There are so many models I'm not sure where to start.  Most important to me is durability of the components above all.  I won't be doing SLI, would like wifi, and a full size ATX form factor will fit in my old HAF-X case.  I don't plan on using an AIO cooler and will probably use a Noctua air cooler.  I have several SATA 3 SSD's to port over from the current box.  Thanks in advance!

Edited December 31, 20196 yr by Noel

I'm using the Maximus XI Hero WiFi (they make a version with WiFi and one without)...two of them actually.  One with an 8086K at 5.3 GHz and the other with a 9900K at 5.0 GHz cooled by a Noctua NH-D15.

There was a big brouhaha early on after the board released, with a couple hardware reviewers complaining that ASUS had skimped on the VRMs, but they run both CPUs nice and stable with fairly aggressive overclocks, and the VRM runs warm but not hot (high 40s C with an IR thermometer under test load, high 30s running P3D).

24 minutes ago, w6kd said:

I'm using the Maximus XI Hero WiFi (they make a version with WiFi and one without)...two of them actually.  One with an 8086K at 5.3 GHz and the other with a 9900K at 5.0 GHz cooled by a Noctua NH-D15.

I'd love to hear your opinion on which of the 2 systems provides the better performance in Prepar3D 4.5 and Xp11 assuming you are running them?

Edited December 31, 20196 yr by Avidean

6 minutes ago, Avidean said:

I'd love to hear your opinion on which of the 2 systems provides the better performance in Prepar3D 4.5 and Xp11 assuming you are running them?

I can't really do a good head-to-head matchup because the 8086K box has really high-performance memory and runs a 2080Ti into a 30 Hz 4K display, and the 9900K uses RAM that's ~8% slower, and a 1080Ti into a 2560x1440 G-Sync display.

They both run P3D quite well, and frankly I'm not sure the 9900K would an improvement over the 8086K on my primary system due to the difference in clock speeds/single core performance.  In other words, not sure 8 cores at 5 GHz is better than 6 at 5.3.

 

52 minutes ago, w6kd said:

I'm using the Maximus XI Hero WiFi (they make a version with WiFi and one without)...two of them actually.  One with an 8086K at 5.3 GHz

+++1

My last build uses a Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Pro Wifi.

3 hours ago, w6kd said:

In other words, not sure 8 cores at 5 GHz is better than 6 at 5.3.

I would have said for sure that 6 cores at 5.3 was better than 8 cores at 5ghz. But I am not so sure now either. My understanding has been that Prepar3D V4.5 definitely benefits from 6 cores over 4 cores and in my experience it clearly does. With 4 cores it was easy to out run autogen and blurry textures are a real problem with 4 cores. But I hadn't expected 8 cores to be an advantage over 6 especially since it does appear that a significantly higher clock is possible on 6. Like you I am lucky with 5.3ghz on my 8086K. However, My system is still a relatively new build with the addition of a 2080ti just a couple of weeks ago and I am still optimizing performance. I just notices something yesterday that for the first time while the main thread core for P3D was hovering around 80ish% and the GPu the same Cores 2,3,4 and 5 where all simultaneously and intermittently hitting up against 100%.

I've never seen that before that something other than the main P3D Core or the GPU bottle necked the system. I suspect that those 4 cores are up against 100% loading scenery and autogen but I don't know for sure.

On the subject of Motherboards my Maximus X Apex I was surprised to discover supports i9 9900k but you probably want something newer than that.

1 hour ago, Avidean said:

I would have said for sure that 6 cores at 5.3 was better than 8 cores at 5ghz. But I am not so sure now either. My understanding has been that Prepar3D V4.5 definitely benefits from 6 cores over 4 cores and in my experience it clearly does. With 4 cores it was easy to out run autogen and blurry textures are a real problem with 4 cores. But I hadn't expected 8 cores to be an advantage over 6 especially since it does appear that a significantly higher clock is possible on 6. Like you I am lucky with 5.3ghz on my 8086K. However, My system is still a relatively new build with the addition of a 2080ti just a couple of weeks ago and I am still optimizing performance. I just notices something yesterday that for the first time while the main thread core for P3D was hovering around 80ish% and the GPu the same Cores 2,3,4 and 5 where all simultaneously and intermittently hitting up against 100%.

