Suggest Mobo for Skylake CPU + M.2 x4 SSD

[thatsright]

Folks - My 6 year old PC (yup) is dying and I'm building a new rig. I will be getting the Skylake i7-6700 CPU and for blazing fast OS/Apps the Samsung 950 Pro M.2 x4 Ultra SSD drive.

FYI-I DO NOT DO ANY GAMING OR OVER OVERCLOCK/TWEAK AT ALL.

Having difficulty picking out a board as it's been a long time. I want a full size ATX motherboard with GREAT on-board audio and support the fastest possible connection for the Samsung SSD. Besides that, I will be using 2-3 SATA 6 HD's and a video card I already have. I'm hoping to get a quality, NON-GAMING board for about $150 or less.

Can you suggest a few options?

 

[escrow4]

Asrocks H170 Fatality Performance:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty H170 Performance/

You want ALC 1150 for that sound and the majority of H170 boards that have better ports and audio are "gaming" orientated.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157638

 

[VirtualLarry]

Asrocks H170 Fatality Performance:

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty H170 Performance/

You want ALC 1150 for that sound and the majority of H170 boards that have better ports and audio are "gaming" orientated.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157638

That looks like a fairly decent board, but why not get a Z170 Pro4S. It's the same layout (almost identical), and has a better chipset. I don't know about the audio though, your suggested board might have better audio. (Someone in another thread commented that the Pro4 board is better in the audio and LAN dept. than the Pro4S board.)

 

[escrow4]

That looks like a fairly decent board, but why not get a Z170 Pro4S. It's the same layout (almost identical), and has a better chipset. I don't know about the audio though, your suggested board might have better audio. (Someone in another thread commented that the Pro4 board is better in the audio and LAN dept. than the Pro4S board.)

Substantially worse audio (892) with no headset amplifier, no USB Type C, 2 less fan connectors, less heatsinks over VRMs near CPU and all you get in exchange is an extra SATA_Express connector. If you want Z170 don't buy a cheap one they are rubbish, you'd want something like Asrocks Z170 Extreme 6+.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Suit yourself. I bought mine for the overclocking capability, and the Intel LAN, and they've been exceptional for that.

 

[thatsright]

Substantially worse audio (892) with no headset amplifier, no USB Type C, 2 less fan connectors, less heat sinks over VRMs near CPU and all you get in exchange is an extra SATA_Express connector. If you want Z170 don't buy a cheap one they are rubbish, you'd want something like Asrocks Z170 Extreme 6+.

Hmm....Well I'd like to get a good board at/under $150 with the best audio. With 4+ USB 3.1 ports. And with that, are there any boards that have more than M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 slots for SSDs? Not need, but would be a nice have.

Jeeze there are hundreds of MOBO's out there.

 

[thatsright]

Can anyone suggest ideas for my last post?

 

[thatsright]

I've been looking at more and more boards. Can you look at the below and tell me what you think. They both come with USB 3.1 and TWO M.2 Ultra 4 slots. I'd really like these so I don't have to buy add-in cards down the road. As they have both of these, then it really comes down to the built in audio. I'd like better than 'just okay.'

Board 1: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168131308

Board 2: Not so sure about the audio here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128880

Board 3: This one is a great price and a bit cheaper: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128837

Board 4: This one is a lot cheaper, which I'd like to try and do. I'm not overclocking/tweaking/gaming, so don't really need the high end gaming boards: http://www.newegg.com/Produt.aspx/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128863

 

[UsandThem]

I've been looking at more and more boards. Can you look at the below and tell me what you think. They both come with USB 3.1 and TWO M.2 Ultra 4 slots. I'd really like these so I don't have to buy add-in cards down the road. As they have both of these, then it really comes down to the built in audio. I'd like better than 'just okay.'

