Looking to match i5 6600k

[cctaylor88]

Pretty set on purchasing the i5 6600K. Have been out of the game for quite some time (last build was in 2010). Anyways I will be using the setup mainly to game and watch videos/browse. I would like to note that I am also going to be purchasing an UW monitor (34 inch most likely) and am wondering if I want freesync is a "display port" a requirement? Have zero experience with DP. Is this an output that the motherboard should provide if I want to move to an UW setup?

Yes, planning on OC'ing the CPU. However I don't want to pay a premium to "OC" my motherboard and/or RAM. Just making this a sidenote because I generally don't believe in or utilize gamer marketed components. Would rather spend the $ elsewhere as long as the component fits my requirements.

 

[DaveB]

I was able to easily OC an i5 6600K to 4.6 GHz with a sub $100 ATX Z170M Pro 4s motherboard coupled with some inexpensive DDR4-3000 memory. So you don't need to spend big bucks on a motherboard for a decent OC these days. Cooling was with an inexpensive Cooler Master Hyper 212. The $80 MSI Z170-A PRO comes with a DisplayPort or you might consider the $109 ASRock Z170M-ITX/ac which also comes with a DiplayPort output in the compact ITX formt. Prices are from Newegg. And yes, you will need the DisplayPort output to get 60 Hz @ 3440 x 1440, both DVD-D and HDMI 1.4 are limited to 30 Hz @ 3440 x 1440. As for the monitor, you don't need AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync.

 

[cctaylor88]

I was able to easily OC an i5 6600K to 4.6 GHz with a sub $100 ATX Z170M Pro 4s motherboard coupled with some inexpensive DDR4-3000 memory. So you don't need to spend big bucks on a motherboard for a decent OC these days. Cooling was with an inexpensive Cooler Master Hyper 212. The $80 MSI Z170-A PRO comes with a DisplayPort or you might consider the $109 ASRock Z170M-ITX/ac which also comes with a DiplayPort output in the compact ITX formt. Prices are from Newegg. And yes, you will need the DisplayPort output to get 60 Hz @ 3440 x 1440, both DVD-D and HDMI 1.4 are limited to 30 Hz @ 3440 x 1440. As for the monitor, you don't need AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync.

Thanks for your input thus far, well to be honest with you I will be dropping anywhere from $700-$1K on a monitor so I'm for sure going to get one that offers me free/gsync. I mean at that price point you may as well get out of it what you can. As far as a motherboard I essentially meant I didn't want to blow an extra $100 just because the "M7" offers a few more shrouds that make it look more aggressive than the "M5" and a few other useless features. I hope you understand where I am coming from and this isn't confusing. I don't mind dropping a little coin if its worth it. For instance I would ideally like to stay in the $150 mobo range if possible. As far as RAM... pretty lost here. Oh and I for sure want to keep it to regular form factor, nothing mini please. But thanks so far!

 

[bob4933]

If youre gonna drop 1000$ on a monitor, you're probably better served moving some of that money to getting an i7...

 

[caddi daddi]

it's really pretty hard to buy a bad z170 board so pick one out that has the features you want, fits your case and budget.
as far as ram, just enough is all that really counts so just 8 or 16 gigs of ddr 4.
a good gpu would be nice, I lean toward a 980 myself.

 

[EarthDog]

Not sure on the Display port. I'd look here: http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/technologies-gaming/freesync
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/freesync-faq.aspx

Unless someone responds/answers.

You also have a thread started 5/31 about your motherboard you haven't responded to:

If youre gonna drop 1000$ on a monitor, you're probably better served moving some of that money to getting an i7...

Why? Its driven by the GPU.