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If you are building a high-quality gaming rig with the beast Intel i9-9900k processor then which would be the best motherboard for the i9-9900k? Let's find out in this guide The i9-9900k is one of the most powerful processors to get in 2020 which is mainly designed to fulfil the needs for top-notch gaming. To achieve maximum capabilities of this processor you must have to get other worthy components such as decent cooling options, efficient power supply unit right out from your motherboard and a Best PC Case as well. The motherboard is always the most important and performance effective component of a computer deciding which motherboard is best for you could be a tough choice to make, If you are struggling to make your decision then this guide is for you. In this guide we are going to review Top 10 Motherboards for i9-9900K, which includes some budget options for those that are a little tight on budget apart from that we have the best mid-range and High-end motherboard options for i9-9900k featured in this list as well. As there are decent numbers of gamers who always prefer a motherboard that comes with high overclocking potential so we have also listed the best i9-9900k Motherboard for overclocking. Short Info for Intel i9-9900k Processor: The Intel Core i9-9900k is a high-end 64-bit processor based on the Coffee Lake microarchitecture. It comes with the 8 total cores and 16 threads. The i9-9900K operates at 3.6GHz base clock with 95-Watt TDP while it can achieve Turbo Boost frequency up to 5.0 GHz. This chip comes with the UHD Graphics 630 IGP as the integrated graphics which operates at 350 MHz with 1.2 GHz burst frequency. The processor is pretty capable to support 128 GB dual-channel DDR4-2666 Memory. List of Top 10 Motherboards for i9-9900k 1. Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO Starting our list with the Best Budget Motherboard for i9-9900k. If you are on a tight budget and looking at the best option under 200$ then the Gigabyte Z3890 AORUS Pro is going to be the most decent option that isn’t going to limit the processor's overclocking potential. This board is specially designed with keeping thermals and speed in mind for Intel’s 9th Gen processors. Along with 9th Gen it's also supportive with 8th Gen Core i9, i7, i5, and i3, Celeron, and Pentium processors. It comes with the very attractive orange and black color combination with the orange colored AORUS signatures on the top left corner and with the eye-catching orange strips on the board. AORUS Pro comes with the complete RGB Support and a redesigned RGB fusion application that enables users to have complete control over RGB LEDs on this board. Talking about the VRM Designs as it uses the 12+1 Phases digital section which is a very enhanced upgrade from Z370. It also comes with the additional 8+1 Solid pin CPU Power Connectors that helps you to achieve top-notch performance from the intel 9th gen processors. You can find total PCIe slots with this board which includes 1*PCIe 3.0 x 16 + 1*PCIe 3.0x8 for your graphics interference however it offers enough options for the expansion slots which includes 1*PCIe 3.0x4 + 3*PCIe 3.0x1. Thanks to the smart fan 5 technology that helps users change their fan header location to the different thermal sensors at different locations on the motherboard. It also keeps users up to date with the temperatures, flow rate, and other cooling related details on this board. The excessive memory support will not let you run out of memory as it comes with four Dual Channel DDR4 DIMMs. Z390 AORUS pro offers you lots of different options when it comes to storage. It comes with a total number of 6 storage ports which are pretty capable of connecting 6 SATA drives at a time or two M.2 lighting-fast SSDs with 4 SATA hard drives. Thanks to the Gigabytes smart fan technology that allows users to interchange fans header location to the different thermal sensors at different locations on the motherboard that helps users to keep their cool. It also keeps the user updated with the airflow rate, temperature, and other cooling relevant terms of the board. The overclocking support of AORUS pro is pretty awesome that enables your i9-9900k run on Turbo Boost mode with 5.0 GHz frequency without any conflict by using 3.33 Volts only. 2. ASUS ROG Maximus XI Gene Z390 MicroATX is one of the most selling and popular motherboard’s form factors, just from the last few years people started considering it for gaming as well. If you are looking for the Best MicroATX Motherboard for i9-9900k then Asus ROG