Question Mobo for 9900KF - Gaming

omnilicious

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Dec 7, 2011
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Hey all, I narrowed down 2 choices for a new PC build so far -

9900KF CPU and 2080TI GPU

I started looking through the Sortable comparison tables in the sticky threads, but I found myself confused pretty quickly as to what to get.

Here are some guidelines for me for the mobo:

99% gaming. 1% web surfing and Roll 20 nerdage
Not looking for a $500 board or a $30 board. I do want performance, but I'm not an enthusiast. Maybe a hobbyist?
Mostly game with a headset - but I am looking to going back to having speakers as well (should I buy a sound card or look for better integrated audio?)
I will have a large tower... I like big (towers) and I cannot lie...
I will have a closed loop system or as many big fans as I can get to keep it cool


I haven't chosen a color scheme, but it will not be red and black. I've had red and black for 5 years - time for a change. (probably just the red part - I like black)

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus was already recommended, I was looking at the ASRock Z390 Phantom's... few too many options to sort through though. (Just now learning about USB 3.1 as well). Not brand loyal... just want performance and ease of use wouldn't be too bad.
 

omnilicious

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After a ton of reading and learning (things change a lot in 5 years)...

I want to make use of an M.2 slot (or 2) for super fast SSD's, but also maintain PCIe x16 for the video card.

Also need to be able to OC the 9900kf and prefer an easier experience doing so.

Leading the pack for me right now:

ASRock Phantom 9
MSI Godlike (if I can find a cheaper one)
ASUS ROG Maximus XI
Gigabyte Aorus Ultra
 

rigg42

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I don't think you need to worry about eating up CPU PCIE lanes dedicated to GPU until you get into using 3 M.2 slots. You will start to lose SATA ports though. Just check the motherboard manual for info on which slots to use. Keep in mind that M.2 is a connector and not an interface. There are SATA and NVME (PCIE) M.2 SSD's.

Z390 DESIGNARE, Aorus Ultra, AORUS PRO (WIFI), AORUS ELITE, All have the same 12 phase VRM. The Z390 DESIGNARE has integrated thunderbolt 3 which is nice to have if you can use it. A quick glance at the AsRock leads me to believe its a solid board. Pretty hard to go wrong in the $200 + price bracket. Most should have a VRM good enough to overclock a 9900k. The BIOS on gigabyte isn't laid out the best but everything works how it should when you find the option you want in the layers of menus.
 

omnilicious

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Looking at the Z390 DESIGNARE I think it's the one. I am worried about how bad it will be to navigate the BIOS though. Not sure what Thunderbolt 3 really is aside from much faster USB port. I read up on it, but it seems like something I won't be able to make use of.

Also Intel Octane seems useful for the SSD's. I do realize the M.2 are connectors. Maybe it's because I'm reading too many different articles at once, but I'm sure I read they allow for the fastest memory access.
 

rigg42

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Oct 17, 2018
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Looking at the Z390 DESIGNARE I think it's the one. I am worried about how bad it will be to navigate the BIOS though. Not sure what Thunderbolt 3 really is aside from much faster USB port. I read up on it, but it seems like something I won't be able to make use of.

Also Intel Octane seems useful for the SSD's. I do realize the M.2 are connectors. Maybe it's because I'm reading too many different articles at once, but I'm sure I read they allow for the fastest memory access.
The BIOS isn't that bad. A bit annoying at most. You'll get used to it. I'm pretty sure the Aorus Pro Wifi and Designare are the same board besides the thunderbolt and extra LAN port.

Tom's did a review on the designare:

https://www.tomshardware.com/review...9-9900k-atx-thunderbolt-motherboard,5903.html

Primocache is probably a better way to cache hard drives. It isn't free though.
 
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omnilicious

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I read that review, which is what made me think of it as the right board. I definitely have no use for Thunderbolt, so I can look more at the Aorus Pro, but now I'm going back to the (supposedly) overpriced ASUS maximus XI, solely for the AI tuner.