Looking to get a new motherboad & CPU Cooler any suggestions?

[TheAspiringNerd]

So I want a new motherboard, preferablky something a lot more recent and that has an optical output on it. Also I need a new CPU cooler but I have no Idea what to get.

 

Here is my current PC parts.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£274.99 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£26.32 @ Novatech) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£131.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£84.95 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£274.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£39.95 @ Aria PC) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card  (£539.99 @ Novatech) 
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£62.21 @ CCL Computers) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply 
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series AF120 Red 52.2 CFM  120mm Fan  (£10.47 @ Amazon UK) 
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series AF140 Red 66.4 CFM  140mm Fan  (£13.80 @ Eclipse Computers) 
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series AF140 Red 66.4 CFM  140mm Fan  (£13.80 @ Eclipse Computers) 
Monitor: Acer - XB271HU bmiprz 27.0" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor  (£609.98 @ PC World Business) 
Total: £2218.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-17 10:52 BST+0100

[Changis]

4 minutes ago, TheAspiringNerd said:

So I want a new motherboard, preferablky something a lot more recent and that has an optical output on it. Also I need a new CPU cooler but I have no Idea what to get.

 

Here is my current PC parts.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£274.99 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£26.32 @ Novatech) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£131.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£135.51 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£84.95 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£274.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£39.95 @ Aria PC) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card  (£539.99 @ Novatech) 
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£62.21 @ CCL Computers) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply 
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series AF120 Red 52.2 CFM  120mm Fan  (£10.47 @ Amazon UK) 
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series AF140 Red 66.4 CFM  140mm Fan  (£13.80 @ Eclipse Computers) 
Case Fan: Corsair - Air Series AF140 Red 66.4 CFM  140mm Fan  (£13.80 @ Eclipse Computers) 
Monitor: Acer - XB271HU bmiprz 27.0" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor  (£609.98 @ PC World Business) 
Total: £2218.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-17 10:52 BST+0100

are you looking to overclock much? air/water cooler? any reason you want a new motherboard other than optical out? (which you can find fairly cheap usb dongles for.. )

[TheAspiringNerd]

Just now, Changis said:

are you looking to overclock much? air/water cooler? any reason you want a new motherboard other than optical out? (which you can find fairly cheap usb dongles for.. )

Well mainly because I originally got it becasue I was intending on doing SLI however I don't see that in my future so I had just gotten the decently priced board for what I originally wanted to do. Now I have some more money saved I wanted to upgrade stuff in my PC, mainly the fans but I wanted to change the board too to something that is newer. In terms of cooling I dont trust myself much with Water cooling. The hyper 212 is good but I don't feel like its doing a good enough job plus it is pretty loud.

[Changis]

1 minute ago, TheAspiringNerd said:

Well mainly because I originally got it becasue I was intending on doing SLI however I don't see that in my future so I had just gotten the decently priced board for what I originally wanted to do. Now I have some more money saved I wanted to upgrade stuff in my PC, mainly the fans but I wanted to change the board too to something that is newer. In terms of cooling I dont trust myself much with Water cooling. The hyper 212 is good but I don't feel like its doing a good enough job plus it is pretty loud.

there is no benefit to upgrading to a newer motherboard unless there are features you need that you don't have on your current one.. if it works for you, save that money for a later, bigger upgrade instead.. it won't affect performance.

one of the best and most popular aircoolers is the Noctua NH-D15.. it's a HUGE heatsink that's a kilo, however, i don't think the 340 will fit it.. the cooler you have now is adequate for normal use..
the AIO watertcooling sets from Corsair or NZXT are also good choices.. it does at a liquid risk element to the build, but this is closed loops which doesn't need refilling or any maintenance (other than normal cleaning as with any other radiator/heatsink) and leaks are pretty rare.. you also get some refund if it should leak and break any components (though this won't be full price, they probably have a calculator based on the age of the component) 
and Corsair and NZXT both give up to 6 year warranty on their units, which would mean they would have to build it fairly high quality to avoid masses of warranty returns.

i went from a NH-D15 (having used it and the D14 (almost identical) for over 6 years now) to a NZXT Kraken X62 because in my opinion, a nice block with some fancy rgb looks much better than a huge ass heatsink

tl;dr:
check your case specifications for max cooler size, go through heatsink reviews find the best one for your system, if you have problem choosing which one, take this handy quiz
consider closed loop AIO water coolers, use same approach

[TheAspiringNerd]

1 minute ago, Changis said:

there is no benefit to upgrading to a newer motherboard unless there are features you need that you don't have on your current one.. if it works for you, save that money for a later, bigger upgrade instead.. it won't affect performance.

one of the best and most popular aircoolers is the Noctua NH-D15.. it's a HUGE heatsink that's a kilo, however, i don't think the 340 will fit it.. the cooler you have now is adequate for normal use..
the AIO watertcooling sets from Corsair or NZXT are also good choices.. it does at a liquid risk element to the build, but this is closed loops which doesn't need refilling or any maintenance (other than normal cleaning as with any other radiator/heatsink) and leaks are pretty rare.. you also get some refund if it should leak and break any components (though this won't be full price, they probably have a calculator based on the age of the component) 
and Corsair and NZXT both give up to 6 year warranty on their units, which would mean they would have to build it fairly high quality to avoid masses of warranty returns.

i went from a NH-D15 (having used it and the D14 (almost identical) for over 6 years now) to a NZXT Kraken X62 because in my opinion, a nice block with some fancy rgb looks much better than a huge ass heatsink

tl;dr:
check your case specifications for max cooler size, go through heatsink reviews find the best one for your system, if you have problem choosing which one, take this handy quiz
consider closed loop AIO water coolers, use same approach

How do these AIO sets work? can you get non-water ones? also how much liquid is in them?

