Upgrading to a skylake i7-6700k, need help on the motherboard and ram

[Kenrou]

Upgrading to a skylake i7-6700k, need help on the motherboard and ram. CPU will be delided and will use Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra, aiming for 4.6ghz overclock. Any advice on a better pick motherboard or ram is welcome.

Current picks motherboard :

Asus ROG Z170 Maximus VIII Hero
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015E3M1...UTF8&colid=1T4K99F9KLCTI&coliid=IXNT0XYD0ITC8

MSI Z170A Gaming M7
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012EHP6...UTF8&colid=1T4K99F9KLCTI&coliid=IJRK08MG6AC2C

Gigabyte Z170X-UD5 TH
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B014Q5D1...TF8&colid=1T4K99F9KLCTI&coliid=I1OBO26E7UV859

Ram :

G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series F4-3000C15D-16GVR 16gb (8gb x2) DDR4 3000mhz cl15 1.35v
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013J7L6...TF8&colid=1T4K99F9KLCTI&coliid=I297ZEFA456FFB

 

[EarthDog]

Any of those motherboards will be fine. Its not an AMD CPU so getting something super robust for ambient cooled overclocks isn't needed. In fact, you can easily run your goals on something a lot cheaper (ASRock Extreme 4+ to name one). As a side note, you can list the name of the part along with the link. It saves those that know some clicks.

I wouldn't bother delidding unless you have to... and at 4.6Ghz, you don't have to. To me, its not worth voiding a warranty just for cooler temps. Figure out if you actually have to first is my suggestion. Chances are with a decent cooler and average chip, you wont need to.

RAM is RAM is RAM for you(most) Kenrou. The 'sweetspot' for DDR4 is 2800-3000MHz ~CL15. I would get the cheapest set of that which matches the build theme if you have one.

 

[Kenrou]

Cooler will be my current NH-D15, I know the Skylake is cool but the cooler the better. Will only delid after finding max OC and temp. I want something durable and that overclocks well in case that in the future I decide to go water. I know 4.6ghz is a very achievable OC on air but seems to be near the limit going by reviews, so delid and CLU. This will most likely be my last upgrade for a year or so, so.. yeah.

So in your opinion any motherboard will do ? you would settle for a "ASRock Extreme 4+" for a top of the line CPU ?

 

[EarthDog]

So in your opinion anything will do ? I'm assuming your setup is the cheapest parts you can get then ?

What I have shouldn't matter. We use our PC's differently. I overclock competitively and use sub-ambient cooling methods so I need a more robust motherboard than most. Not to mention most of what I have is leftovers from reviews so there is very little outgoing $ on my end.

Any of the boards you chose will be fine for air or water. So will lesser boards as I mentioned earlier. For example, you could happily use MSI Gaming M5 or even the Krait Gaming. For Giga the UD5 is solid, but you could happily use the Gaming 5 as well.

 

[Kenrou]

Fair but like i said i might decide on a whim to sell my house and go water cooling, so i need a "future proofing" of sorts on the motherboard with if possible fine grain overclocking. Never had a Intel before so i'm starting from scratch. It will be mostly for gaming and video editing. Money is not really an issue up to ~200, i simply want something that will handle anything i decide to throw at it (within reason ofc)

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Not to mention most of what I have is leftovers from reviews so there is very little outgoing $ on my end.

I really doubt you're bad off with those

 

[EarthDog]

I understand your concern, coming from an AMD FX Octo setup and all that brings along with it. As I have said already though, air or water, it will be fine! The boards you selected and the less expensive ones I suggested. So if you would like to save a few bucks and still be "Future proof", feel confident in what I selected as they will also fit your requirements and wants. But make no mistake about it, you do not NEED a board of the caliber you selected for your listed goals. Want.... have at it.

 

[Kenrou]

One thing i forgot to ask, 1151 is the successor to 1150 or just a minor upgrade ? meaning there will be more CPUs in this socket in the future or Skylake is unique and a new one is in the works ?

 

[Woomack]

Each socket had 2 generations so I expect to see one more CPU for 1151 and next socket switch. Since competition is not pushing Intel then expect delays in premieres so 1151 will be probably good for next 3 years.
Skylake has some improvements but in most cases is the same as Haswell ( for end user ). Still it's better to get it than older generation.

 

[ElricM]

Jumping in here, I'm looking at pretty much the same type of setup, everyday overclock, etc. I understand there really isn't much difference in the boards for the CPU/memory, and I'm only doing a single GPU. But what about getting the most from something like an M.2 Samsung Pro SSD? Any support or bandwidth constraints on any of the boards? Thanks!

 

[EarthDog]

But what about getting the most from something like an M.2 Samsung Pro SSD? Any support or bandwidth constraints on any of the boards? Thanks!

So long as the boards have PCIe x4 bandwidth which most (all?) do... it won't hold anything back.

As is typical with using an M.2 slot, some SATA/SATAe ports may not be usable...typically the SATAe ports. You can confirm how each motherboard handles it by checking their respective manuals. But typically is just disables the SATAe(and attached SATA) ports.

 

[ElricM]

So long as the boards have PCIe x4 bandwidth which most (all?) do... it won't hold anything back.

As is typical with using an M.2 slot, some SATA/SATAe ports may not be usable...typically the SATAe ports. You can confirm how each motherboard handles it by checking their respective manuals. But typically is just disables the SATAe(and attached SATA) ports.

Great, that's what I was expecting, but always good to get confirmation. Thanks for the quick response!