best motherboard ddr3 on 1151 socket

[gilsport]

Hi,

I have an i5-6600 3.9Ghz CPU and a 16GB DDR3 memory.
I am looking to buy a motherboard, that has a 1151 socket that supports DDR3.

I am a bit confused with the new motherboards, since most of them support DDR4 and I understand it is not compatible to DDR3.

Does anyone have a suggestion which motherboard should I buy?

(it is preffered to be one of the following manufactures, since they are available near my home: GigaByte, Asus, MSI)

Thanks in advance.

 

[Darkbreeze]

None of the LGA 1151 socket boards support regular DDR3. You must use DDR3L. The motherboard might support standard DDR3 but according to Intel the internal memory controller on Skylake chips does not.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/skylake-memory-support,30185.html


You will need to purchase DDR4 or DDR3L memory. Standard DDR3 memory will work, but Intel contends that it will result in premature failures due to the higher voltages.

 

[gilsport]

thanks for the answer darkbreeze.

In that case, maybe I will purchase a 5th generation CPU, since I already have the memory at hand.
Am I correct in assuming that 5th generation CPU's use 1150 socket?
If so, am I correct in assuming they will work properly with DDR3 memory?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Darkbreeze]

All LGA 1150 processors and motherboards work with normal DDR3, so long as it's not very old DDR3 that may use lower density chips. They will NOT all use DDR3 faster than 1600mhz though due to restrictions in the chipsets and memory controllers on some models. DDR3-1600mhz should work on all LGA 1150 platforms though. Memory faster than 1600mhz should work on MOST all Z97 motherboards with i5 or i7 processors.

If you already have an i5-6600 you MUST use an LGA 1151 motherboard which will NOT work with DDR3, at least not with the potential for problems with premature hardware failure on the memory controller, as I said, according to Intel. Other sources have indicated they feel the memory is ok for use but I think you'd be rolling the dice on that one as the platform is new and aside from Intel's recommendations, we really have no long term data to backup or convict the use of higher voltage DDR3 either way. If the memory is only 1.5v modules it may be ok, but I for certain wouldn't use anything above that and even then as I said, it's a gamble. You'd be best off just getting DDR4 memory to avoid any chance of damaging your expensive components. Sell the DDR3 or use it in another build.

If you don't have the i5-6600 yet and want to use your current memory I'd suggest just getting a Haswell refresh processor, Z or H97 motherboard and using the DDR3 you have to save on costs.

 

[gilsport]

Thanks again darkbreeze.
I will check again the memory and update here.
I will also look into 5th generation CPU that use 1150 socket, since I dont have the CPU yet and it will be easier to change it.

Thanks again and Have fun

 

[Darkbreeze]

Anytime. Good luck Gilsport. Let me know if you have any further questions.

 

[kutneuker]

I know this is an old thread but I recently noticed Gigabyte offering a Z170 (thus socket 1151) mobo that accepts DDR3 and DDR3-L. The mobo is called GA-Z170-HD3 DDR3. No, I'm not paid by gigabyte but given the price of ram at the moment and the fact that i still have some to spare (and that ram speeds don't change much in actual daily computing, not talking about maximum overclockers but even ram overclock discussions point to how little use it has) it's nice that it exists.
It supports 6 and 7 gen intel cpu and even has (the reason why I switched to 1151 in the first place) an SSD M.2 socket (not the el cheapo M.2 connection but the fast pciex4 32Gb/s version).
I hope this isn't inappropriate and there might be other similar offers from the usual suspects.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, that's been well known from the start but as I said, there are issues with using it on this platform and it is best avoided.