Need a good board for a 7700k

[Matt9327]

About to order a 7700k. Considering these boards to go with it-

Asus Z270 Hero
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132927&cm_re=maximus_ix-_-13-132-927-_-Product

Asus Z270 Code
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132926&cm_re=maximus_ix-_-13-132-926-_-Product

MSI Z270 M7
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130969&cm_re=msi_m7-_-13-130-969-_-Product

I am not opposed to boards higher, or lower priced. These are simply some that caught my eye. I want to know if you have any experience with these or any other Z270 boards that you may recommend. I am also interested in the Strix series however, all of the different models simply give me a headache when trying to find the differences. Any input is appreciated. Thanks for reading!

 

[Geekwad]

Will you be using multiple GPUs?

 

[photonboy]

I don't see any feature that warrants the higher price.

One of them has ARMOR which does protect the board a little bit, but if you're careful it's not a big deal.

One of them has a protective shield for the M.2 SSD but do you care? It's not much more expensive than the cheapest board though.

The same board as above has "KILLER" network but I've heard the software can be problematic. The base DRIVER works but they've continued to have issues with the added software. Conversely the INTEL product seems to be rock solid.

(I've heard mixed reviews on whether KILLER NIC even works better. Supposedly it can reduce latency/ping for multi-player gaming but it's hard to confirm if that's true or not. Try Googling 2016 reviews on KILLER NIC).

 

[photonboy]

Will you be using multiple GPUs?

All three support NVidia and AMD multi-GPU so that's not an issue. Though I do NOT recommend multi-GPU. I would go no higher than a single GTX1080Ti.

 

[Matt9327]

Will you be using multiple GPUs?

All three support NVidia and AMD multi-GPU so that's not an issue. Though I do NOT recommend multi-GPU. I would go no higher than a single GTX1080Ti.

Currently running a 1070 FTW and if I do upgrade it'll probably be a 1080 With a water block, too many issues with crossfire in the past for me to go back to muti-GPU. As to the protective shield, I don't have a M.2 drive so... doesn't matter, as for "KILLER" networking, my 2016 14" Blade has a killer chip and I can't say it's been more than mediocre (with that said, I don't exactly have any internet sources fast enough to really notice the difference, provided there is any.) But between the boards, do any have a higher build quality or issues I should be aware of, I've always heard Asus makes excellent boards.

 

[Geekwad]

Will you be using multiple GPUs?

All three support NVidia and AMD multi-GPU so that's not an issue. Though I do NOT recommend multi-GPU. I would go no higher than a single GTX1080Ti.

Currently running a 1070 FTW and if I do upgrade it'll probably be a 1080 With a water block, too many issues with crossfire in the past for me to go back to muti-GPU. As to the protective shield, I don't have a M.2 drive so... doesn't matter, as for "KILLER" networking, my 2016 14" Blade has a killer chip and I can't say it's been more than mediocre (with that said, I don't exactly have any internet sources fast enough to really notice the difference, provided there is any.) But between the boards, do any have a higher build quality or issues I should be aware of, I've always heard Asus makes excellent boards.

Sticking with a single GPU then, you may as well look at a B250 board. There is almost no appreciable difference with overclocking 1151 i7's in gaming performance:

https://ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=3948&page=3

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9533/intel-i7-6700k-overclocking-4-8-ghz/8

And the hundreds extra spent on Z-boards and beefy cooling is money much better spent on the 1080ti.

/$0.02