advice for choosing a motherboard

I am building my first custom rig, so I am having a really difficult time choosing the correct motherboard. I will be mainly using it for gaming. I don't necessarily want to over-clock it.

The parts that I have already chosen are:
Case: NZXT Source 340
SSD: Samsung 750 EVO MZ-750250
Power supply: Cooler Master V550
Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 412S:
Processor: Intel Core i5-6600(k)
Ram: Kingston HyperX FURY DDR4 2400MHz
Videocard: Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1060 G1

The ATX motherboards that I am a bit torn between:
ASUS B150 PRO GAMING
GIGABYTE GA-Z170-HD3P
MSI B150 Gaming M3
MSI Z170A TOMAHAWK
(I don't necessarily have to overclock my system, but if I choose the Z170 model ofc I will go with the i5-6600k as well)

If you were in my position, which one would you choose to go with this particular build ?
(ofc, if you happen to know an even better motherboard in the same price category, I would love to hear it as well)

In advance, thank you !

Personally I would go with the 6600k and overclock it. You might as well go with that additional performance. Coupled with the RX480 or the 1060 you will get a pretty decent 1080p gaming experience.

I spent a lot of time looking at Z170 motherboards when I was looking to build my system. In the end I went with a higher end board, but for some time I was looking at the MSI Gaming Pro Carbon. It seems to overclock pretty decently, has OK VRM and is relatively cheap for what it is, considering the various I/O connections it has. An added bonus is that it's matt black and has an LED strip, not amazing, but from an aesthetics point of view this motherboard will go with almost any system build (if that sort of thing matters to you). I was also reading that the ASRock series of Z170 motherboards such as the Extreme4 and 6 were pretty decent, but I didn't do a whole lot of looking there, as I needed some USB 2 headers on the board and the Extreme 6 didn't offer that.

With regards to the board you mentioned, it's basically a slightly watered down version of the board above. The price difference being about £20. So I would go with the slightly more expensive board if you can afford it.

Hi and welcome to the forums.


As you are going for a 6600k then a Z170 board will give you the option of overclocking. I wouldn't go for either of those in your list though. I would be looking to buy a board in the £100-130 range. You certainly don't need to spend any more than that to get a capable board. Have you seen the bundle deals that will save you money?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 3 - Intel Core i5 6600K CPU & Motherboard Bundle **£30 Saving**= £324.98
• 1 x Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI - Intel Core i5 6600K Bundle **£20 Saving**= £334.98

Otherwise I would be looking at either of these:-

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Asus Z170-E Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £119.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z170-Gaming K3 Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £104.99
• 1 x Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD3 Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £124.99
• 1 x Asus Z170-A Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £127.99

The Coolermaster V550 isn't a bad psu but it is very overpriced. I would change it for the excellent EVGA Supernova G2 550w (not sold here for some reason) or the XFX XTR 550w.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x XFX XTR Series 550W 80 Plus Gold Fully Modular Power Supply= £77.99