Which board for overclocking?

[Jeff G]

Ive pretty much got it narrowed down to the MSI Tomahawk, Gigabyte Gaming 5, and Asus Z170-A boards. All fit in my budget, and all appear to get good reviews.

Im not concerned with the appearance of the boards, just the performance and usability.
I'll be using it with a i5-6600k and 2x8gb ram (havent purchased ram yet, but looking at the pny anarchy or corsair vengeance).

Do any of these overclock better than the others? Do any have lacking features? Any reason to get one over the other? I've run all three brands in the past, I'm familiar with how they operate too.

 

[Janus67]

Hey Jeff,

For the most part you will be limited by the CPU silicon lottery moreso than the capabilities of any Z170 board outside of situations where sub-ambient cooling is being utilized. A very common recommended motherboard is the ASRock Extreme 6 due to the cost/features available.

Ultimately, I would recommend going with a board that fits your budget and has the extra features you are looking for, as the CPU will get pretty much as far as it will on any of them.

 

[Jeff G]

Alao, what does the Extreme 6 get me over the Extreme 4? And how does the Extreme 6 compare to the Fatal1ty boards?
Ive seen the ROG Hero pop up in the same price point as the Extreme 6, any idea how that board is compared to the AsRock?
The last two pc's I built (one of which is my current htpc) used AsRock boards, and I do like the layout and bios of them.

 

[wingman99]

All I can see is the Extreme 6 has better chokes in the VRM and a few more SATA options, I would just go for the ASRock Extreme 4 it will overclock the skylake to 4.5GHz with ease.

 

[Jeff G]

All I can see is the Extreme 6 has better chokes in the VRM and a few more SATA options, I would just go for the ASRock Extreme 4 it will overclock the skylake to 4.5GHz with ease.

Went with the extreme6+, found one for barely much more than an extreme4. I do like the abundance of usb 3.0 ports, lots of mid-range boards only had 2 :/
Shooting for 4.6ghz on my water cooling, just gotta find a new waterblock for the 6600k. I'll be reusing my old loop so the cost will be just in the waterblock.

 

[M@rk]

Hey Jeff!
Do you want me to test my board to how far i can push?
I have a MSI Z170A PC-MATE and its a 120$ board.

 

[Jeff G]

Hey Jeff!
Do you want me to test my board to how far i can push?
I have a MSI Z170A PC-MATE and its a 120$ board.

While Id love to know, i did already purchase the AsRock Extreme6+. Found a good deal on one so I went that route.

 

[wingman99]

Went with the extreme6+, found one for barely much more than an extreme4. I do like the abundance of usb 3.0 ports, lots of mid-range boards only had 2 :/
Shooting for 4.6ghz on my water cooling, just gotta find a new waterblock for the 6600k. I'll be reusing my old loop so the cost will be just in the waterblock.

You will be happy with that board. I just purchased the Gigabyte GIGABYTE GA-Z170-HD3 for $90.00 with a i5 6600k for $220.00 at Newegg, I'm going for 4.5GHz on air with a Hyper 212.

 

[Jeff G]

You will be happy with that board. I just purchased the Gigabyte GIGABYTE GA-Z170-HD3 for $90.00 with a i5 6600k for $120.00 at Newegg, I'm going for 4.5GHz on air with a Hyper 212.

$120 or $220? $120 would be a steal!

 

[M@rk]

While Id love to know, i did already purchase the AsRock Extreme6+. Found a good deal on one so I went that route.

Oh ok. Have fun Let us know what overclock results you get! Good luck!

You will be happy with that board. I just purchased the Gigabyte GIGABYTE GA-Z170-HD3 for $90.00 with a i5 6600k for $120.00 at Newegg, I'm going for 4.5GHz on air with a Hyper 212.

Good Luck!
And Dayuuum 120$ Core i5 6600k?? thats awesome! I see you gonna replace your trusty Core i5 2500k huh?

 

[wingman99]

It was a typo $220 for the i5 6600k. I can't wait to try it out, kind of scared of getting faulty parts my i5 2500 is so reliable.

 

[EarthDog]

It's so rare to get DOA/Faulty parts... I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[wingman99]

Thanks for the reassurance, however having problems with skylake Pentium G4400 recently makes me sweat still to this day.

 

[Jeff G]

Thanks for the reassurance, however having problems with skylake Pentium G4400 recently makes me sweat still to this day.

I have a G4400 in an "internet browser" build and a G4500 in a htpc build. Both are running great, not a single issue with either. You may have gotten the 1 in a million with issues :/

 

[EarthDog]

Thanks for the reassurance, however having problems with skylake Pentium G4400 recently makes me sweat still to this day.

To be blunt... get over it... says math.

 

[Jeff G]

It's so rare to get DOA/Faulty parts... I wouldn't sweat it.

Since EarthDog jinxed me and I got a faulty board, I'm taking a look at what to get again.
Im leaning heavily towards another Extreme6, but Im also considering other options while I wait for my rma to complete. Is the K6 worth the extra price? The specs look identical to the EX6, im not sure what the difference is.
Im also looking at the Asus Sabertooth board, mostly because it looks neat and has a built in fan by the io ports (that probably does nothing). Anyone with experience with this board?
I've ruled out the Gigabyte boards, personal preference.

 

[EarthDog]

Jinxed you... . Brother, if you got one bad one, chances are WAY WAY less to get another. Its just math. Picking a motherboard really isn't as complicated as this.

The sabertooth is a solid board but fetches a premium for that armor... not the tops on my list, but it is a good board.

 

[Jeff G]

Jinxed you... . Brother, if you got one bad one, chances are WAY WAY less to get another. Its just math. Picking a motherboard really isn't as complicated as this.

The sabertooth is a solid board but fetches a premium for that armor... not the tops on my list, but it is a good board.

I know, i tend to look way too much in to this stuff. In the end I'll probably get another AsRock. I'm curious what the difference is between the EX6 and K6 though.

 

[EarthDog]

Go to newegg and compare them side by side... not sure offhand.

 

[Jeff G]

Go to newegg and compare them side by side... not sure offhand.

I did, and all specs were the same. I'm guessing it's the color and the "fatal1ty" name that separate it, as i see no other differences. The EX6 is a bit cheaper too.