I need a z370 mini-ITX board.

[Sin Stalker]

I'm building a computer for my daughter to use so she can play a few games with me. I also plan to use it as a streaming machine and backup system..

 

I was originally going to get an i3-8100 or 2200G but a great deal on an i3-8350K fell into my lap. I snagged it. I have a great EVGA AIO that I had snagged on Amazon's Prime day for $30, that I will be throwing into this system.

 

I realized now, that I can use this system to play around with overclocking. As such, I need a good or best z370 mini-itx motherboard for overclocking. I would love to hit 5Ghz as I've never had a computer hit that before. 

 

I watched a few reviews and many people are saying the Asus ROG Strix Z370-I or the Gigabyte Z370N are the best way to go. I have a bad taste in my mouth for Gigabyte given their quality control lately, but I'd be willing to give it a shot if encouraged by the LTT forum community. I could also go with the Asus board, but my main rig is already Asus and it would be nice to have a different UEFI flavor in the house. However it isn't that important as being familiar with the layout is a benefit, so with encouragement from the LTT forum community I could go that route as well. I am also open to other suggestions you may have. (I really love this community.)

 

I know this isn't that wide of a selection so I'm hoping it'll be easy. The mobo has to have built in wifi.

 

So which z370 mini-ITX is best for overclocking, or at least "good enough"?

 

 

[dizmo]

I'd probably go with the Asus, tbh.

[iamdarkyoshi]

2 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I'd probably go with the Asus, tbh.

My asus ROG board has issues with voltage control, pushing >1.5v to my chip while set to 1.35. Stock everything has no issues though.

 

I'd recommend asrock's fatality board, its the only other good Z370 board on the market other than the Z370i from asus

[Sin Stalker]

8 hours ago, iamdarkyoshi said:

My asus ROG board has issues with voltage control, pushing >1.5v to my chip while set to 1.35. Stock everything has no issues though.

 

I'd recommend asrock's fatality board, its the only other good Z370 board on the market other than the Z370i from asus

My only concern with the ASRock board is the lack of a heatsink on the top VRMs. I think they are the DRAM VRMs. Although I don't know how much that influences performance. 

[Sin Stalker]

On 8/2/2018 at 10:45 PM, dizmo said:

I'd probably go with the Asus, tbh.

 

On 8/2/2018 at 10:50 PM, iamdarkyoshi said:

My asus ROG board has issues with voltage control, pushing >1.5v to my chip while set to 1.35. Stock everything has no issues though.

 

I'd recommend asrock's fatality board, its the only other good Z370 board on the market other than the Z370i from asus

I am torn between these two. And I need to pick one asap. My CPU has arrived. I have everything but the mobo.

[dizmo]

3 minutes ago, Sin Stalker said:

 

I am torn between these two. And I need to pick one asap. My CPU has arrived. I have everything but the mobo.

Need 2 m.2? Asus.

Need 1 m.2? AsRock.

[Sin Stalker]

33 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Need 2 m.2? Asus.

Need 1 m.2? AsRock.

No m.2 in this build for awhile.

 

The ASRock one worries me because it doesn't have a heatsink on the DRAM VRMs.

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 minutes ago, Sin Stalker said:

The ASRock one worries me because it doesn't have a heatsink on the DRAM VRMs.

Is DRAM VRM cooling really that important? I've honestly never seen a motherboard have heatsinks for the DRAM VRMs, and this is dating back to even the Athlon MP days.

[Sin Stalker]

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Is DRAM VRM cooling really that important? I've honestly never seen a motherboard have heatsinks for the DRAM VRMs, and this is dating back to even the Athlon MP days.

 All the other motherboards have the heatsink on the DRAM VRMs. Unless I am confusing what the VRMs are above the CPU socket are. I thought those are the DRAM VRMs for mini-ITX boards.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, Sin Stalker said:

 All the other motherboards have the heatsink on the DRAM VRMs. Unless I am confusing what the VRMs are above the CPU socket are. I thought those are the DRAM VRMs for mini-ITX boards.

Red = DRAM VRMs/power phases.

Blue = CPU VRMs and power phases.

