Choose a Z170 mobo

[Jovan123]

So i've narrowed my mobo choice for the money to:

Asus Z170-A
Gigabyte Z170X-Gaming 3
Asus Z170 Pro Gaming

I intend to do some oc on my i3-6100 for gaming, so which one is the best choice and why?
Thanks in advance
PS I can't decide one what RAM should i buy either even tho they are pretty much the same, would appreciate a suggestion :

Gskill RipJaws 2x8GB 2400MHz CL15 (F4-2400C15D-16GRR)
Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB 2666MHz CL16 (CMK16GX4M2A2666C16R)

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Get a 6600k to do some real overclocking.

Z board is a waste with a 6100.

 

[Jovan123]

Get a 6600k to do some real overclocking.

Z board is a waste with a 6100.

I would if i had the money but this is in my budget i will upgrade when i can, can you recommend a mobo from one of these?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I like the Pro Gaming out of those choices.

 

[Quixit]

I'd get an ASRock Z170 Extreme4 and flash the bios version 2.80. This board supports overclocking locked processors using the BCLK clock assuming you're not running a bios version higher than 2.80.

Otherwise, no point in going Z170 chipset.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

With the 6100 , I would go with DDR4 2133.

With a K CPU you could go higher.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

BCLK overclocking is a waste.

 

[Jovan123]

ASRock Z170 Extreme4 isn't available in my county (Serbia), i've gone trough every mobo i could buy and these 3 ended up as the best choices...The Z170X-Gaming 3 would match my color scheme and there are little differences between the mobos, most likely i will get the Pro Gaming one. I intend on buying 6600k in a year or 2, but until then i3 with the little oc i can with a non k cpu will do. Anyways thanks for the help and quick response

 

[TJ Hooker]

An i3 6100 can run RAM at higher speeds than 2133. I have a 2400 MHz kit that runs fine, and even had it OCd to 2666 for a while (without touching voltage) and it still worked well.

I basically did what the OP did, got an i3 and a Z-series board, with the idea that I have the option to drop in an unlocked CPU at a later date and OC it if I want to. Non -k OC wasn't even a thing at the time. I tried it out myself once the non-k OC BIOSs started coming out, wasn't satisfied with my results so I just reverted to stock, which is still plenty good enough for me for now.

 

[Jovan123]

An i3 6100 can run RAM at higher speeds than 2133. I have a 2400 MHz kit that runs fine, and even had it OCd to 2666 for a while (without touching voltage) and it still worked well.

I basically did what the OP did, got an i3 and a Z-series board, with the idea that I have the option to drop in an unlocked CPU at a later date and OC it if I want to. Non -k OC wasn't even a thing at the time. I tried it out myself once the non-k OC BIOSs started coming out, wasn't satisfied with my results so I just reverted to stock, which is still plenty good enough for me for now.

Exactly, i've seen that with higher RAM frequencies and a basic oc on the 6100 u can get minor fps improvements (few %) in some games and in some drastc (50%) i guess it depends whether the game is cpu bound, so that way i can remove any bottleneck from the cpu. I don't plan on going past 60fps so i3 is excellent for the next year or two until i can buy 6600k