Question Please explain intels current lineup / sockets

[talex001]

I am looking to build another PC - mainly gaming - I have an i7-7700k system already and from what I understand that is maxed out (LGA 1150) Asus Maximus Hero MB - looking into building this other system I am seeing Gen 8, Gen 9, Series 300... I don't want to get boxed in and I am not looking for top of the line but I just don't get all these 1150 sockets types and the series 300 thrown in on some... As I have not been keeping up with hardware stuff as much as the past - it's confusing.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Well there is no difference really. There are two sockets:

LGA1151 - Mainstream
LGA2066 - HEDT

Currently Intel has the 300 series chipsets for LGA1151 with the Z390 being the top end chipset and X299 for LGA 2066.

All 8000 series CPUs will work on any 300 series chipset although for any of the K edition CPUs you want the Z390 while most of the 9000 series will work on the same socket and chipset.

The i9 series will only work on X299/LGA 2066.

Basically you first decide if you want mainstream of HEDT. The benefit of HEDT is more cores, more memory channels (4 vs 2) and a faster interconnect. The downside is usually the higher cost associated with it (boards and CPUs start at a bit higher price range).

 

[talex001]

Thanks! so basically if I get something like a core i7-9700k with a 300 series board that has the Z390 chipset I will be good to run all the 8000 and 9000 series chips?

 

[Supahos]

Correct. Z370 only 8th gen out of box z390 will run both. Note: do not buy the cheapest z370/390 boards if you plan for a 9700k or 9900k as the power delivery system isn't good enough for even stock turbo boosts

 

[jimmysmitty]

Correct. Z370 only 8th gen out of box z390 will run both. Note: do not buy the cheapest z370/390 boards if you plan for a 9700k or 9900k as the power delivery system isn't good enough for even stock turbo boosts

Actually by now any in the box Z370s might have updated BIOS for 9th gen support. However you can also look for a BIOS Flashback feature. I know a lot of the higher end Asus boards support flashing the BIOS sans the CPU (My current board has this) so he could buy it and flash the BIOS then use the CPU.

That said I would recommend the Z390 for an i7 9700K only for the best compatibility. I agree with not going cheap but mostly for the quality aspect. From what I have seen the stock 9700K runs cooler and uses less power than the 9900K but its also clocked lower stock, and boost clocks, and has not SMT.

 

[Supahos]

Only the absolute crummiest can't do it with the 9700k, any of them under $175 are likely to have issues with the 9900k

 

[jimmysmitty]

So the "Do not ever even look at these boards because they will catch fire".

 

[talex001]

Thanks for all the help!

What I was looking at was an Asus Prime Z390-P Motherboard and the Core i7 9700k only because that is a combo Newegg had for $547 and it seemed like one of the lower priced ways to get this done - This system will be used for gaming and gaming in VR and I plan on putting an RTX 2080 in it but it will also be used to process images and hidden away and I have wired internet where it will be do I am not much caring about RGB lights and wifi on board at all and it's kind of hard to figure out what is the good price point that gives me a boost over my Core i7-7700k (which does fine for now) but since I am building new I don't want to block myself in later if I want to upgrade - I know I want to use an AIO cooler and have 32GB of ram - the main other use than gaming for this system other than normal stuff is that I take astrophotos and processing those can take a long time and that is what requires the most CPU of anything I do... if my 7700k system was upgrade-able I would build it's twin but as it stands it makes no sense since apparently that is the best chip I can put in the system - if you guys have suggestions for a good build of what I am talking about I am all ears. For years I was up on all this stuff but the last time I really purpose built a system it was an Asus Sabertooth with an AMD FX 3850 which at the time was about as good as you could get... since then I have been out of the loop.

Thanks again - I really mean it.

 

[Supahos]

So the "Do not ever even look at these boards because they will catch fire".

Correct