Question Help choosing a Z390 high-end motherboard

[Sargas]

Hi everyone,

GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS ELITE vs MSI MPG Z390 Gaming PRO Carbon vs ASUS ROG Strix Z390-F Gaming

I'm trying to decide which one of these motherboards to buy for my new computer. Can you help me, please?

GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS ELITE
MSI MPG Z390 Gaming PRO Carbon
ASUS ROG Strix Z390-F Gaming

I must say I've used the Raison John Bassig's motherboard database thoroughly (thanks to him for such a great work). I think these three are a good balance between what I want and what I can afford.

Rest of the system will be:

• i7-9700K (already own it)
• Kingston HyperX Predator 3000 Mhz CL15 (HX430C15PB3K2/16) - 2x8GB
• GTX 1060 6GB (already own it)
• Corsair TX750M (already own it)

What I'm looking for:

• Stable operation (I've heard bad things about the Gigabyte's model, specially BIOS).
• Good components and build quality (MOSFETS, inductors, capacitors...).
• I live in Southern Spain. Winters are very mild and the rest of the year, weather is very hot. I'm not planning to overclock CPU, but I want to rest assure VRM MOSFETS work with the lowest temperature possible air cooling can provide.
• Good support.

Any comment or suggestion will be more than welcome.
Thank you very much!

 

[Lutfij]

If you don't own the rams, get a DDR4-3200MHz dual channel ram kit. It'll help with your platform. How old is the PSU?

As for the boards, either one will do but Asus and MSI have been having trouble in terms of support, i.e with the BIOS and RMA'ing. If you were to look at Audio, then the Asus. Gigabyte is the only board of the three that is equipped with a Realtek NIC.

Also, if you're not going to be overclocking, at all, then either board will do. FYI, DDR4 made to run anywhere above 2133MHz is an overclock so you will be overclocking the IMC on the processor.

 

[Sargas]

Hi Lutfij, thank you very much for taking the time to help me.

If you don't own the rams, get a DDR4-3200MHz dual channel ram kit. It'll help with your platform.

Well, I've considered purchasing G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200MHz CL14 (F4-3200C14D-16GVK), but they cost like 60€/66$ more and I thought "well, I don't think I'll notice much difference between 3000 and 3200, and the latter is 50% more expensive" (Spanish pricing).
For the same price, I could go for a 3200 CL16 instead of CL15...

...the latency would be the same
15 * 2000 / 3000 = 10 ns
16 * 2000 / 3200 = 10 ns

...and the bandwidth a bit higher
DDR4-3000:
64 * 4 * 3000= 76.8 GB/s
DDR4-3200:
64 * 4 * 3200= 81.9 GB/s

I read this article here at Tom's Hardware and well, I do use Handbrake sometimes but I can't see much difference between 3000-CL14 and 3200-CL14 in gaming or productivity that makes me want to pay a 50% more haha.
Please, correct me if I'm wrong!

How old is the PSU?

One week 😅. I bought the CPU and the PSU together because I got a good discount.

Gigabyte is the only board of the three that is equipped with a Realtek NIC.

Oh, I thought it's equipped with a Intel® i219v. Is there a lack or boost in performance (or reliability) with a Realtek NIC?

FYI, DDR4 made to run anywhere above 2133MHz is an overclock so you will be overclocking the IMC on the processor.

Thanks! I thought 2666MHz was the baseline for OC on a 9700K. I'm a bit lost I guess!

Thank you again for your prompt reply!