 

 

[Changis]

1 minute ago, TheAspiringNerd said:

How do these AIO sets work? can you get non-water ones? also how much liquid is in them?

 

 

i have added a video that explains the major parts of all.

technically most aio are non-water, they use a special solution mostly, liquid cooling is the correct term, though from the very start they used water, so the name stuck.

how much liquid depends on the size of the radiator, tubesize etc. but aio/closedloop systems don't have much water in them.. in terms of leaking, i've never seen or heard of aio coolers loosing a connection to a hose or anything, which would be catastrophic (no resistance to stop the waterflow directly to components, this can and has happened if you're really unlucky with custom loop fittings) but the aio's i have seen leaked is typically a small srop now and again to a small dribble, and it has typically been cheaper corsair units that have corrugated tubes. i chose the Kraken over corsair mainly for the fairly massive and sleeved tubes for this reason, though i don't really think the high end corsair ones are bad.. it's just a personal preference.
 

read up on the higher end watercooling units.. search to see if they have leaked and if it's a consistent issue. if it's just single issues without any corrolation, it can be user error.. i've seen leaked units where the customer bent the pipes to make it fit

 

technically, you could probably run your computer upside down (motherboard facing the table) that way any leaks will just be on the door and not components

 

 

[TheAspiringNerd]

4 minutes ago, Changis said:

i have added a video that explains the major parts of all.

technically most aio are non-water, they use a special solution mostly, liquid cooling is the correct term, though from the very start they used water, so the name stuck.

how much liquid depends on the size of the radiator, tubesize etc. but aio/closedloop systems don't have much water in them.. in terms of leaking, i've never seen or heard of aio coolers loosing a connection to a hose or anything, which would be catastrophic (no resistance to stop the waterflow directly to components, this can and has happened if you're really unlucky with custom loop fittings) but the aio's i have seen leaked is typically a small srop now and again to a small dribble, and it has typically been cheaper corsair units that have corrugated tubes. i chose the Kraken over corsair mainly for the fairly massive and sleeved tubes for this reason, though i don't really think the high end corsair ones are bad.. it's just a personal preference.
 

read up on the higher end watercooling units.. search to see if they have leaked and if it's a consistent issue. if it's just single issues without any corrolation, it can be user error.. i've seen leaked units where the customer bent the pipes to make it fit

 

technically, you could probably run your computer upside down (motherboard facing the table) that way any leaks will just be on the door and not components

 

 

Im thinking about getting the NZXT ones, are they reliable?

[Changis]

2 minutes ago, Strike105X said:

Personally i prefer Air Coolers, less risky, less maintenance, no worrying about it failing and your pretty much set with one for life, basically till you get bored of it, and i don't dislike the look of them either i admit. While the NH-D15 wont fit, the NH-D15S will, and its pretty much just as good.

 

PS: i have to agree unless there's a specific feature you need from your mobo i don't think you should replace it.

aio units have the same maintenance as air coolers.. keep the fins free from dust

there are also cheap upgrade options for many features like sound out etc..

btw @TheAspiringNerd: are you going to use optical for home theatre surround sound? if so, i just want to point out that surround will only work with videos etc.. not games.. if you want games in surround, you need an amp with analog channel in and lots of jack to phono cables  (i have 4 of them, front, back, side cen/sub)

[Changis]

Just now, TheAspiringNerd said:

Im thinking about getting the NZXT ones, are they reliable?

i can't give you any guarantees, i'm just a guy on the net.. however my X62 working like a charm.. it's one of the most popular units.. (based on the X61 which was also one of the most popular units) it has 6 years of warranty.. read up on reviews and complaints and you'll get an idea of the reliability.

[TheAspiringNerd]

2 minutes ago, Changis said:

aio units have the same maintenance as air coolers.. keep the fins free from dust

there are also cheap upgrade options for many features like sound out etc..

btw @TheAspiringNerd: are you going to use optical for home theatre surround sound? if so, i just want to point out that surround will only work with videos etc.. not games.. if you want games in surround, you need an amp with analog channel in and lots of jack to phono cables  (i have 4 of them, front, back, side cen/sub)

Oh ok, I'm leaning more towards the NH-D15S now, while I would have prefered the double fan version but that would mean a whole new case just to get it to fit.

 

I wanted to use the optical on my astros since I no longer have a console they are just gathering dust.

[Changis]

1 minute ago, TheAspiringNerd said:

Oh ok, I'm leaning more towards the NH-D15S now, while I would have prefered the double fan version but that would mean a whole new case just to get it to fit.

 

I wanted to use the optical on my astros since I no longer have a console they are just gathering dust.

check your fonts...  edit and set to automatic.. it's unreadable for night theme users

[Changis]

[Changis]

3 minutes ago, TheAspiringNerd said:

Oh ok, I'm leaning more towards the NH-D15S now, while I would have prefered the double fan version but that would mean a whole new case just to get it to fit.

 

I wanted to use the optical on my astros since I no longer have a console they are just gathering dust.

get a usb audio card/amp instead