ROG Maxiumus VII Formula compatibility

[b.davis_117]

Will my Asus ROG Maximus VII Formula mobo(z97 chipset) work with a new Intel i5-9600k CPU or an i7-8700k CPU (both 300 series chipsets)? Or will I need a new mobo as well?

 

[jojesa]

The ASUS ROG Maxiumus VII supports 4th & 5th Generation Intel Core CPUs.
You will need a new motherboard (300 series) to support 8th and 9th Generation Intel Core CPUs and also new DDR4 RAM.

 

[b.davis_117]

Ahhhhh...that sounds expensive...

 

[jojesa]

Tell me about it...specially now that Intel CPUs are selling above MSRP.
RAM prices are slowly going down...but not enough.

What are the specs of your current system?

 

[b.davis_117]

i7-4790k, 16gb DDR3, ROG Maximus VII Formula, GTX 970

It's not so much that I need to upgrade for myself. I need to build a new system for my fiancee, who's just getting into gaming. I figured I'd upgrade my stuff and build something out of my older parts. If I'm going to upgrade though, I may as well try and future proof for a few years.

 

[jojesa]

Have you considered AMD Ryzen?

 

[b.davis_117]

I've been an intel guy forever. Never been a huge fan of AMD, and I'm not really inclined to switch. Intel also has a wider variety of compatible components, especially from ASUS, which is what I typically go for.

 

[jojesa]

I used to have only Intel systems, until my latest 2 systems built.
Besides gaming, I used multi-threaded apps, Ryzen 7 CPUs are excellent at multi-threaded tasks and good at running applications that take advantage of multiple cores.
With Intel chips I was getting a little bit of better performance in gaming but losing out in heavy multi-threaded settings.

If you build a new system for your fiancee she might not mind going with AMD.

You don't have to go with the 8700k, most gamers are better off with a mid-range CPU (i5-8500) and spending what they've saved on a better graphics card.
Any component that works on Intel 300 series chipset will work on AMD 400 series chipset.

AMD and Intel are producing CPUs that are are neck to neck of one another on nearly every front (price, power, and performance). Like the Ryzen 2700x competes with the 8700k.
Intel chips tend to offer a little better performance per core, and AMD compensates with more cores at a lower price.

 

[b.davis_117]

If I weren't planning to upgrade my own system anyway, then I'd probably go with that route. Since my plan relies on using existing components for her system though, it's ultimately more cost and performance effective to simply modernize my own system.

 

[jojesa]

I have a friend with the same CPU, that plays BF1, BF5, Fornite, PUBG, etc ... with a 1070 Ti and he gets 90FPS and above with ultra and very high settings.
Your system still very capable and should perform very well on games, so you could get a new case, place your current components on it and give it to her.

 

[b.davis_117]

That's pretty much the plan at this point