Z390 ITX /M-ATX boards, any good ones? 9900K

rIcK · 14 Nov 2018 at 22:02

I have a an Asus Z370I - ITX motherboard and have upgraded to a 9900K obviously I am getting slight VRM throttling when overclocking to 5ghz+

I have recently upgraded my case to a slightly bigger Micro ATX size. Assuming an unlimited budget, what is the best option for a motherboard in ITX or MATX sizing?

IT Troll · 14 Nov 2018 at 22:31

For overclocking it has to be the Gene XI. Board layout and features are a bit niche though.

rIcK · 14 Nov 2018 at 22:38

Does this have a good VRM layout and is it available yet?

IT Troll · 14 Nov 2018 at 22:43

I believe the VRM is the best of the high end Asus boards. Buildzoid did a full breakdown.

https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/9vlqb4/buildzoid_pcb_breakdown_asus_rog_maximus_xi_gene/

In stock here.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...151-ddr4-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-6cr-as.html

rIcK · 14 Nov 2018 at 22:57

It is ashame the 5gigabit ethernet from the ATX board didn't make it's way to this considering the price.

IT Troll · 14 Nov 2018 at 23:19

There are some odd choices. Like the weird DIMM.2 slot which will steal PCI lanes from your graphics card. Ideal for all those people who want to run four M.2 drives with reduced GPU bandwidth. As you said, more LAN would have been better, especially as it is missing an expansion slot.

orbitalwalsh · 15 Nov 2018 at 13:58

@rIcK
half the price of the Gene with 10+1 phase design

ITX looking damn good too

UK RMA

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Gigabyte Z390 I Aorus Pro WIFI Intel Z390 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Mini ITX Motherboard= £169.99
1 x Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming Intel Z390 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard= £129.95

Total: £311.04 (includes shipping: £11.10)

ITX is basically a MASTER without doublers due to size , Master has the second best VRMs only out matched by Xtreme and Megs 16 phase design, and Xtreme cools a lot better then the Meg

IT Troll · 15 Nov 2018 at 14:32

Gigabyte have generally done a good job of the VRMs on their Z390 boards. The Z390I is 6+2 whilst the Z390M is 10+2 (but that is 10 doubled from 5). The let down on the Z390M is the audio codec. The Gene XI is a beefy 5 phase (spread across 10 stages).

orbitalwalsh · 15 Nov 2018 at 14:48

IT Troll said:
Gigabyte have generally done a good job of the VRMs on their Z390 boards. The Z390I is 6+2 whilst the Z390M is 10+2 (but that is 10 doubled from 5). The let down on the Z390M is the audio codec. The Gene XI is a beefy 5 phase (spread across 10 stages).

true , Aorus ITX is 6x IR3553 40amp units , Asus Gene is 10x (5 x 2 doubler) IR 3555 60amp (PWM controller is max 8 channels) , Gigabyte mATX is 5 Hi and 5 Low side PPAK (70amps) doubled

Gene uses the better designed IR units like the aorus ITX with bUDGET Matx Gigabyte using the More units plus higher amps but lower quality components handles VRM heat better then most Z390 boards

Gene and Aorus ITX should hit nice ram speeds being 2 DIMM, asus should pip it higher

rIcK · 15 Nov 2018 at 16:59

In my case I use the digital out for audio, so assuming the VRMs are up to scratch and can handle 5ghz 9900k. I imagine the z390M feels like a good choice

rIcK · 19 Nov 2018 at 23:52

Looking around this seems an excellent board for the money at around £160 with a free game

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...ket-1151-ddr4-matx-motherboard-mb-344-ms.html
MSI MPG Z390M Gaming Edge

orbitalwalsh · 20 Nov 2018 at 10:20

rIcK said:
Looking around this seems an excellent board for the money at around £160 with a free game

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...ket-1151-ddr4-matx-motherboard-mb-344-ms.html
MSI MPG Z390M Gaming Edge

would still go for the Gigabte mATX due to VRM and uk support

10+2 vs 8+1 set up of the MSI. Gigabyte have gone on a masisve U-Turn from a 80% disappointing z370 line up

IT Troll · 20 Nov 2018 at 14:30

Hardware Unboxed picked the MSI over the Gigabyte for best mATX due to it have better board features overall. This is also why I picked it over the Gigabyte (and then sold Odyssey for £28). The MSI has better audio, USB, WiFi and SLI. The MSI VRM is 8+1+1 so not quite as good as the 10+2 on the Gigabyte, but then the Gigabyte has smaller push-pin heatsinks.

mATX @ 5:27

orbitalwalsh · 20 Nov 2018 at 15:24

@IT_Troll

gigabyte missing a trick by no releasing an Aorus version of the mATX =/

push pin heatsinks are the best but all Gigabte z390 boards been designed to handle 9900k at stock speeds for 24 hours AVX workload without throttling ... though i wouldn't touch the heatsink during it haha ! and would question the life span haha

tamzzy · 23 Nov 2018 at 21:30

buildzoid on the z390 range. looks like gigabyte takes most of the wins this round.

orbitalwalsh · 23 Nov 2018 at 22:19

His comments at the start. Gigabyte have always focused on 4 Dimms over 2 compared to like ASUS. Gets them ripping but in 3/4 years time when people slamming another 16GB into their system will help in the long run .

Didn't expect Taichi phases to be that bad....

rIcK · 24 Nov 2018 at 12:32

IT Troll said:
Hardware Unboxed picked the MSI over the Gigabyte for best mATX due to it have better board features overall. This is also why I picked it over the Gigabyte (and then sold Odyssey for £28). The MSI has better audio, USB, WiFi and SLI. The MSI VRM is 8+1+1 so not quite as good as the 10+2 on the Gigabyte, but then the Gigabyte has smaller push-pin heatsinks.

mATX @ 5:27

I ended up picking up the MSI one due to hearing Gigabyte boards had a terrible bios. The overall package feels not as high quality as my Asus Z370 board which had tonnes of really nice touches, from things like included bits, padded io shield and a really slick bios.

Took the opportunity to upgrade my Toshiba 1TB NVME to a 970 evo and put in a couple of Noctua AF14 fans to replace my single 120.

Now I need to find my way around an MSI bios and get my CPU back to 5ghz hopefully without the VRM throttle this time. Anyone know any good MSI 390 or similar overclocking guides?

The following was excellent for Asus boards:

https://youtu.be/95Ujni7-fVM

IT Troll · 24 Nov 2018 at 23:44

I wouldn’t say it was great, but MSI did a live stream on Z390 overclocking. I think you might have been better of with the Gene though if you are wanting 5 GHz all core without throttling on a 9900K.

rIcK · 25 Nov 2018 at 16:30

I had all sorts of issues installing Windows 10 on my Samsung 970 EVO nvme, turned out it was mounting the USB part way through the install then giving up after multiple hours fighting it I created a PXE install from a Linux box and managed to get it installing properly.

Regarding the motherboard and overclocking I managed to munge my way through the settings, got it stable at 5.1ghz if I keep giving the cpu voltage, VRMs are not throttling at all which is great news. Prime 95 stable for around 20 mins.

Backed off to 4.95ghz with much lower voltage and decent temps.

peppi4k · 26 Nov 2018 at 00:00

you are using the Z390M gaming Edge AC?
want to buy the Board too, but had some concerns that the VRM will be throttling the 9900k