Do Motherboards Have Integrated Graphics?
Do motherboards have integrated graphics or do you need a integrated graphics chip or a dedicated GPU? This article will tell you all about it.
Best Motherboard For i5 10600K
Intel is getting beaten a lot by the AMD Ryzen processors in the high-end market, but there is still a lot of competition in the budget market. The most popular budget processors these days are Intel Core i5-10600K and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X. Both the processors are hexacore and offer twelve threads. The performance of these processors is quite close, with AMD winning against the Core i5 processors, especially in the multi-core tests.
Intel Core i5-10600K is an unlocked processor, as the letter ‘K’ denotes, which means that it can be overclocked as long as a Z-series motherboard is used. Using a B-series or H-series motherboard with a K-series processor does not make any sense because you won’t be able to utilize the advantage of the processor’s overclocking capability with those chipsets. The latest Z-series motherboards are Z490, designed for the 10th and 11th-generation Core-series processors and host an LGA-1200 socket.
In this article, we will be looking at some of the best motherboards that can be used with Intel Core i5-10600K.
Quick Motherboard Recommendations for i5 10600K
| Award | Model | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Best Budet Motherboard for i5 10600K |
ASUS Prime Z490-A
|
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| Best Mid Range Motherboard for i5 10600K |
MSI MAG Z490 Tomahawk
|
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| Best Cheap Motherboard for i5 10600K |
MSI Z490-A ProSeries
|
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| Best Z490 Motherboard for i5 10600K |
ASRock Z490 Extreme4
|
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Quick Buying Tips!
The Z490 motherboards are the most advanced and provide tons of features that make it difficult to choose between them. That is why we have designed a buying guide for those who are torn between various Z490 motherboards.
Form Factor: The first thing that you should check in a motherboard is its form factor. There are four mainstream form factors when it comes to motherboards. The largest motherboards are E-ATX motherboards, and this form factor is usually used only in the flagship motherboards. Then comes the ATX motherboards, which are the most common form factor, and most manufacturers design motherboards with this form factor. The micro-ATX motherboards are smaller than the ATX motherboards and are usually used with small mid-tower cases. The smallest motherboards are mini-ITX motherboards that are only usable with mini-ITX casings.
Overclocking Power: All the Z490 motherboards come with overclocking capabilities. You can increase the multiplier of the processor with a supported K-series processor, like the Core i5-10600K. However, the limit of overclocking depends on the VRM of the motherboard. The voltage regulator module of the motherboard supply power to the processor, and the better the components of the VRM are, the better the chances of reaching higher clock rates. With high-end Z490 motherboards, you should be able to go as high as 5.2 GHz on all cores as long as you use a high-end cooling solution.
Design and Looks: The Z490 chipset is the best chipset for the Intel processors, and most motherboards based on this chipset look pretty good. However, you will find that the high-end Z490 motherboards come with unique designs. The prices of such motherboards are usually much more than that of the mainstream motherboards, but if you want your rig to look the best, you must have a look at the high-end Z490 motherboards.
Best Motherboard For i5 10600K Reviews
The Asus Prime series of motherboards always comes with a very affordable price but exceptional features, making them viable options for budget gamers. They are mainly targeted for budget builds, but their features and performance are similar to the mid-range competitors. The company took these motherboards to more professional while other series to gaming.
The one that comes compatible with this processor is Asus Prime Z490-Aw which cuts most of the Z490 motherboards under the same price bracket. The great thing about this motherboard is its compelling price and overclocking support for Comet Lake processors, especially for i5 10600K. Even though other cheap options are available but aesthetically, performance & features-wise, this board stands top of the list.
Aesthetically this motherboard is straightforward, but for complete white builds or black and white builds, this motherboard serves a great consideration. We’ve not seen that Asus changed the looks of this series of motherboards from the past two generations as they still come in black-colored PCB with some white-colored shinny heatsinks and diagonal lines coming from one end to another.
The IO cover of this motherboard also comes in white and has RGB lights with Prime series branding on it, which chipset heatsink and Asus branding and RGB underneath it. There are four memory slots on this motherboard, allowing you to install 128 GB of RAM clocked at 3200 MHz. There are two M.2 slots where one M.2 heat spreader is available for storage, and it’s up to you either you install it on primary or secondary and; additionally, there are 6x SATA 3.0 slots for further storage expansion.
