Z370 motherboard for i5-8400?

[modeonoff]

Hello, I read that the i5-8400 is compatible with the Z370 along with two other types of (less expensive?) motherboards. What is the point of using the 8400 on a Z370 motherboard? Any good recommendation?

I think DDR4-3200C14 RAM requires OC. If the 8400 cannot be OC, then there is no point to get the DDR4-3200C14 RAM?

Thanks.

 

[rgd1101]

features on z370

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/h370-b360-budget-coffee-lake-motherboard-roundup,5548.html
scroll down to "The New Chipsets: Core Details"

 

[captaincharisma]

the only benefits a Z370 board has over the less expensive ones are overclocking and the ability to run multiple nvidia GPU's in SLI mode. almost all ram is overclockable because of inte'ls XMP feature

so if you plan to get the non K version of the 8400 and don't plan to run multiple nvidia GPU's then there is no sense in getting a Z370 board. as for the ram, get the best deal you can get whether its OC or not but its best to get ram from the manufacturers QVL list to avoid issues

 

[modeonoff]

Thanks. Do you mean 3200C14 will run at top speed on the Z370 motherboard even on a non-OC-able 8400?

 

[velocityg4]

Not much reason if you have no plans of upgrading to an overclock capable CPU later. The main reason people were using them was because Z370 was the only option for a while. Other reasons would be better build quality and more feature options.

Features such as
- Generally higher quality audio options
- support for higher speed RAM
- More shared PCIe lanes via DMI
- Multiple configuration options for CPU direct PCIe lans (2x8 and 1x8+2x4)
- Higher maximum PCIe M.2 ports for Intel RST
- Intel RAID (X370 and H370)
- Intel RST for CPU attached PCIe SSD (rather than having to share bandwidth via DMI)

DMI is a standard for connecting the Northbridge to the Southbridge. The 24 lanes given by X370 share the DMI link. Which works at PCIe 3.0 speed. For consumer PCs this is usually fine. Since most users don't actually need dedicated bandwidth for everything. So, those lanes are shared between the likes of M.2 PCIe SSD, SATA, USB, LAN, Audio, lower PCIe slots and other third party extras a motherboard manufacturer adds on.

Since X370 board can also split up the x16 CPU dedicated PCIe lanes. Depending on the individual motherboard you can split those 16 lanes into 2x8 or 1x8+2x4. For instance you can dedicate x8 to a video card, x4 to a PCIe SSD and x4 to a dual 10GbaseT Ethernet. You can also do x8 to two GPU, x8 GPU plus x8 dual M.2 RAID, &c.

The average user doesn't need most of this. For them B360 is fine. Even H310 is fine. Given how limited the H310 chipset is and how few perks the motherboards offer. I generally would recommend B360 as a minimum except for extreme budget builds with a Pentium Gold.

 

[modeonoff]

I have not heard of X370. Isn't it for AMD CPUs rather than Intel CPUs?

 

[captaincharisma]

Not much reason if you have no plans of upgrading to an overclock capable CPU later. The main reason people were using them was because Z370 was the only option for a while. Other reasons would be better build quality and more feature options.

Features such as
- Generally higher quality audio options
- support for higher speed RAM
- More shared PCIe lanes via DMI
- Multiple configuration options for CPU direct PCIe lans (2x8 and 1x8+2x4)
- Higher maximum PCIe M.2 ports for Intel RST
- Intel RAID (X370 and H370)
- Intel RST for CPU attached PCIe SSD (rather than having to share bandwidth via DMI)

DMI is a standard for connecting the Northbridge to the Southbridge. The 24 lanes given by X370 share the DMI link. Which works at PCIe 3.0 speed. For consumer PCs this is usually fine. Since most users don't actually need dedicated bandwidth for everything. So, those lanes are shared between the likes of M.2 PCIe SSD, SATA, USB, LAN, Audio, lower PCIe slots and other third party extras a motherboard manufacturer adds on.

Since X370 board can also split up the x16 CPU dedicated PCIe lanes. Depending on the individual motherboard you can split those 16 lanes into 2x8 or 1x8+2x4. For instance you can dedicate x8 to a video card, x4 to a PCIe SSD and x4 to a dual 10GbaseT Ethernet. You can also do x8 to two GPU, x8 GPU plus x8 dual M.2 RAID, &c.

The average user doesn't need most of this. For them B360 is fine. Even H310 is fine. Given how limited the H310 chipset is and how few perks the motherboards offer. I generally would recommend B360 as a minimum except for extreme budget builds with a Pentium Gold.

if build quality is a concern then a H370 series motherboard has the same quality of a Z370 board with few features removed vs the Z370

and yes, X370 chipsets are for AMD ryzen CPU's. leave it to AMD to name their chip sets identically to intel's to confuse customers

 

[velocityg4]

if build quality is a concern then a H370 series motherboard has the same quality of a Z370 board with few features removed vs the Z370

and yes, X370 chipsets are for AMD ryzen CPU's. leave it to AMD to name their chip sets identically to intel's to confuse customers

I'm not thinking about performance. I'm thinking quality along the lines of power stage components, isolated audio circuits, frequency of BIOS updates, &c on high end Z370 boards. Which you aren't as likely to find on H370.

Not to imply all H370 are bad and all Z370 are good. There is a lot of crossover in mid range prices. Some H370 will have those features. Perhaps not to the degree and variety of very high end Z370.

 

[captaincharisma]

if build quality is a concern then a H370 series motherboard has the same quality of a Z370 board with few features removed vs the Z370

and yes, X370 chipsets are for AMD ryzen CPU's. leave it to AMD to name their chip sets identically to intel's to confuse customers

I'm not thinking about performance. I'm thinking quality along the lines of power stage components, isolated audio circuits, frequency of BIOS updates, &c on high end Z370 boards. Which you aren't as likely to find on H370.

Not to imply all H370 are bad and all Z370 are good. There is a lot of crossover in mid range prices. Some H370 will have those features. Perhaps not to the degree and variety of very high end Z370.

if you look into the mobo in my sig which is a H series board you will see it has all those features.. the only thing it missing is SLI and overclocking ability.

in other words even though i';m on an older chipset it proves that the H series has the same quality and features you're looking for

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Motherboards/ROG-STRIX-H270F-GAMING/