Best Motherboard for i7 13700K

ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E

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The ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E packs just the right amount of features for anyone looking to find the best motherboard for gaming. It comes at an MSRP of $499 which lies in the upper midrange of prices. To cut back on pricing, the board has done away with the backplate that is often featured in motherboards. However, its absence is not particularly noticeable. The aesthetic of the motherboard is a solid black base color interspersed with gray design elements.

As far as the specs are concerned, the board features the Z790 chipset. This means that it can support both the latest Intel 12th and 13th Gen CPUs and DDR5 RAM. The board’s 90A VRMs coupled with ASUS’ easy-to-access BIOS settings mean you can easily tweak your system to overclock both your CPU and RAM to maximum speeds without experiencing any instability issues.

The board includes multiple M2 slots and a PCIe x16 Gen 5 slot. The result is support for even the most high-end graphics cards, such as the RTX 4090, that are available in the market today. The M2 slots will allow for plenty of high-speed storage should you so require it. The board also features a large number of USB ports including one of the latest USB 3.2 Gen2x2. You don’t get USB 4 (twice as fast as USB 3.2), but chances are this would have very little bearing on your gaming experience. 

All in all, the ROG Strix Z790-E is an excellent motherboard for the price at which it comes. It features all the necessary components that make for an excellent gaming experience without adding unnecessary extras. All these factors combined make this the best motherboard for the i7 13700K and we would highly recommend going with the Z790-E if you intend to extract the maximum performance out of your i7-13700K.

MSI MEG Z690 ACE

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Coming at the rather steep price of $549, the MSI Z690 ACE is one of MSI’s higher-end motherboard offerings and features a very minimalist look devoid of any RGB lights. The motherboard has a solid black look with golden accents. In terms of size, this motherboard is a bit thicker and heavier than the usual Z690 motherboards, thanks to its massive heatsinks. As its name implies, the motherboard features Intel’s Z690 chipset, supporting Intel’s latest 12th and 13th (with BIOS update) generation processors. To enable stable overclocking of these (already) high-end processors, the MEG Z690 features a 19+1+2 phase power scheme. 

Being based on the Z690 chipset, some of the other notable highlights of this motherboard support DDR5 memory sticks, PCIe 5, and Thunderbolt 4 ports. The result is unmatched multitasking capabilities and lightning-fast app loading and data transfer speeds. So, whether you run heavy simulations, are an avid gamer, or create demanding 4K video content, this motherboard won’t come your way. Other features include multiple USB 3.2 ports (two of which are Type-C), M2 Gen4 slots for high-speed storage, and 2.5G LAN. A WiFi 6 module is also included in case you need it.

All in all, this is an excellent, feature-rich board and is one of the best motherboards for i7-13700K. The price is a bit higher than most motherboards in the market that offer mostly similar features. However, this extra price is often compensated by better build quality or better heat sinks which increase the overall life of your system. Therefore, we would highly recommend buying this motherboard if you have the money to afford it.

MSI MPG Z790 Edge

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The MSI MPG Z790 comes with a price tag of $369 which is a little too much to ask for a motherboard but it generally does offer what is expected from motherboards at this price. It features a black and silver design aesthetic. The PCB is a low-profile dark black while the casings on top of components such as the M2 slot feature a silver color scheme.

Based on the Z790 chipset, the board comes with support for both the 12th and 13th Gen Intel processors. The 16+1+1 phase 90A power delivery provides adequate room for overclocking these high-end processors with ease. The more important bottleneck is going to be whether your CPU can perform adequately. As mentioned in its name, this motherboard supports up to 128GB DDR4 RAM sticks, which is a shame. That being said, the real-world performance differences between DDR4 and DDR5 are not very significant either. So, you are not losing too much.

Other notable features of the board include 5 M2 slots, 10 USB ports, 2 PCIe 16x slots. One of the PCIe slots is PCIe Gen 5.0. However, like DDR5, this too is a feature that is overkill for almost everyone. This is because even the latest and most powerful graphics card by Nvidia, the RTX 4090, can run just fine on PCIe Gen 4.0. For Internet connectivity, the board offers 2.5GBe and WiFi 6, which are adequate for most users.