Board 1: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168131308

Board 2: Not so sure about the audio here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128880

Board 3: This one is a great price and a bit cheaper: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128837

Board 4: This one is a lot cheaper, which I'd like to try and do. I'm not overclocking/tweaking/gaming, so don't really need the high end gaming boards: http://www.newegg.com/Produt.aspx/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128863

They all have ALC1150 sound. Only #1 has the most USB 3.1 inputs. #4 has none.

USB 3.1 is in it's infacy right now, and there aren't many peripherals for it at the moment. It would be simple to add an under $30 card in the future if you find yourself needing more inputs.

Since you don't game or overclock, any basic board should suit you fine. Might want to look at the Asus h170 Pro Gaming as well.

 

[john3850]

The Gaming GA-H170 is limited to the lowest speed memory DDR4 2133.
The Core i7-6700K CPUs offers 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes directly from the cpu.
If you add a Video Card it needs a minimum of 8 lanes which leaves 8 lanes left for two M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4.
There are 4 slower pcie lanes that come off the chipset through the dmi 3 and that changes with different mfg and motherboards.

 

[thatsright]

The Gaming GA-H170 is limited to the lowest speed memory DDR4 2133.
The Core i7-6700K CPUs offers 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes directly from the cpu.
If you add a Video Card it needs a minimum of 8 lanes which leaves 8 lanes left for two M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4.
There are 4 slower pcie lanes that come off the chipset through the dmi 3 and that changes with different mfg and motherboards.

Then if one of the boards is cheaper without USB 3.1, I'd probably do that. It would be at least a year until I'm interested to get an add in card. If I don't get a board with 3.1, the biggest feature I want is two slots for M.2 4 ultra drives.

Should I be concerned if I use two M2.3x4 Ultra drives, AND another SSD and two SATA 6 spindle drives and separate video card? Will is saturate the bus and cause performance issues? Are any of the above boards have more than PCI lanes? Sorry guys, its been a long time and I'm unfamiliar with hardware specs and pci lanes and what not.

Yes I have a separate video card.

I want a board with minium PC 3000 DDR.

Some of the boards re Z170 based and some are H170 based. What is the difference?

 

[john3850]

The Core i7-6700K CPUs offers 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes
Intel Core i7-5930K And up have 40 lanes and the i7-5920K was 28 lanes but are slower cpu.
i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.5GHz LGA 2011

 

[thatsright]

The Core i7-6700K CPUs offers 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes
Intel Core i7-5930K And up have 40 lanes and the i7-5920K was 28 lanes but are slower cpu.
i7-5930K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.5GHz LGA 2011

Yes, got that. But could you take a look at my last comment. I'm worried about trying to do too much hardware wise.

 

[thatsright]

Could anyone help me with my next to last question about saturating the pcie lanes on the mobo. I'd like to buy a board tomorrow.

 

[UsandThem]

Could anyone help me with my next to last question about saturating the pcie lanes on the mobo. I'd like to buy a board tomorrow.

Just go to Newegg, select lga 1151 and apply. After that scroll down and you can narrow it down to how many ultra m.2 slots you want, or how many PCIe 3.0 slots you want.

It sounds like you want to put several m.2 drives, and then a ton of hard drives.

You probably aren't going to be able to get a low-end board and not sacrifice the speed of some of your drives or PCIe slots.

You can read up on this one and see if it fits your need. If you are going with at least one 950 Pro, you will have to spend more on the motherboard or take a hit on the bandwith that they will share with your other slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157676

 

[Deders]

Just in case you've read that you have to sacrifice the first 2 Sata ports to run an M.2 card, that only applies to AHCI based M.2 cards and not PCIe based like the 950pro.

 

[thatsright]

Here is the board I found so far that I like. It cost a bit more as it has the second M.2 slot and USB 3.1. Though I don't think I'd use either for at least another year.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128837

Also, I don't game so if my video card dropped down to 8 PCIe lanes I would never even notice the slight hit. Now hopefully the last questions:

1. So with using a single M.2x4 Ultra drive, one video card, an old school SATA3 SSD and two other internal SATA6 drives, is it even possible? (There is a possibility I may even add a separate sound card if the onboard audio is crappy.) Will the overall 'bandwidth' take a hit or will all of the components even work?

