good bang for the buck Z170 motherboard

[AhokZYashA]

hi guys,

I found an interesting offer for the i5 6600k + Asrock Extreme6 + 8GB of DDR4,
for about 450 dollars.

I want to ask, if the asrock Extreme6 is a good motherboard.
because I used to hear asrock is one of the low end brands to go for.
or if theres any other Z170 board that is better for that price.

thanks in advance.

PS. I scrap my idea of finding a good X58 board to go with my X5675.
its really hard to find.

 

[Jetster]

Asrock use to be a low end boards years ago. No longer though. They tend to be good overclocking boards and good quality. No the best but good.

 

[RejZoR]

From what I've seen, their high end ones are just as good as any other high end. They also have quite few records under their sleeve...

 

[AhokZYashA]

so the quality of the board is good?
what if compared to Z170-Gaming 5 or the Asus Z170-Pro Gaming.
is it better? or just pretty much the same all round?

 

[Jetster]

Same, really most the boards nowadays are very comparable. You might find the finish on the Gigabyte and ASUS boards a little better if you lay them side by side

 

[RejZoR]

Have you seen the AsRock's Extreme 1151 boards? They look amazing.

 

[Jetster]

Have you seen the AsRock's Extreme 1151 boards? They look amazing.

No I haven't seen them yet. Do they have any warp?

 

[AhokZYashA]

they do look good,
but Im not so sure about the reliability and the longetivity of the components itself

I currently using an old asus P5Q3, its about 6 years old, and still going strong till now

 

[RejZoR]

Warp? Warp drive, no. If you mean warped PCB, that usually happens when you tighten the CPU cooler too much and it bends (warps) the whole motherboard. If something else, please elaborate...

 

[R-T-B]

Warp? Warp drive, no. If you mean warped PCB, that usually happens when you tighten the CPU cooler too much and it bends (warps) the whole motherboard. If something else, please elaborate...

With some of the humongous air coolers available these days, that can actually happen in a proper install if the board is not mega stiff/strong.

 

[GhostRyder]

they do look good,
but Im not so sure about the reliability and the longetivity of the components itself

I currently using an old asus P5Q3, its about 6 years old, and still going strong till now

Have not had any complaints from people about asrock in awhile. I have seen one asrock board in recent memory arrive DOA and that is it from my personal experience which I can say about any board company.

I would have no problem using one for myself if that helps.

 

[RejZoR]

they do look good,
but Im not so sure about the reliability and the longetivity of the components itself

I currently using an old asus P5Q3, its about 6 years old, and still going strong till now

Most AsRock boards are durability focused, apart from few base models.

 

[AsRock]

Keep with the $100+ ASRock mobo's and all should be good, and their support is not bad at all.

 

[Jetster]

Warp as in not straight. And I think I would know if it was the cooler. Its from the soldering process. Gigabyte uses higher quality boards so they end up strighter. All boards have some bend to them. Check it with a straight edge. But even more. Look at the soldering joints. Compare the board side by side.
Don't get me wrong. ASRock makes great boards. Its just the finish like I said

 

[AsRock]

But if it's in a case screwed down correctly there is no warp lol.


My x68 and my Z77 been perfectly fine over the last 2-3 years.

EDIT: yes go ASUS were they make you feel it be easier to stab your self in the eye then getting there support to treat you right.

 

[Jetster]

ASRock replaced a socket that had some issues for no charge. The board went there and back in 15 days. There a great company. ASUS is another story I can confirm that. And yes all the boards are the same after you screw it down

 

[AhokZYashA]

because i've had great experience with ASUS and gigabyte boards in the past,
i tend to stick to that brand of motherboard.

based on what i see on the motherboard itself (Extreme6) the uses pretty good rated components, and looks sexy too.
is it okay, to make a decision on a motherboard based on the components the manufacturer claim?

 

[Luka KLLP]

because i've had great experience with ASUS and gigabyte boards in the past,
i tend to stick to that brand of motherboard.

based on what i see on the motherboard itself (Extreme6) the uses pretty good rated components, and looks sexy too.
is it okay, to make a decision on a motherboard based on the components the manufacturer claim?

Well, don't forget a whole bunch of people just said that Asrock is a good brand
If you put that together with the pros you just mentioned, I'd say there isn't really a big thing holding you back from getting the Asrock.

I understand your pain though, personal experience is still (for me at least) the #1 thing that makes me decide what brand I'm gonna go for...

 

[newtekie1]

I have been using AsRock boards for the past several years. They are my preferred brand. Just in the Z97 series I own/owned the Z97 Extreme3, Extreme4, Extreme6, Z97X Fatality. All solid boards, even the Extreme3. I did have a Z97 Extreme 3 that I had to send back to newegg, it had a bad VGA port and a bad ethernet port. However, I bought that board as an Open Box, so I have no idea how it was treated before it got to me, so I can't really blame AsRock for that. I also own/owned several AM3+ and FM2+ AsRock boards.

As for the board warping, that is more prone on boards with less PCB layers(hence thinner PCBs). I believe the Extreme6(and possibly Extreme4) has 6 layers, so it is plenty strong.

 

[Static~Charge]

I've installed some ASRock motherboards over the past couple years. They're good boards, and they all worked fine with one exception. The troublesome board wouldn't POST until I cleared the CMOS (strange, since is was new, not used or open-box); after that, it worked great.

Having said all this, any motherboard manufacturer can accidentally ship a dud. In my experience, ASRock hasn't been any worse than ASUS, Gigabyte, or MSI.

 

[AhokZYashA]

im 80% leaning towards the asrock board now,
because the extreme series is the high end model, im sure it cant really go wrong.
thanks all for the answers,

i will check back and inform, when i got the board.
which is probably next month or so

 

[R00kie]

Was actually eyeing an Asus Z170-A board. Looks like a Deluxe, less bells and whistles, supports SLI and doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

 

[Woomack]

For me ASRock is more reliable and has better support than most ( if not all ) other brands.
In last 3 years I made at least 8+ RMA on Gigabyte boards - OC/SOC Z87/Z97 and 990FX, 7+ RMA on ASUS X79, Z77, Z87, X99, AM1 ( all ROG except AM1 ) and 4+ RMA on MSI Z77, X79, X99. In this time I made 1 RMA on ASRock FM2+ Extreme6+ board. ASRock Z97 OCF, Z87M OCF and Z97M OCF were the only motherboards which were not even once in RMA and I sold them later. Right now I have X99M Killer 3.1 which is working fine ( and I hope it will stay like that for longer ).

I wouldn't worry about ASRock. Their Extreme series for Intel are really solid and usually there is nothing better looking at price/performance/quality.
I also like that ASRock has longer BIOS support for most their boards than other brands. ASUS has longer support only for ROG series for Intel.