8 Best Motherboards for i9 10900k Builds

To reinstate the dominance against AMD, Intel indeed has done a great job with i9-10900k. With immense power and a great headroom for overclocking, Intel’s i9 10900k features 10 cores and 20 threads.

Before we head on to the best motherboards for i9 10900k, let’s concisely revise what this processor has in store for us.

We are all aware that Intel is still relatively short of AMD in terms of the nanometer technology war. However, they have seriously pushed themselves ahead with 7% faster octa-core speeds, 13% faster turbo frequencies, and 5% lower memory latency than its rival AMD’s Ryzen 5800x. 

These percentages may not appear huge, but they’ll undoubtedly bring significant differences during those hardcore gaming sessions.

Since Intel’s i9 10900k required the LGA 1200 chipset, the motherboard manufacturers were quick to react to its launch with Z490 chipset; and today, numerous motherboards models offer support for these processors. 

It is quite hard to make the best choice considering all the different features and build profiles. 

Now for those of you who are eyeing to find out the best motherboard for i9 10900k for their next build, we’ve explored them for you and cataloged it right here. Let’s dig right in. 

8 Best Motherboards for i9 10900k

In a hurry? Here’s a short feature-summary of our motherboard picks.

Award	Motherboard	Rating	Price
Best Z490 Overall	MSI MEG Z490 ACE Robust 16 Phase 90A VRM Triple M.2 Slots | Dedicated Heatsinks  Supports PCIe 4.0 Mode USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C (20 Gbps)  WiFi 6 | Bluetooth 5.1 | 2.5G Lan	9.6	Check Price
Budget Gaming	MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Plus 14 Power Phase System  Supports 128 GB DDR 4 (4800+ OC) NVMe Turbo M.2 Slot  PCIe Gen 4 Supported USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C	9.1	Check Price
Best Mid-Range	ASUS ROG Strix Z490-E 14+2 DG+ VRM Solid Build and ASUS ProCool II Dual M.2 Slots | Wifi | Bluetooth Supports RAM OC with XMP Profiles USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C	9.3	Check Price
Best ATX	ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero 14+2 60 A Power Stages Triple M.2 Slots  ASUS ROG RGB Styling  Wifi 6 | USB 3.2 Gen 2  Thunderbolt 3 connector	9.5	Check Price
Best RGB	MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Carbon WiFi 12+1+1 Power Phase Design Supports 128 GB DDR 4 (OC) Dual NVMe M.2 Slots PCIe 4.0 Compliant | WiFi | Bluetooth  USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C	9.7	Check Price
Best for Video Editing	GIGABYTE Z490 Vision D 13 Phase 50A VRM setup  6 SATA | dual NVme M.2 Slots USB 3.2 Gen 2 | 2.5 G Lan Supports up to 128 GB DDR 4 RAM Extensive Heatsinks	9.4	Check Price
Best Mini ITX	ASUS ROG Strix Z490-I 10 Power stages | ProCool II Supports up to 64 GB DDR 4 memory  4 SATA 6GB/s | Dual M.2 Slots  WiFi 6 | Bluetooth 5.1 | 2.5G LAN Plethora of USB Connectivity	9.2	Check Price
Best High-End	MSI MEG Z490 GODLIKE Powerful 16 Phase 90A Power Design  Dual 8-pin EPS Connectors  Supports 128 GB DDR 4 (5000+ OC) 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports | USB 3.2 Gen 2 Triple M.2 Slots | 6 SATA Ports	9.8	Check Price

MSI MEG Z490 ACE – Best Z490 Motherboard for i9 10900K

To meet the processor’s energy demands, it brings a 17 phase VRM with a raving 90A power supply. This not only suffices for the VRM efficiency in terms of temperature control but also ensures smoother overclocking. Additionally, there are plenty of other cooling options integrated onto this motherboard.

The VRMs have an integrated heat sink with an affiliated thermal pad for optimal heat dissipation. To maximize the thermal transfer, it comes with a baseplate at the back. Now, if you’re looking to run i9-10900 to its extreme and push more air through, you also get three fan headers. Looking at the benchmarking tests, we believe the VRM solution MSI has provided on this motherboard is so phenomenal that it can withstand even the harshest conditions.

And when it comes to pure gaming, you can’t go wrong on the memory front. On that front, 4 dual-channel DIMM slots support up to 128GB of DDR4 memory at a frequency of 4800+ MHz. Furthermore, these DIMM slots are protected with MSI’s Steel armor. In terms of PCIe expansion, the motherboard has three 16x slots and two x1 slots. However, in all fairness, the bottom two PCI x16 slots are only practically operational at 8x and 4x, respectively.

