Best Motherboard for Overclocking?

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Hello,

I was wondering what everyone's opinions would be on the best motherboard for overclocking both a CPU and RAM. I was originally thinking about the Asus Maximus XI Hero but seeing some people criticise the VRAM on that board I was thinking of going with a different one, such as the MSI MEG Z390 ACE. What are your thoughts? It would be paired up with an i7-9700K. My budget is flexible.

Thanks for reading.
 
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Soldato
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Hello,

I was wondering what everyone's opinions would be on the best motherboard for overclocking both a CPU and RAM. I was originally thinking about the Asus Maximus XI Hero but seeing some people criticise the VRAM on that board I was thinking of going with a different one, such as the MSI MEG Z390 ACE. What are your thoughts? It would be paired up with an i7-9700K. My budget is flexible.

Thanks for reading.

Aorus have made the Best Z390 line up with design . Bios is improving but def best phases .

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £546.04 (includes shipping: £11.10)

unlike MSI, you've got UK rma on the board and UK rep support on here. Aorus went over the top on Z390 and pretty much all aorus boards have over kill VRMs, only the Master and Xtreme had even higher. Aorus then changed this with X570 line up and lowered the quality on entry/mid tier aorus boards lol
 
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+1 on the aurus master.using a 9700k myself my old board was an asus strix with which I could only get 4.9 stable , currently at 5.2/5.3 on the aurus master, as said above the gigabyte Z390 boards have the best vrms, one thing with the aorus master for best mem overclock its best to populate all four dims
 
Soldato
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While 9700K certainly performs in old games and games designed for Intel stagnation era hardware, for future games 8 cores/8 threads isn't much and would have to be big overclocking to counter that.
We simply aren't anymore in Core2 era when you could crank up clocks very significant 30%. (while undervolting)

For example Assassin's Creed Odyssey already scales past 8 cores:
https://youtu.be/vVjdhXAdKE0?t=1m50s
And all big budged/AAA games under development are no doubt made with 8 cores/16 threads as baseline.
Because that's what next-gen consoles will bring into mainstream in fall/before Christmas.
 
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With regards to the motherboard what difference is there between the higher-end Aorus boards are there? I could stretch my budget to include either the Xtreme, Master, or Ultra.

I hadn't given much thought to going AMD for my CPU, but I am now interested. If I were to go for an AMD CPU obviously I would need a different motherboard, but which CPU and mobo would you recommend? I would probably go for a higher-end one, such as the Ryzen 9 3900X which I can get for £440, or there is the 3950X which is a lot more expensive at £700.
 
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@EsaT

Same person, same GPU 3900x Vs 9900k
https://youtu.be/qGwEg7px2ko

AC:O .. lessor core intel just slightly leads.
M.S is lower on the Intel through out .

Zen2 and 9th gen is a close battle with Intel still leading 1080p . Zen 3 and Intel 10th will be the tipping edge for both companies

Though AMD pricing whilst gaining max profit for 16 core and 12 core leaves intel to market their 10 and 8 core at quite high prices :(
 
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Soldato
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With regards to the motherboard what difference is there between the higher-end Aorus boards are there? I could stretch my budget to include either the Xtreme, Master, or Ultra.

I hadn't given much thought to going AMD for my CPU, but I am now interested. If I were to go for an AMD CPU obviously I would need a different motherboard, but which CPU and mobo would you recommend? I would probably go for a higher-end one, such as the Ryzen 9 3900X which I can get for £440, or there is the 3950X which is a lot more expensive at £700.

Don't bother with Ultra. Master or Ultra is damn good enough, even the Pro or elite which shares same VRM set up as the Ultra - which is higher then 80% of most z370/80 boards. That's intel .
X570 wise elite is entry and does just fine with 12 core Ryzen. Pro and Ultra up VRM and features with later having WiFi then Master and Xtreme just take the p*** VRM wise . Xtreme actually is a massive waste of money comparing it to x570 master and Aorus Xtreme Thread Ripper atRX40 board !
 
Soldato
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I hadn't given much thought to going AMD for my CPU, but I am now interested. If I were to go for an AMD CPU obviously I would need a different motherboard, but which CPU and mobo would you recommend? I would probably go for a higher-end one, such as the Ryzen 9 3900X which I can get for £440, or there is the 3950X which is a lot more expensive at £700.
16 core is waste of money for gaming... unless you intend to split processing power for two people.
12 cores/24 threads handles games for long time with stuff running on background of the game.

