Help me pick out of this z87 Asus boards for new game PC buils

[lanzia]

Hello all,

Im having a very hard time picking a board and because I always had good experience with Asus I just made a selection of board that I think might a good option.

Which one of these would you recommend for a new game PC?

Asus maximus VI Hero
Asus Sabertooth Z87
Asus Z87-PLUS
Asus Z87-PRO

 

[peanutbudder]

I love my maximums hero it has everything you will ever need for overclocking and gaming. The board is rock solid and has all of the ROG features except for VGA hotwire connections. I would buy this board again without a hesitation. I really like the fan control from the board it allows for very good control of your fans in different thermal conditions. The supreme fx audio is amazing compared to audio on my last board asus P8P67 pro. I think the real difference is when you put headsets on because it has a really good amplifier which pushes my cans hard. Plus you just have to love the color scheme compared to the gold ones.

 

[lanzia]

Thanks for the reply.

Perhaps a noob question but the "blocks" right next to the CPU socket,... wont this be a problem when fitting certain large coolers like the Noctua?

Another thing I wonder. I just want an decent out of the box good performing board as I never overclock and not planning doing so
Will this board be overkill for me?

 

[peanutbudder]

The heatsinks are low profile and you will not have any issue with a noctua cooler fitting.

As far as the functions of this board they're great for first time overclockers since it has auto settings in windows. The board has three overclock settings if you want them with a click of a mouse so you don't need to know all the voltages. The great thing about this board is that as your knowledge grows you will have all of the functions to fine tune your overclock and get the best results. The software that comes with the board is great for anyone and is very user friendly so don't be nervous about that.

 

[lanzia]

That sounds great. What RAM do you recommend for this board, that compatible with the board, suitable for the overclocking profiles and that will fit the Noctua NH-D14 cooler.

 

[peanutbudder]

I like corsair ram personally since I have never had an issue with a stick. I would look for some low profile corsair vengeance 1866mhz 1.5v cl9. In real world applications you will never notice the difference between 2400mhz and 1866mhz plus I like to use low voltage ram like 1.5v vs. 1.65-1.70v. I have read of degradation of IMC's on intel sandy/ivy/haswell chips using 4 sticks and 1.65v ram it was more common on 25xx/26xx chips.