I've never seen that before that something other than the main P3D Core or the GPU bottle necked the system. I suspect that those 4 cores are up against 100% loading scenery and autogen but I don't know for sure.

On the subject of Motherboards my Maximus X Apex I was surprised to discover supports i9 9900k but you probably want something newer than that.

All-core peaks at 100% are common in P3D on both the 6 and 8 core CPUs here.  But...unlike when running on my last quad-core (7700K), frame rates do not budge when that happens.  The program does the texture loading and layer fusion ahead of actually needing the tiles, and those momentary bumps to 100% aren't impacting performance.  So it's pedal to the metal getting the next tile built, and the extra horsepower is enabling that to completely finish before the tile is used. 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  😜

2 hours ago, Avidean said:

I would have said for sure that 6 cores at 5.3 was better than 8 cores at 5ghz. But I am not so sure now either.

FWIW my old six core w/ HT enabled is absolutely superior to HT disabled, using the right AM for it.  Because of this experience I will go w/ 9900K instead of 9700K due to that capacity if needed for P3D or MSFS2.   A few gHz of clockspeed is good for a few % difference which is easily offset by taking one or two sliders one notch left, or not even that, such that in a double-blinded evaluation you'd never know the difference.

 

I'll be the first to dissent on the Maximus XI hero.  I'm on my third, and it has developed the slow-boot affliction (the first I received did so as well).  Like most motherboard manufacturers ASUS support is... well, sketchy at best.  The best support comes from EVGA.  My Maximus XI Hero overclocks well... I can run mine at 5.3GHz HT On/ 5.4GHz HT Off (both running around 1.4v VCore).

Last summer I built two 9900K based systems using the Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Master motherboard and RTX 2080 GPU's.  They both run 5.2GHz HT On with no problem (non gaming systems... used by photographers).  The Gigabyte BIOS isn't as slick as the ASUS but the Master boards are well built and strong.  Great performance too.

Again, if support is a critical purchase factor just bypass all others and order the EVGA Z390 Dark ($$$ but absolutely top quality design and components).

Just my nickel's worth (2 cents +inflation ),

Greg

How is the BIOS and utilities like FanExpert, overclocking tools, etc w/ the EVGA Z390 Dark?  I've fallen into loyalty to ASUS having had nothing but good luck with them for mobos.   My current PC is now 6.5y/o, runs the old 3930K at 4.42Ghz for an average of 4y+/day which is pretty darn good!  Thanks for your comments and to the others as well for theirs.

Also Greg, will the EVGA Z390 Dark be amenable for a Noctua air cooler w/ dual fans, or...is there memory available for that board that will work in that mobo w/ that cooler do you know?

Edited January 1, 20206 yr by Noel

41 minutes ago, Noel said:

How is the BIOS and utilities like FanExpert, overclocking tools, etc w/ the EVGA Z390 Dark?  I've fallen into loyalty to ASUS having had nothing but good luck with them for mobos.   My current PC is now 6.5y/o, runs the old 3930K at 4.42Ghz for an average of 4y+/day which is pretty darn good!  Thanks for your comments and to the others as well for theirs.

Also Greg, will the EVGA Z390 Dark be amenable for a Noctua air cooler w/ dual fans, or...is there memory available for that board that will work in that mobo w/ that cooler do you know?

Software and driver support is where I'd be very careful with EVGA.  I have been a long-time loyal repeat customer of theirs, mostly for graphics cards, and my old i7-975 Nehalem board was an EVGA X58 and it worked out well.