Green = Z370 chipset

 

 

Once you see where the power gets supplied, you can kind of tell what the VRMs and power phases are for. For example, your DIMMs get power from the board directly, or via the 24 pin connector. Based off of that, the VRMs would have to come between the 24 pin connector and the DIMM slots.

 

The CPU gets its power from the 8 pin connector, and requires much more than the DIMMs, hence the higher amount of VRMs and power phases found between the CPU socket and 8 pin connector.

[chckovsky]

On Mini-ITX, AsRock has the better VRM.

Also it has a Thunderbolt 3 port (only 20Gbps though).
 

I was considering Strix Z370G /Z370I and the AsRock mb. I went with the EVGA Z370 Micro and I'm very glad I did, but think I would be happy with the AsRock as well.

[Sin Stalker]

18 hours ago, chckovsky said:

On Mini-ITX, AsRock has the better VRM.

Also it has a Thunderbolt 3 port (only 20Gbps though).
 

I was considering Strix Z370G /Z370I and the AsRock mb. I went with the EVGA Z370 Micro and I'm very glad I did, but think I would be happy with the AsRock as well.

I've seen evidence that AsRock was lying about the type and the marker of the VRMs they were putting on their AM4 boards. I am worried about the accuracy of Asrock's z370 boards... 

[Sin Stalker]

On 8/8/2018 at 1:10 PM, Crunchy Dragon said:

Red = DRAM VRMs/power phases.

Blue = CPU VRMs and power phases.

Green = Z370 chipset

 

 

Once you see where the power gets supplied, you can kind of tell what the VRMs and power phases are for. For example, your DIMMs get power from the board directly, or via the 24 pin connector. Based off of that, the VRMs would have to come between the 24 pin connector and the DIMM slots.

 

The CPU gets its power from the 8 pin connector, and requires much more than the DIMMs, hence the higher amount of VRMs and power phases found between the CPU socket and 8 pin connector.

Why does it not need a heatsink on the VRMs above the CPU slot? Are those for the iGPU or something that doesn't need alot of power or over clocking?

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 minutes ago, Sin Stalker said:

Why does it not need a heatsink on the VRMs above the CPU slot? Are those for the iGPU or something that doesn't need alot of power or over clocking?

Those are still CPU VRMs, but my guess is that they wouldn't have been able to fit a heatsink on there.

[Sin Stalker]

48 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Those are still CPU VRMs, but my guess is that they wouldn't have been able to fit a heatsink on there.

Wouldn't that hurt performance or at least OC performance? It is my main hessitation with this board. All the other brands have heatsinks there.

[Crunchy Dragon]

6 minutes ago, Sin Stalker said:

Wouldn't that hurt performance or at least OC performance? It is my main hessitation with this board. All the other brands have heatsinks there.

If there's good airflow, you should be fine.

[chckovsky]

52 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Wouldn't that hurt performance or at least OC performance

No, DDR4 is so low powered it shouldn't be a problem, even with limited airflow.

[Sin Stalker]

8 hours ago, chckovsky said:

No, DDR4 is so low powered it shouldn't be a problem, even with limited airflow.

I was already shown that we aren't talking about the VRMs on the DIMs.

[Sin Stalker]

9 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

If there's good airflow, you should be fine.

It is a mini ITX case with an aio for the CPU. Idk about air flow ...

[iamdarkyoshi]

I've run a 125w phenom X6 on a board without ANY VRM heatsinks.

 

The major ones have been taken care of on the asrock board. I'd go for it. If there's issues, you can put a thermal pad between the back of the board and mobo tray to further dissipate heat.

[chckovsky]

3 hours ago, Sin Stalker said:

I was already shown that we aren't talking about the VRMs on the DIMs.

iGPU VRM shouldn't be a problem either. It's a true 5 phase Vcore VRM + 2 phases for the iGPU. The two above the CPU are NOT part of the Vcore VRM.

[Sin Stalker]

On 8/11/2018 at 2:15 AM, chckovsky said:

iGPU VRM shouldn't be a problem either. It's a true 5 phase Vcore VRM + 2 phases for the iGPU. The two above the CPU are NOT part of the Vcore VRM.

I see.

Well thank you all for the information, unfortunately the decision was taken out of my hands. My daughter saw the two boards I was looking at (ASROCK and ASUS) and she saw the RGB on the ASUS board. So she is very adamant about that board.