Maximus XI Gene Z390 is the best option for you. ROG Maximus XI Gene Z390 offers you a couple of x16 ports that enable you to have dual GPU Setup with your system. Selecting a dual GPU setup will limit you to have an additional sound setup but yet the board's original sound card is quite good and probably you will not feel the need for an additional sound card. Just like other MicroATX boards it offers you a pair of RAM slots that are capable of holding up to 64 GB which is pretty enough to run every game available in the market right now. Along with Intel 9th Gen and 8th Gen Processors it also supports previous generations processors as well. Talking about the storage capability Maximus XI Gene provides you plenty of storage options as it offers you support for four M.2 Drives for unthrottled speed transfer and the remaining two slots are under M.2 heatsink. The Cooling support of Rog Maximus is pretty impressive as you get dedicated water-cooling zones that enable you to connect additional Water cooling systems along with that you get M.2 Heat sink and flexible fan controls to maintain proper airflow in your system. The most Impressive feature which I found with this board is its onboard clock generator that enables you to make almost every little adjustment with your board. If you are not that familiar with overclocking then this is definitely for you as Maximus XI Gene’s AI overclocking helps you to overclock any processor by just pressing a button. Talking about the gaming connectivity it comes with the Intel Integrated WiFi card with MU-MIMO support that enables you to achieve lightning-fast data transfers, You also get Intel Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 3.1 Gen 2 Ports, and two USB 2.0 Ports The AURA RGB lighting and it’s synchronization with the compatible product’s ecosystem will enable you to achieve an endless unique gaming experience. Asus Ramcache III technology also gives an edge to this motherboard as this technology recognizes frequently used files and caches within the memory that helps a lot you improve loading speed on those files. It won't have that much effect while you are gaming but for sure it will be highly effective when it comes to boot time. 3. Gigabyte B365M DS3H If you are on a tight budget and you can’t afford to buy a Z390 motherboard then Gigabyte B365M DS3H is the best alternative and the Best Budget Motherboard for I9-9900k that is mainly designed for high durability. Including Intel 9th and 8th Gen processors it also supports the previous Generation processors as well such as i7, i5, and so on. Just like the other Gigabyte Motherboards the B365M DS3H also offers you a Gen3 x4 2280 M.2 Connector for SSD and to provide you extensive storage option it comes with the six SATA slots to run your hard drive. It offers you 4 DIMMs Dual Channel Non-ECC unbuffered DDR4 Ram which is pretty capable to hold up to 64 GB at 2666MHz frequency which is sufficient for multitasking and gaming. The B365M DS3H offers you PCIe 3.0 x16 slots that can be used to run high-performance video cards to achieve high frame rates for gaming, Along with that it also comes with PCIe Express x1 and x4 slots that allow you to connect additional Add-ons. As this motherboard is mainly designed for durability so to improve durability it comes with Gigabyte’s double locking bracket that keeps securely fixed PCIe slots to the motherboard. DualBIOS design of this board offers you more security as having a secondary backup BIOS will help you to recover your system in the future if you face any critical problem. Gigabyte’s Smart Fan 5 technology makes this board more supportive in terms of cooling as Smart Fan 5 allows users to interchange the fan headers to reflect it to any thermal sensor located at different locations on the board. Smart Fan 5 Technology receives flow rate information for almost every second thanks to the Hybrid Fan Pin Header that helps users to achieve complete control over the air or the liquid cooling setup. The support for the RGB light strips in 7 colors helps you achieve any set of lighting which is more eye-friendly to you. Also Check: B450 vs x470 Best Gaming Motherboard? It comes with the Gigabyte RGB Fusion APP that allows users to watch the current status of their motherboard i.e CPU Temperature, CPU Usage, LAN Speed, System Temperature with your phone without interrupting your gaming experience. It also gives you complete control over the RGB Lighting setting that helps you to achieve any lighting of your choice from your phone. 4. ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate If you are interested in the ATX Motherboard that offers you multiple expansion slots, storage options, and multiple GPU connectivity then The ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate is the best Mid-Range ATX Motherboard for i9-9900k. The Design and looks of the Z390 Taichi Ultimate is something that personally attracted me a lot to this board as you must have noticed the same thing as well if you haven’t had a look at its design. To provide you broad connectivity It comes with the 3 PCIe 3.0x16 and 2 PCIe 3.0 x 1 that enables you to connect any Graphics Card and Sound card of your choice with this motherboard. Multiple expansion slots enable users to have multi GPU setup, If you are one who is looking for multiple GPU setup then this might be a considerable option for you. Talking about the storage connectivity it comes with the support up to 8 SATA Connections while using a single M.2 Slot. But If you are interested in using two M.2 slots for SSD then you might have to compromise some of your SATA slots but yet they are enough to fulfill your broad storage requirements. It comes with the four DDR4 RAM Slots that are pretty capable to hold up to 128 with the clock speed of 4,200 MHz which is far beyond your gaming needs. Addition of AQUANTIA 10GB/s BASE-T Ethernet was mainly designed to offer blazingly fast 10 GB/s Transfer speed over CAT6 cable for extensive media, workstation, and Gaming PC. Taichi Ultimate comes with the automatic overclocking algorithm that sets overclocking which is based on the voltages. To achieve blazing fast 5GHz speed of i9-9900k you must have to increase the BCLK and the core voltages up to 1.3 volts. Talking about the RGB Lighting it comes with the beautiful custom polychrome RGB lighting that helps you to achieve any RGB illumination of your choice and it also offers support for addressable RGB Headers. To provide you broad connectivity it comes with the 5 USB 3.1 Gen2 ports and 8 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Ports placed at front and back of the board. It also comes with the built-in Intel’s 2T2R Dual Band 802.11ac WiFi card that supports up to 1.73 Gbps. 5. ASRock Phantom Gaming 9 ASRock never failed to impress their users with their quality motherboards just like ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate the ASRock Phantom Gaming 9 is another best option for i9-9900K processor just because of some lacking features it is being listed below than Taichi Ultimate. Of course price makes a huge difference but yet it's a perfect choice to go with. It comes with the three PCIe x16 slots while the main one offers full 16x bandwidth while the remaining slots can run at 8x Speed. If you are using all three together then you will run the main on at 8x and the remaining two at 4X speed along with that It also comes with another two PCIe slots that offer you more capability for more connection. The Phantom Gaming 9 offers you lots of storage options as it comes with eight SATA 3 ports and up to 3 Ultra M.2 slots for SSD connectivity that offers speed up to 32Gb/s which is pretty much great for the enhanced gaming experience. Memory support is impressive as well, it comes with the four DDR4 slots which are pretty capable to hold up to 128 GB with the clock speed of 4266 MHz. To Achieve the maximum gaming performance requirements of the home media users, content creators, streamers, and Gamers it comes with impressive ethernet support that offers you 2.5 GB/s speed which is 2.5X than the standard gigabit ethernet. The Polychrome RGB lighting is something that I personally loved a lot as it enables the user to have literally any RGB illumination of their choice. It features onboard RGB headers and addressable RGB headers that enable this board to connect with any compatible devices such as strip, Coolers, System Fans, Chasing, and so on to have a unique lighting experience. The extensive number of slots enable users to have a multi GPU setup for high-end gaming experience which is supported for both Nvidia and AMD GPUs. To provide basic graphics needs it comes with the built-in Intel UHD Graphics. Along with the Built-in Graphics Cards it also comes with the built-in Wireless card as well that supports dual-band with the high-speed wireless connections up to 1733 Mbps. Phantom Gaming 9 Comes with the dual BIOS setup that enables users to have one as the Main BIOS and one as a Backup BIOS that helps users to boot their system in case of any problem. Talking about additional features that make this board more unique as it comes with five USB 3.1 Gen 2 and eight USB 3.1 Gen1 at both front and back of the board just like the ASRock Z390 Taichi Ultimate. 