Any recommendation on an ITX board for a i5-7600k?

[ekoh]

Anyone running an ITX board they would recommend before I blindly purchase something. Somewhat in a pickle, not much info and review on 270 boards. Since I never plan to run more than 1 vid card or use an m.2 drive - I'm not sure if waiting until more 270 boards start popping up is worth it for me. Price and time wise. I know the kaby lakes "can" run in most of all the z170 itx boards out there but the only issue I would have with that is I have no way of flashing the bios to get it to support a kaby lake.

Anyways - any recommendations?

 

[Witchdoctor]

AsRock typically have decent boards, If I was going to grab one based upon the limited selections I think I would be eyeing this one

it does have and M.2 support

http://www.asrock.com/MB/Intel/Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming-ITXac/index.asp

Good luck

 

[ATMINSIDE]

AsRock typically have decent boards, If I was going to grab one based upon the limited selections I think I would be eyeing this one

it does have and M.2 support

http://www.asrock.com/MB/Intel/Fatal1ty Z270 Gaming-ITXac/index.asp

Good luck

This. Also the Z270 Stinger.

 

[Woomack]

Stinger looks poor comparing to ASUS or MSI. Gigabyte also looks pretty standard. The best so far seems ASUS Z270I Strix and next is MSI Z270I Gaming Carbon. I didn't like ASRock Z170 ITX board but Z270 looks better. Hard to say if works better or only looks.
All higher Z270 ITX boards have M.2. ASUS Strix has 2x M.2 PCIE / RAID.
Personally I wait for ASUS Strix even though I had MSI Z170I Gaming and it was great.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Stinger looks poor comparing to ASUS or MSI. Gigabyte also looks pretty standard. The best so far seems ASUS Z270I Strix and next is MSI Z270I Gaming Carbon. I didn't like ASRock Z170 ITX board but Z270 looks better. Hard to say if works better or only looks.
All higher Z270 ITX boards have M.2. ASUS Strix has 2x M.2 PCIE / RAID.
Personally I wait for ASUS Strix even though I had MSI Z170I Gaming and it was great.

Not sure why you think the Stinger looks poor?

 

[Woomack]

Not sure why you think the Stinger looks poor?

It looks like a standard ITX board even though it costs more. It's not offering anything above standard. It doesn't support higher memory frequency. It doesn't have any special power section etc. Simply it's just a standard Z270 ITX mobo. Compare it to ASUS Strix which supposed to have about the same price and you will see what I'm talking about. Well Strix is not available in stores yet but expected price ( listed in some EU stores ) is not much higher than Stinger.

Stinger looks like ASRock Z270M-ITX ... now compare prices. Stinger = ~$170, ASRock Z270M-ITX/AC = ~$124
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z270M-ITXac/index.us.asp
Both motherboards offer about the same but ASRock has 2x LAN.
ASRock Z270 Gaming-ITX costs ~$168
MSI Z270I Gaming Carbon costs ~$180 and has RGB LED if anyone cares

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The power section seems solid to me, it has a higher phase count than either ASRock board you linked.
DDR4-3600 is supported, I'm sure it'll end up clocking higher as well. Honestly though, who (besides you) is really buying an mITX board for getting 4000MHz instead of 3600MHz?
It has the same features as the Z270 Gaming-ITX for the same price... unless I'm completely missing something here.

And drawing comparisons to the ROG Strix Z270I really isn't a fair draw, it's supposed to land at least $30 higher... if not more.

 

[Woomack]

Stinger in description has 6 phases. Lower ASRock has 6 phases. Gaming ASRock has 8 phases. That's from mobo specs on the website. Phases are never equal and I don't know details.
Memory doesn't mean much for most users but it's one of these above standard features.
Stinger is still as good as ASRock Z270M-ITX which costs ~$46 less or Gigabyte Z270N-WIFI which costs ~$20 less. I'm not sure why Z270 Gaming-ITX costs more when it's about the same but ASRock made the same with Z170 series and that's why I decided on MSI Z170I.
Strix is on the same shelf as Stinger. It's not Maximus, it's lower series for gamers. It will probably cost ~$30 more but also offers more and looks better.
It doesn't change fact that Stinger isn't any special motherboard. I'm not saying it's bad as I had no chance to test it but it's nothing really special and there are better options.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Stinger in description has 6 phases. Lower ASRock has 6 phases. Gaming ASRock has 8 phases. That's from mobo specs on the website. Phases are never equal and I don't know details.
Memory doesn't mean much for most users but it's one of these above standard features.
Stinger is still as good as ASRock Z270M-ITX which costs ~$46 less or Gigabyte Z270N-WIFI which costs ~$20 less. I'm not sure why Z270 Gaming-ITX costs more when it's about the same but ASRock made the same with Z170 series and that's why I decided on MSI Z170I.
Strix is on the same shelf as Stinger. It's not Maximus, it's lower series for gamers. It will probably cost ~$30 more but also offers more and looks better.
It doesn't change fact that Stinger isn't any special motherboard. I'm not saying it's bad as I had no chance to test it but it's nothing really special and there are better options.

ASRock must be splitting the choke/cap for the phases then, versus the six dedicated of the Stinger.

I don't see how the Strix is on the same shelf, it's targeting a whole different price point.
That's like saying "oh, you're looking at the Z270-A, might as well buy the Strix".

 

[Woomack]

ASRock must be splitting the choke/cap for the phases then, versus the six dedicated of the Stinger.

I don't see how the Strix is on the same shelf, it's targeting a whole different price point.
That's like saying "oh, you're looking at the Z270-A, might as well buy the Strix".

