Select Micro Center Stores [store locator] have Intel Core i7-12700K Processor + MSI PRO Z690-A WiFi ATX Motherboard + 16GB (2x 8GB) G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-3200 Memory Bundle on sale for $349.99. Select free store pickup where stock permits.
Thanks to community member nellison for finding this deal.
Note: May not be available in all areas. Availability for store pickup may vary by location.
Some of the features you can see and others you'd have to look up on the companies' websites. There may be advantages to the MSI that I'm missing, and I had every intent to buy an MSI board for this upgrade because they seem to be the best overall choice nowadays. I haven't looked into the quality and number of power stages, and the MSI could be superior there for all I know.
The Gigabyte board has the following features that push it into a slightly nicer tier, whether you want them or not:
Heat sinks for all four NVME drives vs. just one
"Armor" for two of the DIMM slots
Better audio chipset
SPDIF output
Beefier VRM heatsinks?
Integrated IO shield
Built-in RGB and a reset button on board
You'll also notice the MSI board has some busy silk screening on it. This is sometimes used to hide a lack of features (so that you don't readily notice a lack of chips, slots, etc.). Again, MSI was the motherboard company I wanted to buy from because they're getting good reviews and I'm sure it's a fine board. One of the reasons it was chosen to receive coreboot was it was a good value and MSI had already sold a lot of them.
Some day I will move near a Microcenter and it will be glorious!
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Deal is still available. Need to rebuild an old media server PC that's dying on me.
This or the deal with the Asus mobo and DDR5? The RAM in that other deal is kind of scaring me, not great reviews and questionable compatibility with mobo/CPU.
its been a while since I built a pc (about 10 years), can I just plug in a NVME m.2 directly onto this board like the 2tb Samsung one amazon is offering for $99? Im use to a bunch of cables to a 3.5 IDE drive
its been a while since I built a pc (about 10 years), can I just plug in a NVME m.2 directly onto this board like the 2tb Samsung one amazon is offering for $99? Im use to a bunch of cables to a 3.5 IDE drive
Should be plug and play for the most part. You may have to unscrew and rescrew a motherboard heatsink. There's usually one screw to keep the ssd in place.
Should be plug and play for the most part. You may have to unscrew and rescrew a motherboard heatsink. There's usually one screw to keep the ssd in place.
The $350 bundle with the Gigabyte Z690 Aorus Elite AX DDR4 is still available from what I can see. They have more than 25 available of each at the Dallas store. The Gigabyte board (that's the bundle I got) is nicer than the MSI one, but the MSI one officially supports coreboot if you're into that.
More or less have had this combo since launch of 12th gen. My Gskill's are a tiny bit better but not much 16-16-16-32. I just game and browse and while a storage speed junkie paired with the latest NVMe 4 drives Samsung/WD I'm good. You will be very happy for years with this I think.
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The Gigabyte board has the following features that push it into a slightly nicer tier, whether you want them or not:
Heat sinks for all four NVME drives vs. just one
"Armor" for two of the DIMM slots
Better audio chipset
SPDIF output
Beefier VRM heatsinks?
Integrated IO shield
Built-in RGB and a reset button on board
You'll also notice the MSI board has some busy silk screening on it. This is sometimes used to hide a lack of features (so that you don't readily notice a lack of chips, slots, etc.). Again, MSI was the motherboard company I wanted to buy from because they're getting good reviews and I'm sure it's a fine board. One of the reasons it was chosen to receive coreboot was it was a good value and MSI had already sold a lot of them.
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This or the deal with the Asus mobo and DDR5? The RAM in that other deal is kind of scaring me, not great reviews and questionable compatibility with mobo/CPU.
https://slickdeals.net/f/16764125-intel-core-i7-12700k-msi-pro-z690-a-wifi-ddr5-atx-motherboard-oloy-blade-32gb-2-x-16-ddr5-6000-cl32-411-99
I haven't tried, so I can't say.
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