2. If I later drop in a seconds M.2 Ultra 4 drive, I would remove the older SSD drive. Then I'd have two M.2 drives and two older SATA6 spindle drives. Then at this point would I take a hit with the lanes? I'm just trying to figure out if this is the right board for me. But perhaps whatever board I pick will be limited by the Z170 chip set?

Thanks everyone for helping with this long thread

 

[UsandThem]

Here is the board I found so far that I like. It cost a bit more as it has the second M.2 slot and USB 3.1. Though I don't think I'd use either for at least another year.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128837

Also, I don't game so if my video card dropped down to 8 PCIe lanes I would never even notice the slight hit. Now hopefully the last questions:

1. So with using a single M.2x4 Ultra drive, one video card, an old school SATA6 SSD and two other internal SATA6 drives, is it even possible? (There is a possibility I may even add a separate sound card if the onboard audio is crappy.) Will the overall 'bandwidth' take a hit or will all of the components even work?

2. If I later drop in a seconds M.2 Ultra 4 drive, I would remove the older SSD drive. Then I'd have two M.2 drives and two older SATA6 spindle drives. Then at this point would I take a hit with the lanes? I'm just trying to figure out if this is the right board for me. But perhaps whatever board I pick will be limited by the Z170 chip set?

Thanks everyone for helping with this long thread

From a review from your link:

"I chose this motherboard because it's supposed to have two full speed (PCIe Gen3 x4) M.2 slots and I couldn't be more disappointed. The location of the M.2 slots is unfortunate though not that unusual (one is covered up by my CPU fan, the other by the graphic card) but that isn't the biggest problem. It turns out that if you have even one SATA drive installed (doesn't matter if it's HDD, SSD or optical), the speed of your very expensive M.2 PCIe x4 SSD is reduced to x2!

Other Thoughts: If you have a SATA drive, your only hope of getting full x4 speed from your M.2 PCIe x4 SSD is to install it via a PCIe x4 to M.2 adapter. According to Gigabyte, that "should work." I haven't tried it yet, but be advised that if you have anything installed in the PCIe x1_3 slot, the speed of the PCIe x4 slot is reduced to x1 or less. Of course the PCIe x1_3 slot is the most accessible of the three x1 slots, which is why it currently holds my WiFi card. You don't want to use the x8 slot for the M.2 adapter because that will reduce the speed of your graphic card in the top x16 slot to x8."

--------------------------------------

You are going to have to find a board, and from a desktop either read the specifications on Newegg or the manufacturer's site. It will list what slots are shared, and what happens to the different slots if you plug in something. Some boards might share the m.2 bus with a slot.

They are all different and you are going to have to spend some time reading reviews and looking through the specs. You can also go to the manufacturer's forums to read up on any potential issues.

 

[thatsright]

From a review from your link:

"I chose this motherboard because it's supposed to have two full speed (PCIe Gen3 x4) M.2 slots and I couldn't be more disappointed. The location of the M.2 slots is unfortunate though not that unusual (one is covered up by my CPU fan, the other by the graphic card) but that isn't the biggest problem. It turns out that if you have even one SATA drive installed (doesn't matter if it's HDD, SSD or optical), the speed of your very expensive M.2 PCIe x4 SSD is reduced to x2!

Other Thoughts: If you have a SATA drive, your only hope of getting full x4 speed from your M.2 PCIe x4 SSD is to install it via a PCIe x4 to M.2 adapter. According to Gigabyte, that "should work." I haven't tried it yet, but be advised that if you have anything installed in the PCIe x1_3 slot, the speed of the PCIe x4 slot is reduced to x1 or less. Of course the PCIe x1_3 slot is the most accessible of the three x1 slots, which is why it currently holds my WiFi card. You don't want to use the x8 slot for the M.2 adapter because that will reduce the speed of your graphic card in the top x16 slot to x8.".

