B0baganoosh

ksivagn09

B0baganoosh

ksivagn09
Hi everyone,

With this BETA bios release, I would like to know what my options are.

I have a brand new motherboard, Z790 KingPin.

I need to buy a CPU. Should I get 13900KF or 14900KF?

From other postings, it seems the beta bios only permits the 14th gen CPUs, but it seems to may be missing everything else that has happened since these CPUs were released.

So what should I do?

I already have the other components to build the system: RAM, NVME, PS, Case, AIO, GPU.

Thanks.

The beta BIOS should allow the 14900KF to be recognized, but it's unclear if any/all other functionality will be present. It will not have APO or latest micro-code, security updates, etc. The 13900KF should work fine, but it also won't have APO or the latest security patches. If you really want to run the EVGA board, I'd stick with 13th gen CPUs.

Thanks for the reply.

If the board supports 13th Gen, from their regular / latest non beta BIOS, how will it miss having the latest APO, or security patches on the 13th Gen CPU?

Is there a direct comparison to other board manufacturers BIOS to that of EVGA BIOS when it comes to APO and security patches?

(my post disappeared, so re-posting):
 
No, there's no direct comparison, other than you can look at the features that were present at the last actual BIOS update, which was May 4th, 2023, and that was a beta version with specific fixes for memory. The last full feature-updating release was March 24th, 2023. So any security patches, micro-code updates, APO (which launched with 14th gen), etc. that came out after that have not been added to EVGA bios versions. The latest bios, according to EVGA support, only adds functional support of 14th gen CPUs (no additional bug fixes or features were added as far as they've announced). APO was originally launched for 14th gen and Intel have since added 13th gen support, but it requires a supported bios, which EVGA has not provided as far as I am aware. The Intel ME firmware is outdated. There's a known security bug that was updated late 2023 by other vendors that fixes some vulnerability with the splash screen logo usage (you can google that one for info). I think there are other security updates and possibly micro-code updates that other vendors have provided as well, but not EVGA.
 
If you don't care about those features and security patches, then it'll run 13th gen just fine. I am currently running an EVGA z690 with 13900k for example and I have no issues. I don't have APO support (not sure what I'd gain from it as I don't play games they've specifically tested with it...I'd try it, but can't), I don't use ME, and I'm just hoping for the best on any security stuff (I turn off memory integrity and some of it anyway as it impacts performance lol). So it's really up to you and what you want from the motherboard.

Nereus

ksivagn09
*snip*
After much consideration, I am going to keep the EVGA Z790 Dark Kingpin with 13900KF (got the CPU for approx. $674 before taxes here in Canada, at Canada Computers, price matching with Amazon Canada).

I am justifying saving money on getting a new motherboard, since I paid $865 at EVGA back in Jan 2023 for this board.

I'll pair it with 2TB NVME SN850X from WD and 96GB DDR5 6800Mhz RAM from G.Skill and will be using 280mm AIO from Be Quiet! Silent Loop series. My GPU will be Strix 4090 OC.

I'll undervolt the CPU, look at other settings as well.

It'll be a bit while before I build. So we'll see.

Beast of a build! Enjoy!