Of these 3 mobos, which would you choose?

S

silkshadow

n00b
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Aug 9, 2010
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After 3 days of reading up in my spare moments, I am stuck on these 3 motherboards
  • Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming GT
  • Asus Sabertooth Z170 Mark 1
  • Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero
This is for an air cooled gaming build that needs at least 8 SATA ports.

I will buy an
  • i7 6700K
  • 32GB DDR4 RAM (going to go with Corsair LPX DDR4)

I already have
  • 4 x Seagate 4TB hybrid drives
  • Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
  • Samsung 840 pro 512GB
  • MSI GTX 980 TI (waiting for Pascal to upgrade)
  • Seasonic 760W 80+ Platinum
  • Noctua NH-D15
  • SATA Bluray burner
  • Bitfenix Colossus Window
Due to the Colossus Window I am staying with a red color scheme. Core feature-wise, for my needs, these 3 mobos are about the same and they are similarly priced where I am. I can't find any heads up comparisons, but it seems from comparing independent reviews (but I couldn't find any solid reviews on the Gigabyte) that they perform in the following order: ROG, Gigabyte, Sabertooth but the difference is so small that it doesn't matter. The Gigabyte and the ROG seem to have similar power consumption and the Sabertooth is best of the 3 in that category by a very tiny bit.

On the non-core features, as far as I can tell from reading reviews I have the following take aways:

The Sabertooth, I will never use the phone app to interface with the thing, the small fans inside the armor are a negative, the sound doesn't seem to be as good as the other 2, and the orange LEDs are a turn off. However, the automatic fan control chip thing is attractive, all the TUF stuff is a plus, the Sabertooth reputation for durability is very attractive and the user reviews are generally positive (not so many DOAs or within 1 month issues). The look of it, besides the orange LEDs, is neutral for me.

The Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming GT (GT not G1) has like no decent reviews I can find but there are a few reviews. The red LED trace path lighting is a big positive, I like the Creative sound option and I've used Gigabyte in several prior builds and they have been solid (but I said the same thing about MSI until I had 3 bad boards from them in a row). I don't like the white on this board and the user reviews are not good (lots of DOA/dead within 30 days).

The Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero seems to be the best performer out of this group topping the Gigabyte only by a bit though. I don't like what a few reviewers called "plasticy" of the I/O shield. I do like the red LED lighting and the LED color control on the Z170 cooling block and the sound seems really good.

So that's where I am stuck, so I'd really appreciate your opinion or just tell me which board to go with? Otherwise I may have to let a D20 dice pick my motherboard. :)

Thanks!

Edit: Bonus question: if money is not an issue but I am only going to need 32GB of RAM for the life of this build, should I get 2x16GB or 4x8GB? I am thinking that 4x8GB will give me more double the bandwidth to my RAM vs 2x16GB, since each pair will get independent bandwidth. Is this correct thinking? Thanks!
 
I like the TUF for long term builds especially for the cooling aspects.
 
silkshadow said:
Thanks man! What makes you chose that over, say, the Sabertooth?
Click to expand...

I have the Asus z170 deluxe and the Asus z170 gaming pro. I had a gigabyte 170 board but returned it. All the H reviews state that Asus has the "secret sauce" for Skylake and are the best performers.

I've never understood the appeal of the saber tooth. In my mind, it's ugly and I don't know why I'd want a gimmicky plastic shroud that requires a fan to move air under it. That's the main selling point of the saber tooth apparently. I'd prefer the ROG features myself.

Plus the biggest con you list for the Maximus is the IO shield. Trust me, that's not a major con. Weird thing though, the z170 gaming pro has a nice black IO shield even though it's cheaper

Good luck shopping
 
silkshadow said:
If you don't mind, given your experience I have an slightly OT question. I am also upgrading a home server but I've opted to go with consumer parts instead of server parts so there is room for interchange between all the machines on my home LAN (I also have 2 HTPCs and 2 other desktops for the kids). I had picked the Asus Z170-A but after reading up on the Sabertooth line and reading your comments, now I am wondering if its worth spending ~$105 more to go with the Sabertooth Z170 S instead? Thank you!
Click to expand...
That -A board is very tough, it would work just fine.
 
Dont get Corsair LPX, it is crap on Skylake.
I'm using some 3000MHz and its only prime stable at 2500MHz unless I overvolt and even then I cant get near rated speed. I've read many other bad reports.
Save yourself the trouble and get GSkill Ripjaws V.
 
Nenu said:
Dont get Corsair LPX, it is crap on Skylake.
I'm using some 3000MHz and its only prime stable at 2500MHz unless I overvolt and even then I cant get near rated speed. I've read many other bad reports.
Save yourself the trouble and get GSkill Ripjaws V.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip!
 
Nenu said:
Dont get Corsair LPX, it is crap on Skylake.
I'm using some 3000MHz and its only prime stable at 2500MHz unless I overvolt and even then I cant get near rated speed. I've read many other bad reports.
Save yourself the trouble and get GSkill Ripjaws V.
Click to expand...
Bummer it is crap on Skylake. I have that LPX kit overclocked to 3200 MHz on my 5820k from the stock speed of 3000 MHz. I might try for 3400+ today sometime.

As far as boards go they are all good options. The TUF has a longer warranty of 5 years, the HERO is a ROG board, and Gigabyte has been improving their stuff over the years. Feature wise they are probably all the same, so go with one that looks more appealing to you or is cheapest.
 
Have to say, having recently went gigabyte gaming 7, i'd recommend going the ASUS route.
Regretting not waiting for a sabertooth to replace my outgoing sabertooth X58.
 
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