Aww man, WTF. Looks like I'm back to square 1. Now my minimum at this point is full speed/bandwidth for my Samsung M.2 Ultra drive. Everything else I could live with a performance hit. (If the Vid card drops down to 8x, don't care about that one.)

 

[UsandThem]

Aww man, WTF. Looks like I'm back to square 1. Now my minimum at this point is full speed/bandwidth for my Samsung M.2 Ultra drive. Everything else I could live with a performance hit. (If the Vid card drops down to 8x, don't care about that one.)

I'm on mobile right now so I can't filter the results that much, but like I suggested earlier, go to Newegg and filter down to lga 1151 and then filter to how many m.2 ultra you want. I think the options were 1 or 3 m.2 ultra slots.

 

[Hugo Drax]

Folks - My 6 year old PC (yup) is dying and I'm building a new rig. I will be getting the Skylake i7-6700 CPU and for blazing fast OS/Apps the Samsung 950 Pro M.2 x4 Ultra SSD drive.

FYI-I DO NOT DO ANY GAMING OR OVER OVERCLOCK/TWEAK AT ALL.

Having difficulty picking out a board as it's been a long time. I want a full size ATX motherboard with GREAT on-board audio and support the fastest possible connection for the Samsung SSD. Besides that, I will be using 2-3 SATA 6 HD's and a video card I already have. I'm hoping to get a quality, NON-GAMING board for about $150 or less.

Can you suggest a few options?

You do not need to go that far, Just get a Samsung 850 Evo 1TB and be done with it. You will not push the iops/performance of the 1tb evo.

Spend your money on a better video card etc..

 

[UsandThem]

You do not need to go that far, Just get a Samsung 850 Evo 1TB and be done with it. You will not push the iops/performance of the 1tb evo.

Spend your money on a better video card etc..

I agree with this too.

I know you wanted at least one 950 Pro, but what are you doing that needs 950 Pro speed? Why all the additional SATA drives?

Even the $200 MSI z170a Gaming m7 board states:

Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
• 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports* (4 ports reserved for SATAe)
• 2 x M.2 slot*
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s standards,4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length M.2 SSD cards
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo U.2 Host Card**

• 2 x SATAe port (PCIe 3.0 x2) ***
• Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™ processors

* M.2, SATA and SATAe ports maximum support 1x M.2_PCIe + 6x SATAs or 1x M.2_SATA + 1x M.2_PCIe + 4x SATAs

 

[thatsright]

I agree with this too.

I know you wanted at least one 950 Pro, but what are you doing that needs 950 Pro speed? Why all the additional SATA drives?

Even the $200 MSI z170a Gaming m7 board states:

Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
• 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports* (4 ports reserved for SATAe)
• 2 x M.2 slot*
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s standards,4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length M.2 SSD cards
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo U.2 Host Card**

• 2 x SATAe port (PCIe 3.0 x2) ***
• Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™ processors

* M.2, SATA and SATAe ports maximum support 1x M.2_PCIe + 6x SATAs or 1x M.2_SATA + 1x M.2_PCIe + 4x SATAs

Guys, I need to get a Pro 950. Trust me on that. All the additional drives are for my image storage for my photography. And thus the size of the Pro 950 is more than enough for a long time to come.

And now that I think about it, getting two M.2 Ultra slots is not a MUST need. It was more of a 'nice to have' type thing. Same thing for USB 3.1. It will be a while until it's useful.

I will not get a new video card. There is no advantage or need or me to get one and don't need to spend any more $$.

 

[john3850]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx? Item=N82E16813128837&Tpk=N82E16813128837

I would order the the link a above and a PCIe x4 to M.2 adapter

 

[thatsright]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?
Item=N82E16813128837&Tpk=N82E16813128837

I would order the the link a above and a PCIe x4 to M.2 adapter

Bad link :-(