Got a Skylake build I'm doing in the Winter of 2016...want to decide on parts now...

[RareAir23]

Hi all. So in my thread in the nVIDIA Flavor section of the Video Card forum, I mentioned that I was going to do a Skylake build in terms of core parts (CPU, mobo and memory) but also an updated chassis. I already decided on CPU, memory and chassis shown below:

Core i7 6700K CPU
Mushkin Enhanced Redline 32GB (4X8GB) DDR4-2800 memory
Corsair Vengeance C70 Gunmetal Black ATX mid-tower chassis

But now comes the hard choice: the motherboard. 3 are on my mind right now but it's early and there's time for others to change my mind on what I choose. For now here are the 3 preliminary finalists (and Newegg.com link to each board)

ASUS Republic of Gamers Maximus VIII Hero: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ASUS_Maximus_VIII_Hero-_-13-132-565-_-Product

Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...gigabyte_z170_gaming_7-_-13-128-835-_-Product

eVGA Z170 FTW: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...78&cm_re=eVGA_Z170_FTW-_-13-188-178-_-Product

Now before I continue I know I can spend more and get say eVGA's Z170 Classified or Gigabyte's G1 series Z170 but I don't want to break the bank for this build and spending more on mobo than CPU I feel is kinda silly. Plus, for the price range I want to spend on a mobo (under $250 before tax) these 3 aren't a bad trio to start a conversation with.

What I like about each mobo so far is starting with the ASUS, I've never owned one of their ROG boards before and of what they're offering for the money it provides a lot of what I'm looking for (USB 3.1, SATA3, DDR4 memory, strong OC capability, design layout) based on what other parts are going into and to at least say in this technician's life I used one of their ROG boards is kinda like a feather in the cap. However; some say their onboard audio solution for that board stinks out loud, ASUS's support in general I know already sucks worse than Joshua "J.C." Chasez's solo album (if you don't know who that is he's one of the former members of N*Sync errr...N*Stink) so its in the conversation for its pros but has some cons.

On the Gigabyte board, I want to first say to HardOCP's staff that your review of this board swayed me into putting it in my preliminary finalists so far. The Gigabyte board sounds excellent, it has a similar feature set to the ASUS board, has a better audio solution than the Maximus VIII Hero, has a great layout as well and seems to have finally taken a big step toward solving some UEFI BIOS issues.

On the eVGA board, I've been a frequent customer of eVGA products and have owned 2 of their mobos. The first one was a forgettable AMD board which had a borked memory controller so it didn't work after installing Windows on it. The 2nd board I owned I still use (the X58 3X SLI board) and it's been rocksteady with giving me no issues and a lot of good days. I know the Z170 FTW board isn't as feature rich as the other 2 and even costs less ($190 instead of $225-$230 for the other 2) but it seems to be a good board with some good qualities (6-layer PCB support, M2 support, 6-phase PWM) going for it too.

Well, enough about my descriptions and talk. I now open the floor to the rest of you. Of these 3 preliminary finalists what are your thoughts? Do any of these seem like a clear cut winner? Would you choose something different than these 3? Thanks in advance for your answers and until next time I am out!

 

[the_servicer]

Do you mean this coming Winter or the one a year later?

 

[RareAir23]

Hi the_servicer. To answer your question I'm going to do the build this coming February in 2016. Thanks.

 

[M76]

New parts come out all the time, prices change. It makes no sense to decide parts for a build you're making 4 months from now.

 

[OldandCrusty]

New parts come out all the time, prices change. It makes no sense to decide parts for a build you're making 4 months from now.

I agree. At this point I'd start looking for components that meet your needs that go on sale. For example, I was able to get a Seasonic Platinum rated power supply for less than the gold rated one I had been planning to buy for my build.
Some flexibility now may save you money, or get you better parts (or both!) for your new build.

 

[Dayaks]

I've recently switched from Asus to eVGA. I was first impressed with eVGA's powersupplies and always heard good things so I began switching over to other components. Recently there's been some horror stories about Asus customer service.

Also eVGA is an American company. I factor that in.

 

[RareAir23]

Hi again. So I took OldandCrusty's advice and waited to see which of 3 mobo went on a good enough sale to jump early and get one. I decided after much study and a lot of info read to jump on the Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 7 when Newegg had it marked down this week to $180. I'd like to thank OldandCrusty and all who posted to this thread for your advice. I'd also like to thank HardOCP for their most excellent review on this board. HardOCP, your review and opinions of this board really helped sway me to this board (as well as reviews from other sites) and I really appreciate how thorough and well written the review was giving it in the end the high marks it earned. I get the board from Newegg by the way on Tuesday. Now onto my next question which will be in the appropriate subforum in a moment. Thanks again all and until next time I am out!

 

[mlightsey]

I am in the same boat as you. Let me know how the Gigabyte turns out. I am factoring away from Asus due to customer service issues along with the comments I am reading on the egg after months of the mb being out.