Which Z170 board?

Rezident · 2 Dec 2016 at 09:49

New build along the lines of:

i7-6700 @4.5/4.6
32Gb RAM
500Gb SSD PCI-e

Looking at the Z170 Pro Gaming/Aura (£155). Comparing it with, say Maximus VIII Hero (£190), what’s the difference? The Hero seems to have SATA express and a couple of extra USB 2 ports, is that it?

I could stretch to £200 for the mobo, but what’s the difference between say the £150 boards and the £200 ones?

For gaming, thanks

Any other boards recommended?

wedrum · 2 Dec 2016 at 09:57

i am happy with the asrock pro 4 z170 for £90 got my i4 6400 at 4.65ghz.

Smffy · 2 Dec 2016 at 12:59

I'm in the Asus camp lately, Z170 Deluxe and very happy with it - near enough the same board as the Hero so i'd be voting for that one. You're right though nothing much different in terms of features so really it depends a little on whether you want the possibility of waterblocks, overclocking stuff etc etc.

The PCI SSD, i'd go for M.2 as it won't be stealing your lanes on the Z170 chipset setup.

Rezident · 2 Dec 2016 at 13:05

OK, no I won't be using water.

Rezident · 2 Dec 2016 at 21:51

Smffy said:
I'm in the Asus camp lately, Z170 Deluxe and very happy with it - near enough the same board as the Hero so i'd be voting for that one. You're right though nothing much different in terms of features so really it depends a little on whether you want the possibility of waterblocks, overclocking stuff etc etc.

The PCI SSD, i'd go for M.2 as it won't be stealing your lanes on the Z170 chipset setup.

Wow Z170 Deluxe looks amazing. MIght go for the Hero then.

Smffy · 6 Dec 2016 at 14:33

Rezident said:
Wow Z170 Deluxe looks amazing. MIght go for the Hero then.

Late reply but its a popular choice so good support (community) and generally good feature set so i'm sure you'd be happy.

If you want the board colours and stuff are pretty easy to mod should the red not fit your taste - this is my Z170 deluxe with a bit of a make over to make it less 'white':