You will miss the integrated Wi-Fi on this motherboard, but amazingly you will have 2.5G NIC, which is a norm in the latest motherboards, and it also has M.2 E Key slot for M.2 Wi-Fi Modules. A few users’ claims that their Ethernet port doesn’t work and I personally faced that with one of my Gigabyte motherboard but for many persons, there is no problem with this board.
An ATX motherboard with such an amazing feature set and a reasonable price makes nothing more we expect from motherboards like it. Even for some reason, this motherboard doesn’t satisfy you; some other great options are available too, which you can consider for your build.
MSI Tomahawk series of motherboards are well known for their low price and excellent overclocking performance. They are a step-down variant of Unify series, which you know comes with premium features but for a little expensive price. You may already hear about the B450 Tomahawk, which is an excellent motherboard for overclocking because of its VRM and extended heatsinks over it.
Aesthetically this motherboard doesn’t give many premium looks, but it doesn’t look bad because of the black-colored base and grey stripes running from right to left diagonally. There is MSI and MAG branding on IO and VRM heatsinks and Tomahawk on the heatsink with RGB lights underneath it. Looks-wise there’s nothing bad in this motherboard, not the features, but a price cut would be appreciated.
There are two M.2 slots on this motherboard with heat spreaders on both of them and six SATA6 slots for further storage expansion. This motherboard has two Ethernet ports on the rear IO side and 2.5G NIC, but it lacks Wi-Fi6 support. The first Ethernet port runs at 1G while the other one at 2.5G, and both use different controllers them.
The rear side of this motherboard has a lot of other ports, which include USB 3.2 Gen2 and Gen1 and both Type-A and Type-C ports. The only bad side of this motherboard is moderate VRM cooling when overclocking the processor. There are two PCIe x16 slots on this motherboard where the top one comes with PCI Steel Armor for better support for large graphics cards while the bottom one lacks it.
The CPU section of this motherboard is powered by a single 8-pins and a 4-pins power connector and has 14 phase power design voltage regulators. The MSI MAG Z490 Tomahawk allows the users to enjoy the overclocking power of other Z490 motherboards for a low price. Those users looking for something more powerful can even get the MSI MEG Z490 UNIFY, which is a step-up variant.
Except for integrated Wi-Fi, there is nothing that this motherboard lacks, and that’s what makes users consider it for their builds. The Unify and Tomahawk are great options to consider, and I would consider them the best motherboard for i5 10600K in 2021 or beyond. I do not include the others in this list because their core features are much the same, while this one comes at a slightly lower price.
The MSI Z490-A Pro Series motherboard is no different than the aforementioned Asus Prime series board as both of them offer the same features for a very reasonable price. The company itself targeted this motherboard for professional use and content creators because of entry-level features. At the same time, you can also use it for budget gaming machines, but some better option from MSI is always recommended if you can afford.
The ProSeries motherboard comes in a much identical design as the X570-A ProSeries also has similar looks to this one, but they revamped it with 12 phase design voltage regulators. Many things on this motherboard would make this motherboard much more appealing to the users, like the IO cover, Wi-Fi, and a couple of other features but still for this price is a good option.
Not many premia look on this motherboard as it comes in a black-colored PCB with some great accent while the heatsinks have metallic black colored shine on them. More interestingly, this motherboard comes with a 2.5G NIC, which has become a norm these days, and a pair of M.2 slots with M.2 heat spreader over the primary slot and four right-angled and two straight angled SATA slots.
You can install memory up to 128 GB with a clock speed of 4800 MHz, which is pretty good in entry-level motherboard across the four DIMMs, and it excites the users. This motherboard supports multiple graphics card configurations as it has two full-length PCIe x16 slots with PCIe STEEL Armor on the primary slot and three PCIe x1 slots. The heatsink on the primary M.2 slot gives decent cooling to the NVMe SSD and allows you to run it at its full potential.
When it comes to overclocking the Comet Lake processors, this motherboard will never disappoint you, but the PCIe 3.0 slots might be disappointing for future Rocket Lake processors. This motherboard’s back IO has one USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-C port, two USB 3.2 Gen1, and two USB 2.0 ports. This motherboard also has a pair of display output ports, including the one HDMI and Display Port. If you are interested in how to tell if HDMI cable is 2.0, we have an article here for you.
