On the fence. New Intel build.

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Most manufacturers have a weak AMD line up. It's because Intel boards out sell them.

So gigabyte is fine, they just didn't put their best effort into AMD?



Also, is there a sweet spot for DDR4?
Found some Team Group DDR4 3000 but Cas16. Not sure what speeds I should be looking at

 

[Theocnoob]

They have weak AMD boards which have me questioning their Intel lineup.

Gigabyte Intel boards are quite excellent for the most part.

- - - Updated - - -

And am i limited on how high i can push the BCLK on Skylake like sandy bridge?

You don't want to touch the BCLK at all. There's no reason to. The BCLK on Intel is just a reference number. A BCLK of 150 results in no faster bus speeds than a BCLK of 100. The BCLK is just that, a base clock that other clocks use as a reference. It's not an FSB.

Screwing with BCLK on Intel CPUs is only for experts, people who like to take risks, and people who have locked processors and like risks, and are experts.

 

[Mr.Scott]

So gigabyte is fine, they just didn't put their best effort into AMD?

Gigabyte has a few decent AMD boards.
If there was no Asus, Gig would be my next choice for AMD.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Gigabyte Intel boards are quite excellent for the most part.

- - - Updated - - -



You don't want to touch the BCLK at all. There's no reason to. The BCLK on Intel is just a reference number. A BCLK of 150 results in no faster bus speeds than a BCLK of 100. The BCLK is just that, a base clock that other clocks use as a reference. It's not an FSB.

Screwing with BCLK on Intel CPUs is only for experts, people who like to take risks, and people who have locked processors and like risks, and are experts.

Oh really?
Man, that's boring.... I'll still probably muck around with it though

Gigabyte has a few decent AMD boards.
If there was no Asus, Gig would be my next choice for AMD.

I'll add Giga on the list of mobo manufactures to choose from.

I was always worried about the vast range of revision numbers on the boards. Like they found an issue and fixed it in a newer revision...

 

[Suppressor1137]

personally, I steer clear of msi boards. my last two were bad eggs. of course, this was for Sandy bridge. z67a gd65. I have the extreme6 myself. No problems whatsoever.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Narrowed it down to 3 mobos:
ASRock Z170 PRO4 $207.90 after taxes. Not including $30 MIR
ASRock Z170 Extreme6 $309.6 after taxes. Not including $30 MIR
Gigabyte Z170x-UD5 $271.2 after taxes.

PRO4 basically does everything the Extreme6 does, just has less features and 2 less VRM phases and looks better IMO. Worried about lack of PCIe x16 ports and no SLI, but the PCIe x1 ports are open-ended so I can still use them for any PCIe card...
Extreme6 seems quite robust, has lots of PCIe ports. Not a huge fan of the heatsink's design but that's not a big deal in the end.
The UD5 looks good and seems to have a good BIOS with a lot of things to mess with

Leaning towards the Gigabyte....

They all seem to have similar features in terms of overclocking so I suppose it's down to looks and other features.

 

[Suppressor1137]

306?? wow, I paid $179.99 for mine. In the end, go with what meets your needs and aesthetic taste, modern motherboards are all generally very good and overclockable.

- - - Updated - - -

https://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16813157631

 

[Theocnoob]

Oh really?
Man, that's boring.... I'll still probably muck around with it though
.

Seriously, don't. You can corrupt your OS among other very fun things. It is completely pointless to screw with it when you have an unlocked CPU, and "ill advised" at best if you have a locked CPU. It's not an FSB. The BCLK could just as easily be 100 as it could be banana or shower curtain. Know what I mean? Don't touch it man.

Multiplier, voltage and voltage support tweaks, speedstep/turbo tweaks, and you can even screw with the cache if you want to, but don't touch the BCLK.

Also, Intel is more forgiving of mediocre boards than AMD. You do not need a top of the line board to achieve good OC's on air or AIO. You can get away with an affordable board that just has the features you need. Need a good onboard audio solution? M.2? SLI? Really good NIC? Go for it. If you don't need any of those things, an entry level Z170 board will serve you just fine. Sure, boards like the Maximus VIII Extreme exist, and you can tweak them from your tablet, and they come with a cool control thingy accessory and it's all top shelf components, but do you NEED it? Why not, instead of a $350 board, buy a $180 board, and take the money you saved and buy better speakers, or a nice headset, or whatever. Something that will improve your daily use of the PC, rather than something you can brag about. That's the philosophy I roll with these days.

306?? wow, I paid $179.99 for mine. In the end, go with what meets your needs and aesthetic taste, modern motherboards are all generally very good and overclockable.

- - - Updated - - -

https://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16813157631

Keep in mind we're in Igloo town, Canada. Prices are worse for us.

 

[Suppressor1137]

Something that will improve your daily use of the PC, rather than something you can brag about. That's the philosophy I roll with these days.

Better words never spoken.

 

[Theocnoob]

Silver Pha... How do you spell Pharoah? My vote is for the ASRock pro4 board. Another solid option is the ASUS Z170-A.

Or, pick an affordable board that has the options you want and nothing you don't need. There are solid boards from ASUS, ASRock, Gigabyte, MSi... I have built intel machines with all four and none of them have exploded.
As far as bang for your buck on Intel, ASRock usually delivers the most options at lower pricepoints.
Just run your board choice by the forum before you pull the trigger.

