Z170 ATX Motherboard

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Forte777

Forte777

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I'm upgrading the whole rig, and am looking for a motherboard with mostly basic stuff, BUT I need at least 4 fan headers (5 would be ideal). And would like some heatsinks on the motherboard itself.
What I would also like is a white one or at least with white heatsinks. So basically that's it. White(ish) motherboard with 4-5 fan headers. I'm content with not having USB 3.1 and don't plan any SLI or anything special. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Solution
Chugalug_


Are you overclocking your CPU? (Is it a k processor?)
If you are, get the Asus Z170 Pro.
White motherboard with good performance for the price.
EDIT: What is your budget for your rig?
I can put something together for you, make sure to include all criteria and requirements.
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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Are you overclocking your CPU? (Is it a k processor?)
If you are, get the Asus Z170 Pro.
White motherboard with good performance for the price.
EDIT: What is your budget for your rig?
I can put something together for you, make sure to include all criteria and requirements.
 
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Solution
Forte777

Forte777

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The Asus is too expensive.
 
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Forte777

Forte777

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Yes. 6700k. Maybe I will be overclocking in the future.
Not sure, seeing as prices differ in Europe.
I'm going for the 6700k, GTX 1070 (still haven't picked out which one), a Z170 motherboard, 16gb ram. I'm air cooling.
 
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Forte777

Forte777

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I'm just worried about the audio quality on that one. I listen to a lot of music, and am picky being a musician.
Not an audiophile, just like nice sound. Not enough to buy a dedicated sound card.
 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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On board audio is great nowadays, zero point buying a sound card unless you have over $300 headphones.
What budget do you have for this i7 build? Just a rough estimate in what you're willing to spend in Euros and your country is fine.
I can change around parts to get in different graphics cards, depends.
 
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Forte777

Forte777

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Well it's actually gonna come out cheaper, because I know the person who works there and I'm also buying it through a business, so no taxes either. I'm looking at an estimate of 1100$. But as I mentioned getting these components in my country is a lot more expensive.

For instance the 6700k costs around 400 euro.
The Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 1070 is 540 euro.
The Asus Z170-A is 170 euro.
G. Skill Ripjaws V DDR4 16gb is 70 euro.
NZXT H440 is 135 euro

But I like I said I won't be paying taxes and will get a small discount which will leave me at around 980 euro.
 
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Forte777

Forte777

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Yeah I've got some 60$ dollar Sony headphones for music. A HyperX Cloud for gaming. And Logitech Z533.
So it comes with the software? Cause I really dig that.
 
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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On board audio is great nowadays, zero point buying a sound card unless you have over $300 headphones
Click to expand...

That will of course depend upon what audio solution the manufacturers choose to incorporate, no ? All on board audio is not equal, no more than $20 sound cards and $90 sound cards are equal.

ALC 887 = Bargain Basement
ALC 892 = Low Budget
ALC 1150 = Typical Gaming MoBo

Just about ll Asus boards under $150 use a version of the substandard ALC 887 or 892.... MSI and Gigabyte use ALC 1150 down to about $100 price point. The Z170-A uses a "branded" version of ALC 892 which leaves a bit to be desired for gamers and music afficionados

 
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Isokolon

Isokolon

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the ALC 1150 is just a newer chip since the 892 was the standard chip when Ivy Bridge was released
some people say the 892 has truer audioquality, some say the 1150 is better, most people aren't able to tell the difference
furthermore if you use a "gaming headset" the headset mostly has a USB soundcard on it's own anyway

 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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Yep. Afraid if you want to go for the ALC 1150 you'll have to go for something like the Z170X Gaming 3.
There aren't really any white motherboards with ALC 1150 that i'm aware of in the mid range, but the MSI Krait 3x has quite a good sound card for the price as far as onboards go, but that can be a bit pricy.
 
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JackNaylorPE

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ALC 1150 is the defacto standard ..... everybody else pretty much has ALC 1150 down close to the $100 price point. Part of the "RoG Tax" that Asus has employed since Z87....you either pay a lot more for an equivalent performance / quality board or you get less component quality for a equivalently priced board.

