7 Best Motherboards for i5 9600k

The Intel i5 9600k is the latest mid-range alternative that provides simply the best value for gaming at its expense. The processor comes with a 3.70 GHz base frequency and 4.60 GHz turbo boost that will be sufficiently efficient to bump into your needs. The higher clock speed and design improvements make it even faster than its predecessors. 

But it is very important that you match up your processor with a motherboard that can perfectly fine-tune the performance. Yes, it’s absolutely necessary and if you’re planning to build your pc with Intel i5 9600k processor, the next important thing is to pick the right motherboard for it. Don’t worry, as we have just sorted out the best motherboards for intel i5 9600k to house your processor. Let’s get down to the business.

Just before we get started, if you’re looking for the best motherboard for some other intel processors, you can read OvrClock’s pieces for the i5-11600K, i9 9900K, and i9 10900k on our website!

7 Best Motherboards for i5 9600k

1. Best high-performance motherboard for i5 9600K | Gigabyte-Z390-Aorus-Master
2. Best budget motherboard for i5 9600K | Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X
3. Best mini-ITX (mITX) motherboard for i5 9600K | ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac
4. Best micro-ATX (mATX) motherboard for i5 9600K | Gigabyte Z390 M Gaming
5. Best motherboard for i5 9600K and RTX 2060 | MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk
6. Best motherboard for overclocking i5 9600K | Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro
7. Best high-end motherboard for i5 9600K | ASUS TUF Z390-Plus Gaming (Wi-Fi)

Image	Motherboard	Features	Price
High-Performance	Gigabyte Z390 AORUS MASTER 12+2 Power Phase Design 64GB DDR4 (4400+ MHz OC) 2 M.2 Slots – 6 SATA Slots USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Type A+C) Wi-Fi Antenna Included	9.8	Check Price
Budget Pick	Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X 10+2 PWM Controller  Smart Fan 5 Extended Heatsink Design  Supports up to 64GB DDR 4 (OC) PCIe x16 – Crossfire Mode	9.3	Check Price
Best MiniITX (mITX)	ASRock Z390 Phantom 7 Phase Power Design  Supports up to 32GB DDR4 (OC) Dual M.2 Slots (NVMe) USB 3.1 Gen 2  Wi-Fi Antenna	9.1	Check Price
Best MicroATX	GIGABYTE Z390 M Gaming M.2 Sheild Frozr & I/O Sheild Supports up to 128 GB DDR4 (OC) Dual M.2 Slots | 6 SATA 6GB/s slots USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Type A+C) Mystic RGB Lighting	9.5	Check Price
Best for 2060Ti	MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk MSI Digital Power Delivery Up to 128 GB DDR4 Memory (OC) Dual NVMe M.2 Slots | 6 SATA Ports USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Type A+C) 3 PCIe Gen 3 x16 Slots	9.6	Check Price
Overclocking Pick	GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS PRO 12+1 Digital VRM Phases Smart Fan 5  Thermal Padding Dual M.2 Slots (Up to 32GB/s) USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Type A+C)	9.4	Check Price
Premium Pick	ASUS TUF Z390-Plus Gaming (Wi-Fi) Solid Build with Steel Backplate Supports up to 128 GB DDR4 (OC) 2 PCIe x16 Safe Slots Intel Turbo LAN | WiFi Full RGB Control	9.7	Check Price

Best High-Performance Motherboard for i5 9600K

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Master

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus-Master is from the top of the motherboards from Gigabyte replacing gaming 7. The motherboard comes with a host of new features. In terms of styling, you’ll get a black PCB with aluminum armors that light up with RGB lighting and can be controlled using RGB fusion software. The chunky heatsinks found on the motherboard increase the stylish aesthetics of the board. On the rear, you’ll find an armored backplate that will provide you with extra stability and mounting. The CPU supports both crossfire/SLI and runs on 8th Gen and 9th Gen intel core processors.

