Which motherboard goes well with the Intel Core i7-6700K?

[z3r0p0int]

Hello folks, I'm just here to ask which motherboard goes well with the i7-6700K and a 980ti.
I was looking at the Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 3, however can you please tell me if it's alright or give me a similar one for roughly the same price.
Also I was looking at getting some new RAM. Some 2200mhz DDR4s 16GB. Which company is good to buy from?

Thanks again for you time and help.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The gaming 3 is "ok". Nothing wrong with it per se. The gaming 5 is a bit better, with a few more features. For a budget board with good overclocking capabilities I'd recommend the Z170X-Gaming 5 or 6, ASUS Z170-A or AR or A 3.1, or the ASRock Z170 Extreme 4+. The Gigabyte Z170-UD3 isn't bad either.

For RAM, I'd stick to G.Skill first, the Ripjaws or Trident Z sticks, and probably Corsair second in the Vengeance or Dominator series. Kingston modules are high quality usually but tend not to support XMP profiles, using plug n play profiles instead.

 

[WildCard999]

For the memory I would go with Gskill or Corsair. The MB your looking at seems to be good per this review.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/gigabyte-z170x-gaming-3-motherboard-review.216427/

 

[Tradesman1]

I'd look to Asus, the Z170-A or Pro Gaming (or on up to the Hero, my choice, in sig), for DRAM with your CPU I'd look at the GSkill Ripjaws V or TridentZ, I'd look to 2666 or 2800 for best price to performance (or higher with prices as they are, I'm running 3200

 

[z3r0p0int]

Alright i think i'll get the Asus Z170-A and look at GSkill for some RAM. Thanks for the quick replies and help guys. Can i just ask is there a massive difference between the Z170-A and the Z170X-Gaming 5 and which is exactly better? Thanks

EDIT: Also do I need some special kind of cooler ? Like a liquid cooler or something for the new processor, because at the moment im not using anything special.

 

[Darkbreeze]

There is not a massive difference between the A and the Gaming 5. The Gaming 5 is a better "looking" board, but has mostly the same features as the "A", although I believe it has a slightly better ALC 1150 audio codec chipset while the A has the 892. I think the A has more fan headers. Other than that, there might be minimal differences in the number of SATA headers but largely they are similar quality and features.

You will need a cooler. The K sku processors do not come with a cooler. It does not need to be liquid cooled. Something like the Noctua NH-U14S would work fine, or if you don't plan on overclocking very far even the BeQuiet Shadow Rock slim or Cryorig H5 would be fine. I'd recommend the U14S as it's a terrific cooler, but being a slim design has great RAM clearance and doesn't put a lot of stress on the CPU socket. If you plan to do a huge overclock you might want a bigger cooler but I'm using the U14S on my 6700k@4.5Ghz and have plenty of thermal room for a higher overclock if I wanted.

 

[z3r0p0int]

There is not a massive difference between the A and the Gaming 5. The Gaming 5 is a better "looking" board, but has mostly the same features as the "A", although I believe it has a slightly better ALC 1150 audio codec chipset while the A has the 892. I think the A has more fan headers. Other than that, there might be minimal differences in the number of SATA headers but largely they are similar quality and features.

You will need a cooler. The K sku processors do not come with a cooler. It does not need to be liquid cooled. Something like the Noctua NH-U14S would work fine, or if you don't plan on overclocking very far even the BeQuiet Shadow Rock slim or Cryorig H5 would be fine. I'd recommend the U14S as it's a terrific cooler, but being a slim design has great RAM clearance and doesn't put a lot of stress on the CPU socket. If you plan to do a huge overclock you might want a bigger cooler but I'm using the U14S on my 6700k@4.5Ghz and have plenty of thermal room for a higher overclock if I wanted.

Yeah im probably gonna do little to no overclocking as of far, so if i use my old CPU cooler, which is like a stock one, is that alright ? And also can you recommend any under 50quid RAM because thats as much as i have left at the moment. Thanks again.

 

[Darkbreeze]

No, your old stock cooler is not alright. And, if you don't plan to overclock, there is almost no point in going with a K sku CPU or a Z170 motherboard. A 6700 non-K chip and H170 motherboard would be fine if you have no plans to overclock, plus the i7-6700 is less expensive and comes with a cooler, which the 6700k does not. The H170 boards are also less expensive than the Z170 boards.

 

[z3r0p0int]

No, your old stock cooler is not alright. And, if you don't plan to overclock, there is almost no point in going with a K sku CPU or a Z170 motherboard. A 6700 non-K chip and H170 motherboard would be fine if you have no plans to overclock, plus the i7-6700 is less expensive and comes with a cooler, which the 6700k does not. The H170 boards are also less expensive than the Z170 boards.

Yeah true, you have a point. I might just go for the normal 6700, considering I'll most likely not try to overclock the K one since i might screw it up somehow. Let's say i get the 6700, is the H170 board good and if not, which one is better? And for the RAM should i go for GSkill again or something different.
Again thank you.

PS: Is there a big difference between a stock 6700K and a normal 6700? I've seen quite a few reviews and the difference is none to limited, however you probably know better than them so I'd like to hear your answer. I'm really doubting on what to buy because i don't upgrade often.

 

[Tradesman1]

If iffy on OCing (or not) look at the Cryorig H7 or the 212 EVO, bot about $30 and do very well, have taken my 6600K up to 4.7 with them and no problems. The Z170-A and the MSi mobo are similar, I don't build on MSI though due to their poor QC

 

[z3r0p0int]

If iffy on OCing (or not) look at the Cryorig H7 or the 212 EVO, bot about $30 and do very well, have taken my 6600K up to 4.7 with them and no problems. The Z170-A and the MSi mobo are similar, I don't build on MSI though due to their poor QC

What about the 6700? Which motherboard, besides the H170, is good parted with it ?

 

[Tradesman1]

I'd go H170, but could look at the B150 mobos like the Asus B150 Pro or Pro Gaming

 

[Darkbreeze]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: Asus H170 PRO GAMING ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($114.74 @ Amazon)
Total: $114.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-29 22:25 EDT-0400

 

[z3r0p0int]

Alright, i got the 6700 with a Gigabyte GA-H170M-D3H and some good GSkill 3200GHz 2x8 RAM, i think its pretty good all around, what do you guys think? Again thanks a lot for your help and time, all of you.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That actually won't work, not at 3200mhz. The B150, H110 and H170 boards only support DDR4 2133mhz modules. Only Z170, so far as I'm aware of, supports RAM faster than 2133mhz on the LGA 1151 chipset families. You can of course still use that RAM, but it will only be running at 2133mhz, not 3200mhz.

 

[z3r0p0int]

Alright I could change that, what about the motherboard? Is it worth changing from the Gigabyte one to this Asus one considering ill get a bit of money off from changing the RAM, which i can put in for the Asus one.

 

[z3r0p0int]

So in conclusion I'm thinking about this build then:
i7 6700
Asus H170 Pro Gaming Socket 1151
G.Skill Ripjaws V 16GB (2x 8GB) 2400MHz DDR4 RAM (the 2400 version is cheaper than the 2133 one, even tho everything else is exactly the same)

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, that would work well. That's a nice configuration.

 

[z3r0p0int]

Alrighty, i bought them and that's all for now. Thanks again for all your help guys, much appreciated.

 

[Darkbreeze]

No problem zeropoint. Good luck to you.