Is the ultra budget H110 chipset going to gimp my system?

[Lyfer]

Hello,

I'm looking for a budget a skylake board to pair with a i5 6600 non-k for an upgrade. System will be primarily used for gaming (overwatch and WoW Legion). Other than taking advantage of multi core enhancements to run the CPU cores at full speed and over clocking are there any other reasons to get a Z170 board? Here are the system specs.

This board:
ASUS H110M-A LGA 1151 Intel H110 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 uATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-132-646

Intel i5 6600 non-k
Crucial 16gb 2133 ddr4
crucial bx200 240gb SSD

Carry over parts from old rig:
Evga GTX 670 FTW signature 2 (will be replacing with AIB GTX 1060 or RX 480 soon)
Sea gate 1tb HDD
Asus dvd drive
Corsair carbide 200R
Seasonic 620w modular PSU

I don't plan getting any m2 drive in the future and don't have a huge amount of USB devices.

 

[Ken g6]

The main other thing that might hold you back is RAM speed. But that's another kind of overclocking.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Short answer: No.

Long answer: with only one GPU and a non-OC CPU, the only feature the 110 lacks that you might like would be the additional USB ports and stuff. Or additional PCI-E lanes if you later upgraded to PCI-E SSDs. But what you're outlining is pretty middling as enthusiast systems go, and the 110 is intended for that audience.

 

[Lyfer]

As always, thanks for the awesome replies. Last question if I splurge on the board below for expansion and Asus MCE technology to run all four cores at 3.9ghz, would the stock HSF be able to handle that load?

ASUS Z170-E LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-132-691

 

[VirtualLarry]

to run all four cores at 3.9ghz, would the stock HSF be able to handle that load?

Unlikely.

 

[nerp]

You might want to look at H170 boards. They have feature parity with Z170 boards, don't support overclocking and are cheaper.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

...run all four cores at 3.9ghz, would the stock HSF be able to handle that load?

Yeah, it'd be fine.

Unlikely.

Likely.

My 3570k has been fine at 4GHz on the Intel stock cooler for over three years. The 6600 is a lower-TDP part to start with, and 3.9GHz is just the "normal" turbo speed. (It'd run that fast most of the time anyway.)

Unless Intel changed their HSF design substantially for the worse...? (Did they? Wouldn't I feel like a total tool...)

 

[UsandThem]

Yeah, it'd be fine.

Unless Intel changed their HSF design substantially for the worse...? (Did they? Wouldn't I feel like a total tool...)

Nope, it is pretty much the old standard Intel fan that hasn't changed much at all.

It's ok as long as you don't overclock too much. It can be noisy when spinning at high RPM though. On my son's Hasell i3 at stock, I can't hear it that much over his case fan.

If the OP thinks its noisy for his use, he can always get an inexpensive cooler at a later date like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO which can be had for $20-$25 after MIR.

 

[Ken g6]

It is not the old standard i5 cooler. Skylake uses the old i3 cooler for the i5 and i7.

 

[Lyfer]

It is not the old standard i5 cooler. Skylake uses the old i3 cooler for the i5 and i7.

The EVO sounds like a good idea, I noticed that I can bundle it with the 6600 non k and save $5 off of it. Another question does the multi core enhancement also add more voltage to achieve max turbo on all 4 cores?


Lol if I go with the Asus Z170-E, crucial 16gb ddr4 2400 ram, and the 212 EVO HSF that's almost another $120 compared to the H110 scenario. But I would be able to run max turbo of 3.9ghz with faster ddr4 ram and more expand ability.

 

[Ken g6]

Another simple, fairly cheap, and effective option is the Cooler Master Hyper TX3. It uses pushpins, so it's not my favorite, but it's decent.

But I would be able to run max turbo of 3.9ghz

That I'm not sure about either. I heard about it someplace recently on these forums, but I haven't heard from anyone actually doing it that I can recall. :hmm:

Edit:

Asus MCE technology to run all four cores at 3.9ghz

Oh, I see, you're getting a board specifically designed for this. I rather doubt just any Z170 can do it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I just know that I bought some copper-core 115x stock heat sinks from ebay for my overclocked G4400 Pentium dual-cores. At 1.300V and 4.455Ghz, they run at 80C. That's just a dual-core! So I extrapolated a bit, and figured that the stock cooler was no good for overclocking a Skylake quad.

Edit: And that's without AVX and HT.

 

[frozentundra123456]

I thought they nerfed MCE starting with Haswell for non-K cpus. Could be wrong.

That Z170 board looks very nice. For only 50 bucks more, I would be very tempted. You could even drop in a used 6700k and overclock it a couple of years down the line if you felt you needed it. Also the ability to overclock the ram is a big plus.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Short answer: No.

Long answer: with only one GPU and a non-OC CPU, the only feature the 110 lacks that you might like would be the additional USB ports and stuff. Or additional PCI-E lanes if you later upgraded to PCI-E SSDs. But what you're outlining is pretty middling as enthusiast systems go, and the 110 is intended for that audience.

You can think of the H110 as the Z97 of Skylake minus the OC ability.

