Welcome to our long-awaited guide on the best intel socket LGA 1151 Z170 motherboard for your next gaming rig. We have covered the top 12 most popular Z170 motherboards on the market and have reviewed them to help you decide which is the best Z170 motherboard for you. As usual, any questions let us know in the comments section and I’ll do my best to respond back ASAP! Enjoy our Z170 motherboard buyer’s guide!
The new Intel socket 1151 has brought about a flurry of new motherboards (and a whole generation of dedicated gaming motherboards) all fighting for the top position, with features galore. Asus, a rock solid brand already, gives an amazing showing with their Z170-A ATX DDR4 motherboard. It looks brilliant, with a white IO panel shroud, over black PCB board. The sound is fantastic, featuring Crystal Sound 3 for 8 channels of crisp audio, and DTS support. Asus also gives us their 5-way optimization system on this board, wrapping up 5 tuning elements into one click.
Included are an auto-tuning Turbo Processing Unit, able to clock a CPU up to 95% of its’ maximum frequency. An Energy Processing Unit, which can manage power consumption based on the PCs needs automatically. Fan Expert 3, which combines both software, and hardware calibration of the system fans for the most effective cooling setup. Intel IMVP8-compliant DIGI+ Power Control, which can increase system stability, overclocking potential, and power efficiency by ensuring stable digital power delivery. Finally, Turbo App, allowing for customized overclocking, cooling, network prioritization and audio profiles automatically applied, making the switch from gaming to watching a movie seamless. Plenty of PCIe slots and ports round out the package. With features galore, ASUS shows us yet again why it’s one of the top names in motherboards.
Gigabyte has always been a well-known brand in the PC world. They give us a lot of options, and generally, have enough models available that anyone looking for a certain selection of features can find something in their quiver that will hit the mark. Sometimes though, it’s nice just to have, you know, everything. The Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 DDR4 motherboard is the way to go when you want a monster rig, with room to grow, want it to look amazing, and need a top-quality brand backing it up. Among a slew of great features, some of the things that really make this board stand out are a pair of Gen3 X4 M.2 connectors that supports RAID on a pair of M.2 drives. It’s built using Gigabytes Ultra-Durable technology, and supports USB 3.1, and USB Type-C.
It allows for 3-way crossfire support, and 2-way SLI, on PCI Express 3.0 slots that have extra metal shielding, offering added stability for heavier video cards that can otherwise put stress on the slot. Also popular with gamers especially, it features the dual Intel Gigabit LAN with cFosSpeed. This advanced technology optimizes and improves network performance for specified applications, and uses advanced technology to deliver better response times on your network. Top it all off with a slick black and yellow heatsink array, and a demure lighting effect on the board, and there are very few who won’t be pleased with this hardware at the heart of their rig.
There’s nothing new about MSI producing amazing looking, quality motherboards. With the MSI Pro Solution Intel Z170a SLI Plus, they stay true to their reputation. The board itself looks like the embodiment of stealth. It’s got a pitch black PCB board, with black metal heatsinks, black memory slots, and sharp white branding. It doesn’t slack on the speed either, supporting up to DDR4-3600 speed memory, for those of us who need to push our speeds to the max. MSI has optimized this board for multi GPU support also, and has good spacing to allow for optimized airflow and cooling for your video cards. It’s on the low end of the Intel 1151 motherboard pricing, making it a runner-up for our pick of best budget Z170 motherboard. It’s a solid board, from a well known, quality company. It looks like a ninja, and supports all of the fastest components.
EVGA has been delighting enthusiasts with their FTW products for years. It’s easy to see at first glace that the EVGA Z170 FTW was calculated with a no-nonsense, performance-driven state of mind. It features a new BIOS GUI interface, a highly efficient VRM, and a CPU socket that they use 1.5 times the amount of gold content in, for improved signal quality. The 4 DDR4 slots support up to 64GB of DDR4 ram. Per usual, EVGA only used top of the line componants in the board, and it’s clear that the attention to detail there when they designed this beauty. The board is adorned with a black fin heat sink design, that not only gives it a powerful look, but performs amazingly to keep everything running cool. The FTW series has always been a gem, and this board is another addition to the line worth celebrating. It’s also our pick for best Z170 motherboard for gaming.
The Gigabyte GA-Z170X Gaming 3 motherboard is one of the 1151 offerings that won’t take a huge bite out of your wallet, but still offers all of the top-notch features of the Z170 boards, the Gigabyte quality we all appreciate, and a fantastic looking black and red board design. It features Audio Noise Guard technology, with LED path lighting, a Realtek ALC1150 audio with gain boost. 2-way SLI, and 3-way Crossfire for multi-GPU setups, and supports SATA Express, and M.2. Built with their signature long lifespan Durable Solid Caps this is a reasonably priced gaming motherboard with loads of ports (including SATA ports for SATA Express) and PCIe slots to satisfy all of your componant needs.