There's 5 white (or silver) boards including the Krait w/ ALC 1150 in post 4

Tho I forgot my favorite sub $200 board (Gaming 7) and the other Gigabyte models

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/bzNypg/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz170xgaming7
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/2GcMnQ/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz170xgaming5
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/rskwrH/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz170xgaming3
 
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Forte777

Forte777

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Not sure what I want. Except I don't want some tinny sound. I use decent headphones, so. I think I'll be fine.
 
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Isokolon

Isokolon

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the better your headphones, the more important the soundchip
low quality headphones change the sound on their own so much, it doesn't really matter if it's plugged in to a bad soundchip or a dedicated 150$ soundcard
the better your headphones, the truer the sound and the more you'll notice the limitations of your soundchip
if music is just music to you and you can't hear a difference whether your headphones are plugged into your computer or your phone (iPhones&Sonys have slightly better audioquality than others I noticed) then it won't matter if you go for ALC 1150 or ALC 892
 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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Thanks for the contribution. :p
I use reasonably high end headphones ($350 AUD) and couldn't really tell a huge difference between the Sound Blaster Z and ALC1150.....
If OP is using midrange headphones, there will be quite literally no difference between a sound card and on board.
Apparently we all know nothing and are peasants, but hey, good to see someone expressing a similar opinion! :)
 
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Isokolon

Isokolon

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Well it depends on source quality as well.
It makes a difference if you're listening to a FLAC or a MP3-192 Amazon download.

But really? No difference between a Sound Blaster Z & an ALC 1150?
I could hear the difference between the new Chip om my friends Z170 board and my old VIA HD audio chip...
 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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Yeah, I used FLAC typically.
I usually use the Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 for listening to music, very confortable and rich sound.
Note that I did say I could hear a difference, but it wasn't as huge as I had anticipated, and I personally don't think it is worth the large investment of a high end sound card.
Especially in OPs case given his headphones, it is in no way a good use of money.
 
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JackNaylorPE

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As for the audio quality, you must be referring to 898 not 892. The 1150 (S/N =- 115 db) is slightly better in some respects than 898 (110 db) but 898 was way better than 892 ... but 898 isn't on the table.

Look on newegg and see what we get on budget, mid range and high end boards.

Boards < $100 .... ALC 887 or 892
Most Boards from $100 - $150 ... ALC 1150
Most Asus Boards $100 - $150 ... ALC 887 / 892
Most $150-$600 boards ... ALC 1150 (aka SupremeFX)

The fact that 892 is only provided on budget boards should make it is pretty clear that the use of anything other than 1150 is purely a cost cutting measure ... or a means to gain higher margins by using a less expensive part.

ALC892 - DACs with 95dB SNR (A-weighting), ADCs with 90dB SNR (A-weighting)

ALC 1150 - Front-DAC with 115/110dB SNR (A-weighting, Differential/Single-End Output), ADC09h with 104dB SNR (A-weighting) DACs (except Front-DAC) with 96dB SNR (A-weigh ting), ADC08h with 93dB SNR (A-weighting)
 
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Isokolon

Isokolon

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You're right I might got that mixed up.
I gotta say, looking at soundchips the Z170 boards are pretty limited. Only 4 boards so far that don't use this Realtek...chips.
Other chipsets have offered more diversity in this department, which makes the Gaming 7 such an interesting board in my eyes.

Asus politics regarding their soundchips is a pity as they usually build great boards apart from the ROG series.
And this SupremeFX marketing humbug does kinda leave a bitter taste in the mouth
 
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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Asus uses their own branded version of Realtek and I gotta thing the main reason is to make it less noticeable that they are cheaping out here.

The Creative Sound 3D is not exactly anything new.... and it appeared to be nothing really different than the old X-Fi

http://www.pcgamer.com/creative-launches-new-motherboard-sound-chip-but-wheres-x-fi/

Hardware secretes used to keep a nice table of data for sound cards but they stopped about 4 years ago.

 
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Forte777

Forte777

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Well that settles the sound issue. Now if only I could get actual factual information on how much fan headers the MSI Krait has, that would be great. Because there is some contradictory information out there. Anyone with this board that can tell me exactly?
 
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