Gigabyte gaming 3 vs gaming 5 vs MSI gaming M5 vs M7 vs krait vs pro gaming

[Wael Mahmoud]

Hi,

I am building a skylake pc for gaming : i5-6600k....crucial elite 8 gb@2666mhz.....r9 390 .

I am looking for a long lasting motherboard with mild overclocking .

These are my only options in my country(Egypt) and their prices here.


GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-Gaming 3 ..................212 $

GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-Gaming 5....................247 $

GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-UD 5..........................256 $



MSI Z170A KRAIT GAMING ............................................ 200 $

MSI Z170A GAMING PRO..................................................200 $

MSI Z170A GAMING M5.....................................................237 $

I cannot neither decide Gigabyte or Msi ...nor I cannot which model should I buy .


Any help will be appreciated and thanks in advance .

 

[BadActor]

I think the quality of the Gigabytes board is better than MSI's. The Gaming 3 has a lot of features and would be fine for a mild overclock.

 

[RCFProd]

GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-UD5 is very nice. One of my favorite motherboards.

However the MSI ones are 50 dollars cheaper and should also work fine.

 

[Wael Mahmoud]

I think the quality of the Gigabytes board is better than MSI's. The Gaming 3 has a lot of features and would be fine for a mild overclock.

Thanks for reply ,

I hear everywhere that MSI's QC is bad although MSI motherboards are best sellers at Amazon along with Gigabyte .

Gigabyte gaming 5 has one advantage over gaming 3 : Long Lifespan Durable Black™ Solid Caps, which last for 10K hours...........Does it worth the extra cash?

 

[BadActor]

As far as I can tell, I think all the Gigabyte Ultra Durable boards (including the Gaming series) use the same caps. I may be wrong though.

 

[Wael Mahmoud]

GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-UD5 is very nice. One of my favorite motherboards.

However the MSI ones are 50 dollars cheaper and should also work fine.

Thanks for your reply ,

what is the difference between Gigabyte gaming series (like: gaming 3,5) , and non-gaming series (like UD5)

 

[RCFProd]

The Gaming motherboards focus more the things that matter for gaming, so that could mean It's well suitable for overclocking with 4+ true power phases and has a good audio card built in. However the UD5 also has all of this and on top of that It's extremely well built. Build quality of the UD5 is an addition next to do great features you already get with that motherboard.

The UD5 has all the bells and whistles.

 

[Wael Mahmoud]

As far as I can tell, I think all the Gigabyte Ultra Durable boards (including the Gaming series) use the same caps. I may be wrong though.

This phrase is with all the motherboards I mentioned in the post

but if you concentrate on the colors of the solid caps around the cpu socket ,you will find them :


White in gaming 3 which doesn't have the (Long Lifespan Durable Black™ Solid Caps)

Black in ud5 which has the (Long Lifespan Durable Black™ Solid Caps)

and here is the difference illustrated in the image below

 

[BadActor]

You can go on Gigabytes website and select the different models to compare them. Generally, the differences are in looks, number VRM's, sound solutions, network controllers, etc. I think the color difference is purely a marketing and aesthetics thing.

 

[Wael Mahmoud]

The Gaming motherboards focus more the things that matter for gaming, so that could mean It's well suitable for overclocking with 4+ true power phases and has a good audio card built in. However the UD5 also has all of this and on top of that It's extremely well built. Build quality of the UD5 is an addition next to do great features you already get with that motherboard.

The UD5 has all the bells and whistles.

thanks for your quick response ,

what did you mean by

It's extremely well built

?

 

[RCFProd]

Highest quality components used to make the motherboard. No skimping on any aspect.

 

[Wael Mahmoud]

You can go on Gigabytes website and select the different models to compare them. Generally, the differences are in looks, number VRM's, sound solutions, network controllers, etc. I think the color difference is purely a marketing and aesthetics thing.

Thanks for your reply , it became like a chat

Anyway ,should I be concerned right now about the long life span of these black solid caps only exist on the UD5 motherboard ? does these solid caps deserve the extra cash -50 dollars-? what would you do if you were me ?


notice : I run my pc for very long time , sometimes for 2 days straight for downloading big games .

 

[Wael Mahmoud]

Highest quality components used to make the motherboard. No skimping on any aspect.

ok ,thanks a lot for your help

 

[RCFProd]

Any of them is good for that. You can live without those extra high quality caps.

Choose between the Z170X-Gaming 3 and Z170X-UD5.

 

[BadActor]

Don't obsess over all the different choices. There is no "best" with any PC component. Just try to get all the features you want within your price range. No matter what you pick, it will come with compromises and you have to decide what's most important to you.

 

[Wael Mahmoud]

Any of them is good for that. You can live without those extra high quality caps.

Choose between the Z170X-Gaming 3 and Z170X-UD5.

Thanks for your concern , I will go for gaming 3 then , and save the extra money for a gaming mouse .

 

[RCFProd]

That's a good plan. Good luck.

 

[Wael Mahmoud]

Don't obsess over all the different choices. There is no "best" with any PC component. Just try to get all the features you want within your price range. No matter what you pick, it will come with compromises and you have to decide what's most important to you.

Actually I am as you described : obsessed over the different choices , and that is why I spent the last two months thinking over and over the new build.....and each time I change something.

So I will take your advice and I won't sleep tonight before I decide and settle on the final build .

I appreciate your help and thanks a lot .

 

[Wael Mahmoud]

That's a good plan. Good luck.

Thanks