The MSI Performance Z170A Krait Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard is one of the sorts of motherboards that at first glance, MUST be one of the most expensive of the Z170 motherboards available. It’s got a gorgeous white and black colored design, MSI’s Military Class 4 quality components, plenty of ports, and a pair of shielded PCI-express slots for your biggest, baddest video card. The nice surprise, is that this motherboard is loaded with possibility. Match a nearly unbeatable price, with MSI quality, and enough capacity for years of upgrades, and this may be a hidden gem in the crop of Z170 motherboards.
Sometimes, it’s important to be impressive with your rig. Then, other times, you just want to make something so stunning, people take a second, third, then fourth look. MSI gives those of us looking for something ‘astounding’ the MSI Z170A MPower GAMING TITANIUM motherboard. The obvious curb appeal of this motherboard is stunning. It’s got nearly 100% titanium silver coloration, with a few black highlights, making this an amazing pick if you’re looking for something UV reactive, or otherwise pleasing to gaze at. It’s made to last too, with heavy plated premium heatsinks to ensure your system stays cool even during the longest overclocking or gaming nights. Titanium on the inside and the outside to deliver the best possible performance, this motherboard is designed with Titanium strengthened PCB and Titanium chokes as well, staying true to its’ namesake.
Gigabyte always gives us good options, regardless of chipset. The Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3, however, may stand out not for the high standard of quality Gigabyte has, nor the laundry-list of features it boasts. What may catch your eye on this board is the remarkably low price tag. You’d imagine that at such a low price, they might skimp, but rest assured they pack this board with fantastic bonuses. It features LAN with ESD protection and the Gigabyte LAN optimizer. It’s built with long lifespan Durable Solid Caps, and their software solutions (APP Center), includes their Easy Tune app, and Cloud Station utilities. It comes standard with Gigabyte’s UEFI Dual BIOS, and for any budget builder is a no-brainer for high quality at a rock bottom price.
Combining quality with a plethora of features is nothing new for EVGA, but with the EVGA Z170 Stinger, there’s some really nice stuff under the hood to be the backbone of any top-quality build. It’s got a high-quality and excellent looking 8-layer PCB foundation featuring a nearly all-black design. Breaking from the ninja-black motif, there is a red LED strip along the board, as well as some platinum accents. It supports 3600+ speed DDR4 for anyone needing blazing fast speeds, and a really nice feature is the 4-way SLI support. It has the requisite PCIe slots and ports. Not all of us need to max out our rig, but if you do, this is a pretty solid place to start.
The MSI Z170A Gaming M3 is a motherboard to be reckoned with. Produced to impress, and sporting a matte black and blood-red design, it looks fast, and it boasts added features galore. MSI starts with their OC Engine, beefed up for MSI Z170 motherboards. The external clock generator gives more freedom to achieve the maximum overclock for your setup, and also offers lower jitter and less power consumption for even higher stability for extreme conditions. They also include DDR4 Boost technology with optimized traces and fully isolated memory circuitry that ensures the memory signals stay pure for optimal performance and stability. For the audiophiles, it has Audio Boost 3, powered by Nahimic Sound Technology. Delivering the highest sound quality through premium quality audio components.
When you need power, but you also need it to be compact, your options can seem limited. Leave it to ASUS to lift those limitations with the ASUS ROG Mazimus VIII GENE. This is a microATX motherboard that boasts some serious power and some serious perks. The motherboard supports ASUS’s 5-way ROG optimization suite, for 1-click system wide performance improvements. Nice selection of inputs and output ports. To sweeten the deal, it supports memory up to 3600+ speeds, and type C USB 3.1. What’s really amazing is that despite the small form factor, this tiny beauty has 2 full PCIe x16 3.0 slots and supports SLI, so even in a tiny package, you can still rock a pair of the fastest cards you can squeeze into your case.
If you need a gorgeous motherboard, but need it to be rock solid underneath, the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Ultra Gaming is a beautiful choice. It looks splendid, with LED tracing, and LED accents for the CPU, memory, and PCIe lanes. Speaking of PCIe lanes, they are all metal-shielded for extra durability, and it boasts 3 full x16 slots. Gigabyte continues their attention to detail with their Ultra-Durable anti rust rear panel, and anti-sulfur resistors, so if you’re not looking for a disposable motherboard, this should stand the test of time. As if it needed more to make it stand out from the rest of it’s peers, it’s got Intel GbE LAN with cFossSpeed Internet Accelerator software for LAN perfection, and high quality audio capacitors and audio noise guard for top-quality sound.