Motherboard recommendations please

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geekIT

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Topic # 185450 23-Nov-2015 14:07

I'm building a new PC and I'm looking for a motherboard that will best suit these items:

CPU: Intel Skylake Core i5 6500 LGA 1151 (haven't bought this yet)

RAM: 16BG. Haven't fixed on a brand yet, but possibly 2 x 8GB Ripjaws 4 series.

SSD: Apacer AST680S 240GB Sata 3 6Gb\s (have this on hand)

HDD: Seagate 2TB Barracuda 7200rpm (have this on hand)

Graphics: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Dual DVI+HDMI+Display Port (haven't bought this yet)

Please note:
I WON'T be overclocking the CPU or GPU.
I WON'T be installing multiple GFX cards
(I probably don't need a board with integrated GFX but they mostly seem to come that way nowadays).

OS will almost certainly be W7 Ultimate.

Suggestions welcomed :-)

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Reply # 1437182 29-Nov-2015 12:28

First up read this http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2724973/skylake-chipset-features.html

This lists the different chipset features for Intel Skylake cpus. Because you have a non k version CPU you could probably go for either an H170 or Z170 chipset. If you go for a K version of the CPU go for the Z170 as this allows multiplyer overclocking.
The Z170 chipset is the performance model and will have the motherboards that support Dual GPUs, more lanes, more Sata ports, more usb ports etc.

Once you have a chipset in mind then pick a brand. My personal preference has always been ASUS or Gigabyte. Both are good and you really cant go wrong with either (I tend to go for the mobo that has the better price, PCI slot layout, or better colour scheme).

http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=1296/ID=26125/SID=966147194/productdetails.html Asus Z170 @ $219
http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=1296/ID=26496/SID=270845325/productdetails.html Asus H170 @ $189

http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=1296/ID=26495/SID=270845325/productdetails.html Gigabyte H170 @ $219
http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=1296/ID=26127/SID=966150584/productdetails.html Gigabyte Z170 @ $299

My pick from these is either of the Asus boards. The H170 gives you 1x M.2 sata, 2x sata express, 6x Sata 3.0 & 8x USB3 ports, 4x DDR4 slots and would probably perfectly match the CPU. If you change your mind and get the i5-6600K cpu, then get the Z170.

NOTE!
My links are to Playtech as thats who i get all my gear from. I recommend you purchase it from whoever you purchase your IT items from. I am not responsible if you buy from Playtech and find out afterwards you could have got it cheaper from someone else. I just use them as a guide for rough pricing

networkn

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Reply # 1437200 29-Nov-2015 12:55

Don't get W7, get W8.1 with all the updates, it's a pretty decent OS. You are short changing yourself putting in a 5+ year old OS, when 8.1 is so much better than 8.0 and certainly CONSIDERABLY more stable than W10.

timmmay

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Reply # 1437204 29-Nov-2015 12:59

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I'll see your W8.1 and raise it with W10, which is very stable and works great for me. As for motherboard, by the cheapest of a good brand that has the features / ports you need. Gigabyte works well, Asus too.

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networkn

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Reply # 1437214 29-Nov-2015 13:29

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timmmay: I'll see your W8.1 and raise it with W10, which is very stable and works great for me. As for motherboard, by the cheapest of a good brand that has the features / ports you need. Gigabyte works well, Asus too.

The number of people complaining of issues in the W10 thread and my experience of supporting it suggests W10 is a poor second choice to W8.1 for stability.

timmmay

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Reply # 1437238 29-Nov-2015 15:06

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What percentage of people are having trouble with W10? I had all my family upgrade and it's fine. It's worth a shot, to be on the latest OS, pretty easy to reinstall 8.1 if 10 gives problems.

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Jase2985

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Reply # 1437240 29-Nov-2015 15:15

the % of people having trouble with w10 is probably higher than those having trouble with w8.1.

how many 8.1 issue threads are there on here, compared to the 10+ windows 10 ones

there are heaps of issues with win10 in one from or the other and if your not having any i would almost consider myself lucky because lots of people are having issues

timmmay

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Reply # 1437254 29-Nov-2015 16:09

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I don't really care what anyone else uses to be honest, I just think it's worth giving it a shot first, to be up to date.

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geekIT

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Reply # 1437255 29-Nov-2015 16:17

After waiting 6 days for a response from this board, suddenly, replies flood in. Why is that, Mauricio? It's not the first time this has happened.

