Ref'ing Sin's VRM list all three is true 8 phases but doing quick comparative on Asus site the Sabertooth's show support only 1866Mhz RAM , so +1 on Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO IMO.

1866MHz is plenty fast enough.

Hero is just a better value and better looking 😉

I agree RAM speed don't make huge differences in normal use.

Also your OC'ing the IMC thus could limit CPU OC.

But when I was buying RAM 2400Mhz was about same price as 1600MHz so thought why not?

Recently did a bench in XTU with XMP off thus RAM @ 1600MHz, score = 840 points.

Switched on XMP, RAM @ 2400MHz instant 200 increase at same CPU speeds.

So depending on what you do with rig does make a difference 😉 .

Another Vote for Hero... I have the Hero. really like it!

Really comes down to what you need in a mainboard

Alright I will be going with the Hero, my Ram is 1600, i have 32GB of it right now so if I move over to 1866 it wont be for a minute. My 1600 hasnt thrown any problems out yet. Also I do a lot of graphic design stuff for my hobby with sim racing. But nothing so heavy as to need a Tegra card or FirePro. And I dont overclock, I know its safe if done right, but the i7 4790k is beast before any of that, so I will approach that if I really need it.

So this is my first ground up load of an Intel i7 with integrated graphics, I am keeping my 7870 as the primary graphics until the R9 300s come out and i can see whether I want them or the 970/980 line.

My question is there any software you recommend I dont install that is intel related before loading up the AMD Omega driver for the Graphics when i do my reload. I know on my laptop i have to have the optimus stuff. Was not sure if I need it on the Desktop as well or if I can just ignore that and all will be fine.

do not instal the aisuite at all.
do clean instal of OS.