Choice of two Mobos - Which One?

[RhoXS]

I have two motherboards available for a new build.

1 - ASRock Z170 Extreme 6 ATX
2 - ASUS Z170M-Plus Micro ATX

I will be using an i7-6700K, Samsung 950 Pro M.2 NVMe 512 GB, and 32Gb DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) RAM.

Stability and reliability is much more important than speed however I do want a very fast snappy machine. I am not a gamer.

Both Mobos are available. I prefer the mini ATX ASUS because I can put it in a smaller case and ports etc. provide for my needs on both boards. I suspect there will be no real difference no matter which one I use but would like to hear others opinions.

 

[will889]

I can relate with potentially wanting a smaller build/box. I've had a 4770k/Z87 mATX in a mid sized case since 2014 and just recently bought a nice micro case and boy Am I glad I did because I reclaimed some desk space.

 

[UsandThem]

The Asrock will have better audio (ALC1150 vs ALC887), but also has worse user reviews. It was one of the boards I considered buying, but I instead went with a Gigabyte board at the time.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I have two motherboards available for a new build.

1 - ASRock Z170 Extreme 6 ATX
2 - ASUS Z170M-Plus Micro ATX

I will be using an i7-6700K, Samsung 950 Pro M.2 NVMe 512 GB, and 32Gb DDR4 3200 (PC4 25600) RAM.

Stability and reliability is much more important than speed however I do want a very fast snappy machine. I am not a gamer.

Both Mobos are available. I prefer the mini ATX ASUS because I can put it in a smaller case and ports etc. provide for my needs on both boards. I suspect there will be no real difference no matter which one I use but would like to hear others opinions.

I won't disrespect ASRock boards. I lean toward ASUS, and I pick my boards very carefully.

What sort of features do you want, and what sort of features might you miss from a mid-range ATX board? You might run some comparison searches, just for the ASUS boards with the Z170 chipset.

With either board, with any good board, you're going to get decently fast performance from that CPU. It's the "K" version of the processor, so the multiplier is unlocked and you can also overclock it, even just modestly so you don't need to worry so much about cooling choices. At a minimum, I'd throw a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO onto the chip for the nominal $20 to $30.

You don't need to overclock that processor, though -- for what you want, and from what you say . . . .

I seldom consider mATX boards, but if I did, I would look closer at the ASUS board, user-reviews, lab-test reviews and other information sources. I was fairly impressed with the ASUS Z170 models . . .

 

[ocer9999]

The extreme series are pretty good, specially the 6 has really good amount of features. Asus is good, but I fell like you might be limiting yourself also with the high end K CPU.
You probably want to overclock as well, which the matex might be limiting.

 

[whm1974]

Get an SDD as that will improve performance more then anything else.

 

[mikeymikec]

I've used the H170M-PLUS a load of times; provided you have the latest BIOS, it's all plain sailing. I wouldn't have any worries about whether the Z variant is going to be any different, though if I was feeling nervous I'd browse the official ASUS forum in the subforum for that board and see whether there are any great big long threads talking about some weird issue with it and lots of people saying "me too" without a "it was fixed with this BIOS update" consensus.

 

[RhoXS]

Thanks for all the good replies.

I made the decision to use the Asus Z170M Plus. It worked well in a stand alone computer for the past two years with a conventional Samsung SSD. Also, based on all the inputs I received and other research, I perceive it will be equal in performance and stability to the ASRock board. Being a mini ATX board will allow me to use a much smaller and relatively compact Lian Li case compared to the really big but spacious Corsair Graphite monster I have now. I am going to transfer my existing Samsung NVMe M.2 from the ASRock to the ASUS board but I am doing a fully clean install.