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?

rIcK · 14 Nov 2018 at 22:38

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

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.

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

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

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.

rIcK · 26 Nov 2018 at 00:02

peppi4k said:
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

Yep, no throttling from my short use so far. Seems a good board.

rIcK · 30 Nov 2018 at 21:00

The board is really stable lovely piece of kit, no VRM issues at all and things laid out reasonably well to allow me to pull out NVME SSD.

Having some issues with my CPU staying at max frequency 24/7. Did a factory reset on my BIOS, low/balanced power mode in Windows 10 and still no luck.

I stripped out a lot of stuff from Windows 10 so gonna try a fresh install to a spare SSD I have lying around to see if that fixes my issue.

rIcK · 1 Dec 2018 at 04:16

peppi4k said:
how can you say you have no VRM issues if the CPU doesnt hold the clockspeed?
about how much speed do we talk here? its just the normal stock speeds or any overclock?

I think you misunderstand it holds the clocks perfectly, rather than stepping down to lower clocks as expected when not in use. A fresh windows install fixed this issue though.

rIcK · 3 Dec 2018 at 20:40

Someone asked for some VRM temps, here is my MSI Z390M - 5ghz 9900k at 1.29v after some Prime95.

Running Noctua fans basically as slow as they will spin, RTX 2080Ti kicking out heat into my case and a Noctua NH D15. You cannot really see in my case, but hopefully gives some ideas.

rIcK · 3 Dec 2018 at 21:29

lowdog said:
@rIcK

I thought the Noctua D15 blocked the first pcie 16 slot on this mobo…..that's what Noctua compatibility checker says anyway.

I guess not, fits in mine have use of both PCI-E slots. The memory is a little tight and I had to move the fan up slightly but other than that it all fits fine.

tamzzy said:
Your MOSFETs are 66c after (only) 2 mins, if I see it correctly. Could you perhaps run prime for say 30mins and record the mosfet temps please?

I cannot do 30 mins, but 10 mins it is completely stable in temps, do bear in mind this is basically silent with barely any fan movement.

rIcK · 3 Dec 2018 at 21:43

lowdog said:
MOSFETs are at 82C that's pretty toasty, if I were you with that board and cpu I'd just run it stock with that cooler.....if you really have to overclock it to 5GHz then I'd be going custom water loop for the cpu and have a fan blowing over the vrm heatsink sink to keep the vrm cooler.

82C is completely fine given the circumstances, who runs prime95 24/7 with low fan speeds? That is a completely unrealistic workload, real world it barely goes above 60C even during my heavy usage. Adding some more fan RPM would fix any issues if they were to come up.

rIcK · 19 Dec 2018 at 20:34

To add to this been very happy with my motherboard, the game code makes it a little bit cheaper if you sell it. Run 24/7 at 5ghz with no throttling.