need help picking Gigabyte GA Z170X Gaming 3 vs MSI Z170A GAMING M3

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kronpas

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Feb 7, 2016
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My 3570k still serves me quite well, but I wont be able to set aside a decent budget next few years (family and all) so decided to upgrade anyway. I'm going to pair a 6600k with one of these boards:

1,Gigabyte GA Z170X Gaming 3
2,GIGABYTE Z170X-UD3
3,MSI Z170A GAMING M3

The MSI is a bit more expensive $235 vs ~$210 for both Gigabyte boards, but I'm having hard time picking 1 among these 3. I'm going to use this rig for gaming only, mildly OCed (my 3570k current @4.3Ghz) but will spend more effort to push the 6600k to at least 4.5 daily, so ease of OC'ing and build quality is another concern. After going with MSI for the last 2 gens (P55 and Z77), with each had the same DOA memory slot issue (which I didnt bother to send back since I used only 2 slots ayway), my preference goes to the UD3/Gaming 3 but i'm still hesitate hearing gigabyte is quite picky about RAM.

Thank for your suggestion.
 
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azaran
Hard to day, seems OCing on the Asrock can be a bit of a hassle, but at the same time it supposedly has better quality caps than the gigabyte, 12phase vs gigabytes 8phase. Gigabyte generally has great quality control where Asrock has had mixed in the past. They both seem to have the same feature sets, tho the Gigabyte has one more M.2 slot. I think hardware wise, the Asrock will be more towards someone who wants to get more in to OCing, but the Gigabytes software is easier.
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azaran

azaran

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Feb 17, 2010
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MSI seems to be getting a bad rep of late for stuff like that, so it'd be understandable to look away from them.

As for the Gigabytes, the only real differences seem to be the audio (gaming seems to be higher end) and a Killer nic vs intel nic (do you care about pack shaping your network). Otherwise it looks like the differences are cosmetic as the VRM coolers and layout seems to be identical just with different color. Oh and the thing metal lining on the PCIe slots. If you're going to be showcasing your build with a windowed case, the Gaming 3 will look better than the UD3. But in terms of performance both should be about the same.
 
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kronpas

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Feb 7, 2016
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Thanks, it seems the gaming is a better choice.

After a bit more research a new board come up: asrock z170 gaming k6+. A bit more pricey than the Gigabyte gaming, right at my budget limit, with a great feature set and there are flying reviews about it too. Whats do you think about it?
 
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azaran

azaran

Splendid
Feb 17, 2010
3,594
0
26,960
Hard to day, seems OCing on the Asrock can be a bit of a hassle, but at the same time it supposedly has better quality caps than the gigabyte, 12phase vs gigabytes 8phase. Gigabyte generally has great quality control where Asrock has had mixed in the past. They both seem to have the same feature sets, tho the Gigabyte has one more M.2 slot. I think hardware wise, the Asrock will be more towards someone who wants to get more in to OCing, but the Gigabytes software is easier.
 
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