Why should I get a Z270 and not a B250 mobo?

[Cristuu]

Hello there guys!

 

I'm buying a brand new PC and currently choosing the hardware. I already chose the case (Phanteks P400S TG), the CPU (7700K) and GPU (GTX 1070), but still having my doubts on the mobo. Here's the thing: even it being a 'k', I don't want to oc the processor, as I don't really want to spend so much on cooling. That's because I read here and there that even on stock the 7700k is the best option and also saw two benchmarks of 7700k vs. 7700k (oc 5.1 ghz) and the difference was not so big, so I think it might be better for me to just run it on stock. Could you give me some inputs on that conclusion of mine?

 

So, if I don't want to oc, what are the cons of going for a B250 instead of a Z270? I'm also not plugging many things on the mobo, just the basics really, 1 ssd, 1 hd, 1 gpu, some coolers, maybe someday a sound card.

 

Thank you in advance!

[Castdeath97]

Other than losing ability RAM to clock ram above 2400 MHz not much. But, why won't you overclock? Even if the difference is small, might as well take it.

[Megah3rtz]

Fan headers? I dunno. 

[Lurick]

The con is that today you might not want to spring for the cooling capacity to overclock the processor but going with the Z270 allows that option in the future, when you can spring for the extra cooling.

[Cristuu]

7 minutes ago, Castdeath97 said:

Other than losing ability RAM to clock ram above 2400 MHz not much. But, why won't you overclock? Even if the difference is small, might as well take it.

 

Aren't both Z270 and B250 capped to 2400? The very mobo can be oc'd over 2400?

 

About not overclocking CPU, I saw two benchmarks (stock vs. oc 5.1 ghz) in which performance difference were not so big. Also I think I'd have to spend more on the cooling system. Is it worth it? I saw some overclock tests too that the 7700k began to overheat at 5.0 ghz, which is not so much more than stock, so I thought leaving it at stock could be a good idea..

[Castdeath97]

2 minutes ago, Cristuu said:

Aren't both Z270 and B250 capped to 2400? The very mobo can be oc'd over 2400?

No, pretty sure many Z270 boards can go over that

 

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About not overclocking CPU, I saw two benchmarks (stock vs. oc 5.1 ghz) in which performance difference were not so big. Also I think I'd have to spend more on the cooling system. Is it worth it? I saw some overclock tests too that the 7700k began to overheat at 5.0 ghz, which is not so much more than stock, so I thought leaving it at stock could be a good idea..

You can buy the cooling later and leave the CPU at stock if you don't want to spend it now. Keep in mind that the i7 7700K has a 4.2 Base, its 4.5 boost may not apply to all cores.

 

Quote

 

[BleakMaker]

24 minutes ago, Cristuu said:

Hello there guys!

 

I'm buying a brand new PC and currently choosing the hardware. I already chose the case (Phanteks P400S TG), the CPU (7700K) and GPU (GTX 1070), but still having my doubts on the mobo. Here's the thing: even it being a 'k', I don't want to oc the processor, as I don't really want to spend so much on cooling. That's because I read here and there that even on stock the 7700k is the best option and also saw two benchmarks of 7700k vs. 7700k (oc 5.1 ghz) and the difference was not so big, so I think it might be better for me to just run it on stock. Could you give me some inputs on that conclusion of mine?

 

So, if I don't want to oc, what are the cons of going for a B250 instead of a Z270? I'm also not plugging many things on the mobo, just the basics really, 1 ssd, 1 hd, 1 gpu, some coolers, maybe someday a sound card.

 

Thank you in advance!

The main difference is you can not overclock on a b270 mobo so if you go for that one there is no point in buying a K unlocked cpu.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

The ability to SLI. 

 

Which you might want for a cheap 1070 down the road. 

[Cristuu]

Ok, you guys have convinced me, I'll get a Z270 and overclock! Just maybe not much, maybe 4.7 on CPU.

 

About the ram, I really need to learn more about it, surpassing the 2400 mobo cap is a new thing in my mind, I'll make some reads here and there.

 

5 minutes ago, Pohernori said:

The ability to SLI. 

 

Which you might want for a cheap 1070 down the road. 

 

Hmmm, good point. I was thinking of selling the 1070 when the new nvidia card comes out and buying the new 80 version, but maybe 1070 sli will be better than a single new 80 version. In that case having a Z270 would be truly handy. Thanks!

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

1 minute ago, Cristuu said:

About the ram, I really need to learn more about it, surpassing the 2400 mobo cap is a new thing in my mind, I'll make some reads here and there.

 

High speed ram usually needs xmp to work. So yea, please do read up on that. Though ram speed isn't going to make or break your experience. But it helps in minimum frames or in cpu bottleneck scenarios.

[typographie]

I'd recommend either getting a 7700K with a Z270 motherboard (or Z170 under certain circumstances) with the intent to overclock, or get an i7-7700 and B250 with the intent not to. If you don't want to overclock, there's no reason to spend $50 more for a 7700K.

 

The biggest benefits to a Z-series chipset are the ability to overclock unlocked processors, use XMP memory profiles, and to use SLI/Crossfire. Z270 also has double the chipset PCIe lanes compared to B250 (24 vs. 12). There are a bit more SATA and USB connections by default on Z270, though how many ports you end up with probably depends on the motherboard to some degree.

[Bara Pawaka]

On 1/18/2017 at 10:55 PM, typographie said:

I'd recommend either getting a 7700K with a Z270 motherboard (or Z170 under certain circumstances) with the intent to overclock, or get an i7-7700 and B250 with the intent not to. If you don't want to overclock, there's no reason to spend $50 more for a 7700K.

 

The biggest benefits to a Z-series chipset are the ability to overclock unlocked processors, use XMP memory profiles, and to use SLI/Crossfire. Z270 also has double the chipset PCIe lanes compared to B250 (24 vs. 12). There are a bit more SATA and USB connections by default on Z270, though how many ports you end up with probably depends on the motherboard to some degree.

I would say it is not "useless" to buy 7700K without OC. 7700K base speed without OC is already at the max of 7700, which is 4.20. "K" does not mean you need to OC to get an advantage. Also, XMP profile is available way back to B250 mobo. So if OP do not want to OC, it is more sensible to get B250 with 7700K.