Please help me choose

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firebug11

firebug11

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Jul 2, 2016
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For along time now i have been looking at motherboards, everything else in the build was easy compared to it. Its gotten to the point where i change it 3 times a day and none of them are even close to similar.
What it needs:
-Do not care about brand
-Atx
-Lga1151 Z170
-Support for DDR4 2400
-Do not care much for looks (No window)
-A m.2 slot
-A usb 3.0 header (My case only has 2 usb 3.0 ports)
-Lots of usb 3.0 and/or 2.0/3.1 on the back
-The audio on the board has to be very good
-3 Sats3
-Sli or Crossfire is NOT a must
-Really good oc capability
-A nice Bios layout

When i started looking i was budgeting around £100 for the motherboard now that has increased to £165 as i just want this to be over now.
 
Solution
G
I don't think the regular z170-P has a headphone amp.

The Z170-A and Pro, and Pro Gaming does. The Maximus VIII does as well. The Z170 Pro as recommended has the better realtek sound with headphone amp.

The Z170A, Pro, and pro gaming are in the $125-140 range. The Maximus VIII is over $200.

The ROG board does have a better DAC, opamps, and headphone amp if you have the headphones to take advantage of it. The Maximum VIII definitely has the better audio and is the cheapest of the ROG series which can go over $400. At around $210 is a good value.

So you have value with headphone amps, and the cheapest with the good headphone amp in the Maximus VIII Hero.

MSI and Gigabyte also have some nice boards with good audio, but I...
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A Z170 pro doesn't have the high end audio.

The Z70 Pro Gaming does have the supremem FX audio however. it's probably the most barebones Asus to have the better audio.

I'd recommend getting a soundcard or a USB DAC then you have the option for the rest of your life to just get any plain old motherboard since you don't overclock or use SLI which are both wise decisions. No expensive cooling or buggy video card setups required. The savings in motherboard costs over 10 years would more than pay for a USB DAC.
 
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The ALC1150 is a very capable audio system, and teh PRO has avery good implementation of it.
 
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http://www.newegg.com/global/uk/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132565&cm_re=asus_hero-_-13-132-565-_-Product

the hero is better , has better sound, then z170pro, the z170a is good too, but again, if you are gaming and overclckig the hero will be better and have more options to do so.vs the z170a i considered once when i planned on using an alternative bios to unlock the skylakes, but the ROG version of ASUS is really unbeatable. the other two boards mentiones are made for low power media "living room " consumers and not gamers.
 
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gondo he is looking for a board not a dac, and 60 bucks does not jusfiey a suprem FX vs crysral on the -a. and he is looking for a good all in on for a reason , cause nowdays there is no reason for a dac unless you need and amp or you just rally have a crappy sound out of there, and dac s are also extra cost he doestn want either.
 
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Thank you for all your responses i really appreciate them. If Rog is the way to go why would i go with the Hero over the ranger, from what i see the hero is £20 more and only adds 2 sata ports from 6 to 8 (which is more then i need) and supports higher ddr4 but im using low 2400 anyway. Is there anything im missing? if not i think ill go with the ranger?
 
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I don't think the regular z170-P has a headphone amp.

The Z170-A and Pro, and Pro Gaming does. The Maximus VIII does as well. The Z170 Pro as recommended has the better realtek sound with headphone amp.

The Z170A, Pro, and pro gaming are in the $125-140 range. The Maximus VIII is over $200.

The ROG board does have a better DAC, opamps, and headphone amp if you have the headphones to take advantage of it. The Maximum VIII definitely has the better audio and is the cheapest of the ROG series which can go over $400. At around $210 is a good value.

So you have value with headphone amps, and the cheapest with the good headphone amp in the Maximus VIII Hero.

MSI and Gigabyte also have some nice boards with good audio, but I always just go for Asus. It hasn't let me down yet in 26 years. Gigabyte and MSI, regardless of their good reputation, have both let me down.

 
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Solution
in addtion the " high ram clocks " or only oc high ram clocks, so it is not a guarantee to support those clocks, and the more you OC your cpu the less you will want to OC your ram, out of stablity issues, eg and i dont know why but you will be running 2666 to 3000 at most with your CPU oced to the max, so the 3400 on the ram is just a "theoretical point" unless you invest in one of the high peformance 600$ quad channel platinum corsairs. and even then you are rocking the boat of stabilty. the frequency is in genaral not that important, more important is how much you have. i have 16gig @ 2400 and and would not tell a diffrence between 2400 or 3000 but you can tell the diferenc in timings and quad vs duel channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWgzA2C61z4
 
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Dude get the Z170A you going to spend way to much on the other for what a might be 0.1 or 0.2 extra overclock or could be 0 difference LOL.
 
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