Considering AM4's upgrade path and prices £266 8c/16t 3700X is actually that big winner.
Unlike Intel changing socket multiple times per architecture ("10th gen" will be another rebranding of 6th gen Skylake) AMD is bringing third architecture for same socket this year.
And similar IPC increase as in from Zen+ to Zen2 would kick Intel out also from single thread/game performance crown.
Unlike Intel charging same old for outdated models, AMD also lowers prices of previous gen and after Zen4 comes out Zen3s could be had from discount.
(2018's Zen+/Ryzen 2000 serie is cheap as bread)

Also in case of Ryzen you really don't do usual overclocking.
CPU automatically boosts the most heavily loaded cores near the limit of silicon and getting manual all core clocks near that is very hard especially with higher core count CPUs.
Hence gaming performance can easily decrease from manual overclocking.
Though most X570 boards (and already around £200) have overkill VRMs for also 12/16 core CPUs.
 
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Though most X570 boards (and already around £200) have overkill VRMs for also 12/16 core CPUs.

its as almost like they are testing for z470 intel boards . More 16 channel PWM controllers will be used . Testers will be all over VRM temps levels and MSI will have followed Aorus into doing Finned Heatsinks on mainstream boards

and as esat says, manually overclock ryzen only good for rendering tasks were it can shave maybe hours or a day off a workload . Power Plan can have a greater effect :) ,as well as being right for 16 core. Both 12 and 16 core have 64MB of L3 cashe but once split between cores Ryzen 3900x has the greater amount . Zen1 Days and cashe benchmark should slight advantages as there were few products with same core count but different L3 levels

@JoeBloggs199136

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £723.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)

vs


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £730.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)


Solid Mid Tier Boards - even if budget is flex gives you good idea . priced against Hero+9700k


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £730.43 (includes shipping: £10.50)​
 
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Soldato
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  1. its as almost like they are testing for z470 intel boards . More 16 channel PWM controllers will be used . Testers will be all over VRM temps levels and MSI will have followed Aorus into doing Finned Heatsinks on mainstream boards

    and as esat says, manually overclock ryzen only good for rendering tasks were it can shave maybe hours or a day off a workload . Power Plan can have a greater effect :) ,as well as being right for 16 core. Both 12 and 16 core have 64MB of L3 cashe but once split between cores Ryzen 3900x has the greater amount . Zen1 Days and cashe benchmark should slight advantages as there were few products with same core count but different L3 levels

    @JoeBloggs199136

    My basket at Overclockers UK:
    Total: £723.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)

    vs


    My basket at Overclockers UK:
    Total: £730.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)


    Solid Mid Tier Boards - even if budget is flex gives you good idea . priced against Hero+9700k


    My basket at Overclockers UK:
    Total: £730.43 (includes shipping: £10.50)
    The trouble with going with an OEM CPU is that it's been tested and found to not be a great clocker as it's the left overs from the ocuk binning process. For a few quid more you have the "chance" of getting a higher clocker.
 
Soldato
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Posts
18,514

  1. The trouble with going with an OEM CPU is that it's been tested and found to not be a great clocker as it's the left overs from the ocuk binning process. For a few quid more you have the "chance" of getting a higher clocker.

this point in time all should hit 5ghz all cores. Intel has been doing enough on 14nm lol . Like Ryzen no real point for OC as it runs 4.7ghz which is still plenty in its own right . They heat outpoint though does increase quite a bit :(
was going for the lowest pricing . Which currently Ryzen 3900 is floating at £415 mark ... nice - brings it to £700 with Viper 3733hz ram ... damn !
 
Soldato
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this point in time all should hit 5ghz all cores. Intel has been doing enough on 14nm lol . Like Ryzen no real point for OC as it runs 4.7ghz which is still plenty in its own right . They heat outpoint though does increase quite a bit :(
was going for the lowest pricing . Which currently Ryzen 3900 is floating at £415 mark ... nice - brings it to £700 with Viper 3733hz ram ... damn !
Ocuk sells the 5ghz speed binned ones though with those that dont make the cut going into the standard OEM.
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £478.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)
 
Soldato
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Ocuk sells the 5ghz speed binned ones though with those that dont make the cut going into the standard OEM.
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £478.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)

they recieve quite a bit of OEM - they build more systems then they do for binning and why they charge high prices . they aren't going to Bin test them all, not now so far into its short life span ( thanks AMD) . At the start with low volume, yep all would be tested . Main thing against OEM is not weather it can hit 5ghz all cores over 4.7ghz - its the warranty 1yr vs 3 :(

If your lucky enough to buy via distributors. Retails is same price as OEM/Tray
 
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