When it comes to the heatsinks, Gigabyte thermal design has left a large area around the CPU socket that will give efficient cooling down to MOSFETs. You’ll get one heatsink over the chipset and the other over the audio area. Talking about the power, this motherboard supports a 12 + 2 phase design with a conventional 24-pin connector but there are also 2x 8 pin power connectors as well, so you can expect a good sort of clean power from it. Looking at the RAM memory support, this board can be pushed up to 4400 MHZ and beyond with a maximum capacity of 128 gigabytes.

As for the headers, you’ll get 7 fan headers on this board with a couple of headers able to support the water pump cooling. The useful feature about these fan headers is that you can control their speed and interaction variably with Gigabyte Smart Fan 5 software. In terms of RGB, this motherboard offers a typical RGB header with addressable RGB headers. You’ll be pretty well covered with the storage options by getting 6 SATA ports, 2 x Gen 3 M.2 slots including support for both SATA and PCI express for SSD’s and 1 x Gen 3 M.2 slots that support only PCI express. All these slots are protected by Gigabyte thermal guard technology. 

There’s plenty of connectivity options offered by Gigabyte here. On the i/o side, you’ll get USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C, and USB 2.0 ports. On the rear side of the board, you’ll get 1 x USB Type-C, 3 x USB 3.1 Gen 2, and 4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1. In terms of PCI expansion slots, you’ll get 3 x PCIe (x16) slots and 3 x PCIe (x1) with thermal guard protection so that you don’t end up GPU sag.

On the rear of the board, you’ll get a fully integrated i/o shield plate with a multitude of connectors so building a pc with this board is not a problem at all. There is a CMOS button, two antenna connectors for built-in Wi-Fi, mouse, and keyboard combo ports, 4 x USB 2.0 Gen1 ports, 3 x USB 3.1 Type-A ports, 2 x USB 3.1 port, 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, 4 x gold plated audio jacks for HD audio and an HDMI port. Besides this, you’ll be getting a built-in wifi module and Bluetooth 5.0 technology. For catering to your audio requirements, the motherboard offers an ALC1220 VB codec and ESS SABRE 9118 DAC for HD audio to ensure that you get the best gaming experience. 

In short, the motherboard gives you quite a bit of room when it comes to overclocking. You can even push it up to 5 GHz with a voltage of 1.375.

Best Budget Motherboard for i5 9600K

Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X

If you’re looking for the best budget motherboard for i5-9600K, Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X offers the best deal by far. This motherboard comes with all the new and finest features without a high price tag!

The motherboard is built on an Intel Z390 chipset which offers AMD Quad-GPU CF and 2-way AMD CF. 10+2 PWM design with USB 3.1 Gen2 that supports decent overclocking. 

Talking about the design, the motherboard supports the RGB lighting effect in full color so that you can personalize your pc by selecting the color of your own choice. The light strip support gives it a killer look. 

As for the memory options, the motherboard can support up to 128GB with 4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets with dual-channel memory architecture. 

With regard to PCIe expansion slots, the motherboard has one x16 PCIe, one x4 PCIe running which is officially x16 but runs at x4, and four x1 PCIe with a SATA interface. These slots are compatible with the 3.0 PCI express standard. 

In terms of thermal characteristics, Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X comes with M.2 thermal guard cover with 110 M.2 Heatsinks that maintains SSD performance. These heatsinks feature multiple cuts that maximize thermal efficiency and give a stylish look to the overall design. Additionally, the board has thick thermal pads that result in effective heat dissipation. 

If you’re planning to build a durable pc, Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X has got your back!. The motherboard comes with a pre-installed I/O shield and double locking brackets that protects your inputs and outputs. The gigabyte features ultra-durable PCIe armor and ultra-durable Memory Armor. The PCIe armor is specially carved out for providing extra support for your graphics needs via PCIe connectors and the memory armor supports the prevention of any damage to the plates. The solid pin power connector on the back sustains and generates more power and heat to offer a stable power supply. 

To meet the audio requirements, the motherboard comes with high-end audio capacitors to provide you the best sound effects. On top of that, you also get the audio noise guard that has the potential to drop noise pollution.

For connectivity, the motherboard offers an intel Gbe Lan which features cFosSpeed network accelerations to get you going in fully packed LAN environments. 