If you’re planning to go with a single graphic card, the top PCIe slot is the best choice for you. 

To ensure maximum storage capacity, the motherboard has triple NVMe-supported M.2 slots, all integrated with Intel Optane Ready. The slots are capable of up to 32Gbps transfer speeds. Each M.2 slot has an exclusive heat sink. The I/O on the motherboard is equipped with on-board Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antenna connectors (antennas included), two USB 2.0 type-A ports, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports, 3 USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. The cherry on the top consists of a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, capable of 20Gbps speed transfers. Along with this, you get a 7.1ch Realtek audio controller and 1Gb RJ45 Lan port. 

Coming to its aesthetics overview, the motherboard looks lit, featuring a black and gold pattern. The motherboard also has RGB on both the top and bottom heatsinks. The motherboard looks fantastic, with both the RGB and the PCB color closely synchronized with the overall theme.

But if you’re very serious about building the most illuminated rig, you can further extend the RGB functionality with two addressable RGB and two RGB headers. The only downside is that the RGB control is missing from the BIOS and can only be controlled via the software.

MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Plus – Best Budget Gaming Motherboard for i9 10900k

With a price tag of less than $200, the motherboard means serious business with aesthetic design and a powerful 14 power phase system. Taking a look at its design, the chipset has been put together on a matte black PCB, decked with aesthetic carbon-black heatsinks.

Regardless of the price point, we also get a decent and mystic RGB lightning just under the bottom heatsink. For those who would like to take the decoration a step further, MSI has got you all covered with both onboard RGB and addressable RGB headers. MSI has also done a great job within the VRM department, bolstering a 12+1+1 power phase design. Furthermore, to spice the CPU with more power, you also get an 8-pin and a 4-pin connector option. Based on our analysis, even the 8-pin connector would suffice for decent overclocking but using both the connectors can help unleash the maximum performance of i9 10900k. 

Banking on these VRMs is an extensive heatsink that extends on to the rear I/O. Above and beyond that, these heatsinks also have thermal pads beneath them to provide better heat dissipation during those steamroll sessions. On top of this, we also have a separate heatsink on top of the M.2 slot. Ideally, these heatsinks should suffice the cooling part; however, you also get an option to install water cooling using the pump connector right on top of the board.

For the storage needs, you’ll get 1 NVMe-supported Turbo M.2 slot, offering speeds up to 32Gbps using the onboard Intel Optane Technology. The memory front is also ramped up for extreme performance, with support of up to 128GB of DDR4 RAM, overclockable up to 4800+Mhz. Furthermore, this motherboard also features easy to enable XMP profile via BIOS to ensure maximum memory speed and lower latency.

As for PCIe connectivity, it has 2 PCIe x16 slots. It should be worth noting that the primary PCIe x16 slot supports PCIe Gen 4.0, making it future-proof for forthcoming high bandwidth graphic cards and on top, the slot is also metallically reinforced. 

Considering the price point that it brings, it is super-awesome, but providing the same for the second slot would definitely have given this motherboard a serious edge over the other budget Z490 motherboards.As for the peripheral connectivity, the layout of USB ports on this motherboard isn’t the best among its peers but not bad enough to break the deal. On the rear I/O, we only get a single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C and Type-A slot, along with two USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A slots.Similarly, the motherboard only allows for 1 front USB-C connection with the onboard connector. 

To sum it up, it’s a great and reliable motherboard that offers the novelty of overclocking and 128GB of RAM capacity without costing a fortune. 

ASUS ROG Strix Z490-E – Best Mid-range Motherboard for i9 10900k

Unlike the other mid-range motherboards, this motherboard allows you to maximize the overclocking potential using DG+VRM 14+2 power stages. 

To ensure the cleanest power and stability, the VRM interface also features ASUS’s ProCool II technology with additional metal armor and durable capacitors around the MOSFETs. To deliver that power to the CPU, we have both 8-pin and 4-pin connectors right at the top of the board.

There is quite a lot going on in terms of the cooling on the motherboard. With three heatsinks around the CPU socket, these heatsinks are all joined up with a heatpipe to ensure all the heat is carried out uniformly. These heatsinks cover the entirety of all VRMs, the MOSFETs, and the M.2 slots 

Now if you’re looking to maximize the cooling department, you also get the option to connect additional fans or water cooling using the fan headers and AIO pump, respectively.

