Recommend a mobo for i7 Skylake

[calyco]

Time to upgrade my old Phenom II 955. Looking to purchase the i7 6700K, three main uses in order - gaming, photoshop and occasional video editing. I also have hard to drive Sennheiser HD650 headphones so was looking at these Asus mobos for better audio. I don't overclock, two hard drives and only use 1 GPU etc. so don't need a lot of features. I would appreciate it if you guys have even better mobo recommendation for saving some cash, thanks!

Pro Gaming
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132567

Hero
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132565

Ranger
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132586

 

[RaistlinZ]

Depends how many SATA ports you need I suppose. The Pro Gaming only has four SATA 6G ports, as opposed to six on the Hero and Ranger. The Pro Gaming also only has one SATA Express port, whereas the others both have two. If that's not an issue, then the Pro Gaming would be the best option since it's $60.00 cheaper.

Between the Hero and Ranger I'd go with the Hero since it supports a wider range of DDR4 speeds, and comes with a fun looking shroud. Other than that, I don't see much difference between the two.

 

[maddogchen]

Go with the pro gaming. I've seen it for as low as $139.99 at Frys. Since you don't overclock you don't need the ROG capabilities.

 

[Bearmann]

...The Pro Gaming also only has one SATA Express port, whereas the others both have two. If that's not an issue, then the Pro Gaming would be the best option since it's $60.00 cheaper.

Yes, and I think that if you use the M.2 slot, than the Sata Express port can no longer be used. I haven't seen anything to use the SATAe port for anyway, though, so it's not much of a loss.

Did you check out the Gigabyte boards? All of the gaming gigabyte boards (Gaming 3,5,7) have high end Japanese audio capacitors and optional replaceable audio amps.

I think all the board manufacturers are touting their audio solutions this year.

I'm considering the ASUS pro Gaming myself, but I don't game and I already have an ASUS Xonar D2X audio card to transfer to the new build.

 

[Unico]

Time to upgrade my old Phenom II 955. Looking to purchase the i7 6700K, three main uses in order - gaming, photoshop and occasional video editing. I also have hard to drive Sennheiser HD650 headphones so was looking at these Asus mobos for better audio. I don't overclock, two hard drives and only use 1 GPU etc. so don't need a lot of features. I would appreciate it if you guys have even better mobo recommendation for saving some cash, thanks!

Since you said that you don't overclock and want to save some cash, you may want to wait for the i7-6700 and save a few bucks there.

Also the ASUS B150-PLUS Pro Gaming D3 board has just appeared on their web site.

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Motherboards/B150-PRO-GAMING-D3/

It is listed on a Canadian site at C$125 so it should come in around US$95.

 

[calyco]

Talk about being out of the loop, I'm confused by Asus lineup alone. So basically

Z170/ROG/Pro Gaming = enthusiast/overclockers/gamers
H170 and B150 = business oriented/regular users

The deluxe version is the flagship? (judging by price) So higher end boards = overclock and more connectivity ports eg. SATA, USB etc.

I have 16GB DDR3 1600 in my current system. Is it worth about $150 to upgrade to DDR4, is there significant performance improvement?

Supreme FX = Realtek? How is that compared to Realtek 1150, to drive 300 ohm headphones?

 

[Bearmann]

Talk about being out of the loop, I'm confused by Asus lineup alone. So basically

Z170/ROG/Pro Gaming = enthusiast/overclockers/gamers
H170 and B150 = business oriented/regular users

The deluxe version is the flagship? (judging by price) So higher end boards = overclock and more connectivity ports eg. SATA, USB etc.

I have 16GB DDR3 1600 in my current system. Is it worth about $150 to upgrade to DDR4, is there significant performance improvement?

Supreme FX = Realtek? How is that compared to Realtek 1150, to drive 300 ohm headphones?

That's my understanding too of how the boards differ.

I think that there is one ASUS Z170 board that takes DDR3, but generally all these 1151 chipset boards require DDR4.

I read somewhere that the Supreme FX is just a rename of the Realtek ALC1150 codec.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Talk about being out of the loop, I'm confused by Asus lineup alone. So basically

Z170/ROG/Pro Gaming = enthusiast/overclockers/gamers
H170 and B150 = business oriented/regular users

The deluxe version is the flagship? (judging by price) So higher end boards = overclock and more connectivity ports eg. SATA, USB etc.

I have 16GB DDR3 1600 in my current system. Is it worth about $150 to upgrade to DDR4, is there significant performance improvement?

Supreme FX = Realtek? How is that compared to Realtek 1150, to drive 300 ohm headphones?

$150.00 is a lot to spend on DDR4. Price have come down. You can get 16GB (2x8GB) PC2400 DDR4 for $96.99 after instant discount right now.

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

@OP,
I see a ton of Hero's and Rangers on E bay that do not working.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...Hero.TRS0&_nkw=not+working+Asus+Hero&_sacat=0