Over and above that, Gigabyte has certainly not disappointed in terms of cooling options. With smart fan 5, the motherboard can handle intense conditions. The fan is especially capable of switching headers on various thermal sensors at various locations and more fans have been brought in to make it even more efficient in liquid cooling stuff. Overall the package contains four hybrid fan connectors, six temperature sensors, and a specially designed UI to control the fans. 

It’s not over yet! The Gigabyte Z390 Gaming X also comes with CEC 2019 ready which means that you can save power by 15% as compared to old platforms with just one simple click. 

Best mini-ITX (mITX) Motherboard for i5 9600K

ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX

ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac is a tiny little powerhouse with quite a lot of power and features in a very small package. Let’s jump in and discuss its features. 

The Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac is as you’d expect is compact but without compromising on the features. The motherboard offers a matte black finish, copper color scheme with nice chunky heat sinks. The RGB lighting on the board is not visible as you’d wish to be with the board just supporting three LEDs at the bottom which can be controlled by polychrome RGB lighting software that lets you choose between a multitude of various patterns.

In terms of the CPU socket, the motherboard supports LGA 1151 socket running on 8th Gen and 9th Gen Intel Core Processors. The Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac uses a 7 phase digital power design that features a Dr. Mos design with smart power technology for monitoring the current and temperature of each phase. In terms of heat sinks, the board offers two of them which are connected with a single heat pipe, one goes via the I/O panel, and the other acts as an MDOT heatsink. Both these heatsinks will give you solid performance effortlessly. So for the overclocking, you can push it up to 5 GHz but make sure to increase the voltage up to 1.375.

As for the memory support, you’ll get 2 x DDR4 DIMM with speed up to 4500 MHz and a total maximum capacity of 64 GB. Looking at some of the headers on the board, you’ll get 2 fan headers with one marked as main and the other as optional with support for water pumps to keep the performance to its maximum. 

For your storage needs, the motherboard supports 4 SATA connectors and 2 x M.2 sockets both supporting both SATA and PCI express. As the motherboard is a mini-ITX, there is only a single expansion slot that is 3.0 x 16 PCIe with the protection of steel armor. As for the audio, ASRock provides 7.1 channel HD audio featuring the Realtek ALC, providing a great audio experience for gaming enthusiasts. 

There’s a single USB 3.1 Gen 2 header support on the right of the board, 1 x 2.0 USB header on the bottom left, and HD audio connectors. In terms of RGB headers, the motherboard is equipped with a standard RGB LED header and an addressable RGB header. At rear i/o, you’ll get antenna ports, mouse and keyboard combo ports, 2 x USB 3.1 Gen1 ports, display ports 1.2, 2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports, HDMI port, and an Intel Thunderbolt 3 port. Besides this, you’ll get a built-in wifi module and Bluetooth 5.0 technology. 

Best micro-ATX (mATX) Motherboard for i5 9600K

Gigabyte Z390M Gaming

Next on our list is Gigabyte Z390 M which is a budget-friendly micro-ATX motherboard offering you a price benefit and a chance to build a more compact gaming pc. This motherboard features LGA 1151 socket type that runs with the i5-9600k processor. The motherboard supports both 8th and 9th generation Intel Core processors with exceptional performance capabilities. 

This Gigabyte beauty offers an ever-stylish motherboard with a trendy PCB look that features black color with full-color RGB lighting. What we love about gigabyte RGB lighting is that you can personalize the external RGB light strip with the colors of your own choice.

While it offers a beautiful design, it also has a variety of expansion slots to stretch your performance needs. The motherboard comes with 1 x PCIe 3.0 (x16), 1 x PCIe 3.0 (x4), and 2 x PCIe 3.0 (x1). These slots come with PCIe armor, so you won’t have trouble extending the options for greater performance.

The overclocking capacity in Gigabyte Z390 M is as good as we have seen in all Gigabyte Z-Series variants. With all-new heat sink designs, the motherboard offers heat pipe technology with stylish aluminum heatsinks and thick thermal padding that improves heat dispersion significantly. Of course, CPU cooling is another important component for ideal overclocking.