When it comes down to storage, STRIX isn’t going to let you down with a variety of storage options. This includes the standard six 6GB SATA ports and dual M.2 slots. Now the best part is that these M.2 slots are configured for both NVMe and SATA mode to ensure fast data transfers. On the top right, you’ll get 4 DIMM slots that can hold up to 128GB of DDR4 RAM. The dual-channel memory modules offer RAM overclocking up to 4600 MHz using XML profiles. 

But if we’re to call out a selling point of this motherboard, that definitely would be its PCIe connectivity. The dual PCIe x16 slots, both metallically reinforced, offer multi GPU support for both NVIDIA and AMD graphic cards. However, one thing to keep in mind here is that only the primary slot next to the CPU is capable of offering full speed bandwidth.

In terms of I/O connectivity, the motherboard has all that you can think of. For the front, it even features multiple USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C connections using the on board connector. On the rear I/O, we get 4 USB 3.2 Gen 1 slots, triple USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and a single Type C slot. On top of this, the motherboard also has on-board WiFi and Bluetooth.

To summarize, this motherboard is the most reasonable purchase for those who want to pack their PC build with all the latest features without going steep on the wallet.

ASUS ROG Maximus XII Hero – Best ATX Motherboard for i9 10900k

Though it is a bit more expensive than its ancestor, it still stands right at the median of premium motherboards in terms of price. The increase, however, can be justified with how ASUS has stepped up in terms of features on this board. 

For the looks, it surely is as gorgeous as other ROG motherboards. Interfusion of black PCB with piano black heatsinks, it is a perfect blend to dress up your build. Over and above that, we get a decent amount of RGB support. The motherboard features illuminated RGB logos on the both I/O shield at the back and on the right bottom of the motherboard.  Nevertheless, if you want to add more taste to the RGB styling, you get the option to install more RGBs with both RGB and addressable RGB headers. For power delivery and overclocking potential, this motherboard offers an efficient VRM setup.

Powered with 14+2 power stages that each deliver up to 60 amperes, the motherboard has all the potential to play down extreme overclocking sessions at a breeze.

With overclocking, the motherboard certainly needs decent amounts of cooling options and ROG wouldn’t disappoint you here either. There is a heat sink on the rear I/O, a heat sink on the VRM, and an extended heat sink at the bottom. All these heatsinks are interconnected with a heatpipe to ensure optimal heat dissipation.

Now for those looking to push the limit with the overclocking, you also get an additional fan to connect to the motherboard.  Above and beyond that, you also get triple M.2 slots and 6 SATA ports. All of the m.2 slots are NVMe compatible and protected with heatsinks.  The only downside here is that these slots are located quite close to the primary PCIe slot.

Gaming enthusiasts also get the support to add up to 128GB DDR4 memory, with an overclocking potential of 4800Mhz and beyond. With Thunderbolt 3 connector, the motherboard has clear domination on the connectivity.

So if you’re a content creator having 6K or 8K footages, you can get blistering fast transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps with an ASUS thunderbolt card.  

Vetting into the I/O options, in terms of USB connectivity, you’ll get 2 USB 2.0 ports, 4 USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports, 1 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, and also a USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port.  This is supplemented by onboard Intel Wifi 6 and 8-Channel audio support. To sum things up, there isn’t anything that’s really missing from this motherboard. 

MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Carbon WIFI – Best RGB Gaming Motherboard for i9 10900k

Now design-wise, the motherboard is, patently, a stunning motherboard. The blend of matte black and silver PCB onto wrapped carbon-fiber panels makes it all burning and shining. It features a decent amount of RGB lighting around the I/O panel and the chipset to spice things up.

If you want to jazz it up even further, you get a 4-pin RGB connector and two addressable RGB connectors.  Besides, you also get a Corsair RGB connector in case you’re into it. Overall, the motherboard is expansive, with plenty of room for heat dissipation.

To meet the power requirements of i9 10900k, this motherboard is all serious with a 12+1+1 power phase system, powered by an 8-pin and a 4-pin connector. This should fill the bill for overclocking at ease.

As for the cooling options on the motherboard, we have got the primary heatsink on the side and a secondary heatsink on the top. Additionally, the motherboard features M.2 shield frozers on both the m.2 slots separately. To fortify an absolute cooling, it even has a heat shield over the PCH chipset. 

