Z390 anyone?

[IITravel01]

Not only the new soldering is inferior than liquid metal, but the IHS is thicker (at disadvantage of cooling performances)



Did someone there tried macOS with the new Z390? I just bought an ASUS Z390-A to replace my old Gigabyte Z370XP SLI, but I'll keep my 8700K (that I'm considering to delid). Unfortunately manufacturers are making even less motherboards in black/white

Have you checked out the upcoming EVGA Z390 Dark motherboard? https://www.evga.com/articles/01260/evga-z390-motherboard/

 

[Michelinu]

Have you checked out the upcoming EVGA Z390 Dark motherboard? https://www.evga.com/articles/01260/evga-z390-motherboard/

Never seen their newers. does EVGA motherboards work properly with macOS?
In the past I tried with an MSI motherboard for a friend and I had a lot of problems. Gigabyte is much better (only few things to adjust) but the best ones as far as I know are the Asus ones (although they're very pricy). With the current one, even with latest FakeSMC several sensors aren't working (including one fan) and Intel Power Gadget doesn't even show the Wattage for the DRAM.

The Z390 FTW looks amazing, but I don't thing it will costs under 200 euros
I also will have to replace my GPU because it's suffering too much while gaming (21:9 ultra-wide monitor at 3440x1440)

 

[e-troc]

I was going to build a Z370 system this year but the new Gigabyte boards are looking great. Tempted to just order a Z390 AORUS ULTRA (rev 1.0) and see if I can make it work. My experience is limited, but I am persistent. Am I setting myself up for failure?

 

[planet9]

LOL, if you don't, someone else will. Me, I was temped by the Asrock Z390 Pro4 as the Asrock Z370 Pro4 is a supported board. But I made my decision based on my wallet instead and went for the Z370 Pro4. For those that do go Z390, it looks like the beefier VRM's will provide better performance for those who go for the i9-9900K. So while the Z370's may handle those 9th generation processors, the Z390's will overclock with the K-series better than the Z370.

 

[pastrychef]

LOL, if you don't, someone else will. Me, I was temped by the Asrock Z390 Pro4 as the Asrock Z370 Pro4 is a supported board. But I made my decision based on my wallet instead and went for the Z370 Pro4. For those that do go Z390, it looks like the beefier VRM's will provide better performance for those who go for the i9-9900K. So while the Z370's may handle those 9th generation processors, the Z390's will overclock with the K-series better than the Z370.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. Judging by all the reviews, there's very, very little headroom for overclocking the i9-9900K anyway.

 

[e-troc]

I am looking at the i7 9700K. It seems like Aorus Z390 / 9700K will only cost a tad more than e.g. Aorus z370 Gaming 7 / 8700K, even at release. So it's a decision between a decent performance increase vs. tried and tested setup. Well, if the 9700K can be overclocked well, that is.

 

[pastrychef]

I am looking at the i7 9700K. It seems like Aorus Z390 / 9700K will only cost a tad more than e.g. Aorus z370 Gaming 7 / 8700K, even at release. So it's a decision between a decent performance increase vs. tried and tested setup. Well, if the 9700K can be overclocked well, that is.

Everything I've seen/read indicates that once overclocked even just a little, the i9-9900K thermals and power consumption skyrocket to unreasonable levels. There's been much less written about the 9700K... From what I've been able to extrapolate, the 9700K's thermals are a bit better than the 9900K's, however, from what I've seen, I think a delidded 8700K will still run considerably cooler and consume a bit less power.

Also, I think the performance difference between the 8 cores/8 threads of the 9700K and the 6 cores/12 threads of the 8700K are extremely small. With one doing better in some situations and the other doing better in other situations. The 9700K does seem to overclock better than the 9900K due to improved thermals. I think it's reasonable to expect about 5-5.3GHz from a 9700K depending on your luck and whether the silicon gods are smiling upon you and how good your cooling system is. As for the 8700K, I think just about every example is capable of a minimum of 5GHz.

Given a choice between a 9700K or 8700K today, I would probably just go for an 8700K and delid it. I base this decision on how well Z370 runs macOS and the still unproven nature of Z390. I'm sure that as time passes, Z390 will be able to run equally as well, but it's not quite there yet today.

 

[mm2margaret]

I'm going to pass on the Z390 boards, unless my 9900K won't work in the Z370-A board I am now using.....

And, based on the reports I've seen, delidding a 8700K will give you most of what you get with a 9900K. Except the 2 additional cores and 4 additional threads, which in my case given the work I do, is important. But to most, there won't be much difference between a delidded 8700K and a 9900K.

And, some testing I've seen suggests that the solder and process Intel used does not improve temps much with a 9900K.....we'll see.

 

[pastrychef]

I'm going to pass on the Z390 boards, unless my 9900K won't work in the Z370-A board I am now using.....

And, based on the reports I've seen, delidding a 8700K will give you most of what you get with a 9900K. Except the 2 additional cores and 4 additional threads, which in my case given the work I do, is important. But to most, there won't be much difference between a delidded 8700K and a 9900K.

And, some testing I've seen suggests that the solder and process Intel used does not improve temps much with a 9900K.....we'll see.

Yeah, we've been discussing the thermals here. I'm also keeping my Z370 motherboard because it just runs macOS so well.

 

[e-troc]

Thanks everyone, good food for thought. I am eager to get as much performance as possible for future-proofing, but I suppose any new system might not hold up as long as my current one from 2012 for a variety of reasons. Maybe best to go with 8700K now and consider another upgrade in a couple years.