Preparing to build new rig. MB recommendations.

[SkyDiver]

I've got an Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe motherboard with a Core i5 3570K CPU (O/C'd). I only build a new rig every 3 or 4 years. I stick with Asus after an annoying experience with a Gigabyte board. I use it mostly for business, but game on it a few nights a week.

I looked at the last bunch of Asus boards, but not sure I saw anything that seemed like good value for the money. Are ALL of the higher-end boards "required" to have dual GPU slots? (very few people use 2 GPUs and they're not efficient, right?)

I'm thinking of moving up to i7 because of some large data files I use for business. Also, I saw that some games seem to require an i7 these days.

I'm looking for some recommendations from those of you who keep up with the latest developments more than I do.

Thanks!

 

[whm1974]

Keep in mind that extra X16 slots can be used for other things besides GPUs. Get a large SSD and more memory for your large data files. That will help more then an i7 would. Oh, and what is your budget for this build?

 

[SkyDiver]

I haven't really calculated the budget. I'm just beginning to think about it, but I'll need new MB, RAM, and and CPU. I'm happy with my GTX 1070 and my AX760 Corsair PSU. I am thinking about a 2TB SSD for games and/or business. Are they cheaper if I put the SSD in the X16 slot?

I think I read that the cooling on some of the new storage options U2 or M.2 are not as good as they should be.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I haven't really calculated the budget. I'm just beginning to think about it, but I'll need new MB, RAM, and and CPU. I'm happy with my GTX 1070 and my AX760 Corsair PSU. I am thinking about a 2TB SSD for games and/or business. Are they cheaper if I put the SSD in the X16 slot?

I think I read that the cooling on some of the new storage options U2 or M.2 are not as good as they should be.

PCIe SSDs are more expensive than SATA SSDs. As for cooling, M.2 drives can get hot but only under extreme cases. People running benchmarks all the time to find the limits, do find those limits. The drives have built in thermal protection that will throttle the speeds when it gets past a certain level but even throttled a PCIe SSD will be faster than any other drive. A good M.2 drive won't throttle under normal usages. Having said that there are boards with some cooling solutions. For example my Asus Maximus X Hero has a heatsink on the first M.2 slot that helps dissipate heat away from the drive. It also comes with a 50mm fan bracket you can use on the second M.2 slot to give active cooling if you have less than ideal airflow. If I were you, I'd go for a larger capacity 2.5" SATA SSD like a 860 evo or similar over an M.2 drive. For less money you get higher capacity and the difference in day to day activities isn't that significant. I got a 970 Pro NVMe M.2 drive just because, not for any specific benefit. I'm not really going to do enough sequential transfers to use all the speed it allows so it never throttles for me. In case you were wondering about worst case scenario for M.2 throttling and overheating, there are people running M.2 NVMe drives in a water cooled system with no airflow. They have zero fans outside the fans on their radiator and PSU and their drives don't overheat. The reason is as I said that most people claiming they overheat are not using them in a normal environment. They are hammering them to the limits.

Having said all that I do recommend a board like the Asus Z-370A Prime or ROG STRIX Z-370E. Both not overly expensive and have all the features you could need for a LGA1151 CPU (such as an i7 8700k). Look at how much you want to spend and what features are important. Do you need built in WiFi ac? Do you want RGB lighting(some people do). How many USB ports does it have? Is USB-C Important to you? How about Thunderbolt? Stuff like that are added to different boards and may have some value to you.

 

[SkyDiver]

Thanks cmdrdredd for your excellent post! I agree that I really don't need M.2. For my purposes, an 860 EVO would be just fine.

I'll use the money for a bigger monitor!

 

[cmdrdredd]

Thanks cmdrdredd for your excellent post! I agree that I really don't need M.2. For my purposes, an 860 EVO would be just fine.

I'll use the money for a bigger monitor!

That’s what I would do. You already have a good GPU and really the deciding factor is What CPU you want to go with and what features on the motherboard you really would make use of. I got the WiFi model of the Maximus X Hero because I actually use the WiFi feature at times. In my game room I am wired but I do occasionally bring my rig to a friend’s house and he doesn’t have Ethernet in every room as I do. So on those occasions the built in wireless ac connection comes into usage.

 

[SkyDiver]

That WiFi anecdote is a good example of things I need to think about! You mentioned USB-C. It seems so much better than the older USB that I assume I'll have to have it for the new build. A lot of peripherals don't need even USB2 or 3.