6. MSI MEG GODLIKE Z390 If the budget is not the issue for you and you are looking for the Best Motherboard that you can run with i9-9900k then MSI MEG GODLIKE Z390 is the best option for you which is the most expensive option in this list. Although it is one of the most expensive motherboards yet it's really worth its price as along with the technical specifications the GODLIKE Z390 comes with a very attractive design with the MSI and GODLIKE branding printed on it just aside from beautiful small RGB Lighting setup. Talking about the RGB lighting you will have really impressive lighting support with this board as it comes with the pre-installed RGB lighting as you can see in the image. It comes with Mystic Light Infinity that offers you 29 different lighting effects that can be controlled by just one button press. Also Read: Micro ATX vs Mini ITX vs ATX Best Motherboard for you? It comes with the total number of three M.2 slots that include one Turbo U.2 and 3x Turbo M.2 with shield frozr that enables you to have a lightning-fast gaming experience. It also comes with the 6 SATA ports that provide you connectivity for higher storage. GODLIKE Z390 comes with the four dual-channel DDR4 RAM with isolated memory circuitry that gives you perfect stability and high pretty high gaming and benching performance. Special thanks to the LN2 cooling system that enables users to have a reliable performance from this board. It comes with the 9 Fans header at the top of the board, For better temperature management it comes with the eight built-in temperature sensors and two thermal headers. To provide users more durability and security this board comes with the switchable BIOS functionality. That will allow you to enjoy dual-BIOS setup, The Dual-BIOS setup enables you to have one BIOS as a backup that you can use when your main BIOS is broken and that can be used to fix your main BIOS as well. Talking about the sound quality it comes with 2x audio processors and Nahimic audio connectivity that enables the user to have breathtaking qualitative sound with 384kHz/32-bit Talking about the additional eye-catching features as it comes with multiple fan connectors, 3.1 USB Ports, Bluetooth 5.0, 2x Killer E25000 Gigabit LAN, and built-in Killer WiFi AC 1550 card that provides you ultimate internet connectivity. 7. EVGA Z390 Dark Gaming Motherboard Moving ahead with our 7th best option for sure this board isn’t going to be pocket friendly but just like the other EVGA’s Dark lineup motherboard this is going to be another flagship by EVGA which is mainly designed for powerful Intel 9th Gen Processors. The word “Dark” not only represents its name but it represents its color as well, This board mainly comes in the black color with the gold accents spotted areas at different locations that make the design of this board more unique. Design is not the only thing that you will find more eye-catching with this board but the overclocking capability of this Z390 Dark is seriously amazing as this is an overclocking oriented motherboard that helps you to achieve the maximum capacity of the beast i9-9900k processor. Talking about the PCIe expansion you will get three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots which are reinforced for higher strength and EMI shielding. It also comes with a single PCIe 3.0 x4 slot that shares bandwidth with the lower M.2 Slot. To facilitate their users with better storage options it comes with two M.2 100mm slots to provide you SSD connectivity and it also offers you up to 6 SATA drives that come with 6.0 Gbps for higher storage. The only thing that might hurt you is the RGB LEDs as you aren’t going to find any RGB lights on this board and neither the header connectivity which is pretty painful for me at least. Z390 Dark comes with two Dual channel DIMMs each can hold up to 32 GB with up to 4600+ MHz frequency that enables you to achieve high-end gaming performance. Talking about USB connectivity as DARK comes with the overall 15 USB connection ports that include USB 2.0, USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A, and USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C ports at both front and rear of the board. You might have used motherboards with the Double BIOS setup but this beast comes with the Triple BIOS select switch that enables you to switch between different BIOS ROMs for overclocking, Benching, day to day use, or for any of your custom settings. Talking about the Additional features that make this board more unique it comes with PCIe Disable switches that enable you to quickly shutdown PCIe slots for troubleshooting or to restore the used resources. To provide you the cleanest and more suitable power design it comes with the highly efficient 17-Phase PWM and the SW Slow mode switch will help you to minimize CPU ratio in order to achieve real-time stability or to reduce heat/power usage during your long gaming sessions. For Qualitative sound it comes with the creative 5.1 Channel Audio and EVGA NU through the front panel to provide you high-quality sound connectivity for your headphones and speakers. 