Do be aware the H110 uses DMI 2.0 for connecting to the PCH, unlike the rest of the SKL chipsets. This limits bandwidth to ~2GB/s for the entire PCH, but this is only important if you're considering a PCIe SSD down the line. Another thing is the H110 PCH only has PCIe 2.0.

You might want to look at H170 boards. They have feature parity with Z170 boards, don't support overclocking and are cheaper.

Might as well use a B150 board. They don't lack any important features, and are usually cheaper.

I thought they nerfed MCE starting with Haswell for non-K cpus. Could be wrong.

Yes, they did. With Ivy you got highest multiplier + 4 bins. Haswell and newer is highest turbo bin only.

Also the ability to overclock the ram is a big plus.

Seeing as SKL responds very well to faster memory, not being limited to standard 2133MHz memory is a big plus. Especially if you ever need to use the IGP.

 

[Lyfer]

Can you explain the nerf to MCE in simpler terms? I am not understanding.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Can you explain the nerf to MCE in simpler terms? I am not understanding.

Taking my own system as a example. Its a 3770non-K, which means the normal highest turbo multiplier is 39x. Which means it'll run at 3900MHz (39x100MHz) on all cores with MCE enabled. However, as this is an Ivy Bridge CPU, the highest multiplier is actually 43x, since Ivy has the highest turbo multiplier (39x) + 4 additional "steps". Which means it'll happily run at 4300MHz* with MCE enabled.

With Haswell Intel changed that, so it's only possible to run the CPU at the highest turbo multiplier. Which in this case would be 39x.

*Mine does actually run along quite happily at 4300MHz, at stock voltage. Incidently this also seems to be about the best you can get out of Ivy at stock voltage, so I guess I have a pretty good sample. Of course YMMV.

 

[Lyfer]

Taking my own system as a example. Its a 3770non-K, which means the normal highest turbo multiplier is 39x. Which means it'll run at 3900MHz (39x100MHz) on all cores with MCE enabled. However, as this is an Ivy Bridge CPU, the highest multiplier is actually 43x, since Ivy has the highest turbo multiplier (39x) + 4 additional "steps". Which means it'll happily run at 4300MHz* with MCE enabled.

With Haswell Intel changed that, so it's only possible to run the CPU at the highest turbo multiplier. Which in this case would be 39x.

*Mine does actually run along quite happily at 4300MHz, at stock voltage. Incidently this also seems to be about the best you can get out of Ivy at stock voltage, so I guess I have a pretty good sample. Of course YMMV.

So my i5 6600k would run at 3.9ghz on all 4 cores with MCE correct?

 

[Insert_Nickname]

So my i5 6600k would run at 3.9ghz on all 4 cores with MCE correct?

A 6600K will run at anything you set it to. Within reason of course... :biggrin:

I'd expect that to be the case, but since I don't have a SKL system with MCE, I can't guarantee it. Someone more knowledgeable will have to verify.

 

[Lyfer]

A 6600K will run at anything you set it to. Within reason of course... :biggrin:

I'd expect that to be the case, but since I don't have a SKL system with MCE, I can't guarantee it. Someone more knowledgeable will have to verify.

Oops sorry for the typo. It will be a non-k.

 

[LTC8K6]

http://ark.intel.com/compare/90591,90590

There is intel's Z170 to H110 comparison page.

 

[bononos]

Hello,
I'm looking for a budget a skylake board to pair with a i5 6600 non-k for an upgrade. System will be primarily used for gaming (overwatch and WoW Legion). Other than taking advantage of multi core enhancements to run the CPU cores at full speed and over clocking are there any other reasons to get a Z170 board? Here are the system specs.
.......

The H110 is gimpy because it doesn't support dual channel memory.
And it has alot less hsio/pcie lanes. If you max out 4 usb devices + 4 sata drives, the mb has 5 pcie lanes to allocate among the expansion cards excluding the gpu.

Get a B150m mb instead.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The H110 is gimpy because it doesn't support dual channel memory.
And it has alot less hsio/pcie lanes. If you max out 4 usb devices + 4 sata drives, the mb has 5 pcie lanes to allocate among the expansion cards excluding the gpu.

Get a B150m mb instead.

The H110 supports dual-channel RAM, all Skylake boards do. What are you talking about?

 

[Insert_Nickname]

The H110 is gimpy because it doesn't support dual channel memory.

That is simply wrong. The memory controller is integrated into the CPU, and has absolutely nothing to do with what chipset you're using. I think you're confusing this with the H110 one DIMM per channel limitation, but since I haven't seen any* H110 boards with more then two DIMM slots, its a complete non-issue.

Of course a specific mainboard implementation might cut dual channel support, but I'm having doubts as to why anyone would do that.

*Well there is that Asrock board with four slots, but that's for having both DDR3 and DDR4 support...

 

[bononos]

The H110 supports dual-channel RAM, all Skylake boards do. What are you talking about?

I was mistaken, all the while I thought that single dimm per channel meant no dual channel support.

 

[nerp]

H170 over H110 gives you a few more PCI lanes. Worth it IMHO if you want m.2 nvme plus a beefy video card plus more.