Which of 3 boards (Asus, MSI)?

[TheF34RChannel]

Albeit a bit early to be picking out something new, I'd rather have made my choice early.

My current motherboard now has 1 faulty RAM slot, and I've noticed the BIOS code LED indicator thingy its LEDs are beginning to go for a bit too to the point where it doesn't display correctly anymore. The board is beginning to show its age and it couldn't have started doing that at a worse time because it might interfere with the 1440p monitor purchase I had in mind come December. Basically I'm expecting it to tip over at some point in the near future.

I would like a Z170 motherboard (please don't start an X99 vs. Z170 discussion; the former is not for me, it's the latter I'm more interested in).

I'm considering the following models:

ASUS Maximus Hero VIII (currently 215,00 Euro)
ASUS Sabertooth Z170 MARK 1 (currently 260,00 Euro)
MSI Z170A Gaming M7 (currently 215,00 Euro) (I understand it has some issues with certain memory?)

Which would you advise me and why? Also, which RAM speed should I be looking at when going for 16GB? I'll probably go for either G.Skill, Kingston or Corsair.

 

[JR23]

I would go for VIII Hero due to MSI's slightly concerning lack of ability to come up with a decent BIOS. Sabertooths are getting a little better with each generation but ultimately I find them tacky and a little uncordinated at the side of a ROG board. An EVGA Z170 board would be at the top of my personal shortlist just because they are a little different, very professional looking and an epic quality of finish. I've been really pleased with my Z97 Stinger and would love to go for one again, but my requirements are perhaps just a little unusual.

JR

 

[TheF34RChannel]

Cheers JR! I will check out the EVGA line-up as well. Yeah I've seen a bit about the advanced MSI BIOS being old and a bit crappy - real shame they didn't spent a bit more time on it.

Basically come December it'll either be a new system (depending how the current one performs then) or a new monitor - I really don't want to wait another year for a monitor ha ha!

As in the past, I presume I needn't be concerned with activating my Win 10 and Office 2016 on a new system? Always worked flawlessly.

EDIT: Checked out the EVGA line-up and it's quite a small one. I think I'll go for the Hero because it's got USB 3.1 for example; I find the EVGA board a bit lacking in certain aspects as compared to the Asus board.

EDIT 2: last questions, which frequency RAM should I put in there? Been looking at Trident Z 3000MHz and 3200MHz.

Which CPU you'd pick for gaming, the (overpriced) 6700K (currently 385,00 Euro) or 6600K (currently 265,00 Euro)? I will be overclocking either to about 4.7GHz, 4.5GHz, respectively.

 

[tinytomlogan]

With the memory XMP should work fine at those speeds with those CPU's/Boards but be prepaired to go into the BIOS and have a fiddle with some of the sideline volts.


Youve probably made the right choice, with the problems the other manu's are having with BIOS Id be concerned about having an EVGA board.

 

[TheF34RChannel]

Fiddling with voltages, no problem. So simply enabling XMP isn't enough here? Which voltages are you referring to? If I get stuck I'll ask around here

EVGA this bad this round eh?

Which of the two CPUs you'd recommend me? I am heavily leaning towards the i5 because of the pricing difference, and if an i7 will prove to be better in the long run there's always the refresh which may be better priced (or not).

 

[clone38]

I'm running a 6600k @4.5ghz with games at the moment coming from a i7 4820k I can't feel any difference,the reason I whent got the 6600k is all I use my rig is for gaming.

 

[TheF34RChannel]

Hey man, happy to hear! My OC thread is here: http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?p=883999# I'm also running 4.5GHz now with the cache sitting comfortably at 4.1GHz

 

[Excalabur50]

Bigger CPU's won't help with gaming so the I5 is the way to go unless you plan on video rendering game play say to YouTube then the I7 is better for that and as for Ram just get the best you can afford at the time

 

[TheF34RChannel]

Yeah right as rain! For example, Assassin's Creed Syndicate recommended an i7 but with my current setup I get 70-80+ FPS easily.