Help Me Find a (Very) Specific Motherboard

Doge on 31/03/2016 - 17:36
Last edited 31/03/2016 - 17:37

So, motherboards are pretty much the one component in a PC that I'm really particular about.

I'm searching for a motherboard that meets the following criteria:

  • Z170
  • ATX
  • 4 DIMM Slots
  • No PCI Slots (will not cave on this ever)
  • 6 or more PCIe Slots with 3 or more x16 and slot nearest the CPU MUST be x1
  • M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 (Don't need SATA Express, would prefer a board without them)
  • Intel LAN
  • ALC1150 Audio (or better, if there is something else)
  • As few add on controllers as possible, I don't need 24000 USB ports I would prefer just what is supplied by the chipset and maybe a 10Gb/s USBC chip

Don't care about:
- Back panel IO (Needs 4 or more USB ports)
- Wifi
- Display Outputs

The best boards I have seen so far are the Gigabyte UD5 and Asus Z170-PRO. Has anyone seen anything similar around? Around the $300 mark would be my budget. Thanks!

PS. I know this stuff gets asked a lot but people are generally looking for lower end boards. Hope you guys don't mind…

Computing

Comments

  • miarn on 31/03/2016 - 17:52
    +1

    just out of curiosity, why the hatred for PCI slots?

    • Doge on 31/03/2016 - 18:07

      I have never owned (nor will own) a PCI device and chipsets haven't support PCI for years now. Yet another additional controller chip in the way for no reason.

      • jzdhgkd on 31/03/2016 - 18:54

        Just out of further curiosity, how do additional controller chips get in the way?

        • Doge on 31/03/2016 - 20:38

          Another point of failure when it comes to drivers and BIOS. Additional power and complexity for no reason

        • tonyjzx on 04/04/2016 - 12:55

          The funny thing if you're passionate about something that hasnt existed on modern motherboards for the last few generations already…

  • ozhunter on 31/03/2016 - 17:58

    This looks similar and could be cheaper elsewhere https://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&…

  • psyren89 on 31/03/2016 - 19:31

    Have you tried PCPartPicker?

  • Fluffyduck77 on 31/03/2016 - 22:55
    +1

    I've just recently had a look for a Z170 board too! So here is what I've found in my research looking over reviews, newegg/amazon user scores etc:

    • There are a lot of Z170 boards!

    • Lot of them seemingly having issues with RAM compatibility. I'm looking at you Asus, one board I was looking at had 10 bios updates since August 2015. But pretty much every manufacturer has "woe is me and my ram, never buying from X company ever again" stories.

    • I never really paid much attention to QVL lists it might be worth at least looking at, until the platform matures a little bit.

    • You get SATA Express whether you like it or not.

    • Most perform more or less around the same with most able to get an i5 6600k to 4.5ghz without any major dramas.

    I had a similar list to yours, except:
    * Didn't care about sound as I have a soundcard
    * Needed SLI (moved 2 x GTX670 till Pascal arrives)
    * Something that could do a mild overclock nothing too crazy
    * USB 3.1 type A-C would be nice but not a deal breaker
    * Didn't want to spend more than $300 (have to draw a line somewhere)

    My shortlist was:

    If you are after the best audio then I'd suggest looking at the Gigabyte Gaming ones e.g. Gaming 5 or 7 (the Gaming 7 is $5 more than the UD5) for the upgradable OP-AMP and the Sound Blaster X-Fi software. The 7 also comes with a Creative processor. Both the 5 and 7 have an intel NIC AND the Killer E220X (can't use them at the same time though).

    The Gigabyte come with 2 M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 connectors BUT with any M.2 connection look for where it is on the motherboard, if it is going to be under the GPU just remember that some SSDs throttle the speed when they heat up.

    I discounted the Asus ones due to RAM issues, I just didn't want to play the lottery with it but with the amount of bios updates they have done I would hope they are better now.

    The Gaming Gigabytes were nice, I almost pulled the trigger on them and to be fair if I was doing it all over again I would probably go that way as you do seem to get a lot for the money.

    In the end I went for the MSI and apart from the wanky lighting I'm pretty happy with it. There is a non carbon version BUT they actually changed a few things (apart from aesthetics) so this one is like v1.1 rather than v1.0.

    If you are after hardcore overclocking there are other considerations to take in though, VDroop, Power Phases, ram overclocking etc. but it seems that getting over 4.8ghz is somewhat hard and expensive so I'm happy with my 4.5ghz

    • Doge on 01/04/2016 - 08:55

      Thanks for that info! They are some great suggestions. Yeah not looking for an extreme overclocking board, similar to you I'd be happy with a mild and reliable overclock. I'll see what I can find regarding the Asus RAM issues but the Gigabyte gaming series look good. Looks like you get slightly more for your money than the UD series, the aesthetic is a bit intense but not too worried about it.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join