Anyway, I'm grateful for a response from jhsol. Thank you for a relevant and helpful post that answered my question and provided the sort of advice I was looking for. Too often on advice forums, respondents ignore the Original Poster's question and are sometimes rude enough to question why he\she should want to make a certain choice when they know far better what the OP should do.

Too much of that going on in the world these days, IMHO.

Anyway, jhsol, after waiting 6 fruitless days, I asked the same question on Whirlpool (AUS), and the tips I got there (in less than 24 hours) convinced me that I should look for a Z170 board, either an Asus or Gigabyte, which was pretty much what you suggested. So that's what I'm going for.

Again, jhsol, much thanks.

JWR

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Reply # 1437281 29-Nov-2015 16:43

timmmay: I'll see your W8.1 and raise it with W10, which is very stable and works great for me. As for motherboard, by the cheapest of a good brand that has the features / ports you need. Gigabyte works well, Asus too.

I'd add AsRock to the list of board manufacturers.

They tend to be a little bit more experimental in board options and have good online support in my experience.

Here is a comparison of the Skylake motherboard chipsets...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets#LGA_1151

Personally, for a general purpose desktop PC, I would go for something H170 or Z170 based.

The main difference between the two is the number of PCIe lanes and overclocking.

I know you don't want to overclock or use another GPU. But, PCIe lanes for M2 storage could be useful.

M2 storage has potential to be a lot faster than SATA. But, you need either on board M2 slots or free PCIe for an adapter card.

Also, don't worry about SATA Express. It is a dead standard.

geekIT

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Reply # 1437289 29-Nov-2015 17:05

Thanks, JWR. Again, like jhsol, you were sensible enough to answer MY question, without being compelled to inject your own opinions. Full marks!

timmmay

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Reply # 1437312 29-Nov-2015 17:26

geekIT: After waiting 6 days for a response from this board, suddenly, replies flood in. Why is that, Mauricio? It's not the first time this has happened.

I think it's just who happens to be around at the time and who notices it on the latest thread list. If you miss it and hit "mark read" you don't see it again until someone else comments.

geekIT: Thanks, JWR. Again, like jhsol, you were sensible enough to answer MY question, without being compelled to inject your own opinions. Full marks!

I thought you did want opinions? Or are you only interested in opinions on the exact question you asked? You may learn something if you widen your scope.

My first reply may not have been precisely "buy product xyz", but I think the advice to buy the cheapest of a good brand that does what you want is good, and also aim for one of the newer chipsets. Unless you're wanting to overclock or do something special I think most good brand motherboards will be fine. I don't know what $400 motherboards do that $100 motherboards don't, but I know my cheap Gigabyte motherboard from newegg works great.

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Jase2985

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Reply # 1437314 29-Nov-2015 17:34

what you need to look at is how many PCI slots you need and how many sata ports you will use. that will be what influences you decision the most. then other features like m2, sata express etc. thats the major difference between the different classes of the boards, the 110, 150 and 170 series. also ram, some boards come in both ddr3 and ddr4, so if you have ram from an old board you can use that too which saves money.

do you really need to buy a board with features that you wont use?

JWR

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Reply # 1437344 29-Nov-2015 18:45

Jase2985: what you need to look at is how many PCI slots you need and how many sata ports you will use. that will be what influences you decision the most. then other features like m2, sata express etc. thats the major difference between the different classes of the boards, the 110, 150 and 170 series. also ram, some boards come in both ddr3 and ddr4, so if you have ram from an old board you can use that too which saves money.

do you really need to buy a board with features that you wont use?

Actually RAM type is important.

I just assumed all the new boards were DDR4.

But, I see you can get DDR3 boards too.

DDR4 used to be a lot more expensive. But, the price difference has now narrowed considerably.

I would go for DDR4 unless there is a really compelling reason not to. The vast majority of people will buy DDR4 boards.

DDR4 will be cheaper in the mid-longer term and does have a slight performance advantage.

DDR4 RAM is a lot more fiddly to install though. I wish they hadn't gone with that retention system.

Coil

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Reply # 1437345 29-Nov-2015 18:48

I have always bought Gigabyte gear.
In the mid range boards they are far better than asus with features and ports etc.
Never had an issue with any board from them.

geekIT

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Reply # 1438073 30-Nov-2015 19:14

Timmmay, I asked for motherboard recommendations and sudden the thread developed into a discussion about operating systems.

IMHO, if one can't come up with an answer that's relevant to the OP's question, then one should keep one's bouche closed and devote their keystrokes to a more deserving topic.

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