Motherboard selection for i5-8600

[sunsanvil]

In selecting a motherboard for an i5-8600, I at first dismissed Z370 on the notion that its pointless for anything without a K on the end of it and was shopping H370 and B360 models based on features alone. A piece over at TechSpot was brought to my attention which got me wondering though: in it they found that a particularly low end B360 board could not deliver enough power for an 8700 to maintain its all-core max turbo clock. While that would be considered by most an extreme "mis-pairing", it got me wondering where the intersection lies in terms of a Coffee Lake being "too much" for a given motherboard. By all accounts an 8400 should be aptly accommodated by just about anything, but what about an 8500...or 8600...?

Of course some will suggest playing it safe and "overbuy" a Z370 and I could just go with an MSI Z370M Mortar (only thing it doesn't have is USB3.1 G2). I'd rather take a more objective, pragmatic approach but information on a motherboard's power-to-the-CPU capability is obfuscated at best, non-existent at worst.

Non-Z boards I'm considering (all basically the same price):
MSI H370M Bazooka
MSI B360M Mortar
Asus Prime H370M Plus
Asus TUF B360M Plus Gamer


Manufacturers seem to be using B360 in "better" series compared to H370 which confuses me as the H370 is supposed to be the more upscale of the two.

Looking at Asus, is the TUF really any better built than the Prime, or is it really just a bunch of bling? The "Asus TUF Protection" reads almost verbatim the same as "Asus 5X Protection III", except the former quotes 5 Phase power, the latter 6 Phase... which on the face of it you'd think is better in the context of my main concern: driving an i5-8600.

Looking at MSI a similar situation: B360 available as "Mortar" with what looks like additional VRMs and 2nd heat sink compared to H370 Bazooka.

Its enough to give a person purchase paralysis.

 

[ritvarsdavis]

All of the boards you mentioned will run 8600 fine.
For example, I have an 8400 and a Z370P D3 (lower end of the Z370, but still a decent board with OC capabilities if I decide to upgrade later). I got that board for the same price as B360M Mortar. And it's awesome, no complaints here.

 

[sunsanvil]

I have an 8400 and a Z370P D3 (lower end of the Z370, but still a decent board with OC capabilities if I decide to upgrade later). I got that board for the same price as B360M Mortar.

Thanks for the suggestion, but their mATX version (Z370M DS3H), although priced almost the same as the B360M Mortar, doesn't even have a single heatsink on the VRMs which makes be a little nervous (yours at least has the one).

 

[ritvarsdavis]

8600 ain't overclockable anyway, so that wouldn't be a problem unless you're like me (planning to upgrade to a K chip in the future).

You strictly want an mATX build for the small form factor?

 

[sunsanvil]

8600 ain't overclockable anyway, so that wouldn't be a problem (...)

Maybe... maybe not. As I say there is some evidence that an upper end, but no overclocked, chip's under-full-load turbo boost could conceivably be limited by a mobo with lousy VRM implementation.

You strictly want an mATX build for the small form factor?

Yea I'm tired of having a monstrous P280 case with next to nothing in it....I need to downsize.

 

[ritvarsdavis]

A mid tower ATX might be the sweet spot between mini and full tower. What do you think?

 

[sunsanvil]

A mid tower ATX might be the sweet spot between mini and full tower. What do you think?

I'm enamored with the idea of a 12" cube, like the ThermalTake V21 or a CaseLabs BH4. Besides, the basic question still stands: Do I need to get a Z370 to avoid what the B360M PRO-VD did for TechSpot, or are there half decent B360 or H370s out there?

 

[ritvarsdavis]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: ASRock - H370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($90.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $90.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-02 18:11 EDT-0400

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H370M%20Pro4/index.asp

 

[sunsanvil]

ASRock - H370M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard

Question still stands though: How can know if that, or any model, has an adequate VRM stage (unless someone who has one validates it)?

If you look at Tom's review of the 8400, the plain 8400 mind you, they showed that it would happily use 117watts (under demanding load) IF the board is able to supply it as such. Now it would be nice to think that "any" board compatible with this family of chips would do so, but TechSpot demonstrated that that cannot be categorically assumed. Very low end boards probably wont cut it, top end boards almost certainly will....but where is the threshold? See what I'm getting at?