But the EVGA Precision support application for the 2080 series of cards has been a disaster--so bad, in fact, that I question whether they've lost their mojo on support software (drivers/utilities etc).  I hate having to use MSI utilities now because the EVGA Precision XOC utility is a slow-motion train wreck and has been for a good year.  So Caveat Emptor there...

ASUS build quality has always been good for me, but I do dread the day I ever need their support.  I half suspect I'd just buy a new mobo rather than suffer running that gauntlet if I had a problem.  But after building with something like 8 ASUS motherboards now, I have never had a problem with their boards.

3 hours ago, Noel said:

How is the BIOS and utilities like FanExpert, overclocking tools, etc w/ the EVGA Z390 Dark?  I've fallen into loyalty to ASUS having had nothing but good luck with them for mobos.   My current PC is now 6.5y/o, runs the old 3930K at 4.42Ghz for an average of 4y+/day which is pretty darn good!  Thanks for your comments and to the others as well for theirs.

Also Greg, will the EVGA Z390 Dark be amenable for a Noctua air cooler w/ dual fans, or...is there memory available for that board that will work in that mobo w/ that cooler do you know?

The Dark has custom fan tools but to be honest on the one build I've done with a 9900K I didn't use any of the fan controls.  It has the typical auto-overclocking tools (that use too much power ), and the manual overclocking is pretty simple and straight forward.  Regarding the Noctua CPU cooler... you could very well have a problem there.   The CPU socket is rotated 90 degrees on the Dark (and the two memory slots are placed near the top edge of the board), so a larger CPU cooler could be an issue depending on the case.  You really should research the CPU cooler/your case before getting too serious about the Dark.  The board will use pretty much any memory that the other high end boards can use.  The Dark is a truly beautiful motherboard (17 Phase PWM and great cooling on the VRMs, as well as a strong feature set) that performs well and can overclock as well (if not better) than the ASUS Apex boards.  Top tier stuff!

2 hours ago, w6kd said:

Software and driver support is where I'd be very careful with EVGA.  I have been a long-time loyal repeat customer of theirs, mostly for graphics cards, and my old i7-975 Nehalem board was an EVGA X58 and it worked out well.

But the EVGA Precision support application for the 2080 series of cards has been a disaster--so bad, in fact, that I question whether they've lost their mojo on support software (drivers/utilities etc).  I hate having to use MSI utilities now because the EVGA Precision XOC utility is a slow-motion train wreck and has been for a good year.  So Caveat Emptor there...

ASUS build quality has always been good for me, but I do dread the day I ever need their support.  I half suspect I'd just buy a new mobo rather than suffer running that gauntlet if I had a problem.  But after building with something like 8 ASUS motherboards now, I have never had a problem with their boards.

Your observation about software and drivers made me curious, so I compared their offerings for the Z390 Dark and ASUS's for our XI Hero.  For me the single most important driver is the chipset, and EVGA is offering the 10.1.17.1 while ASUS has us at 10.1.18.1 as of November.  ASUS seems to be a bit more proactive on most of the other drivers, and I believe we've probably had more BIOS updates (not that we should be overwhelmed by the offerings ).  LOL about EVGA Precision... they should just put that poor critter out of its misery and bury it!  Fortunately, I've been using Afterburner for many years and am comfortable with it.  When I bought my EVGA 2080 Super last month I didn't even consider taking the time to download Precision.

Cheers all!

Greg

11 hours ago, lownslo said:

Regarding the Noctua CPU cooler... you could very well have a problem there.   The CPU socket is rotated 90 degrees on the Dark (and the two memory slots are placed near the top edge of the board), so a larger CPU cooler could be an issue depending on the case.  You really should research the CPU cooler/your case before getting too serious about the Dark..

Cheers all!

Greg

Thanks for that--hopefully someone here who knows about Noctua + Dark will respond.

Addendum:  Shoot--Noctua site says the DH-15 is incompatible w/ EVGA Dark ;o(

Edited January 1, 20206 yr by Noel