Z170 board with Intel NIC & AlpineRidge?

I

ImperialAlex

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For a potential 6700k (probably at a conservative 4.5GHz OC) + (2x?) GTX 1080 build I'm looking for an (ATX or smaller) board that comes with:
  • Intel Wireless
  • Intel NIC
  • Fully enabled Alpine Ridge ( i.e. at least one Type-C USB 3.1/Thunderbolt 3 port on rear IO )
  • Decent onboard sound, i.e. at least a solidly implemented Realtek ALC1150
  • ( U.2 would be nice )
  • ( Ideally no PLX chip )
  • ( Ideally no silly '1337 g4m3r' stuff - e.g. no Killer NICs )
Budget is less of a concern, right now I'm more interested in just seeing what's out there. If you know of a board that fits the bill I'd be very grateful if you could leave a reply. Thanks in advance :)
 
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Not really up to date with the SSD connectors, but you should give the Asus Z170 Deluxe a look.
 
I second that Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 7, it doesn't have the Wireless, but it does have two M.2 slots that work with U.2 converters. It does have a Killer NIC in addition to the Intel NIC, but it also has Alpine Ridge with Thunderbolt 3, an onboard SoundBlaster Recon 3Di and no PLX chip. I got mine pretty cheap and I imagine you probably could too if you shop around. The board is a little bit stupid looking but if you don't have a window it doesn't matter.
 
Thanks for the pointers! The Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 7 looks as silly as it's name sounds but I guess functionality is more important than looks ;)
I'm currently re-evaluating my plans and thinking about going SFF but for ATX the Gaming 7 looks like a great choice!
 
ImperialAlex said:
Thanks for the pointers! The Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 7 looks as silly as it's name sounds but I guess functionality is more important than looks ;)
I'm currently re-evaluating my plans and thinking about going SFF but for ATX the Gaming 7 looks like a great choice!
Click to expand...

The ASUS Maximus VIII Impact Z170 ROG meets your requirements for the most part (has Alpine Ridge but no TB3) if you want to go mITX but it does have quite the name and the looks to go along with it.

The ASUS Maximus VIII Impact Z170 ROG Mini-ITX Motherboard Review
 
Gigabyte gaming 7 has this, with 2 m.2 ports to boot. Mines been A+++. I gave up on ITX because of heat issues.
 
Afaik gigabyte is the only offering with Alpine ridge powered thunderbolt.
 
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