Which mobo for a I7 6700K

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bboy

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I haven't built a pc in ages and there's a million mobos now.
I have no clue which to choose.

I building a VR PC.
Will use a gtx 1080.
6700k I7 .
Probably need 4 mem slots.

Now which is the go to brand for motherboard?
And is there any obvious spec that some will not have that I should look for?
 
Go for a MSI/Asus/Gigabyte H170/Z170.. The models then differ in price with additional features (like built in wifi, more usb and sata ports) so just choose what suits you.

Ideally get something that supports SLI to future-proof yourself if you decide to get a second 1080 in a few years time. Also the 6700K does not come with a stock cooler, so be sure to plan for that.

Edit: For reference I upgraded last month to a 6700k too, went with an MSI Z170A Gaming Pro Carbon and I'm very happy with it.
 
Last edited:
Thats looks pretty good, not too much to hit it up to 32 gigs memory
 
My 2c...
Depending on your needs, a K (unlocked) processor would be better suited to a Z170 range motherboard.
As far as I've seen so far, you'd spend a lot more time fiddling with your bios to perform an overclock on any Non Z170 board as overclocking is not "supported".
 
Ok, so on the memory side of things.. it seems getting anything above 2400mhz memory makes no real world difference.
Any opinons?
 
So far my build is as such

Power Supply: Antec 700W 80+ High Performance Power Supply
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K (4.0GHz, 8M Cache, 8x Cores, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Heatsink & CPU Fan: Standard Heatsink & CPU Fan - Included
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING PRO CARBON DDR4 USB 3.1 Motherboard
Memory: 16GB DDR4 2400Mhz High Performance Gaming RAM
Graphics Card: Integrated GPU Share Up to 1GB Graphics - Included
Sound Card: Integrated 7.1 Channel HD Audio - Included
Primary Hard Drive: 256GB SSD Upto 500MB/s+ Speed Solid State Drive
Main Optical Drive: 24x Dual Layer DVD +/- Writer - Included
Monitor: SAMSUNG 28" UHD LED Monitor 3840 x 2160

Gpu... waiting for non founders edition 1080s
 
bboy said:
So far my build is as such

Power Supply: Antec 700W 80+ High Performance Power Supply
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K (4.0GHz, 8M Cache, 8x Cores, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Heatsink & CPU Fan: Standard Heatsink & CPU Fan - Included
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING PRO CARBON DDR4 USB 3.1 Motherboard
Memory: 16GB DDR4 2400Mhz High Performance Gaming RAM
Graphics Card: Integrated GPU Share Up to 1GB Graphics - Included
Sound Card: Integrated 7.1 Channel HD Audio - Included
Primary Hard Drive: 256GB SSD Upto 500MB/s+ Speed Solid State Drive
Main Optical Drive: 24x Dual Layer DVD +/- Writer - Included
Monitor: SAMSUNG 28" UHD LED Monitor 3840 x 2160

Gpu... waiting for non founders edition 1080s
Click to expand...

Just be careful with your CPU heatsink. Normally the K processors don't come with one.
And on advice given to me from Ponder, if you're planning any overclock, check whether you can get higher frequency memory.
 
bboy said:
So far my build is as such

Power Supply: Antec 700W 80+ High Performance Power Supply
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K (4.0GHz, 8M Cache, 8x Cores, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Heatsink & CPU Fan: Standard Heatsink & CPU Fan - Included
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING PRO CARBON DDR4 USB 3.1 Motherboard
Memory: 16GB DDR4 2400Mhz High Performance Gaming RAM
Graphics Card: Integrated GPU Share Up to 1GB Graphics - Included
Sound Card: Integrated 7.1 Channel HD Audio - Included
Primary Hard Drive: 256GB SSD Upto 500MB/s+ Speed Solid State Drive
Main Optical Drive: 24x Dual Layer DVD +/- Writer - Included
Monitor: SAMSUNG 28" UHD LED Monitor 3840 x 2160

Gpu... waiting for non founders edition 1080s
Click to expand...

PhreeMe said:
Just be careful with your CPU heatsink. Normally the K processors don't come with one.
And on advice given to me from Ponder, if you're planning any overclock, check whether you can get higher frequency memory.
Click to expand...

Correct, the 6700K does not ship with a cooler.
 
bboy said:
Ok, so on the memory side of things.. it seems getting anything above 2400mhz memory makes no real world difference.
Any opinons?
Click to expand...

Yes it does make a difference.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-intel-skylake-core-i5-6500-review
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-intel-core-i3-6100-review

Read through the above and especially look at the benchmarks they run with different speed RAM.

If you are doing this whole K cpu & Z MB thing then go with 3000MHz RAM or above.
 
Well 3000mhz is the best I can get.
Ok I'm not gonna be clocking things up anytime in the near future.
What I will do in the future is get a better case and better cooler

So the build is now

PC Case: Standard Black Case - Included
Power Supply: Antec 700W 80+ High Performance Power Supply
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K (4.0GHz, 8M Cache, 8x Cores, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Heatsink & CPU Fan: Standard Heatsink & CPU Fan - Included This is extra.. it's just a standard cooler though
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING PRO CARBON DDR4 USB 3.1 Motherboard
Memory: 16GB DDR4 3000MHz High Performance Gaming RAM [ + R1099.00 ]
Graphics Card: Integrated GPU Share Up to 1GB Graphics - Included
Sound Card: Integrated 7.1 Channel HD Audio - Included
Primary Hard Drive: 256GB SSD Upto 500MB/s+ Speed Solid State Drive [ + R499.00 ]
Main Optical Drive: 24x Dual Layer DVD +/- Writer - Included
Monitor: SAMSUNG 28" UHD LED Monitor 3840 x 2160

Gpu... waiting for non founders edition 1080s
 
bboy said:
Well 3000mhz is the best I can get.
Ok I'm not gonna be clocking things up anytime in the near future.
What I will do in the future is get a better case and better cooler
Click to expand...

Do you have one lying around? Just make sure that one is rated to cool the 91W TDP of the 6700k. The Intel stock coolers are really terrible and a aftermarket one really isn't that expensive (I'd drop the DVD drive if budget is a consideration).
 
Ok, for stock I'll use a Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO CPU Cooler?
 
Ok, so as it stands now

Power Supply: Antec 700W 80+ High Performance Power Supply
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K (4.0GHz, 8M Cache, 8x Cores, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Heatsink & CPU Fan: Cooler Master Hyper TX3 EVO CPU Cooler
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING PRO CARBON DDR4 USB 3.1 Motherboard
Memory: 16GB DDR4 3000MHz High Performance Gaming RAM
Graphics Card: Integrated GPU Share Up to 1GB Graphics - Included
Sound Card: Integrated 7.1 Channel HD Audio - Included
Primary Hard Drive: 256GB SSD Upto 500MB/s+ Speed Solid State Drive
 
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