For memory, it can support up to 128GB of DDR 4 via 4 DIMM slots. Using XMP, you can overclock the RAM up to 4800+ MHz. But even at 4800Mhz, it should be able to come through with flying colors. On the flip side, the DIMM slots exclude any metallic protection underneath. This shouldn’t be a deal-breaker but this seriously could have added to its durability.

The motherboard is also well-rounded in terms of storage options. We get 6 SATA ports. Additionally, there are dual m.2 slots that have both PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 support.

By no frills, MSI could have excluded the PCIe 4.0 capabilities, but they’ve surprised us here.

In terms of PCIe expansion slots, the motherboard has three x16 PCIe slots and two x1 slots. All of these slots are also fully PCI 4.0 compliant. Also just like the industry standard, we only get x16 bandwidth on one primary slot.

Albeit, if you’re thinking of adding two graphic cards, the motherboard also has armor shielding on both of the top two PCIe slots. As for the I/O, this motherboard is a fine fit with everything you’d expect. It brings in USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C connector, USB 3.1 Gen 1, and USB 2.0 connectivity.

It also features dual-screen capabilities with both HDMI and DisplayPort on the rear I/O as well as onboard Wifi. Concisely, this is certainly a good bang for the buck.

GIGABYTE Z490 Vision D – Best Video Editing Motherboard for i9 10900k

Jumping into its looks, we get an aesthetic motherboard with a classy matte black PCB synthesized with black, aluminum-silver coated heatsinks.

These heatsinks feature blueish RGB accents around the I/O shield and also around the chipset. If that’s short of your plan, you also get 4 onboard RGB headers. 

Setting out the performance, we have a 13 phase power system, each capable of delivering 50A of power delivery. The CPU is powered by a reinforced 8-pin EPS connector and an optional 4-pin connector.

This is enough to go round for great overclocking performance and stability. Now with the overclocking business, it surely means a considerable heat dissipation layout. GIGABYTE doesn’t disappoint us on this front either.

There is a primary heatsink on the VRMs that extends to the rear I/O heatsink. These heatsinks are interconnected via a heatpipe, ensuring optimal load sharing between the MOSFETs and the rear I/O. For people looking to push it further, we also have eight 4-pin fan headers.

Leading this, we have 4 DIMM slots, supporting up to 128 GB of DDR4 4400 RAM. The base speed of the RAM may be at the lower end but considering this motherboard is focused on content creation, stability is the key.

The only issue where Gigabyte could have improved was the DIMMs placement. The slots are located adjacent to the PCIe slot. Ideally, in some situations, it may require the GPU to be removed if you want the PCIe slots.

To suffice for content storage needs, you get 6 SATA connectors for attaching 2.5-inch SSDs and dual M.2 slots for attaching the NVMe SSDs. As Vision D is centered across content creation, it offers 3 PCIe x16 slots, with the top one offering x16 bandwidth while the other two configured to provide x8 and x4, respectively.

The better part of these slots is that they support Gen 4 of PCIe. So once those new components are out, you’d definitely be able to upgrade your graphic cards and M2 that support higher bandwidths and speeds.

On the other hand, the motherboard even offers Thunderbolt 3 via the rear USB-C connectors. These thunderbolt 3 ports can offer speeds of up to 40Gbps and can even be used to connect dual 4K displays.

As for gaming connectivity, it features onboard WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5, a whole stack of USB 3.2 Gen 2 on the rear I/O, dual-display support with both HDMI and DP ports, and USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type C and USB 3.2 Gen 2 headers for the front. Along with this, we get the Z490 standard 2.5G LAN and integrated HD audio for an immersive gaming experience.

In a nutshell, if you want the overclocking without worrying to install extra cooling and want optimal GPU support, Vision D is the one to settle on. 

ASUS ROG Strix Z490-I – Best mini-ITX Motherboard for i9 10900k

Now you should not expect this mini-ITX motherboard to break all the barriers in terms of overclocking, but we have all the faith for a very fast CPU performance.

For the power delivery and optimal cooling, we get up to 10 power stages, i.e., giving quite a leap to harness the full potential of the i9 10900k. To deliver this power to the CPU, there is an 8-pin connector, featuring ROG ProCool technology to keep the temperatures under control.

Now it is the cooling department where this motherboard takes a big leap. It offers more than one can expect. There is an extended triple-decked heatsink covering VRMs, both of the M.2 slots, the rear I/O, and PCH.