8. ASUS ROG Strix Z390-I Gaming If you are a fan of a small gaming computer system that uses the Mini-ITX form factor motherboard then this option is for you, We all know that in terms of the gaming you will find fewer options in the market but here we have ASUS ROG Strix Z390-I as the best Mini-ITX Motherboard for the i9-9900k processor. ROG Strix small Mini-ITX base motherboard is mainly designed to run Intel 9th Gen processor but it's pretty capable to run 8th and previous generations as well. Due to the compact design of small form factor motherboards cooling is the most demanding feature in such types of boards. You will find the most comprehensive cooling options with Strix Z390-I as it comes with the VRM Heatsink and Thermal PAD. In terms of the Fans it has three 4 pins PWM/DC Fan headers while every header offers support for auto-detection of DC Fans and PWM. Including that, for the liquid cooling it also comes with the support for a comprehensive liquid cooling system. Fewer PCIe slots are something that you will always face when going with a small form factor motherboard as just like other Mini-ITX motherboards it comes with the one PCIe 3.0x16 Slots that you can use for your graphics card. You will get two M.2 Slots for SSD connectivity which includes one M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slot located at the front of the board that comes with the integrated heatsink while the 2nd M.2 PCIe 3.0x4 slot is located at the rear of the board. Including the SSD connectivity, it also comes with the four SATA slots to achieve higher storage. For memory support it comes with the two dual-channel DDR4 slots each of them is capable of holding up to 32GB with the clock speed of 4600MHz. Also Check: Talking about overclocking this board is pretty capable to run the powerful processor just like i9-9900k at 5.0Ghz. Voltage control is pretty impressive as well, thanks to the AI Optimized voltage profile that maintained voltages between 1.20 and 1.35V as observed in testing. Strix Z390-I comes with the integrated RGB LED Lighting setup on this board and it also includes the a Single RGB addressable header and a standard RGB header for additional RGB lighting connectivity The Strix Z390-I Gaming comes with a total of 10 USB ports which includes USB 3.1, USB 3.0, and USB 2.0 at the header and the rear panel of the board. It comes with the Intel i2190V GB Lan for ethernet connection and it also comes with the integrated Wireless support with Intel Wireless-AC 9560. 9. MSI MEG Z390 ACE Motherboard If you are interested in MSI MEG Z390 GODLIKE but your budget stopped you from purchasing that beast then here we have MSI MEG Z390 ACE as the another best mid-range ATX motherboard for the i9-9900k processor. It comes with the 13 Phases VRM that is mainly optimized for the Intel 9th Generation Processors such as i9-9900k. Along with the i9 Processors this board is pretty capable to run 8th Gen and previous generation processors up to Intel’s Pentium for LGA 1151 Socket. Talking about the storage connectivity the Z390 ACE comes with triple M.2 slots setup with shield frozr that enables you to connect up to three lightning fast SSD. You will get only one heatsink for your SSD, It would be a real plus point if it was available for all three slots. For the memory support it comes with the four DDR4 dual-channel DIMMs that are capable of holding up to 64GB in total with the clock speed up to 4500MHz. It comes with the three PCIe 3.0 x16 slots that can be used for CrossFire and Multi-GPU Setup. You will get a total of 16 lanes if you have a single graphics card installed but with the dual GPU setup lanes will be divided equally. Just like the Z390 GODLIKE it also comes with the Mystic Light Infinity that offers 29 effects that are controlled by just one single click. Including integrated RGB lighting for the external RGB connectivity, it comes with four different wired and wireless RGB headers. Z390 ACE offers very impressive audio quality