Have the 9th Generation Intel i7-8086k, MSI GTX 1080Ti and am contemplating a motherboard for it. I'd like to seek advice/opinions/suggestions,et al, here from fellow experienced hardware-orientated simmers

I have ruled out anything that carries the name Gigabyte, so please do not even mention it to me, please. After their diabolical support with replacing a goofed GPU, in Ca., of all places, I will not touch any of their products with a barge-pole!

Have read up on the Asus Prime Z390 9th Generation, as it has PS/2 rear connectors which is what I want. Asides from the niceties of how this or any other motherboard performs, at the end of the day, what is this motherboard's good/better features? Can the CPU be either air-cooled or water-cooled? Can it hold a good steady o/c like my current Asus Z-87-A has done with an i5-4670k o/c'd, air-cooled, for years now?

Thanks for the advice/opinions/suggestions I hope I will get.

These days everyone likes to overclock so a board that has better capacitors is always advantageous.   I use an ASRock board with a 9900k and am very happy with it.  Check out youtube for many other ideas and reviews.

Thanks, I did have a look at an ASRock. Will check it out.

I have the same CPU with an asus rog maximus X code. I get a 30% overclock with a corsair liquid CPU cooler, turning off multi-core enhancment (MCE) in UEFI and running AI suite config with HT enabled. 32% with HT disabled (though I haven't rerun that for HT disabled since a bios update). still runs cool and quiet.
obviously other components (and luck) make a difference.

Edited February 5, 20197 yr by jpf

31 minutes ago, jpf said:

same CPU with an asus rog maximus X code

Thanks, but I don't think it has PS/2 rear I/O.

assuming a ps/2 to usb converter is no use, can I ask what you're connecting?

1 hour ago, jpf said:

assuming a ps/2 to usb converter is no use, can I ask what you're connecting? 

That is not the point. I have built so many systems since 1996, and 9 times out of 10, when resolving an USB interface issue, such as when I delete every single USB item under USB controllers, I thank my lucky stars I still have a PS/2 keyboard and mouse to resolve USB connectivity issues, which is why I do want a PS/2 motherboard. I know all about PS/2 to USB converters.

I know exactly what you're talking about but I haven't seen those sort of issues since PCIe took over from PCI.
in the server environment, I've always been very impressed with super-micro boards. they have always had a PS/2 fallback on board. I see now that they have moved into the enthusiast arena with a range of super-micro gaming boards. I've seen a review or two which indicate they have carried over their enterprise quality components and build into gaming. they're not the 'fastest' but I wouldn't doubt their stability.

good luck with your search.

 

Edited February 5, 20197 yr by jpf

6 hours ago, vc10man said:

Have the 9th Generation Intel i7-8086k, MSI GTX 1080Ti and am contemplating a motherboard for it. I'd like to seek advice/opinions/suggestions,et al, here from fellow experienced hardware-orientated simmers

I have ruled out anything that carries the name Gigabyte, so please do not even mention it to me, please. After their diabolical support with replacing a goofed GPU, in Ca., of all places, I will not touch any of their products with a barge-pole!

Have read up on the Asus Prime Z390 9th Generation, as it has PS/2 rear connectors which is what I want. Asides from the niceties of how this or any other motherboard performs, at the end of the day, what is this motherboard's good/better features? Can the CPU be either air-cooled or water-cooled? Can it hold a good steady o/c like my current Asus Z-87-A has done with an i5-4670k o/c'd, air-cooled, for years now?

Thanks for the advice/opinions/suggestions I hope I will get.

The PS/2 port is going to limit your choices.  IMO in the z390 class the Asus boards are lackluster over clockers.  It’s a shame u had such a bad experience with Gigabyte as there z390 boards are excellent.  Very good value as well.  But I do understand where you are coming from.  I would look at AsRock.

I'm happy with the ASUS Maximus XI Hero (running the 8086K at 5.3GHz on water).  It does have a PS/2 connector...but really, a USB-to-PS/2 adapter is like $5, so I wouldn't think twice about letting that limit my choices.

It overclocked easily, has a good, flexible BIOS, and the temps on the voltage regulators and chipset heatsinks (measured with a Fluke IR thermometer) are running fairly cool on air.

The 6/8-core CPUs with aggressive overclocks are going to load up the power delivery circuits more than the previous generations of quad cores.  The Prime is a bit of a lightweight in that department, which is why I went with the Maximus series.  There was a lot of noise and heat in the overclocking community about phase counts, but when the rubber hits the road, the board runs stable and cool at significant overclocks.

Regards

53 minutes ago, w6kd said:

I'm happy with the ASUS Maximus XI Hero

 

Glad it's working well for you.  My third XI Hero seems to be a keeper... the first two went Tango Uniform in two weeks.  Been building systems with ASUS motherboards for 25 years, but a few weeks ago I built a 9900K based system on a ASRock Z390 Taichi that easily overclocked to 5.1 GHz on air.  Nice motherboard... well designed, solids components, OK manual, and very easy to configure once you push the GO button the first time.

Greg

7 hours ago, mpw8679 said:

The PS/2 port is going to limit your choices.  IMO in the z390 class the Asus boards are lackluster over clockers.  It’s a shame u had such a bad experience with Gigabyte as there z390 boards are excellent.  Very good value as well.  But I do understand where you are coming from.  I would look at AsRock.

Thanks, Matt, yeah, I was reading up on an ASRock board too.

6 hours ago, w6kd said:

ASUS Maximus XI Hero

Is it a Z370 or a Z390 board, Bob?

6 hours ago, w6kd said:

USB-to-PS/2 adapter is like $5,

You missed the point I made earlier, where I have had to uninstall the USB controllers, every one of them, to resolve a USB connection problem, and without at PS/w2 keyboard or mouse, to scroll through each USB controller, I'd be floundering relying on an USB input  when my whole aim is to flush out the USB connections to the board.

6 hours ago, w6kd said:

Prime is a bit of a

Noted, Bob. Thanks

5 hours ago, lownslo said:

third XI Hero s

That vouches for it.

I have the Prime-P although it is the Z370 version.  It's their lower end board, but got my 8700k to 5.0ghz without issue.  I only paid about £95 for it.

1 hour ago, Charlatan said:

I have the Prime-P although it is the Z370 version.  It's their lower end board, but got my 8700k to 5.0ghz without issue.  I only paid about £95 for it.

Thanks for that, Charlatan. £95 is a steal, but moreover you managed 5.0GHz with no issues. Will bear that in mind.

I have the Maximus X Code also. Fantastic motherboard, but no, sadly for you Rick, no PS/2. 

I'm a fan of Asus boards, I know some say they have has issues with Asus but i still have no issues with them. However.... do check out EVGA motherboards, really great motherboards and fantastic EVGA support. 

Z390 Dark is a great motherboard and does have a PS/2 port. Expensive though. 

 

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=131-CS-E399-KR

Asus Tuf Z390, Z390 Pro Gaming, and one or two others have PS/2 ports.