so many motherboard options!!

[srbraith]

Can anyone please suggest a great motherboard for me?

I will be using it mainly for gaming but will be running other office type applications. I will be using the Phantek Enthoo Primo case and will be running dual 1080's in SLI and probably watercooling both cpu and gpu's. I do want a board that will enable me to overclock components easily.

What's a reliable brand?

Leaning toward a X99 board but was told Z170 are better for gaming. I will be running multiple applications at one time.

can spend anywhere from 200-350 dollars. The 500 dollar godlike board is too much..lol

Thanks for you answers in advance

 

[ryguybuddy]

Well, it all depends on your CPU.

What CPU do you have?

Personally I would recommend a Intel Core i7-6850K (good for SLI) with a Asus X99-A II motherboard.

 

[Hlsgsz]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($328.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($144.00 @ B&H)
Total: $472.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-11 10:27 EST-0500


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($368.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A/USB 3.1 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($229.99 @ B&H)
Total: $598.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-11 10:27 EST-0500

 

[geofelt]

For gaming, the higher clock speeds available on the I7-6700K will be better.
It does not need exotic cooling.
A good air cooler like a noctua NHuU14s is as good as it gets.
Most any Z170 motherboard that supports sli will do the job. $150 should buy you one.

If you are gaming at 1080P or 1440P, then a GTX1080 should be all you need. Perhaps more for 4k gaming.
If budget is not a big issue, then look at a single titan Xp
You will game better with a single great card.
Some games do not support dual gpu and dual gpu may increase stuttering and screen tearing.

 

[srbraith]

Well, it all depends on your CPU.

What CPU do you have?

Personally I would recommend a Intel Core i7-6850K (good for SLI) with a Asus X99-A II motherboard.

sorry, i forgot to add that..lol .I will be getting either the 6800K or 6850k

 

[srbraith]

For gaming, the higher clock speeds available on the I7-6700K will be better.
It does not need exotic cooling.
A good air cooler like a noctua NHuU14s is as good as it gets.
Most any Z170 motherboard that supports sli will do the job. $150 should buy you one.

If you are gaming at 1080P or 1440P, then a GTX1080 should be all you need. Perhaps more for 4k gaming.
If budget is not a big issue, then look at a single titan Xp
You will game better with a single great card.
Some games do not support dual gpu and dual gpu may increase stuttering and screen tearing.

will probably get the asus ROQ ultrawide 34 inch 1440p g-sync 100 hz monitor as my main and seperate smaller 24 inch monitor. It is at my office where I will be doing alot of different things at once...so Z170 or X99 for that?

And just to be sure when you say some games dont support SLI you mean that they dont really take advantage of the SLI but will still run the game..?

 

[ryguybuddy]

For gaming, the higher clock speeds available on the I7-6700K will be better.
It does not need exotic cooling.
A good air cooler like a noctua NHuU14s is as good as it gets.
Most any Z170 motherboard that supports sli will do the job. $150 should buy you one.

If you are gaming at 1080P or 1440P, then a GTX1080 should be all you need. Perhaps more for 4k gaming.
If budget is not a big issue, then look at a single titan Xp
You will game better with a single great card.
Some games do not support dual gpu and dual gpu may increase stuttering and screen tearing.

will probably get the asus ROQ ultrawide 34 inch 1440p g-sync 100 hz monitor as my main and seperate smaller 24 inch monitor. It is at my office where I will be doing alot of different things at once...so Z170 or X99 for that?

I say a i7-6850K with a Asus X99-A II motherboard would be a perfect match.

 

[geofelt]

Z170 is not an option if you have decided on I7-6800K or I7-6850K They require X99 motherboard.

I would suggest that I7-6700K with Z170 is still the better gamer, and is perfectly capable of heavy multitasking.

The key to multitasking is to have sufficient ram to accommodate all of the apps you run concurrently.
To that end, I might buy a 32ggb ram kit.

A single GTX1080 should be more than enough for gaming at 1440P.
The presence of a second monitor attached has no impact on gaming.
I do that for email and performance monitors.

The other thing to do is to build around a sufficiently large ssd. It makes all the difference in the world for performance of daily tasks.
If you need to store large sequential files such as videos or backups, that is where you should use a large hard drive.