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Looking for the best motherboard for the Intel Core i9 12900KF?
The i9 12900KF might not be the latest and greatest, but it’s still a Core i9 CPU that performs admirably in games and productivity applications. With any great CPU, it’s important that you find the right components, especially the motherboard.
In this guide, I will break down my top three motherboard picks. Each offers a great mix of features, reliability, and value for money.
The first one is a budget-friendly option with essential features. The second is a premium choice, for top-tier performance and connectivity, and the final one is my top pick, offering the best overall value with a strong balance of performance, features, and cost-efficiency.
So let’s get started!
Number 3. Asus Prime B660 Plus D4 – Best Budget Motherboard For Intel Core i9 12900KF
https://youtu.be/QdRuh3AoVUq
The LGA1700 platform still represents the latest and greatest chipsets from Intel to date. However, that does not mean you need to spend a ridiculous amount of money to enjoy the new platform.
If you want to buy a decent motherboard on a budget to pair with the i9 12900kf, then the Prime B660 Plus is by far your best bet. It brings everything that is great about the 12th gen platform to a lower price.
In terms of design, it looks quite basic. ASUS has changed up the design a bit from previous Prime motherboards, and this one goes for a more simple look which eventhough is not going to blow anyone away, it gets the job done well.
The PCB is mostly black, but it has a lot of stenciling which interferes with what could have been a stealthy industrial design. As for the heatsinks, both the power delivery and chipset heatsink use a silver finish to add some flair to appearance. This finish can be seen on the M.2 heatsink as well.
Speaking of which, it has three M.2 slots, all of which can use PCIe Gen 4. Of course, this depends on what generation of PCIe your graphics card runs at. Still, it’s not bad to see a feature like this on an entry-level motherboard.
Keep in mind that this B660 motherboard does not feature support for DDR5, as will be the case for the majority of B660 motherboards. DDR5 support is reserved for the Z690 platform and the newer 700 series of boards, and it would not make sense to buy a RAM kit that’s twice as expensive as the motherboard anyway.
As for the connectivity, you get a good selection of USB ports, with both USB 3.2 Gen 2 and Type-C included. You also get 2.5 GbE LAN, but Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are not present here. You also get a good number of fan headers.
While the board itself lacks any RGB lighting, you can still control the lighting of your other components through ASUS Armory Crate. Components with RGB can be synced via Aura Sync.
All in all, this is a very decent motherboard for the price. Performance is quite acceptable as well.
While overclockers and hardware enthusiasts might want to look elsewhere, the average gamer will learn to appreciate this motherboard.
OUR RATING:
VRM Design: 8/10
Aesthetics: 8/10
Features: 8/10
Value for money: 8.5/10
Overall Rating: 8/10
Number 2. ASUS ProArt Z790 Creator Wi-Fi – Best Premium Motherboard For Intel Core i9 12900KF
There are a lot of great budget motherboards out for the latest Intel chips, but if you want to get the most out of your high-end CPU, you’ll need all the features and performance you can get. This is especially true for productivity, as you’ll need a good amount of ports, a comprehensive thermal design, and great connectivity. The ProArt Z790 Creator has all of that and more.
Kicking things off with the design, the Z790 Creator Wi-Fi looks incredibly sleek with its all-black PCB and heatsinks. There is no on-board RGB lighting here, as this motherboard is intended to go in workhorse PCs that have a more subtle appearance. Despite that, because of its neutral appearance, it manages to look great in almost any build.
Compared to the Z690 Creator Wi-Fi, the Z790 version supports faster DDR5 memory and has a better VRM design. Performance differences between Z690 and Z790 chipsets are minimal, so this is a standard observation.
However, you will want to go with the Z790 version if you ever plan on using something like the 14900KS, as the transition will be much smoother. This motherboard is already a bit overkill in terms of performance and features, so it’ll handle upgrades without issues.
Sure it’s expensive, but part of the reason why is because of the impressive power design. For the VRMs it uses 16 plus 1 power stages, enhanced with things like overcurrent and overvoltage protection. Needless to say, this is a very reliable board that won’t die on you anytime soon. It can handle intensive workloads for hours on end, and your CPU will hit maximum boost clocks without issues.
However, just because it’s reliable out of the box it doesn’t mean you can’t push it further. After all, it is intended for high-end flagship CPUs. Because of the robust VRM configuration, you can overclock your CPU beyond usual limits. This also makes it the perfect motherboard for an ultra-high-performance custom water cooled rig.
Now, let’s get to the reason why it’s called “Creator”. For starters, it has two DisplayPorts, two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports for fast transfer speeds, 10 gigabit Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 6. On top of all that, it features HDMI 2.1, four M.2 slots, and eight SATA slots.
