Z170 now or later? (Thunderbolt USB 3.1 / NVME M.2 sticking points)

I'm planning a $1500-ish Skylake build (to be complete around Q1 of 2016),
I've settled on a lot of the crucial components already:
- Core i5 6600K
- MSI Radeon R9 390 GPU
- Samsung 950 PRO Nvme m.2 SSD

But I'm unsure on a mobo. If I had to choose one right now, it would be the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7. I want at least two native NVME M.2 slots, which this has. For future-proofing, I want a Thunderbolt / USB 3.1 port with the Alpine Ridge controller. From what I've read, Gigabyte has an exclusive on this controller for now. If this wasn't the case, I might go with the Asrock Z170 Extreme7+.

The other issue that's giving me pause from making a purchase right now is booting (win10) from the NVME M.2 SSD drive. I'm under the impression that this new interface is still in an "immature" stage of support from mobo makers? This is especially true for previous gen Z97 boards.

Does anyone know if the current Z190 boards are completely plug-&-play issue-free regarding Nvme m.2 ssd drives? I want to be able to plug in the Samsung 950 pro, install Win10 into it, and then then boot from it for eternity with no hassle. And I want this to happen without spending too much time (none if possible) in the BIOS/UEFI or having to deal with firmware updates / flashing bios and such.

Or should I wait for 2nd-gen Z170 boards to come out (when hopefully Alpine Ridge is more standard and NVME M.2 support reach "maturity")? And if so, when would that be?


Thanks for any insight.

I don't see a point in waiting for 2nd gen.

I also don't see Thunderbolt being a decision making point either. It is, to me, pretty useless. There are very few products that use it and it's been out for a couple years now.

I haven't heard of any major issues with m.2 and booting w10.. I dont have one at this time to test however.

EarthDog said:

I don't see a point in waiting for 2nd gen.

I also don't see Thunderbolt being a decision making point either. It is, to me, pretty useless. There are very few products that use it and it's been out for a couple years now.

I haven't heard of any major issues with m.2 and booting w10.. I dont have one at this time to test however.

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A lot of articles on the web are hyping the combo Thunderbolt 3 / USB 3.1 gen2 port. For me, as a graphics guy, it'd be very nice to hook it up to a future external SSD and work at full processing speed right off the connection.

In the past thunderbolt really didn't make a splash on the market cuz it's Mac exclusive and is a different physical port from USB, but now they have the same port, so I'm hopeful that makes the difference in it's market adoption.

I know it's not there yet, but in a year or two it might.

Usb3.1 g2 does that already.

I still dont see Thunderbolt taking off...

Z170 Asus Deluxe ROCK

I can vouch for ASROCK Z170 Extreme6. Recognized my ram XMP profile without issue, Booted without issue(save me forgetting to put the ram in. Now how did that happen?) and has a very easy to use UEFI interface, even on the base 1.0 version, which a 1.7 is out now. I have had no need to flash the bios yet, Everything is running smoothly.

Also, I'd consider an I7 this time around. Almost every new game being released these days have multi-core/multi-thread support, so you are likely to gain a sizable boost to your fps for the ones that are cpu intensive. Back in the Sandy bridge era, this wasn't a big factor, as games were being released without it, but it is something to consider. The I5 will for sure handle anything you throw at it, but I think the extra $100 is justified this time around.

Feel free to call me an idiot if you disagree.

thin91770 said:

Z170 Asus Deluxe ROCK

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???

Suppressor1137 said:

I can vouch for ASROCK Z170 Extreme6. Recognized my ram XMP profile without issue, Booted without issue(save me forgetting to put the ram in. Now how did that happen?) and has a very easy to use UEFI interface, even on the base 1.0 version, which a 1.7 is out now. I have had no need to flash the bios yet, Everything is running smoothly.

Also, I'd consider an I7 this time around. Almost every new game being released these days have multi-core/multi-thread support, so you are likely to gain a sizable boost to your fps for the ones that are cpu intensive. Back in the Sandy bridge era, this wasn't a big factor, as games were being released without it, but it is something to consider. The I5 will for sure handle anything you throw at it, but I think the extra $100 is justified this time around.

Feel free to call me an idiot if you disagree.

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Good to know about the Asrock. In general, the more good things I hear about Z170 boards the better, regardless of brand. I am partial to Gigabyte because I'm used to their interface by now (my last two builds have giga boards).

As for i7 vs i5, my rig is mainly for image processing (Photoshop, lightroom, etc), and gaming is second. Based on my research, the i5 is actually better than the i7 for the tasks that concern me. Go figure. And I like the lower power consumption and cooler operation. So I might as well save the $100 for something else.

autocad, if you use it, benefits a ton from the I7, which may outweigh the minor losses elsewhere.

Good read!

trale said:

Good to know about the Asrock. In general, the more good things I hear about Z170 boards the better, regardless of brand. I am partial to Gigabyte because I'm used to their interface by now (my last two builds have giga boards).

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Almost all issues on Z170 motherboards are reported by Gigabyte board users ... only saying

Woomack said:

Almost issues on Z170 motherboards are reported by Gigabyte board users ... only saying

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Chances are, though, with the level of quality control there is, he is likely not to have an issue in the end.

Choose what you think looks best, Enjoy, and have a on me!