Need Help! I can not seem to choose which motherboard to go with!

[gsheph252]

Please, help me! I have been going back and forth for weeks now trying to decide which motherboard to choose. They all seem the same outside of the more expensive it is the more ports you get and the bigger and more colorful the heat sinks are. I am trying to decide on the ASUS z170 Deluxe, Z170 Pro, or the Z170-a. I am also considering several motherboards from MSI. All I am looking for is around 6 USB 3.0, 2 USB 3.1, and a couple legacy USB ports for some of my older peripherals. I need about 4 SATA connectors but I would like more like 6 incase I want to add some storage. M.2 support would be nice if it doesn't shut off the sata ports when you plug one in. I wouldn't mind some overclocking features like the heat sink pipes ASUS is putting on a few of their motherboards but thats not a huge concern I will overclock but probably to a safe range where I will see little hardware degradation. As for budget..anything under 400 is acceptable, though i do not want to pay more then I need for the features I am looking for.. please help!

[Caine]

i would get the asus z170 deluxe

 

can't go wrong with that!

[Dinkleberg]

I'd go with the Z170-Pro, it's better than the Z170-A and has more features but is still reasonably priced compared to the Deluxe. The Maximus VIII Ranger is also a good motherboard and so is the Z170-Pro Gaming if you're not going for a black and white color scheme.

[Imakuni]

Here are the hints:

1. First, go here. If you want, you can also filter ATX only mobos, but that's up to you.
2. Next, open up every single one of those links in a new tab.
3. Star Ctrl+W the ones you find ugly. Personally, I dislike the looks of Gigabyte's mobos, and I also hate the red+black scheme. But that's me, your mileage may vary.
4. Oh, and don't go fanboy on Asus. At least not on the steps above. Use that as a final deciding factor, not an initial filter.
5. Next up, out of the ones remaining, chop away the ones that have less than 10 power phases.
6. Pretty much every mobo at this point should have your required USB needs, except maybe the 2.0 part. But you can reapply that extra filter there as well.

Out of the ones remaining, you can pick pretty much any you'd like.

[Marziman]

Please, help me! I have been going back and forth for weeks now trying to decide which motherboard to choose. They all seem the same outside of the more expensive it is the more ports you get and the bigger and more colorful the heat sinks are. I am trying to decide on the ASUS z170 Deluxe, Z170 Pro, or the Z170-a. I am also considering several motherboards from MSI. All I am looking for is around 6 USB 3.0, 2 USB 3.1, and a couple legacy USB ports for some of my older peripherals. I need about 4 SATA connectors but I would like more like 6 incase I want to add some storage. M.2 support would be nice if it doesn't shut off the sata ports when you plug one in. I wouldn't mind some overclocking features like the heat sink pipes ASUS is putting on a few of their motherboards but thats not a huge concern I will overclock but probably to a safe range where I will see little hardware degradation. As for budget..anything under 400 is acceptable, though i do not want to pay more then I need for the features I am looking for.. please help!

Purchase a NON K CPU if you're getting a Z170.  You can OC non K Skylake CPU's  with Z170 boards via the BCLK because in Skylake the BCLK is independent from the PCIE slot because both have stock 100 Mhz clocks.

[gsheph252]

Here are the hints:

1. First, go here. If you want, you can also filter ATX only mobos, but that's up to you.
2. Next, open up every single one of those links in a new tab.
3. Star Ctrl+W the ones you find ugly. Personally, I dislike the looks of Gigabyte's mobos, and I also hate the red+black scheme. But that's me, your mileage may vary.
4. Oh, and don't go fanboy on Asus. At least not on the steps above. Use that as a final deciding factor, not an initial filter.
5. Next up, out of the ones remaining, chop away the ones that have less than 10 power phases.
6. Pretty much every mobo at this point should have your required USB needs, except maybe the 2.0 part. But you can reapply that extra filter there as well.

Out of the ones remaining, you can pick pretty much any you'd like.

Ok I don't know what power phases are or where to look for them.

[Imakuni]

Ok I don't know what power phases are or where to look for them.

To sum it up, it represents how spread out is the power delivery to your CPU. Fewer phases means fewer components providing power, and thus more stress and less stability, to a certain extent. Basically, the more the "better".

 

Using the Asus Z170a as an example, look around the socket area. See those squares lined up on the right? Count how many are there (in this case, 10). Being a little rough, that's the number of power phases. Ofc, it isn't totally as plain as I made it sound, but it's already a good enough filter.

 

Or you could look for a review online that states the number of phases, though you won't find that for every mobo around.

[gsheph252]

As it turns out the ASUS Z170 Deluxe has a 16+2 power phase setup, as well as all the features I am looking for including built in WiFi. Can't go wrong with that.