Request: Z490 Board recommendations please!

[GanjaSMK]

Hi errbody! 

 

Got a 10850K lying around to give to my best bud. Have some RAM for him as well and we need suggestions on a Z490 board. Looked into Z590; but offers nothing without CPU upgrade. So.... 

 

Looking for suggestions at under $300 US for a BNIB board OR used. I'm hoping someone has experience with 10th gen and especially the 10850K on a series of tested boards.  ASUS Maximus line comes to mind but I haven't toyed with GB/EVGA/ASROCK etc.  

 

Don't need links unless someone thinks "OMG" this is a steal... but definitely looking for suggestions. I wasn't super stoked on the MSI MPG platform (which I'm still on) so maybe even another line is better? 

 

Thanks, very very much! 

Edited January 8, 2024 by GanjaSMK

[UltraMega]

Less than $300? That seems pretty high. $150 should be enough for a good Intel board. Just avoid ASRock. 

[GanjaSMK]

  On 08/01/2024 at 18:50, UltraMega said:

Less than $300? That seems pretty high. $150 should be enough for a good Intel board. Just avoid ASRock. 

Expand  

 

We put the limit at $300 for a hopefully new-in-box board; but yes I agree. Mostly what I am looking at are the 16-phase boards which all come in at or over $300. 

 

Maximus line, etc. The high end boards. 

[UltraMega]

  On 08/01/2024 at 18:56, GanjaSMK said:

 

We put the limit at $300 for a hopefully new-in-box board; but yes I agree. Mostly what I am looking at are the 16-phase boards which all come in at or over $300. 

 

Maximus line, etc. The high end boards. 

Expand  

 

Why do you need that? 

[GanjaSMK]

  On 08/01/2024 at 18:57, UltraMega said:

 

Why do you need that? 

Expand  

 

My bud is has been researching on his end knowing he's going to get a used 10850K and while my results can't formally conclude a good/bad IMC; his research tells him he's looking at 16-phase boards providing the best memory options. Since he's getting a 3-year old + platform, he wants to try and get 4600DDR4 running stable at CL18 or better. He's read/perused many reviews/users reports etc believing that the higher end boards have MUCH more headroom on RAM than the mid range (like my MPG). 

 

 

[Sir Beregond]

Good luck in your search and do let me know what you find. I bought a BNIB EVGA Z490 Dark (with a 10900k) last year and sadly spent more than that for it. I haven't had a chance to really play with it yet, but I wanted it around as a usable platform for future HWBot competitions.

[The Pook]

if your/his experience is anything like mine, then the 10850K is going to be the limitation before the board. my 10850K couldn't run my RAM over 3733 and it needed >1.35v to get 5.0. 

 

if you want a "guaranteed" DDR4-4600 board then you need a good 2 DIMM board ($$$). Apex, Dark, etc. Just don't grab the Tachyon, it's a 2 DIMMer but it's not great. The majority of 4 DIMM boards will top out ~4000-4400 stable. 

 

edit: used Apex for $199? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Edited January 8, 2024 by The Pook

[UltraMega]

Just a thought but you could sell the cpu you were going to give your buddy and then just give him the money instead so he could go with DDR5. 

[GanjaSMK]

Thank you all for the suggestions. 

 

MUCH appreciated! 

[Cerberus]

does he have the cpu already? i'd let my setup go, lol

[GanjaSMK]

Thanks but yeah!  

We have two CPU's one board. =( 

[Sir Beregond]

  On 24/01/2024 at 05:51, GanjaSMK said:

two CPU's one board. =( 

Expand  

I see what you did there.