The i9-9900K processor is built for the most intense builds in 2020, with gaming and threaded applications mind-bending results. This is the processor to go for if you want to build the best system for enthusiasts in 2020. The best motherboard for i9 9900k is the king of processors at the moment, but if you are reading this post, you probably already know that.
You'll need to accompany it with components worthy of housing the i9-9900K, such as adequate cooling, sufficient airflow as well as good power delivery components from the motherboard and power supply, to get the most out of the i9-9900K and drive it to its full capability.
Today we will go over the best motherboard for i9 9900k in this guide to ensure that you do not bottleneck your i9-9900K system by selecting a sub-par motherboard and really get the most out of your cash depending on what you want (mITX, overclocking capabilities, feature-packed and so on).
If you want to update your device in the future, the Z390 chipset is recommended for i9-9900K builds and offers the best future-proofing and provides better efficiency and performance than its predecessor, the Z370 chipset. If Z370 motherboards operate with Coffee Lake S CPUs such as the i9-9900K, we address the question here and in brief, yes.
Before we start this guide on the best motherboards for i9-9900K builds, for those looking to do mild overclocks It is important to remember that any Z390 motherboard provided by any top manufacturer should be enough to overclock the i9-9900K, for example, you would not necessarily need a 20-phase or so motherboard as many say, but what you really need is adequate cooling and airflow in the best motherboard for i9 9900k.
For example, concentrate on the PC case you are using (its thermal performance), installation of the case fan, and orientation of the airflow to ensure that hot air is efficiently expelled from the case.
With that said, let's move on to our recommendations for the top i9-9900K Z390 motherboards at different price points and categories, such as the top i9-9900K overclocking motherboards, as well as suggested i9-9900K motherboards of various form factors. You may be interested in other guides we have developed that include suggested power supplies for the i9-9900K, and the best performing CPU coolers for i9-9900K builds.
You need a badass processor if you're going to create a quality gaming platform, and the i9-9900K is still an incredibly capable gaming CPU. The sweet spot for many modern games is eight fast cores and sixteen threads, and because next-gen consoles come with similarly spec CPUs, it seems like in years to come the 9900K will remain a powerful gaming CPU.
That's a poor decision if you want to get a new 9900K. Instead, you can get the Ryzen 7 5800X, one of the top gaming CPUs on the market at its current price point. Or better yet the 5600X, if all you do on your PC is play games. There's the 5800X yes for those who need raw multithreading results, but the 5900X is the better option of the two because it only costs about 20 per cent more than the 5800X.
This Aorus Pro allows overclocking and you will have no problem running your i9-9900K at a complete 5GHz.
This Taichi ultimate features a solid VRM and 12-phase architecture, and using NexFETs from Texas Instruments, the VRM quality is further enhanced on top of the regular Taichi.
This motherboard blows others out of the water if you're hunting for the best benchmarks. It also runs cooler on the market than most other motherboards.
The ASUS ROG Maximus XII Gene is our top mATX choice for 2020 for micro-ATX motherboards for the i9-9900K.
The ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming ITX is the perfect option for you if you want to overclock the i9-9900K in the mini ITX form factor.
The MSI Meg Z390 GODLIKE is fitted with heatsinks that are specifically designed to channel heat away from sensitive components and give you uncompromising stability.
This one uses the LGA 1151 socket form, as many of the others, so it fits with processors of the 8th and 9th generations alike.
It comes with something they call 5-Way Optimization, which features Auto-Tuning and FanXpert 4 technology that is able to provide optimum performance with automatic overclocking profiles.
This motherboard supports the Intel Core 9th Generation i9-9900K, i7-9700K, and i5-9600K series.
The Z390 Plus Gaming has a lot of long-lasting parts made with military-grade safety that will keep this motherboard in operation for years to come.
According to this Z390 power delivery tier list, the best products from each major manufacturer with the best power delivery for the i9-9900K are the Asus Maximus XI Apex, Gigabyte AORUS Xtreme, MSI MEG Godlike, and EVGA Z390 Dark. Thanks to their top-of-the-line VRM quality and components, these will be ideal for the most extreme overclocks for the i9-9900K. For the 9900K, these motherboards will provide power delivery north of 250W.