Check the photos. You can count chokes on all of these boards and there is no splitting.
Strix is targeting the same customer as Stinger. Since when Stinger is low/mid end series ? All EVGA boards are enthusiast grade from their description. Strix isn't Maximus Impact. This board is targeting other customers and will cost as always much more.
All ASUS Z270 motherboards cost a bit more than competitive products. It's the same with any size of motherboards.
The same shelf like -> MSI Gaming = ASRock Gaming = ASUS Gaming/Strix = EVGA Stinger ... except ASUS Impact there is no higher ITX series.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Check the photos. You can count chokes on all of these boards and there is no splitting.
Strix is targeting the same customer as Stinger. Since when Stinger is low/mid end series ? All EVGA boards are enthusiast grade from their description. Strix isn't Maximus Impact. This board is targeting other customers and will cost as always much more.
All ASUS Z270 motherboards cost a bit more than competitive products. It's the same with any size of motherboards.
The same shelf like -> MSI Gaming = ASRock Gaming = ASUS Gaming/Strix = EVGA Stinger ... except ASUS Impact there is no higher ITX series.

Last I recall ASRock had at least two phases dedicated to the iGPU. I do see now that they aren't splitting like they have before, that's good.
I can't tell 100%, but it looks like EVGA has six phases to the CPU and two to the iGPU. Will need to see the board stripped to tell for sure.

And in this case their pricing is honestly putting them to another tier. Not saying it's Maximus level, but it definitely is enough of a price difference that it isn't the same as ASRock/MSI/EVGA/Giga.

 

[ekoh]

All things considered I have been eying the ASRock Z270M ITX. 130 bucks but looks feature packed. I do game, but not like long binge gaming sessions. No OC'ing or anything just some steam games here and there. A lot of streaming from my ps4/xbone to my pc and video editing. The fatal1ty, STRIX and Stinger have all been thoughts but I keep asking myself "Do I really need that much?"

 

[Woomack]

Pretty much the best option in this price.

 

[dejo]

I have not messed with any of the z170/z270 asrock itx boards, the earlier ones were incredible for me. I would take a chance on the newer series in a heartbeat if I was needing an itx board.

 

[Woomack]

I'm still thinking about one as I sold MSI Z170I but I have a bit unusual expectations ...

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The ASRock Z97e-ITX/Ac was a very nice board for me a while back, I have no doubt the Z170/Z270 would follow suit.

 

[dejo]

I think they are about the best value in an itx board- maybe even larger boards as well. as I have had much better luck with asrock than any other board.
I did a ton of competition oc'ing on that z97itx board and was impressed as if it were a full fledged top flight board

 

[ekoh]

I'm a sicker for RGB lighting. The new g skill 3200 16 GB set released today with the RGB lighting headsinks. 14CL I'm thinking it'll pair well with the z270 by ASRock. Ivr heard ASRock plays well with a wide range of ram.

 

[Woomack]

I didn't like ASRock Z170 Gaming-ITX and I've returned it. It cost ~20% more than MSI while was offering less and was overclocking worse. I guess that Z270 is better as in specs are higher clocks etc.
I was benching MSI Z170I Gaming AC on dice and SS and I had no issues except it had vcore at max 1.52V so I stuck at ~5.4GHz. Still everything else was overclocking great and I was in top 3 in some competitions vs guys with ASRock OCF. Last 2 generations of MSI boards are really good. I have Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon and everything works without issues. 7700K runs at 5.2GHz+ so it's not bad.
Recently I'm almost only buying and recommending ASRock and MSI. I didn't like last ASUS Maximus series but I wish to check Strix ITX. I'm not sure if I decide to buy it as it won't be cheap.

I'm a sicker for RGB lighting. The new g skill 3200 16 GB set released today with the RGB lighting headsinks. 14CL I'm thinking it'll pair well with the z270 by ASRock. Ivr heard ASRock plays well with a wide range of ram.

Depends what do you expect. Lower ITX will support DDR4-3733 max and that's only in single channel. I would trust what ASRock says as the same was with Z170 which was supporting memory exactly as high as they said.
MSI Z270 Carbon is the only one from the list ( except Strix which isn't available ) which has RGB lighting and you can control modes via soft. It's also one of 2 motherboards with declared DDR4-4000+ support in dual channel ( other one is Strix ).

Every motherboard mentioned in this thread will work at DDR4-3600 or below in dual channel. I also had no issues with any ASRock or MSI motherboard and memory compatibility. Once was issue with new Hynix IC but I got beta BIOS from MSI which was fixing it ( it was memory profile issue and ASRock confirmed that too ).

Btw. if I'm right ( and my contact wasn't lying ) Trident Z RGB isn't officially out yet. For some reason it's listed in some stores and first delivery will be in couple of days. Actually I ordered 3866 kit but I haven't got confirmation yet if they accepted my order.

 

[ekoh]

I didn't like ASRock Z170 Gaming-ITX and I've returned it. It cost ~20% more than MSI while was offering less and was overclocking worse. I guess that Z270 is better as in specs are higher clocks etc.
I was benching MSI Z170I Gaming AC on dice and SS and I had no issues except it had vcore at max 1.52V so I stuck at ~5.4GHz. Still everything else was overclocking great and I was in top 3 in some competitions vs guys with ASRock OCF. Last 2 generations of MSI boards are really good. I have Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon and everything works without issues. 7700K runs at 5.2GHz+ so it's not bad.
Recently I'm almost only buying and recommending ASRock and MSI. I didn't like last ASUS Maximus series but I wish to check Strix ITX. I'm not sure if I decide to buy it as it won't be cheap.

So for someone like me, the 170itx gaming would've of been great lol. I've retired from the OC life. I hang around here because if anyone has knowledge it's those who stretch their computers to the max. I haven't built a rig from scratch since 2011....I feel new especially moving to Intel. Nothing ryzen can do to keep me at this point.