Z170? Under load, which should I choose?

[Nezakhan]

HI!

Streaming is an afterthought to my main goal, which is content creation. I'm planning a dual PC build, but at this point I'll be starting with just one PC to be able to handle gaming, recording gameplay, recording camera, recording audio. Production will include simulated streaming through editing.

My concern is that I'm not sure which Asus Z170 motherboard is best suited for that kind of heavy load. I'll likely go after a capture card at some point, but at the same time I was advised to us OBS NVENC for lossless capture.

Prior to the release of the Z170 I had a Z-97 E-WS in my build. It has the most incredible true lane 16x support.
7 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (single x16 or dual x16/x16 or triple x16/x16/x16 or quad x16/x16/x16/x16 or seven x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8)

Storage design aside, which Asus Z170 motherboard do you recommend?

http://www.asus.com/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-RANGER/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH-Z170-MARK-1/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-PRO-GAMING/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-A/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-AR/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-DELUXE/ <- probably this one
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-K/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-P/

 

[Wolf Lord Caldersson]

nope not asus, not touching one of those until their RMA and customer service improve. Sure Linus from Linus Tech Tips needs a custom bios that is done in mere hours. I need a screw that they forgot to put in their cooler and it takes 3 months.

 

[Nezakhan]

Sounds the same as how I feel about MadCatz products.

Keyboard arrives with dead lights and state lights stuck on. RMA and received another. No dead lights, but still problems.
Mouse arrives and works fine for 3 weeks. The scroll button "falls" loose and no longer works, no resistance, nothing. RMA and received another, but not the same mouse... they want me to record me cutting the mouse before they ship me the correct replacement. I don't have the energy anymore, nor the interest in being without a mouse for however long they decide to take to replace it.

 

[Pr0totype dFA]

So far my Maximus Guitar Hero VIII mobo is working pretty well. I've been monitoring it for a week and probably will OC things shortly. I was originally going to get the ASRock Extreme 7+ but it was unavailable at the time so I ended up with this one. I haven't had the experience with ASUS in 10 years so I'm not sure how things are. MSI is kind of the brand I avoided after personal experiences on multiple accounts but it gets praised by many. But yeah, so far the Hero VIII is doing pretty well and will have to do further tests

 

[Azmodeth]

HI!

Streaming is an afterthought to my main goal, which is content creation. I'm planning a dual PC build, but at this point I'll be starting with just one PC to be able to handle gaming, recording gameplay, recording camera, recording audio. Production will include simulated streaming through editing.

My concern is that I'm not sure which Asus Z170 motherboard is best suited for that kind of heavy load. I'll likely go after a capture card at some point, but at the same time I was advised to us OBS NVENC for lossless capture.

Prior to the release of the Z170 I had a Z-97 E-WS in my build. It has the most incredible true lane 16x support.
7 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (single x16 or dual x16/x16 or triple x16/x16/x16 or quad x16/x16/x16/x16 or seven x16/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8/x8)

Storage design aside, which Asus Z170 motherboard do you recommend?

http://www.asus.com/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-RANGER/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH-Z170-MARK-1/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-PRO-GAMING/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-A/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-AR/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-DELUXE/ <- probably this one
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-K/
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-P/

I am not a fan of ASUS too, because they like to lock things down on their mobile end and do not conform to easy standards and instead have their own proprietary designs. I would recommedn EVGA though for a better warranty on the motherboard, and don't go and get something overkill, any Z170 chipset is going to be great, pick an FTW and no higher, no need for "Classified"