Z370 recommendation

[homeap5]

I need to buy new motherboard, cpu and ram.

CPU will be i7-8700k, ram is not a problem.

Problem is with mainboard - I don't know which one will be good for me.

 

1. MSI Z370 PC PRO - one of the very few that have PCI slot; I have good stereo sound card and I really don't want to spend extra money for another one. Unfortunatelly, this card is on PCI. Also, this motherboard is probably enough for me, because I'm not OC maniac, but...

2. ASRock Fatal1ty Z370 Gaming K6 - ...I also have my own bad experience that tells me if something is "enough for now", will be not enough after short time - so I'll probably try to OC a little (not extreme - 4.8 stable will be ok I guess), especially when I want to spend extra money for "K" processor.

3. ASRock Z370 TAICHI - because maybe (just maybe) if I think about Fatal1ty, then Taichi will be even better choice, with it's few extra features. Or not, because I've read some not so good opinions about Taichi (and, of course, lot of recommendations too).

 

ASRock (both of them) has also 8 SATA ports - I have 4 HDD and 1 SSD already, plus two internal hotswap bays. Until now I was using extra controller for two additional SATA drives, but it makes also my boot longer. I have no M.2 so far, so I don't care about M.2 for now - but again, I don't want to buy motherboard that I must replace in the near future. Both ASRocks have SLI option, MSI not, but I'm using only one GPU and I don't think I'll buy second GPU later.

 

Perfect will be Z370 board (may be even E-ATX, I have really big pc case) with 8 or more SATA ports and at least one PCI for soundcard, but that is impossible.

 

If MSI Z370 PC PRO will be good for small OC, then it will be my choice, but I need to know is it worth to buy mid-class Z chipset mainboard or maybe ASRock will be better choice (and much more expansive because I must buy additional soundcard - good sound is "must be" for me).

[TheGlenlivet]

The Taichi seems like the nicest board, and it should be for the price.  

It has enough PCI slots to run your GPU, soundcard and a SATA3 card.  You can plug in the additional drives there right?

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124070&cm_re=8_port_sata_III_pci_card-_-16-124-070-_-Product

[danrey84]

Heard good reports about the Taichi so I would go for that if honest 

[Jurrunio]

Only these 3? Any other boards available?

 

MSI Z370-A Pro is immediately out because of lack of features.

 

Asrock K6 will be my choice here. VRMs are plenty overkill (as with all Asrock non-HEDT platform), has dual BIOS (just in case you ruined the main BIOS), post code (no guessing on what part of overclock did you screw up) and WiFi. It even has power button and reset button on top of the motherboard, so you dont have to poke your screwdriver on the power-on pins to turn the system on when you test everything outside the case.

 

Asrock Taichi has even more overkill VRMs (K6 can already handle 8700k under LN2, Taichi just goes even further) and removes the VGA and D-sub ports on the K6 in favour of a DisplayPort and a CMOS reset button (this one doesnt need you to reach into the case, unlike K6's design). Taichi also has a clock gen chip while K6 doesnt, but this is more important for serious overclockers than you. The problem is the price: Taichi cost too much more but doesnt offer enough to justify the price in your use case.

[homeap5]

Thank you for your answers.

 

1. I was talking about this MSI motherboard, not Z370-A, because of PCI slot I want/need. Features are enough for me, my question is - can I reach 4.8 stable with that MB.

2. I have expansion cards with additional SATA ports, as I wrote before, but thanks for the link.

 

Asrock K6 will be my choice probably, but lack of PCI slot (not PCI-E) is what makes me unhappy.