Commander Suzdal
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2004
- Messages
- 2,134
Just forced myself to click the Proceed to Checkout button after filling and emptying my shopping cart over and over again.
I wanted to get something inexpensive enough to keep my total upgrade within reason, while still being OC friendly, having at least 6 SATA connectors, and 1 PCI slot in case I had an old card that I needed. I also wanted 2 PCI-E x1 slots that would not be blocked by a double-wide GPU, a problem with my current system.
I looked at the Gigabyte HD3 for $115, but lots of DOA boards in the owner reviews. I looked at the MSI PC-MATE for $119, and almost bought it, but it wasn't designed for enthusiasts so I worried about BIOS friendliness and general robustness of the design.
The ASUS Z170-A was an obvious choice, but quite a bit more than I wanted to spend. Then I dug into the ASUS Z170-K. Almost $30 cheaper than the -A, but why? What was it missing? Turns out, only SLI support. I always go single GPU, so that made no bones to me. With a CPU combo discount, it was only going to cost me $10 more than the MSI.
So I went ASUS Z170-K in the hopes that it really is "just as good as the Z170-A." I will update with results when I have it.
I wanted to get something inexpensive enough to keep my total upgrade within reason, while still being OC friendly, having at least 6 SATA connectors, and 1 PCI slot in case I had an old card that I needed. I also wanted 2 PCI-E x1 slots that would not be blocked by a double-wide GPU, a problem with my current system.
I looked at the Gigabyte HD3 for $115, but lots of DOA boards in the owner reviews. I looked at the MSI PC-MATE for $119, and almost bought it, but it wasn't designed for enthusiasts so I worried about BIOS friendliness and general robustness of the design.
The ASUS Z170-A was an obvious choice, but quite a bit more than I wanted to spend. Then I dug into the ASUS Z170-K. Almost $30 cheaper than the -A, but why? What was it missing? Turns out, only SLI support. I always go single GPU, so that made no bones to me. With a CPU combo discount, it was only going to cost me $10 more than the MSI.
So I went ASUS Z170-K in the hopes that it really is "just as good as the Z170-A." I will update with results when I have it.