Should you buy this motherboard? The obvious answer is that it depends. However, jokes aside, this motherboard is for you if you are a high-end gamer or a content creator and are looking for something that won’t come in your way whether you want to add the fastest card to your system or overclock your i7-13700K to its limits without worrying about odors of burning plastic.

GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS Master

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Coming at the rather steep price tag of $499, the GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS Master is one of GIGABYTE’s high-end motherboards and as such sports many of the features that are often not found in more affordable motherboards. The motherboard features a black and gray color scheme, a departure from its predecessor’s (Z690) all-black PCB design.

The AORUS Master is one massive motherboard. However, this is mainly owed to its massive heatsinks that enable its 105A stages, 20+1+2 phase VRMs to push Intel’s 12th and 13th heavyweight processors to their ultimate overclocking limits without breaking a sweat. Truth be told, you are more likely to hit the limits of your CPU cooler’s heat dissipation before this motherboard causes any issues.

Besides its extreme overclocking capability, other notable features of the Z790 AORUS Master include support for the latest DDR5 memory, 10G LAN for ultrafast internet access, and PCIe Gen 5. There is also a plethora of USBs, including Type C, on this motherboard. However, some have complained about the absence of USB 4, Thunderbolt 4, and the use of the older ALC1220 audio codec. In our opinion, however, except perhaps the use of ALC1220, this board is already quite an overkill for most users.

So, is this the best motherboard for i7 13700K? I’d contend no. Now, don’t get me wrong. This is an excellent motherboard in its own right. However, its predecessor offers almost identical features (the features that matter, anyways) for a significantly discounted price of $350. The Z690 too includes LGA 1700 socket, 105A power stages, DDR5 support, and 10GBe Ethernet, for example.

As a rule of thumb, you should spend half your gaming budget on your CPU and GPU and the remaining half on the rest of the components. So, unless you’re building a $2000-3000 rig, this motherboard might not be your best bet.

ASUS Prime Z790-A WiFi DDR5

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At a price of $300, the ASUS Z790-A WiFi DDR5 is neither cheap nor premium. It is an upper midrange motherboard that seeks to provide a decent set of features. ASUS has tried to add a futuristic space-y look to this motherboard with silver-colored slot covers mounted on top of a black PCB which is more likely to appeal to gamers than other users.

Based on the Z790 chipset, this motherboard has built-in support for all of Intel’s latest 12th and 13th Gen processors. The 16+1 VRM power phases provide significant headroom for overclocking your processors. The board also features support for DDR5 RAM. However, DDR5 is unnecessary for the vast majority of users. So, it would have made more sense if ASUS went with the DDR4 standard to allow users to save on both the motherboard and the RAM a little.

Unlike a number of motherboards we have reviewed, including the $500 GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS Master, the ASUS Prime Z790-A does come with Thunderbolt 4 support on the front-panel header which supports up to 40GB/s data transfer rates and 100W fast charging. This can really come in handy if you are a content creator or are simply someone who frequently needs to quickly recharge their phone.

Like most motherboards, this one too comes with a PCIe Gen 5 slot, which like DDR5, is overkill for most users. For network connectivity, the board features 2.5G Ethernet and WiFi 6 support. The latter is pretty much the only significant difference between Z690 and Z790 based motherboards.

So, is the ASUS Prime Z790-A WiFi DDR5 the best motherboard for i7 13700K? Well, the board makes a pretty compelling case for itself, especially if you are upgrading your old system. However, if you already have a Z690 based motherboard, you are not likely to gain much from upgrading to Z790 as Z690 boards can support 12th and 13th Gen Intel processors just fine with a BIOS update.

MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk WiFi

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The MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4 comes at the upper midrange price of $320. It has a decent combination of features that is going to be acceptable to most users who can afford it. The motherboard has a very simple, elegant all-black design, free from the flashy RGBs, a trend that an increasing number of motherboard manufacturers are catching up on. That being said, RGB headers are included on the upper half of the board if that is your thing.

