Any strong recommendation not to get the GA-Z170X-GAMING G1?

[boed]

I build new systems every 5 years or so. I'm thinking of building my next everything system (workstation, gaming, HT server) system with a Gigabyte GA-Z170X-GAMING G1 motherboard. My current GA boards have held up well but are getting a little long in the tooth. I want USB 3.1. I want LOTS of USB ports - 8 in the back minimum. I don't care too much about the nic, most of the time I'll be using an add on dual 10G intel card. I'll also be adding an LSI or Adaptec 8 lane nic. I'll start out with a single video card although I may SLI later on. So I'll want plenty of high lane capacity slots. Having onboard sound would be nice if I could get quality onboard sound for gaming - chances are I'll just use a 2.5mm jack.

I was thinking of getting the Scythe Ninja 4 but not sure if it will fit with the video card in the top slot.

 

[thetuna]

My only knock is that it's too big.

 

[vailr]

What's your overall system budget?
If it were my decision, I'd prefer not spending $500 on just the motherboard, and getting by with a board costing closer to $200.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128835
Use the money saved for a better video card, 4K monitor, etc.

 

[boed]

My only knock is that it's too big.

The noctua or the motherboard?

I'm putting it in a Cooler Master Cosmos II which supports XL-ATX motherboards.

 

[boed]

What's your overall system budget?
If it were my decision, I'd prefer not spending $500 on just the motherboard, and getting by with a board costing closer to $200.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128835
Use the money saved for a better video card, 4K monitor, etc.

about $10,000. Unfortunately that won't have enough high lane slots or usb ports.

 

[happy medium]

about $10,000

Get the G1 !

 

[thetuna]

The noctua or the motherboard?

Yeah, the mobo.
I prefer the smallest system I can get.

 

[boed]

Ahh - I'm putting in a case that with have 14 3.5" hard drives so the size of the motherboard really isn't a big issue (so to speak)

 

[DigDog]

i dont actually know. but i'll still post.

generally the UD series is the more mature. the G and Z and Sniper stuff is all gamers marketing bs. what does the G1 have that the UD doesn't?

anyway, if you really want to spend a bundle, wait a short while, as the SOC FORCE is coming out (which is the top end of the Gb line)

 

[boed]

OK - as long as it has 4 16x slots, 8 or more USB ports, usb 3.1 built in high end gaming sound. Is there a board like that with the current SOC line for me to look at for when the 170 comes out?

 

[vailr]

OK - as long as it has 4 16x slots, 8 or more USB ports, usb 3.1 built in high end gaming sound. Is there a board like that with the current SOC line for me to look at for when the 170 comes out?

Z97 SOC board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128705

Note: neither the GA-Z170X-GAMING G1 nor the GA-Z97X-SOC boards have "4 16x PCIe slots". AFAIK, such a board (4x video cards simultaneously running at x16/x16/x16/x16) does not yet exist.

 

[vailr]

if you really want to spend a bundle, wait a short while, as the SOC FORCE is coming out (which is the top end of the Gb line)

The GA-Z97X-UD7 TH seems to be the "top of the line" Z97 board (based on MSRP; the current prices are somewhat skewed):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128703

It seems likely that Gigabyte would also offer a GA-Z170X-UD7 board at some future point in time.

The highest priced Gigabyte X99 board:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128746

 

[boed]

Thanks - I can wait 2 more weeks for my purchase. I'll see if they come out with anything better byt then.

 

[Shmee]

May want to consider an X99 build if you are spending that much. Benefits include 6+ cores of course.

 

[boed]

No USB 3.1 as far as I know. Many tempting things about the older tech - only problem is I'm really trying to reduce my power consumption as my UPSes tend to die quickly.

 

[vailr]

my UPSes tend to die quickly.

Are you using a "pure sine wave" UPS? That's what is recommended for use with modern PC power supplies. If not, the UPS battery will fail much sooner.

Side note: Intel's Alpine Ridge controller chip is designed to provide Thunderbolt 3.0 for Skylake chipset boards, as well as USB 3.1 and HDMI 2.0. As of now, every board brand (except for Gigabyte) is not using the Alpine Ridge controller, but instead is using Asmedia or some other 3rd party USB 3.1 controller. There's currently no Thunderbolt 3.0 equipped motherboard available anywhere, AFAIK.

 

[boed]

I honestly had no idea. I'm using a relatively new APC1500 ups. I looked it up and it appears the BR1500G is not a pure sine wave.

 

[vailr]

A dual socket 2011 v3 CPU server board:

ASUS Z10PE-D8 WS SSI EEB Server Motherboard Dual Intel Socket 2011-3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132268

Your budget of ~$10,000 seems kind of excessive, but using this board may actually allow spending that kind of money. No native USB 3.1 included, but add-on cards for that are available.

 

[boed]

Thanks the processing isn't what is driving up the cost - it is the storage. The most processing I usually see is when playing video games so an i7-6700k should be more than adequate.

 

[Techhog]

ignore