What does all that mean? It has enough connectivity for up to 12 drives, meaning you’ll never run out of storage. You get the latest and greatest connectivity standards, and blazing fast USB ports for speedy file transfers. If you deal with a lot of large files moving to and from your NAS or from external drives, this board is a dream come true. It even has 2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports that supports 60W fast charging.
All in all, it’s a fully featured motherboard, and the comprehensive VRM design, port selection, and performance are proof of that. However, that is also partly the reason why it’s so expensive. If your use case only involves gaming, the features on offer here might not be of great use. In that case, you’re better off with a ROG Strix Z790-A or the MAG Z790 Tomahawk Wi-Fi.
Both of those options are highly reliable and performant, but much cheaper. As a consequence, they do lack quite a bit in the port selection and connectivity standards.
So, if your workflow can take advantage of all those ports, the connectivity, and incredible performance, it doesn’t get much better than this board.
To sum up, what I like is…
Fantastic port selection
Robust power delivery design
Great for overclocking and watercooling
Abundance of storage ports and slots
On the downside…
Expensive
RATINGS:
VRM Design: 9.5/10
Aesthetics: 8.5/10
Features: 9/10
Value for Money: 7/10
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Number 1. GIGABYTE Z790 AORUS Elite AX – Our Top Choice
Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX is one of the strongest contenders for the best Z790 motherboards available in terms of offering value for money and that makes it ideal for the i9 12900kf. It’s an all-rounder that covers every aspect while being cost-efficient, as Gigabyte manages to keep the costs down while still managing to offer competitive features for the consumer.
In terms of looks, this board is a rather simplistically designed ATX form factor motherboard that features a large heat sink design with plenty of cooling on the VRMs. Much of the PCB is exposed, so such a design keeps its price down towards the reasonable end.
Gigabyte knows how to make great motherboards, as the Z690 variant of the same lineup was featured in an older video about the best motherboards for the i9 12900K. It builds upon the foundations of the Z690 chipset and is a better choice due to the better VRM configuration.
Its PCB is all black, while the heatsinks have a black and gray color combination, giving the board a sleek look. There are RGB elements towards the bottom of the board that can be customized to your liking using the Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0 software.
The motherboard also features four DDR5-based DIMM slots with 128GB overclockable to 7600 MHz. It sports a dual-channel memory architecture, and those looking to enable the maximum capacity of performance will want to use this board’s high overclocking capability with the new XMP 3.0 memory module support.
When it comes to PCIe slots, this motherboard has three of them. However, only the top PCIe slot wired to the CPU socket is a fully functional PCIe Gen 5 x16 slot, which will open up your upgrade paths for the future, the remaining two are standard PCIe 4 slots with the ratings of x4 speed.
Gigabyte offers exclusive stainless steel PCIe shielding on this board. The new-generation PCIe 5.0 armor is 20% wider to provide reinforced tensile strength. Its stainless steel pins have multiple points to penetrate the PCB and increase the durability of the SMD.
The board features four Gen 4 M.2 ports. The M.2 Thermal Guard III installed here features a 6x optimized heat dissipation surface and double-sided M.2 heatsinks to prevent bottlenecks and throttling. EZ-Latch Plus is also present, which enhances the user experience with a quick-release and screwless design of the M.2 connectors.
This motherboard is faster than ever with amazing connectivity features, it uses WiFi 6E, which is the latest wireless solution with a dedicated 6GHz band. It enables lower latency and seamless connectivity, where you can enjoy up to 2.4 Gbps speeds.
The 2.5 GB/s LAN chip, makes it perfect for improved gaming experiences. It also features WIMA and Fine Gold audio capacitors, which allow the Z790 Aorus Elite AX to reproduce studio-grade quality.
The Q-Flash Plus feature allows the user to upgrade the BIOS without installing the CPU, memory, or graphics card. This feature might not be so handy for now, but if you’re planning to upgrade your rig down the line, it’ll be the best bonus feature you get.
The rear IO has a fair share of options when it comes to high-speed USBs. The fastest USB port is a Type-C format USB 3.2 Gen2x2, which rates up to 20 GB/s. All in all, compared to its competitors, this is the best motherboard overall to pair with the i9 12900kf right now due to its features, value, and performance.
RATINGS:
VRM Design: 9/10
Features: 9.5/10
Aesthetics: 9/10
Value for Money: 8/10
Overall Rating: 9/10
So what do you think? Which of these is the best motherboard for you?
Or do you think another motherboard is better for the i9 12900kf?
Tell us in the comments below.
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