Which MOBO to get?

[ph_str1k3r]

I was wondering which motherboard I should get. I was looking at the GIGABYTE Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 (300 Series) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s ATX Motherboard ThE ASRock Z370 Killer SLI/ac LGA 1151 (300 Series) Z370 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel Motherboard Or ThE ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING (Socket LGA1151) USB 3.1 Gen 1 Intel Motherboard with LED Lighting

I am also wondering what the letter after Z370 means on some mobo's like Z370-E or Z370-G Or F also that?

If you have any suggestions, please list them also. (Cpu: intel core i7 8700k coffee lake) (Kind of prefer a normal ATX) Thank you and sorry for so many questions in one.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Are you planning to overclock the CPU?

What kind of cooling configuration are you planning to run? How many case fans? Will you be using a separate fan controller or a case integrated fan hub at all?

How many drives and of what type will you be connecting?

Have you already purchased the CPU?

Other components?

If not, we are getting closer and closer to the release of the 9th Gen Intel processors, which are supposedly launching later this month or early next month. If you plan to overclock it would be a VERY good idea to wait and see what those bring to the table. They are increasing the core counts and more importantly, at least the i7 models are going back to internally soldered thermal interface between the die and heatsink, so 9th gen should have somewhat better overclocking headroom than some of the 4th gen and all of the 5th through 8th gen processors.

Also, there will be a new chipset, Z390, which will bring a few new features not currently available on Z370 motherboards like six 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 integrated ports instead of only a couple as an afterthought, Intel’s CNVi wireless-AC technology, better Optane support and most likely will have a beefier VRM/power delivery architecture in order to support the additional cores and power demands of 9th gen CPUs.

So even if you decide to stay with an 8th gen CPU, it might be worth upgrading to a Z390 motherboard simply for the additional features and beefier power delivery system, especially if you DO plan to do any CPU overclocking.

 

[ph_str1k3r]

Wow lol. Prob gonna stick with core i7 8700k coffee but a little overclocking, 1 3tb hard drive, 1 ssd, corsair h115i pro rgb cpu cooler. But which would you think is best? Mainly for gaming and watching videos. Most Practical, fastest, longest lasting.

 

[Darkbreeze]

ASUS. Hands down. Next choice would be ASRock. It USED to be Gigabyte, but quality and features have dropped off lately on a lot of their mid tier and high end offerings. ASUS and ASRock have far better and more granular BIOS options including better fan controls, more step options when it comes to voltage adjustment increments for CPU and memory configuration. Better VRM and power delivery configurations on most of their boards. Better customer support as well.

The Maximus Hero boards are very, very hard to beat. Especially for the price. The Maximus Hero X is only about twenty bucks more than the Gaming 7 and is a much better board in general, and easily superior for overclocking. If you want to drop down in price a little, I'd look maybe at the ASRock Taichi Z370. Myself, it's time for an upgrade and I had thought about Coffee lake but I'm an avid overclocker and when I learned that they would have soldered TIM on the 9th Gen chips, any thought of an 8th Gen CPU went out the window.

Just that feature is likely to bring a 10-15°C thermal difference on otherwise identical hardware. But if you are unwilling to wait for that hardware to release, then those are the boards I'd be most likely to recommend in the similar price range as the Gaming 7. Honestly, if you prefer to go with a Aorus board, the Gaming 5 boards offer practically everything the Gaming 7 boards offer. There are very minor differences between them, but the price difference is significant.

 

[ph_str1k3r]

Thanks!