Asus Z170 A vs Progaming vs ??? - i7 6700k

[LazyGames]

Haya,

I'm just nailing down the final parts of my new PC build, and I just want to make sure I'm not needlessly spending money. I'm looking for a motherboard for an i7 6700k, and I'm not really brand loyal or anything.

 

I noticed that the Asus z170-a is recommended a decent amount, but I also noticed that the asus z170 pro gaming version is cheaper. Also not even sure if there are any other options I should consider. Any help would be great! Thanks much!

 

edit: Useful stuff mentioned below:

 

Aesthetics are not important at all. Colors/LEDs/Gimmicks/whatever I don't care about in the least. Pretty much only care about performance/value. Also unmentioned, but I'm open to going with Xeon over i7, but idk if those still make any sense this generation. I'm too out of the loop on xeon vs. i7 to make an educated decision on that so I just went with i7.

 

Also here's my tentative build.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: *Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($419.99 @ Memory Express) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($33.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($203.75 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($89.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($204.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($89.93 @ Vuugo) 
Video Card: *Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card  ($873.50 @ Vuugo) 
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case  ($88.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($121.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit  ($175.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Total: $2303.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-26 12:14 EDT-0400

[iiNNeX]

4 minutes ago, LazyGames said:

Haya,

I'm just nailing down the final parts of my new PC build, and I just want to make sure I'm not needlessly spending money. I'm looking for a motherboard for an i7 6700k, and I'm not really brand loyal or anything.

 

I noticed that the Asus z170-a is recommended a decent amount, but I also noticed that the asus z170 pro gaming version is cheaper. Also not even sure if there are any other options I should consider. Any help would be great! Thanks much!

1. Do you care about aesthetics?

2. Do you care about having gimmicks such as RGB or "epic onboard audio" and other stuff of that nature?

3. Do you have a preferred colour scheme?

4. What is your budget?

 

Answering those will help me recommend a board

[Donci]

The z170 pro is better and looks better Than the z170 a and only costs a bit more, other than that, i would go with the z170 pro, just because of the esthatics, they both have a similar feature set, the z170 pro may be a little better, but both boards are very good, Asus is  the most quality manufacturer i think, so both of them are a good choice, it depends on which one would go better with your Color scheme

[LazyGames]

38 minutes ago, iiNNeX said:

1. Do you care about aesthetics?

2. Do you care about having gimmicks such as RGB or "epic onboard audio" and other stuff of that nature?

3. Do you have a preferred colour scheme?

4. What is your budget?

 

Answering those will help me recommend a board

1-3 : No. Not at all.

4. I'd say the Z170-A is the top of my budget, so I wouldn't go higher than that as higher than that I'd probably just get the z170-a. Current price for me is right around $200 CAD.

 

Also, something I forgot. I'm totally open to Xeons also if they make sense, so any recommendations in that direction are A-OK. I'll link the whole build I have below and add it to the op.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: *Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($419.99 @ Memory Express) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($33.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($203.75 @ Vuugo) 
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($89.99 @ Amazon Canada) 
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($204.99 @ Newegg Canada) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($89.93 @ Vuugo) 
Video Card: *Asus GeForce GTX 1080 8GB STRIX Video Card  ($873.50 @ Vuugo) 
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case  ($88.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($121.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit  ($175.98 @ DirectCanada) 
Total: $2303.07
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-26 12:14 EDT-0400

[LazyGames]

Sorry for the bump, but was still curious if there was any more input.

[U.Ho]

I was just doing a little feature comparison between Asus Z170s. I thought the A-model performed pretty much the best features/price.

 

I like the looks of the deluxe more, but with around double the price I'm pretty sure I'm not going to end up buying that.

 

Sorry but I got nothing to say about Xeons...

[U.Ho]

I was just doing a little feature comparison between Asus Z170s. I thought the A-model performed pretty much the best features/price.

 

I like the looks of the deluxe more, but with around double the price I'm pretty sure I'm not going to end up buying that.

 

Sorry but I got nothing to say about Xeons...

[LazyGames]

3 minutes ago, U.Ho said:

I was just doing a little feature comparison between Asus Z170s. I thought the A-model performed pretty much the best features/price.

 

I like the looks of the deluxe more, but with around double the price I'm pretty sure I'm not going to end up buying that.

 

Sorry but I got nothing to say about Xeons...

Did you look at the pro-gaming also? Frankly I have absolutely no idea what the difference is between the two. They seem largely the same just looking at the specs.

[U.Ho]

4 minutes ago, LazyGames said:

Did you look at the pro-gaming also? Frankly I have absolutely no idea what the difference is between the two. They seem largely the same just looking at the specs.

Yes, I looked into that one also, even though it's not quite my color scheme.

 

The pro gaming version supports 2-way SLI and 3-way crossfire while A only supports quad-gpu sli with the massive cards.

That's no issue for me since I'm probably going for 1060 anyway for this setup myself. You have a 1080 on your list which is a SLI-capable card so if you're thinking of buying another in the future, the A is not for you.

 

There is an oldschool PCI slot in the A, which pro gaming doesn't have. Not gonna need it, like most people...

 

There's apparently some difference in the on-board sound, but can't really tell what's what in that heap of advertising words.

 

On A there are 2 usb3.0 and 2 usb2.0 ports in the back as well as support for 4 more each, while in pro gaming there's only 1 usb3.0 and 3 usb2.0 in the back and support for only 2 more usb3.0 and 6 more usb2.0 ports.

 

A has 6 SATA ports while pro gaming has only 4.

 

A has 4 chassis fan connectors while pro gaming has only 3.

A also has a water pump header, doesn't say anything about that on pro gaming.

 

Wow. That's quite the list for the Asus Z170-A...

 

[U.Ho]

Actually Asus Z170-A probably supports SLI. How the hell wouldn't it support normal 2-way sli when it supports a quad-gpu sli...

 

I'll just go to sleep now.

[LazyGames]

Awesome answers. Thanks so much!

[U.Ho]

8 hours ago, LazyGames said:

Awesome answers. Thanks so much!

Actually wasn't so awesome.

 

Should have first gone to sleep and then posted....

 

1. Checked again the back I/O USB ports, and I don't know where I got this wrong info I posted. Pro gaming has 4 USB3.0 ports and 2 USB2.0 ports in the back while A has 2 USB3.0 and 2 USB2.0 in the back. Both have 1 USB3.1 type-A and type-C connectors in the back.

 

Also the SLI specs can be a bit confusing. What ASUS tells us on the spec sheet of both cards is that they support 2-way SLI. I'm 100% sure I got a different result last night, but I can't confirm that. Anyway looks like there's SLI support on both boards.

[LazyGames]

Lol! Well thanks for the awesome follow up