Feel free to ignore my advice btw. Some people like expensive stuff. That's cool. If you want the finest mosfets and chokes, twice the copper layer thickness, gold plated everything, PCIE reinforcement thingys, PCIE lane multipliers, the ability to OC from your laptop, RGB lighting, and an attachment that does your laundry, ALC1150 running through the same DAC the latest $5000 AV receiver uses with caps that cost $15 each, there are motherboards for that. I just wouldn't buy one.

BTW are you near a Canada Computers or NCIX store? I get all my parts there. They are both very solid.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Silver Pha... How do you spell Pharoah? My vote is for the ASRock pro4 board. Another solid option is the ASUS Z170-A.

Or, pick an affordable board that has the options you want and nothing you don't need. There are solid boards from ASUS, ASRock, Gigabyte, MSi... I have built intel machines with all four and none of them have exploded.
As far as bang for your buck on Intel, ASRock usually delivers the most options at lower pricepoints.
Just run your board choice by the forum before you pull the trigger.

Feel free to ignore my advice btw. Some people like expensive stuff. That's cool. If you want the finest mosfets and chokes, twice the copper layer thickness, gold plated everything, PCIE reinforcement thingys, PCIE lane multipliers, the ability to OC from your laptop, RGB lighting, and an attachment that does your laundry, ALC1150 running through the same DAC the latest $5000 AV receiver uses with caps that cost $15 each, there are motherboards for that. I just wouldn't buy one.

LOL it's Pharaoh! Easiest way is to copy/paste my username

I have the Z170X-UD5 in my cart ready to buy...
The PRO4 looks nice, but I feel it's a bit too lightweight feature wise.
The UD5 has more RAM multipliers so I might be able to tweak the RAM a bit more precisely. Also has voltage test points and I figure, this might be the last motherboard I buy for quite some time so I don't mind spending extra money on it.

Oh also, the rebates for the ASRock boards? You have 10 days from the day you buy the board to send that info in. What if the board is DOA or you don't like it? Or Canada Post loses the board in the mail? then I'm out of luck becasue I need to send the original UPC from the retail box....


The UD5 seems to be well liked from what I've read here and there. The UD3 looks like a solid board too so the UD5 should be a bit better.

I was looking at that ASUS board but their RMA department has me thinking against them. Plus the UD5 was basically the same price.

 

[wingman99]

They have weak AMD boards which have me questioning their Intel lineup.

A lot of manufactures have weak power section for the AMD processors.

 

[wingman99]

LOL it's Pharaoh! Easiest way is to copy/paste my username

I have the Z170X-UD5 in my cart ready to buy...
The PRO4 looks nice, but I feel it's a bit too lightweight feature wise.
The UD5 has more RAM multipliers so I might be able to tweak the RAM a bit more precisely. Also has voltage test points and I figure, this might be the last motherboard I buy for quite some time so I don't mind spending extra money on it.

Oh also, the rebates for the ASRock boards? You have 10 days from the day you buy the board to send that info in. What if the board is DOA or you don't like it? Or Canada Post loses the board in the mail? then I'm out of luck becasue I need to send the original UPC from the retail box....


The UD5 seems to be well liked from what I've read here and there. The UD3 looks like a solid board too so the UD5 should be a bit better.

I was looking at that ASUS board but their RMA department has me thinking against them. Plus the UD5 was basically the same price.

You will like Gigabyte, some overclocking options have a summery on the screen at the right panel that tell you what the settings do. You can tweak everything with Gigabyte even the sub-timings.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

Just bought the UD5 board!

Just need RAM and a CPU block!

 

[Theocnoob]

I would have never payed that much but you picked a great board.

You will like Gigabyte, some overclocking options have a summery on the screen at the right panel that tell you what the settings do. You can tweak everything with Gigabyte even the sub-timings.

 

[Silver_Pharaoh]

I would have never payed that much but you picked a great board.

Meh i paid about $320 for the Sabertooth 990fx im currently using...

My idea with the intel switch was to go big so why not spend a bit more to get a good board i though.
TBH, i was eyeing up that $409 Supermicro board!!

 

[wingman99]

I would have never payed that much but you picked a great board.

I never pay that much for my motherboards either, however folks have to do what makes them happy.

 

[EarthDog]

I would have never payed that much but you picked a great board.

$150-$200 is where the sweet spot is on Intel boards IMO... Certainly less will work but, its not like he paid $450 for the MVIIIIE...put it in perspective.

 

[Theocnoob]

$150-$200 is where the sweet spot is on Intel boards IMO... Certainly less will work but, its not like he paid $450 for the MVIIIIE...put it in perspective.

Here in Canada the MVIIIE is ONLY $634.99 on Newegg. We're getting screwed for part prices so hard these days. Damn Obama fixing the US economy. We had such awesome prices up here back in 2008-2009.

I never pay that much for my motherboards either, however folks have to do what makes them happy.

I'm using this grotesque creature right now. Can't even SLI. Payed $110, and that's the inflated Canadian price. Probably like $75 USD.

 

[EarthDog]

Potato Potatoe. The point is, a UD5 is a perfectly fine choice and falls right in that sweetspot, no matter how your money is converted (and not getting into politics as that is against the rules as you should know. ).