The very best Z390 motherboard for the i9-9900K and for serious overclocking is the Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Extreme to match the flagship models against each other as the best motherboard for i9 9900k. This motherboard is as close to perfection as you can get but it comes at a price, particularly at less than $550 retail, of course.
However, this price is lower than the other flagship models such as the godlike and the extreme Maximus that sell at $600 and offers the 10 Gb LAN than neither has the Godlike or Maximus. You obtain a pair of M.2 slots for lightning-fast SSDs for storage. Alternatively, up to six SATA drives can be connected. Keep in mind that a SATA link will be used on each M.2 drive. For instance, if you install two M.2 SSDs, you can only" connect four SATA drives to them.
You get a whopping four DIMMs for storage. Long before you run out of RAM space, your i9-9900K processor would be obsolete. You'll get plenty of connection options on the back of the board. There's a single HDMI port, as well as five (three 3.0 and two 3.1) USB Type-A ports and a USB Type-C port.
The Aorus Pro allows overclocking as well. You will have no problem running your i9-9900K at a complete 5GHz, with just 3.33 volts of power, with VRM cooling. The calibration of the load line is a little twitchy, but at this price point, that isn't a big complaint.
Our favourite feature-loaded Z390 board for the i9-9900K comes with the Z390 Taichi Ultimate from ASRock, a flagship motherboard that provides all the features you might possibly ask for, including 10 GbE Aqantia NIC (or $230 without 10 GbE) to accompany the i9-9900K for $300. Controller Extra SATA, tick. Tick the four NICs. 8 SATA 3, 3 M.2, and USB Type-C are all right here.
On top of the specifications, the Taichi ultimate features a solid VRM and 12-phase architecture, and using NexFETs from Texas Instruments, the VRM quality is further enhanced on top of the regular Taichi. VRM thermal cooling is also good, so you can expect the Taichi Ultimate to drive the i9-9900K to high clock speeds.
If you don't want to spend $500+ on a Z390 flagship motherboard, but still want 90% of the features along with a good VRM, then for your next i9-9900K design, the Taichi Ultimate is the best motherboard for i9 9900k.
DDR4 RAM with clock speeds of up to 4,200MHz is sponsored by Taichi Ultimate. This is way above your normal DDR4 RAM speeds, so your RAM can be overclocked to the content of your core.
Overclocking your i9-9900K on the Taichi Ultimate is absolutely doable. You'll want to stop the automated algorithm of overclocking, however. Since it's voltage-dependent, and the i9-9900K draws very little voltage, your processor would probably end up underclocking the automatic algorithm.
You'll want to increase the BCLK, reduce the core voltage to 1.3 volts, and increase the multiplier in order to get a complete 5GHz from your i9-9900K. Fiddle around a bit with it and in no time you will have blazing fast speeds.
There are not many to choose from when it comes to budget Z390 motherboards for the i9-9900K, particularly under $200, that you can really trust for this form of construction. Gigabyte's Z390 Aorus Elite and Z390 Aorus Pro are two motherboards that we recommend for a good i9-9900K motherboard that won't limit the processor's overclocking ability.
The Aorus Elite is the cheapest Z390 motherboard with good VRM output and the ability to overclock the i9-9900K. We did not suggest this best motherboard for i9 9900k, however, since you can switch to the Z390 Aorus Pro with improved capacitors and VRM cooling for just a bit more. With this motherboard, 5.1 GHz + overclocks would be possible.
In inclusion, the addition of a USB Type C front panel is to opt for the Pro instead of the Aorus Elite, a fantastic feature that will future proof your construction as this standard becomes popular. You'll want to mount it in the first two PCIe slots if you're running a single GPU. With the first M.2 port, the third shares some bandwidth, so you can get slightly reduced speeds from that slot.
Depending on your settings, the other two M.2 slots can occupy either the PCI or SATA bandwidth. Even so, not all of these ports are going to be used by most people. You are not going to run into any difficulties in practice. That said, you get plenty of options for potential updates from a large number of slots.
