ASUS X99 A-II vs ASRock Extreme 3/4

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esprade

Commendable
Oct 27, 2016
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1,630
So one reccomendation for my build to save money was to go for a cheaper mobo, most thought that the ASUS A-II was overkill for something that could be built a lot cheaper. People recommended ASRock, so I've been looking around and the Extreme series seem to be the equivalent of the ASUS. How do these mobos compare? What about compatibility? Should I save a few pounds or should I spent a little bit more? For reference here's my concept build:

NZXT Phantom 530 Full ATX - £100
ASUS X99 A-II - £250
i7 5820K - £360
Cryorig H7 - £35
EVGA GTX1080 FTW - £660
CORSAIR Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 - £82
EVGA 850W Gold - £100
1TB WD Black HDD - £61
Samsung 256GB M.2 SSD - £82

ASUS or ASRock?
 
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greens

greens

Splendid
Jan 27, 2012
3,773
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Why use such an expensive build when you could use a 6700k and z170 and get very similar performance?
You don't appear to be taking advantage of the extra PCI Express lanes nor quad channel memory.

That would save you a TON of cash, like a ton.

You don't need a 2011-v3 unless you were going to do MULTIPLE GTX 1080s, in fact, it is pointless unless you're going to use 2 or 3 GTX 1080s.

 
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rmszaphod

Honorable
Jan 25, 2014
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10,530

Well with what you are running, it really depends on how twitchy you are. OC'd my 5820 on a diff board.
On the x99-1 ii I got my 6850k up and stable at 4590 GHZ with Corsair Dom Plat 32GB3200 16/18/18/36/2T @ 3264gHZ 15/16/15/32/1T timings. Almost like butter.
I gamed hard on the Taichi from ASRock. Skip the extreme. I think pound for pound, the Asus boards are more refined and capable than Asrock, sort of like the difference between a Bently Silver Spur and a Porche 911 Carera. They'll both get you there quickly, but you walk away from the former with fewer rattled teeth and a back that feels strong and rested, rather than weak and potentially broken from the latter. However I do REALLY like the ASRock Taichi, so if your out to save a few qiuid, you won't be dissapointed with the selection.

 
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rmszaphod

Honorable
Jan 25, 2014
30
0
10,530

There's no challenge to building a z190 system. Slap a 6700K in the slat. Set your Asus board for auto ocverclock and you're done. Really, hardly worth the time for the manual effort to do so.
Ah, but the X99 chipset and the i7 extreme line are a challenge, and FUN (if you fancy a good boot to the head now and then). There's a lot there if you know how to dig for it. You dig?

 
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E

esprade

Commendable
Oct 27, 2016
81
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1,630
It's for production and development, 3D rendering, Unreal Engine 4, music production, photo/video editing, etc. I'm wanting to develop for VR technology which is why I've went for such a beefy rig, from what I've learned a Z170 just wouldn't be up to the task.

I'm not making use of the PCI slots nor RAM slots, but I want to expand more RAM to 32GB in the future, and I want something that's going to be a bit future proofing as I won't be updating the CPU for a while and there's always the option of SLI in the future, also M.2. Obviously the alternative would be a really cheap mobo that only meets my initial requirements, ie an ASRock mobo, but I haven't seen any which are much cheaper that the ASUS.
 
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E

esprade

Commendable
Oct 27, 2016
81
0
1,630
Basically the concept build for the machine I have above is bang on budget £2000 including the monitor, I need to save a couple of hundred for the OS, whether that be skimping on components such as the mobo, or holding out till I save up money, or GTX 1080 drops in price after Ti release (but even then I'd be tempted to buy the Ti lol). I mean, if there's an X99 mobo out that accepts M.2, only has 2 PCI slots (one for GPU, one for sound card) and only accepts 32GB of RAM for £100 - £150 then it's something worth looking at in the short term, but right now I don't see it. People have said that the A-II is unnecessary as I won't be utilising all the RAM and and PCI slots, but I will upgrade RAM in the future to 32GB initially and acquire a sound card as well as a capture card later in the future, so there will be use for PCI slots.

I've saved £65 by going for a fan cooler over liquid as I won't be overclocking, the question is do I cut back on the mobo, or just go with it knowing it will last me a while? Building a PC takes a lot of research, I'm getting there but there's still these little kinks that need ironing out, I don't want to buy a mobo and then find out the RAM I bought isn't supported. Keep in mind I haven't yet made any financial commitments to this project.
 
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