Gigabyte introduces the AIO cooling solution with Aorus Smart fans to help you deliver efficient performance. The motherboard features 4 fan/water pump connectors and 6 internal and external temperature sensors for this purpose. Aside from this, the upgraded BIOS interface offers users an easy and simple way to manage their overclocking stuff.

GIGABYTE has carried out at least 12 phases of a digital power design with DrMOS to satisfy the performance needs with a laser focus on efficient heat dissipation. There are decent storage options as well, the motherboard offers dual M.2 connectors with 32 Gb/s transfer speed. Alongside, you are getting 6 SATA connectors with 6 Gb/s transfer speed. 

With regards to memory options, the motherboard can accommodate up to 128 GB of 4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets with support of dual-channel architecture enabling you to overclock it up to 5GHz+ smoothly. The motherboard comes with an Intel Gbe LAN chip with no built-in support of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi but it does offer a great variety of connection options with 1 x Type-C 3.1 – Gen 1, 1 x USB 3.1 – Gen 2, 4 x USB 3.1 – Gen 1 and 6 x USB 2.0/1.1. Finally, you get a Realtek ALC892 codec that supports HD audio during your gaming experience.

Best Motherboard for i5 9600K and RTX 2060

MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk

MSI has done a brilliant job with their military-style MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk offering a cost-effective and well-equipped motherboard for all your gaming needs. 

To propel your gaming ranks, the motherboard comes with the latest Intel Z390 chipset with overclocking capabilities, MSI has included a strong and full digital CPU power delivery with coral boost technology to cater to your performance needs. 

The extended heatsink cooling and thermal cooling bar make sure everything runs cool and stable even at the highest workloads. For better protection, the motherboard features a pre-installed I/O shield as well as M.2 shield Frozr and multiple fan headers that ensure proper heat dissipation solutions. 

The motherboard offers DDR4 boost technology giving you the maximum memory bandwidth to ensure the highest frame rates, supporting a dual memory channel with a maximum of 128 GB memory with 4 x DDR 4 DIMM slots. You can burn out your ram with extreme overclocking up to 4400+ MHz.   

There are decent storage options as well, the motherboard offers 2 x M.2 capable of providing you with 32 Gb/s transfer speed. Also, 6 x SATA connectors that can support up to 6 Gb/s transfer speed. 

The motherboard is well-equipped in terms of expansion options, offering you PCIe gen 3 expansion slots with 3 x PCIe (x16) and 2 x PCIe (x1) slots. All these slots are equipped with steel armors protection so that they can handle all types of powerful graphics cards from the market.

Inspired by the military looks, the PCB gives you a matte black stylish finish with silver aluminum heat sinks over it and mystic RGB lighting that supports 16.8 million colors and 29 effects.

For your connectivity needs, you’ll get 4 x USB 3.1 (Gen2, A+C) + 4 x USB 3.1 (Gen1) + 6 x USB 2.0. You also get dual intel Gigabit LAN with bandwidth management support so you can prioritize your gaming activities. The motherboard features Audio boost technology to give a competitive edge in your favorite games. 

Best Motherboard for Overclocking i5 9600K

Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro

If you want to get maximum juice from your PC, then Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro is the best we will recommend catering to all your needs. The motherboard is not only famous in terms of overclocking but also for the plenty of features you need today.

In terms of design, you get a combination of black and orange finish to give PCB a classy look with grey aluminum-silver coated heatsinks. These heatsinks display full colors RGB effects with an upgradeable BIOS. The RGB panel is digitally customizable which means you can enjoy even more styles and patterns. 

With regard to PCIe expansion slots, the motherboard comes with 1 x PCIe 3.0 (x16), 1 x PCIe 3.0 (x8), 1 x PCIe 3.0 (x4), and 3 x PCIe 3.0 (x1). All these slots come with thermal shielding as well, so if you plan to expand your options in terms of the graphics card, it won’t get you in trouble. 

Now for the overclocking, Gigabyte high-end thermal design does not disappoint us by any means. The motherboard comes with two heat sinks combined with a heat pipe and thick thermal padding which ensure a thermal balance of the MOSFETs, improving overall heat dissipation. 

