Lake boards? H670, etc.? I think I'm pretty set on the IQUNIX case [I might consider the Lian-Li A4 H20 if it comes in stock] and the ITX form factor. Haven't built a Micro-ATX or larger system in decades. Hmm, if the ITX Alder Lake landscape is ablaze right now, maybe it's safer to just go back to AM4 waters. 😂
The only H670 ITX board I know of which is available right now, is this:
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813162046?quicklink=true

That would be fine with a 12600k. It would probably be fine with a 12700. But, it is a little light on features. Basic sound chip. Pretty basic USB. But it does have Wife 6E. I had the H570 version for awhile, with an 11700 non-K and it was fine, if not a solid board.
 
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The only H670 ITX board I know of which is available right now, is this:
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813162046?quicklink=true

That would be fine with a 12600k. It would probably be fine with a 12700. But, it is a little light on features. Basic sound chip. Pretty basic USB. But it does have Wife 6E. I had the H570 version for awhile, with an 11700 non-K and it was fine, if not a solid board.
Yeah, as the current ITX landscape comes clearer, it is seeming like I'll get better overall value from a Ryzen setup. I bet in six months or so it will be a different story, but that's just the way it goes, I guess.
 
Yeah, as the current ITX landscape comes clearer, it is seeming like I'll get better overall value from a Ryzen setup. I bet in six months or so it will be a different story, but that's just the way it goes, I guess.

I don't think you can go wrong either way. I had the B550 Aorus Pro AX board and it was fantastic. I would definitely give the X570S version a try.
 
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