Choosing a motherboard

[refmon]

Hey all, I've been planning to pick up an i7-8700 to go along with my 1080 ti but I haven't upgraded my motherboard in nearly a decade so I need a bit of help.

I know I wont be overclocking but I have no idea what else to look for. I also don't care about ascetics if that matters.

Recommend any good ones anyone is familiar with

 

[SMARTZ921]

I personally like Gigabyte and Asus motherboards. Gigabyte boards are cheap but if you have the money go for the Asus as they are extremely reliable.

 

[refmon]

I personally like Gigabyte and Asus motherboards. Gigabyte boards are cheap but if you have the money go for the Asus as they are extremely reliable.

I was told to just pick up a cheaper B350 Tomahawk but I've been looking at the Z370-E and the ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero.

Would it be better for to stick with the Tomahawk?

 

[Greeko85]

The b350 is not compatible with your CPU-thats an am4 socket aimed towards Ryzen processors.

 

[refmon]

The b350 is not compatible with your CPU-thats an am4 socket aimed towards Ryzen processors.

Yikes. Then should I go for Z370-E or the X Hero if the difference is only about 40 bucks?

 

[Greeko85]

Well considering you are going for a 8700 (non K variant) you won't be overclocking. It may be worth looking at some cheaper options unless you need some of the specific features of the z370 chipset. You can go for h370 or b360 boards, your best bet would be narrowing down a few choices and checking reviews on them for their specific features and performance.

 

[refmon]

Well considering you are going for a 8700 (non K variant) you won't be overclocking. It may be worth looking at some cheaper options unless you need some of the specific features of the z370 chipset. You can go for h370 or b360 boards, your best bet would be narrowing down a few choices and checking reviews on them for their specific features and performance.

I'm looking at a ASUS TUF H370-Pro Gaming right now but the only problem is RAM speed only reaches 2666. Is that a big enough deal to go for a more expensive motherboard that can reach say 3200?

 

[Greeko85]

Well there are benefits to having faster Ram speeds but they aren't as pronounced as lets say compared to Ryzen cpus that make a huge difference. It really depends on your budget and whether you can justify the additional cost.

 

[SMARTZ921]

I personally like Gigabyte and Asus motherboards. Gigabyte boards are cheap but if you have the money go for the Asus as they are extremely reliable.

I was told to just pick up a cheaper B350 Tomahawk but I've been looking at the Z370-E and the ASUS ROG Maximus X Hero.

Would it be better for to stick with the Tomahawk?

In my personal opinion ASUS is more reliable than MSi. However if you want to spend less than the tomahawk is an excellent choice. You may also want to look at things like how many SATA ports each board has and if it has USB-C support things like that.