As far as the cooling options are concerned, the motherboard comes with Smart Fan 5 that has interchangeable fan headers with internal and external temperature sensors. You also get 1 x water cooling fan header along with 4 x fan headers for the system and 2 x water cooling pump headers. So, you can squeeze the performance from your pc without any compromise over this.

To give you cracking performance, Gigabyte is powered up with a 12 + 1 phase VRM setup with DrMOS so you can expect smoother overclocking efficiency. 

The motherboard is well balanced in terms of its storage options as it comes with dual M.2 connectors that are capable of providing you with 32 Gb/s transfer speed. Besides this, the storage interface has 6 x SATA connectors that can manage up to 6 Gb/s transfer speed. 

As for the memory options, the motherboard can support up to 128GB of 4 x DDR4 DIMM sockets. Next to this, you can overclock it up to 4133+ MHz effortlessly. 

As for the connectivity, you’ll get 1 x Type-C 3.1 – Gen 2, 1 x Type-C 3.1 – Gen 1, 5 x USB 3.1 – Gen 1, 2 x USB 3.1 – Gen 2 and 8 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports. Other features include built in WIFI, Bluetooth 5 and Intel Gbe LAN chip.

To accommodate your audio requirements, the motherboard is equipped with Realtek ALC 1220-VB that can provide you with high definition audio smoothly.

Best High-end Motherboard for i5 9600K

ASUS TUF Z390-Plus Gaming (Wi-Fi)

If you’re a high-performance enthusiast, ASUS TUF Z390-Plus Gaming offers the best deal with its premium features. The motherboard is packed with robust power solutions, fast ethernet port, aluminum heatsink covers for both the PWDs and the m.2 slots. The company’s flagship motherboard is built on an Intel Z390 chipset which offers faster memory, smart cooling, and high-end performances for both 8th and 9th Gen Intel Core processors.

The thermal design features a solid steel backplate, extra-large heatsinks, and multiple fan headers. What makes this motherboard even more special in terms of thermal transfer is its ability to monitor temperature changes with AI (Artificial Intelligence). The AI reduces the fan speeds to balance all the thermals so as to maintain the temperature at 5°c. So, no problem at all with the high temperatures.

Besides this, you will get Multi-GPU support to accelerate the gaming performance, dual-channel memory architecture with 4 x DIMM slots that can support a maximum of 128GB of DDR4 RAM, 2 x m.2 slots, and fan extension slots. 

In terms of PCIe, the motherboard features 2 x PCIe 3.0 x16 safe slots and 4x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots.

Aesthetically, you get the unmatched personalization experience with RGB headers, live dash OLED, Gen 2 headers, and aura sync to elevate your pc setup. Furthermore, the motherboard  offers RGB control with an upgradeable BIOS 

In addition to this, the package comes with fast connectivity features like Intel turbo LAN, with LANGuard technology. On top of that Real Tek Gaming Audio, dedicated audio PCB layers, and premium Japanese audio capacitors further enhance the gaming experience with excellent audio. 

Here at OvrClock, we are committed to keeping our editorial and product recommendation processes completely independent from our monetization — so, you can always be sure we are recommending the best PC Parts for you without any partiality.

The OvrClock team has been reviewing all parts of a PC build for years now, and we use our expert opinion and experiences when making recommendations. We try to get our hands on and actually test all of the products we recommend, in addition to the dozens of alternatives that are not on the final list. This allows us to provide insights beyond what you can find from reading other online reviews, and get a true and more clear understanding of the best options. Our diverse team and vast experience also allow us to highlight each product’s ideal use cases, as well as the perfect customer profile for any given product.

For Motherboards, we test things including but not limited to: power delivery setup, base and overclocking speeds, ports, audio and Wi-Fi connectivity, and RGB customizability, among many other factors. Our experience allows us to translate these insights into actionable conclusions and purchase recommendations for you, without you having to test all the products, or having to sift through piles and piles of data from our motherboard testing. All of the recommended motherboards and dozens of others not in this roundup have been tested with an Intel Core i5-9600k processor, and the aforementioned motherboards have been shortlisted based on their stellar performance with the Intel Core i5-9600k processor.

For any questions about our product selection and recommendation process, feel free to contact us.

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