A pair of 8-pin CPU power connectors are used by the Aorus Xtreme, which allows for even the most demanding CPUs. Fortunately, the i9-9900 will not even come close to demanding all of that power. This motherboard blows others out of the water if you're hunting for the best benchmarks. It also runs cooler on the market than most other motherboards.
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We prefer to look at their VRM output, cooling, and capacity for decent power delivery to the i9-9900K when it comes to determining which motherboard is better. In this scenario, the ASUS ROG Maximus XII Gene is our top mATX choice for 2020 for micro-ATX motherboards for the i9-9900K.
With an impressive 5-phase VRM architecture (5-phase Vcore and 2-phase Vgpu) compared to those called 4-phase motherboards. The Maximus XII Gene uses no duplicators and has a very impressive performance, demonstrating very little power loss in this Z390 motherboard's Buildzoids PCB breakdown.
With many retailers not stocking this best motherboard for i9 9900k in US shops, this is not the easiest motherboard to get hold of, although the XII Gene is available in most EU stores. UPDATE: One Reddit user contacted ASUS customer service and confirmed that the Maximus XII Gene was not going to be sold in the United States.
There are really no other micro ATX motherboards for the i9-9900K on offer, apart from the Maximus XII Gene, and if you want an option that will be available in the North American markets, then we suggest looking at the EVGA Z370 Micro. Since this is running on the Z370 chipset, with this microATX motherboard, it has a seriously good VRM quality and output, and we would have no hesitations in housing the i9-9900K.
Don't be fooled by the ads of many best motherboards for i9 9900k under Z390 ITX motherboards that say 8 or 10 stages while using in fact doublers and it's not really as claims-all it's advertising. Thanks to its best-in-class (for ITX) 5+2 VRM phase architecture, the ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming ITX won our pick for the best IYX motherboard for i9-9900K builds, providing reliable power delivery for overclocking the i9-9900K, and the thermals are powered down and kept cool despite the ITX form factor thanks to the powerful VRM and NVMe heatsinks of the Phantom Gaming ITX.
Dual M.2 as well as Thunderbolt 3 support, which is a very uncommon feature to be found on any kind of mini ITX motherboard in 2020, regardless of the chipset, are standout features of this ITX motherboard that make it ideal for i9-9900K builds.
The ASUS Z390I has a similar VRM architecture, but its VRM cooling is subpar and uses a VRM shield that causes compatibility problems with many CPU coolers, which is the last thing you want when building a mini-ITX i9-9900K.
Looking at the Z390 mITX competition and why the ASRock Phantom Gaming ITX is superior The AORUS Z390i Pro WiFi is another choice, but when compared to ASRock, it does not have similar VRM performance, as MSI does not have any mITX Z390 motherboards worth mentioning.
All in all, the ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming ITX is the perfect option for you if you want to overclock the i9-9900K in the mini ITX form factor. If you have yet to determine what to house your i9-9900K SFF build in then we suggest that you review our guide for our favourite SFF builds mini-ITX enclosures.
Along with dual M.2 slots, it has a PCIe x16 slot that can each accommodate NVMe-M.2 SSDs. In other words, as well as downloading a new GPU, you can get transfer speeds of 4 GB/s. The Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/AC, on the downside, only supports 3.4GHz processor speeds, even with overclocking. So you are not going to be able to make the most of your i9-9900K.
You also get four SATA 6G connectors, in addition to the M.2 slots, which can accommodate regular 3.5 and 2.5-inch drives. There is also an M.2 Key E for WiFi on the board and can accommodate up to 32 GB of RAM. No problems here with memory or networking!
The Z390 Phantom GAMING-ITX/AC best motherboard for i9 9900k provides you with plenty of options when it comes to peripherals. There is an HDMI port, as well as a video DisplayPort 1.2, and a Realtek ALC1220 sound output link. Four USB 3.1 Type-A ports are also available, and a pair of USB 3.1 ports allow Thunderbolt connections.
