Which MOBO

[JonC]

I recently rebuilt my gaming rig and unfortunately had to scrimp on the motherboard, the specs are:

I7 6770K
Asus GTX980 TI Strix
G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4 2400Mhz
Samsung SM951 256Gb (OS)
Samsung EVO 850 1TB (Games)
Toshiba 7200 SATA3 3TB (Media)
Corsair 750W PSU
Aerocool Strike-X Air case
Alphacool watercooling

MOBO- Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI bought from Novatech for £50 as a customer return in PWO. The question is which MOBO do I go for? I've narrowed it down to 2: Gigabyte Z170X Gaming G1 or Asus Maximus VIII Extreme? Both are roughly the same price. I play a lot of games (spinal injury so don't get out much) and like to overclock as best as I can, PC also works as a media server for our laptops and tablets. Also thinking of replacing RAM with G.Skill Trident Z 3000Mhz

Advice and comments please?

[GreMMi]

You have a fine build there. Personal preference would be for the ASUS mobo, you should be able to overclock fine, especially with the watercooling.

The only thing I would change is your PSU - without overclocking anything, the bare minimum for a build like that would be ~750 AFAIK. i would get a gold standard 800W PSU if you can afford it - if you skimp, you could kill that system.

[abaxas]

One thing to conside is the m2 and 1tb ssd.

Seams like you are spending an extra 100 quid for no reason other than benchmarks.

[EndlessWaves]

The only thing I would change is your PSU - without overclocking anything, the bare minimum for a build like that would be ~750 AFAIK.

Despite the SLI board there's no mention of it having two cards so I'd assume there's just one.

@JonC: What sort of overclocking results are you getting on your current motherboard for both memory and CPU?

Also, which needed features are you missing from your current board?

[JonC]

I have been looking at PSU's, was thinking of going for a 1000W, there's some good reviews on here.

[JonC]

I did have 2 SSD's in the old system, a 120GB for the OS but that was getting old and slow and found the SM951 at a bargain price and liked the performance specs and reviews. The 1TB SSD was a replacement for a Samsung 840 Pro 500GB which was full.

[GreMMi]

I stand corrected - my bad.

[JonC]

Despite the SLI board there's no mention of it having two cards so I'd assume there's just one.

@JonC: What sort of overclocking results are you getting on your current motherboard for both memory and CPU?

Also, which needed features are you missing from your current board?

Yes there's only 1 Card, no way could I afford 2, that one was another bargain £525 instead of £600.

The CPU will sit happily at 4.6Ghz XTU benchmark score of 1406, becomes unstable at 4.7Ghz, although the RAM is rated at 2400Mhz I can only get it to 2133Mhz without it becoming unstable. CPU temp maxing at 52 degrees.

I've seen someone with the Asus Maximus VIII Extreme board getting 6.8Ghz out of the 6700K

[EndlessWaves]

I have been looking at PSU's, was thinking of going for a 1000W, there's some good reviews on here.

A 6700k + GTX 980ti system pulls about 320W at stock clocks so unless you're planning a SLI setup when prices come down or a lot of extra hardware you've already got a huge amount of extra capacity there.

Overclocking ability is primarily dependant on the CPU and cooling. 6.8Ghz is the second and third best luckiest CPUs anyone has ever been able to find and those clock speeds were achieved with liquid helium and liquid nitrogen.

The highest recorded clockspeed of a 6700k with a closed look (AIO) cooler on HWBot is 5.1Ghz:
http://hwbot.org/benchmark/cpu_frequ...=0#interval=20

You might be able to squeeze another hundred megahertz or two out of your CPU but there's a good chance it's hit it's own limits rather than that of the motherboard.

Memory is more interesting, although I don't know much about memory overclocking these days. Is it unable to run at 2400 speeds even when the CPU is stock?

[nexusmaniac]

My personal preference is Gigabyte, I've worked with too many DOA Asus boards (at work) Never had a Gigabyte board die on me *knock on wood*
But go for whichever has; the I/O you want, the future expandability, layout of PCIe lanes, SATA Ports, Etc.
And which aesthetic you prefer

[JonC]

My personal preference is Gigabyte, I've worked with too many DOA Asus boards (at work) Never had a Gigabyte board die on me *knock on wood*
But go for whichever has; the I/O you want, the future expandability, layout of PCIe lanes, SATA Ports, Etc.
And which aesthetic you prefer

Gigabyte definitely wins on aesthetics, and in an open case like mine is clearly visible, and is also the more expensive of the 2

[MrJim]

I play a lot of games (spinal injury so don't get out much)

A bit OT I know, but do you mind me asking what level you are? I happen to be C4 complete tetra myself, have been for 28 years. I play PC games using a trackball & mouth-stick

[JonC]

I have degenerative disc disease, L3/L4 L4/L5 L5/S1 T2/T3 T3/T4 C2/C3 C3/C4

[Millennium]

What's the rationale again for changing the motherboard? They're much of a muchness in essence...

[GreMMi]

Who knows, people just like to color scheme their boards I think.