Target as professional, but the NIC, M.2, and 4800 MHz memory support make it more premium and attractive. This motherboard’s good is its budget-friendly, 12 Phase Power Design VRM and plenty of storage and connectivity options. While the disappointing things in this motherboard are one USB 3.2 Gen2 port, missing IO cover, no extended heatsink over VRM, and straightforward aesthetics.
ASRock has some of the best motherboards in their nine different series, and when it comes to their price to performance value, they all are good enough. Even though their premium motherboards are too good, their mid-range and budget motherboards are also great options to consider. The one we’ve on this list seems to be quite expensive compared to its competitors but best in its class.
Like always, Extreme4 motherboards have a lot to like, while the one we have Z490 Extrene4 also gets a sweet spot in mid-range motherboards because of its features, but we’ve seen Phantom or Taichi series has a lot more to offer. The great thing about ASRock motherboards is their durability, as the company claims they have high-density fiber used in their PCB, which prevents that from humidity.
Starting with the overclocking support of this motherboard as it comes with a stable Dr.MOS 11 Phase design voltage regulators which can overclock almost every Comet Lake processor. Another great thing about this motherboard is its support for highly overclocked memory modules. It supports 128 GB of DDR4 memory clock at 4266 MHz which is exceptional in any mid-range board.
The RGB lights and 2.5G NIC makes this motherboard more premium, but that’s a norm for modern motherboards; however, it’s a plus point because some lack that too. The storage options on this board are pretty the same as others as it has two M.2 with a heat spreader on the bottom one, and it connects with the chipset heatsink while six SATA3 slots are also available for further storage expansion.
The rear side of this motherboard has an IO cover with ASRock branding on it, while the IO panel has a couple of USB 3.2 ports, including both Type-A and Type-C. There are nice-looking 45 Degree cuts on the edges of this motherboard, while the black and blue colored PCB makes it more appealing. There is a lot of RGB lights on this motherboard which makes it more compelling.
You can nearly install any Comet Lake processor on this motherboard, and it will be compatible with Rocket Lake CPUs. Around the CPU socket, you will find the voltage regulators, as mentioned before, and 50A chokes with Nichicon capacitors and all covered with two large sizes of extended heatsinks. Overall this motherboard is a great option for an i5 10600K build, but only if you have a good budget to spend. The downside of this motherboard is missing Wi-Fi and minimal USB ports on the rear IO panel.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many memory channels are there in the Z490 chipset?
Even though the Z490 chipset is a high-end chipset, there are only two memory channels because it is designed for mainstream Core-series processors. The HEDT X-series chipset motherboards come with quad-channel memory, providing twice the memory bandwidth as dual-channel memory.
Does Z490 motherboards support PCI-E 4.0?
The Z490 chipset does not support PCI-E 4.0 natively, but some manufacturers now provide PCI-E 4.0 support through BIOS updates. MSI is the first to do so, and we think that other manufacturers will follow this trend as well.
What is the maximum memory clock rate supported by the Z490 chipset?
The maximum memory clock rate depends on the particular motherboard. Still, most Z490 motherboards can provide at least 4400 MHz memory speeds, while the best ones can do as much as 5000 MHz, although the memory kits that can reach such speeds are extremely expensive.
Conclusion
Intel Core i5-10600K is a powerful processor capable of handling all the latest AAA games at decent FPS as long as it is coupled with a powerful graphics card. This CPU is also one of the best CPUs for RX 6800.
The performance of this processor can be improved with overclocking as it is a K-series processor, and for that matter, the best motherboards for this processor are the Z490 motherboards. The Z490 motherboards are more expensive than the B-series or H-series motherboards, but you can overclock the memory and cores on this motherboard while the B-series and H-series motherboards are locked.
The ASUS Prime Z490-A is an excellent motherboard based on the Z490 chipset that offers a white color theme and decent overclocking features. The motherboard has a mediocre price compared to other Z490 motherboards. The MSI MAG Z490 Tomahawk is a pretty similar motherboard to the Prime Z490-A, but it has a black theme and a slightly lower price.
The MSI Z490-A PRO ProSeries is one of the cheapest Z490 motherboards, which makes it great for those interested in the features of a Z490 motherboard but don’t want to break the bank. The ASRock Z490 Extreme4 is the best motherboard on the list, and it is capable of handling the Core i9 processors as well, but the price of this motherboard is more than the previous three motherboards.
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