We're not sure if the name of this motherboard refers to its intense overclocking capacity or its astronomical price tag, but there's no question that the MSI Meg Z390 GODLIKE is by far the best Z390 motherboard you can buy for i9-9900K.
You will go well beyond the maximum stock clock speed of 5 GHz by combining the two together and achieve excellent efficiency when playing games and using challenging apps. The MSI Meg Z390 GODLIKE is fitted with heatsinks that are specifically designed to channel heat away from sensitive components and give you uncompromising stability.
Using the Mystic Light Infinity RGB lighting device from MSI, you can bring the motherboard to life, which allows you to personalize your PC with 16.8 million colours and 29 effects with the Mystic Light App.
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Next up, we're looking at Designare's Gigabyte. This is a very sleek looking board that will make any computer setup that is open-faced look sweet. This one uses the LGA 1151 socket form, as many of the others, so it fits with processors of the 8th and 9th generations alike.
It comes with unbuffered DDR4 DIMM slots for your RAM cards that are dual-channel, non-ECC. With a direct contact heat stream, it also has an advanced thermal design that works to increase heat dissipation on the board.
This is one of the few boards that also work with USB-C ports. Overall, for different aspects, this is an excellent board: gaming, video editing, graphics, and so much more.
The WS Z390 Pro from ASUS is one of the best motherboards for the i9 9900k that money can buy for the i9-9900k processor. It was designed for Intel Core processors of the 9th Gen, but will also work just as well with versions of the 8th Generation.
It comes with something they call 5-Way Optimization, which features Auto-Tuning and FanXpert 4 technology that is able to provide optimum performance with automatic overclocking profiles.
It also has an integrated audio chip with high definition, which is designed to provide excellent audio quality to the stock. That means you do not need an additional audio card, making space for other parts of your device to be updated. From the ground up, ASUS engineered this board with cooling in mind, so the board runs at cooler temperatures overall, helping to prolong its life even further.
For the i9-9900k, the MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk is one of the best that you can find. It has plenty of features, and the number of Intel processors that are supported is very flexible. Of course, as you would suspect, this motherboard supports the Intel Core 9th Generation i9-9900K, i7-9700K, and i5-9600K series.
On top of that, thanks to the LGA 1151 socket, you'll have no problem using processors from the 8th Generation Intel Core series as well. The motherboard works with a variety of other Intel-based CPUs, but the i9-9900k would find the most use out of it.
MSI's Tomahawk comes with DDR4 dual-channel memory slots, a few fast M.2 slots, and plenty of overclocking support. You also have a fairly crowded IO, offering you plenty of USB 3.1 ports, audio ports, display technology, and more.
Of course, if you're mainly into gaming, then you certainly want something you can depend on, especially when playing some of the higher-end games with higher hardware requirements. Having said that, just that the TUF Z390-Plus Gaming is made.
The Z390 Plus Gaming has a lot of long-lasting parts made with military-grade safety that will keep this motherboard in operation for years to come. It will work with most Intel Core series processors of both the 9th and 8th generation, but with this one, you could get the most value out of the i9-9900k.
You can also use this one with overclocking technology, as Intel's Turbo Boost technology is completely capable of handling the ASUS TUF-Z390 Plus Gaming. Gamer's Guardian with Secure Slot and Fan Xpert 4 is actually some proprietary technology from ASUS built-in to assist. Both of these innovations sit at the hardware level, keeping the components protected when overclocking gets out of hand, as well as the board itself.
The Intel Core i9-9900K as the best motherboard for i9 9900k was first launched in October of 2018 and is still among the fastest CPUs on the market. It's Intel's response to the Ryzen processor AMD, which has driven Intel out of the gaming business for many years.
Using the LGA 1151 socket and the Z390 chipset, the aim was to create a multi-core processor capable of multi-threading. There are now later models of the 9th gen i9 available, but they only provide minor improvements over the 9900K.
You get 8 cores, 16 threads, a 3.6GHz base frequency, and a 5.0GHz maximum clock speed. This makes it quicker, at a comparable price than any current AMD processor. It excels at hyper-threading, in particular.
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