Andross64

Honorable
Jan 14, 2014
39
1
10,545
Hello Tom's Community!

I've already got my i5-9600k and I need to pair a new mobo and ram with it.
I'm between a z370 and z390, but I'm having trouble finding info on which z370's are good to go out of the box for the 9th gen CPUs.
If the z370's are compatible, am I losing out on anything else by choosing one of those over a z390?
I am probably not going to overclock and if I do it won't be an insane one(I don't like gambling with expensive hardware hah.), I read that the z390 has better power delivery but I'm not sure if that's going to affect me much.

What are the differences? Which z370's are 9th gen compatible out of the box?

Thanks!
 
You will need fo make sure the z370 you are buying has a bios update to enable 9th generation compatability, otherwise the board cannot be used with a 9600k. You would need an 8th gen cpu to update the bios of an unsupported bios on z370 board.
Z390 doesnt offer really anything over a good z370 board. Some z390 boards do have better power delivery, however z370 is fine for an i5.
 

Andross64

Honorable
Jan 14, 2014
39
1
10,545
Yep already done, crazy how difficult it was to get what's honestly some really important information(thank god for toms).
I'm willing to bet that a bunch of first time builders bought a z370 with a 9th gen cpu and got screwed this year. Totally needed the z390.

But yes, I've already installed my new mobo+ram+cpu and my 5 year old build has been revitalized and is stable!
Got my ram running at 3000 with a XMP profile(this was also a new one for me, going into the bios and whatnot)

i5 4670k --> i5 9600k
8gb 1600mhz --> 16gb 3000mhz
gtx780 --> gtx1080

Thanks again everybody