# Best ASRock board for 8700k or 9900k?



## paulmatthew (Nov 16, 2018)

I’m almost ready to pull the trigger and build a PC rather than stick with Mac for upgrade ability reasons. I’ve decided on either the 8700k or 9900k , Noctua cooler, Fractal design case, 64GB Ram. Which Taichi board would be the best fit for these processors, the Taichi z370 or z390? I’m also planning to run at least 1 M.2 ssd to start for OS and plan to add at least another in the future if I go this route .


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## Pictus (Nov 16, 2018)

Without any doubt the z390, but make sure to update the BIOS and that
there is a good enough airflow around the motherboard VRM heatsinks
or they may get a bit too hot.


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## Sami (Nov 16, 2018)

Why asrock? Also, why "definitely the z390"? They are functionally identical platforms except the inclusion of native usb 3.1 gen 2 and wifi, but the prices are on average 25% higher. I have no reservations recommending the z370 boards for "9th gen" chips.
VRM cooling is completely overrated at stock speeds to moderate overclocks on 1151 based systems. The vrms are so efficient they have no problem dissipating heat over the package and need no real airflow. The "heatsinks" the companies put on are very questionable, and asrock in particular likes using pushpins for the vrm heatsinks on their cheaper boards meaning no good contact between heatskink and vrm mosfets and need for thick thermal pads, which decrease conductivity.


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## Pictus (Nov 16, 2018)

Sami said:


> Why asrock? Also, why "definitely the z390"? They are functionally identical platforms except the inclusion of native usb 3.1 gen 2 and wifi, but the prices are on average 25% higher. I have no reservations recommending the z370 boards for "9th gen" chips.
> VRM cooling is completely overrated at stock speeds to moderate overclocks on 1151 based systems. The vrms are so efficient they have no problem dissipating heat over the package and need no real airflow. The "heatsinks" the companies put on are very questionable, and asrock in particular likes using pushpins for the vrm heatsinks on their cheaper boards meaning no good contact between heatskink and vrm mosfets and need for thick thermal pads, which decrease conductivity.







z390 Taichi Ultimate with *old BIOS* and *no proper airflow *


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## Sami (Nov 16, 2018)

Pictus said:


> z390 Taichi Ultimate with *old BIOS* and *no proper airflow *



Can’t watch right now, what was the finding?


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## paulmatthew (Nov 17, 2018)

Sami said:


> Why asrock?


I’ve just read a lot of reviews on motherboards and they are liked as solid boards. My other choices would be Asus or Gigabyte at this point . My build pricing comes out to just over $2000 , literally $1000 cheaper than either Mac I would buy . I’m probably just going to be running stock speeds to start as I have no idea on over clocking . There’s some good info here so far .


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## Shad0wLandsUK (Nov 17, 2018)

paulmatthew said:


> I’ve just read a lot of reviews on motherboards and they are liked as solid boards. My other choices would be Asus or Gigabyte at this point . My build pricing comes out to just over $2000 , literally $1000 cheaper than either Mac I would buy . I’m probably just going to be running stock speeds to start as I have no idea on over clocking . There’s some good info here so far .


I personally use ASUS and would avoid GA like the plague.
I had three motherboards with Gigabyte and they were ok, but not rock solid.
Also, when they made the move to UEFI, my motherboard did not get a new BIOS that would make it compatible even though the board would have supported it.

I don;t know about ASRock, but for me it is certainly either MSI or ASUS


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## benatural (Nov 17, 2018)

ASRock tends to make reliable boards with low DPC latency. I own two Haswell-e boards from them and they're great.


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## paulmatthew (Nov 17, 2018)

After looking into things more , I might be better off going with the 8700K. Price compared to performance and heat generated look to be more in favor of the 8700k.


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## Pictus (Nov 17, 2018)

About heat, a very interesting reading at
https://www.techspot.com/review/1744-core-i9-9900k-round-two/
Audio workflow produces less heat than Blender/Prime/Cinebench we see in the reviews.
Anyway, I would not use anything less than a Noctua NH-D15.

http://www.scanproaudio.info/2018/10/19/intels-i9-9900k-and-the-coffee-lake-refresh/
https://techreport.com/review/34192/intel-core-i9-9900k-cpu-reviewed/6


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