MSI Z270 Tomahawk a good board?

[Pink Jazz]

I have one system that uses an MSI P55-CD53 motherboard that is ready to go into retirement. Considering how long this board has lasted, I was thinking perhaps I should stick with MSI for my next purchase.

So, would anyone recommend the Z270 Tomahawk as a replacement?

 

[Pink Jazz]

BTW, the processors I plan to buy are either the Core i5-6600K or the 7600K. I plan to overclock to around 4.2 to 4.4GHz. I plan on using a Cooler Master Evo 212 cooler.

 

[lehtv]

MSI's track record with longevity is not exactly spotless. Lots of their boards use inferior VRM components that have a higher chance of failing compared to those from other brands. In terms of specs vs. price though, MSI is pretty good.

4.2-4.4 is a very meager overclock, at that speed you're much better off with a Ryzen 5 that has two threads per core like an i7. Clock speed is i5-7600K's only proper advantage over Ryzen, so you want to make the most of it... something like 4.7-4.8GHz is a good target where perf/core is around 25% ahead of Ryzen, but that needs a relatively beefy board and high performance cooler.

Personally I'd go with Ryzen 5 1600X + Gigabyte B350 Gaming-3 or Asus Prime X370 Pro. But if you must have Intel, grab i7-7700 + a B250 board or i5-7600K + Asus Z270-A.

 

[Conroe]

Ryzen is still in beta. Z270 is solid and a better choice if you don't want problems.

My MSi P35 Platinum is also still solid after many years being overclocked.

 

[Bouowmx]

4.2-4.4 GHz is in fact stock frequency (all-core Turbo Boost)...
Core i5-7600K: 4.2 GHz
i7-7700K: 4.4 GHz

 

[ReignQuake]

I'd recommend it. MSI motherboards have gotten so much better in the past two years, they've worked out of all the deficiencies that other brands are still suffering from and aren't fixing. Excellent fan control, Intel NIC, Intel Wifi (not that board), Intel SATA controllers/raid. Only two asmedia controlled ports. It's great.

 

[lehtv]

My MSi P35 Platinum is also still solid after many years being overclocked.

Ah yes, the "counter example". Why do people always think their own experience with a sample size of one of a product released 10 years ago has any chance of validating or invalidating a statistical claim regarding new products? Do you even math, bro?

Based on some data gathered over the years and knowledge of their sub par VRM components, MSI boards are simply more likely to fail.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

I think one of the most critical things to look at between all the boards aside from the obvious hardware features is the UEFI BIOS. It's also hard to tell you which one is the best unless someone does an apples to apples comparison across the board. I miss those motherboard roundups Anandtech used to do.