Furthermore, you can also extend the cooling functionality with onboard fan headers. Since space is also confined within a mini-ITX chassis, the motherboard also features thermal padding beneath the heatsinks.

And if all of this would not suffice your cooling requirements, you can also attach a custom water cooling with the onboard pump connector. The motherboard has ample memory support, with two DIMM slots supporting up to 64GB DDR4. These DIMM slots are configured with OptiMem II technology offering memory overclocking of up to 4800 Mhz.

While in the storage department, you would get 4 SATA 6Gbps slots and dual M.2 slots, both supporting SATA and PCIe3.0 modes.  As for the expansion slots, there is only 1 PCIe 3.0 x16 slot.

It’s the I/O connectivity in this Z490 mini-ITX motherboard that outweighs the rest of the competition. Besides great USB connectivity with 8 rear USB ports and 5 front USB ports, it also offers onboard Wifi 6 support, Bluetooth 5.1, Intel 2.5G ethernet connection, and two display outputs, i.e., HDMI, DisplayPort.

Now if you’re a gaming enthusiast, your next concern would be the aesthetics. The matte black PCB and the aluminum heatsink contrast offer a great vibe of a gaming motherboard.

But this motherboard falls short of the RGB presentation, with only a single ROG logo featuring RGB lighting. That being the case, you still have the option to connect additional RGBs with standard RGB and addressable RGB header.

In a nutshell, it’s a sleek and compact ITX motherboard with a lot of features for its size and price.

MSI MEG Z490 Godlike – Best High-end Motherboard for i9 10900k

Now it might sound bizarre, but MSI MEG Z490 GODLIKE has broken records of performance tests, with overclocking speeds over past the 7.0 GHz range. So if you’re expecting next-level energetic performance and push the limit on overclocking, this motherboard is not going to dampen your spirits whatsoever!

If you fancy getting your wallet out, this is definitely the most premium motherboard that you want to get for your extreme PC build. In terms of aesthetics, MSI has really leveled it up from its predecessor, i.e., Z390. It’s a glorious hotchpotch of matte black, ruthenium silver, and with the heat sinks having an anchor silver shade.

MSI Godlike would not let down the hopes of gaming enthusiasts at such a hefty price tag.

It features the RGB dragon logo on the top and the GODLIKE logo on the platform controller hub.  Endorsing the premium-build further, we also have a debug LCD to display processing frequencies.

Now if that’s not enough, you can dominate your RGB game with the availability of an additional RGB header, two addressable RGB headers, and a Corsair header.

Now in terms of power, it features the mighty 16 power phases where each can generate up to 90 amperes of power. These power phases can prevail rugged overclocking and hefty power demands.

To power the CPU, we have two 8-pin EPS connectors. It is a bit mediocre not to have metal shielding around these connectors but we’re sure this shouldn’t be a deadlock.

As is the custom, overclocking with such potential would result in extreme temperatures. The motherboard has the best heat dispersal with large heatsinks spread across the front. The primary heat sink on the rear I/O has two thermal fans.

There are additional heatsinks on top of the MOSFETs at the back of the motherboard. This sets out for combating heat that is running out from the end.

These heatsinks are also connected via a heatpipe. If you’re looking to intensify the thermal dissipation further, you get 8 PWM headers, a water flow header, and a water pump header.

Beefing it up, there is no doubt that this motherboard is future-proof, which is to say that both expansion slots and M.2 slots are PCIe 4.0 compliant. So when Intel’s Rocket Late CPUs hits in, these motherboards should be geared up. 

For memory, this motherboard seriously pushes the limit with support for up to 128GB of DDR4 ram, overclockable at 5000MHZ and beyond. Furthermore, the DIMM slots are all metallically reinforced for durability. 

For the storage, the motherboard has 6 SATA ports and three M.2 slots. That is where some other motherboards do pile up against this motherboard, with some even having 4 M.2 slots. However, if you would like to expand the storage, you would need to buy a separate expansion card.

Lastly, this motherboard has a barrel of USB capabilities. You get 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 4 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A slots on the rear. On the other hand, you also get the premium 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports, with blazing data transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps.

Concisely, no matter if you’re a gaming enthusiast or a content creator, having such processing capabilities and thunderbolt connectivity right off the motherboard, this is exactly what you need.

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 i9-10900K processor, and the aforementioned motherboards have been shortlisted based on their stellar performance with the Intel Core i9-10900K processor.

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

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Best Motherboards for i9 10900k – Final Call