special thanks to its audio pressor with ESS DAC and Nahimic that makes your gaming experience more unique. Talking about Integrated stuff you aren’t going to get any Integrated graphics with this board while for networking it comes with 1x Killer E2500 Gigabit Ethernet and Integrated WiFi support with Intel Wireless AC 9560. Also Check: Best Gaming Keyboard under 50$ in 2020 However in terms of additional features you will get up to 20 USB ports that include USB 31, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, Type A, and Type C for both front and rear. It also features MSI BIOS Flashback and Clears CMOS button that helps you to update your BIOS with minimal hardware and also helps you to get back in the BIOS if failed with overclocking. 10. ASUS ROG Strix Z390-E Gaming We have review the ASUS ROG Strix Z390-I above which is mainly designed for the Mini-ITX form factor based motherboard, If you are interested in a similar type of board with the extended size and some additional features then the ASU ROG Strix Z390-E Gaming would be the must-consider option for you. Starting with the PCIe slots it comes with the 2 x PCIe 3.0 x 16, 1x PCIe 3.0 x16, 3 x PCIe 3.0x1 slots that offer support for SLI/CFX and Multi-GPU Setup. For the SSD connectivity it comes with two M.2 sockets which consist of one 2242-2280 type socket that supports PCIe 3.0 x4 modes and SATA while the 2nd slot comes with type 2242-22110 with the support for PCIe 3.0 x 4 Mode only. Your storage options don't end here as it also comes with a total number of six SATA 6 GB/s slots for higher storage. Expecting higher memory support is very common when you are looking for ATX or E-ATX motherboard just like the others; it also offers you four DIMMs that are capable of holding up to 64 GB with the clock speed of 4266 MHz this could be increased when overclocked. Talking about the design of the board you will get a very beautiful design with this board right out of the box as it comes with the black color and white font setup with LED ROG Logo with the Shroud Cybertext at the top left corner of the board that gives you a pretty unique feel in terms of design. Overclocking support is something really amazing you will find with this board as it comes with the Z390 revamped 5-Way optimization module with the revised back-end that uses the artificial intelligence for the overclocking which is mainly based upon the smart prediction and thermal telemetry. For the RGB Lighting you will get integrated RGB LEDs and strips connected to the onboard RGB header. It comes with the ASUS AURA connectivity that offers you full RGB lighting control and Addressable headers offer support for external RGB Led connectivity. Audio plays a very important role to achieve ultimate gaming experience as to fulfill this need ROG Strix Z390-E comes with SupremeFX as the integrated Audio solution that is designed to provide you a flat frequency response for the neutral detailed sound signature. For the high-quality uninterrupted network connectivity this board comes with Intel I219-V GigaLAN with the LANGuard and for wireless connectivity it also comes with Wireless-AC 9560 as an integrated component of this board. Talking about the USB support you will get a total number of 15 USB slots at all over the board which includes USB 3.1, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, And a Type-C port at the rear of the board. Moving ahead to the additional features it comes with the dual onboard M.2 heatsink, Water pump header, MOS fan with bracket, and a fan-extension header. For maximum endurance it comes with the Pre-mounted I/O shield and ASUS Safe slot. Final Thoughts As we have lots of great options for i9-9900k and you might be confused about which motherboard would be the best choice for you so If you are still confused then our final thoughts might be helpful for you. If you are a little tight on the budget then Gigabyte B365M DS3H would be the best choice for you and If you are looking for the best Mid-Range option then for sure ASROCK Z390 Taichi Ultimate is a considerable option. If the budget is not the issue for you and you are looking for the best available option then we will strongly recommend you to have a look at MSI MEG GODLIKE Z390 which is the most expensive board in this list and in fact the most powerful board to run beast like i9-9900k However If you are looking for the best motherboard option while being specific to your form factor then we have listed the best options for ATX, MicroATX, Mini-ITX, E-ATX as well.

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