Zooming inside the E-ATX form factor motherboard, we find the 18 phase 90A VRMs which provide sufficient headroom to overclock your most demanding Intel 13th Gen processors to their limits. Some people, however, might be disappointed by the fact that there is no DDR5. While motherboards at this price point often include DDR5, the RAM sticks themselves are much more expensive than DDR4 ones without significantly improving day-to-day PC usage for the vast majority of users. So, you probably are better off without it.

Moving on, another highlight of this motherboard is the premium Realtek ALC4080 codec which produces excellent audio output, something that even expensive motherboards often seem to lack. There are also 10 USB ports on the backside, two of which are Type C.

What might not, however, sit well with some users is the noticeable absence of the PCIe Gen5 M2 socket, especially at this price point. As a result, you won’t be able to take advantage of the extreme read/write speeds offered by the latest SSD. If this is a dealbreaker for you, perhaps you might benefit from reading our reviews of some of the other motherboards mentioned in this article.

In summary, if you can live without DDR5 and PCIe Gen5 M.2, this is the best motherboard for i7 13700K PC and you can overclock it to its upper limits!

MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi

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The MSI MPG Z690 Carbon WiFi, at around $300, is a mid-range motherboard particularly geared toward those with massive, high-speed storage needs. As its name implies, it features a standard, run-of-the-mill dark black color scheme that might come across as a little boring to some. However, the dragon logo does light up when the system to the left of the CPU socket does light up when you turn the system on. So, there is that.

Like most higher-end motherboards, this one too is quite bulky. The weight is mainly attributable to the massive heatsinks that cool the VRMs (20x75A) that enable heavy overclocking of your i7-13700K CPU. After so many reviews, overclocking seems to be a moot point as almost every $300 plus motherboard provides sufficient headroom for overclocking and your main bottleneck is your CPU cooler.

The area where this motherboard really stands out is in the number of M.2 slots that are included in it. While most motherboards often contain at least one and a maximum of three M.2 slots, this one includes a whopping five M.2 slots. In other words, the MPG Z690 Carbon enables you to store gargantuan amounts of data in very high-speed NVMe SSDs. Content creators who regularly create loads of 4K or 8K videos will particularly benefit from this option.

The area where this motherboard could do better, however, is in USB ports. On the backside I/O panel of the board, while there are plenty of USB ports, a considerable number of them are USB 2.0. Some might even find the mere presence of such an old standard on a $300 motherboard outrageous. But it is what it is.

So, should you buy this motherboard? Well, like most motherboards mentioned in this article, if compatibility and overclocking is your only concern, then this is one of the best motherboard for i7 13700K. However, beyond that, you are most likely to benefit from this particular motherboard if you create, read, update, and delete massive amounts of data in relatively short lengths of time.

MSI PRO Z690-A

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At an MSRP of $220, the MSI PRO Z690-A is one of the more affordable motherboards among all those that we have reviewed in this article. As a result, the feature set it offers is also relatively more modest than some of the other boards we have mentioned. As is often the case with MSI mobos, this one too features a simple black colored design scheme with little to no accents.

Despite its modest feature-set, this is still one capable motherboard that can handle any 12th Gen (and 13th Gen after BIOS update) Intel CPU just fine. However, its 14+1+1 power phase design means that you shouldn’t buy Z690-A if extreme overclocking is on your mind. Memory support is similar to most other boards, even some of the more expensive ones, in that it can support up to 128GB of DDR4 with speeds up to 5200 MHz. This is going to be just fine for most people.

Coming towards connectivity, the Z690-A features a total of 8 USB ports on its back panel, which also includes a Type-C port too. Among the rest, there are three USB 3.0 ports, and four USB 2.0 ports. At this price point, the presence of USB 2.0 should be acceptable to most people. One of the drawbacks of this motherboard is that there is not a single PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot. This means that, going with this motherboard, your options for high-speed storage are going to be more limited.

So, who should buy this Z690-A? I believe that this board is going to be most suitable for someone who is on a budget and is willing to get the best buck for their money. Despite its modest overclock capability, the $80 you save going with this board would allow you to upgrade from i5 13600K to i7 13700K which will even out any benefits that overclocking offers. In my opinion this is the best motherboard for i7 13700K and you won’t regret this decision.