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Z270 question - Maximus IX Hero vs TUF Mark 1 vs Strix Z270E

Chapel
Level 7

‎01-12-2017 06:34 AM - last edited on ‎03-05-2024 10:56 PM by Community Admin

I'm thinking of building my first rig in a LONG while. I'm coming from Westmere-EP Dual Xeons right now. I'm trying to see which motherboard to get. These are the 3 Asus models I'm looking at.
Maximus IX Hero - $235
TUF Z270 Mark 1 - $250
Strix Z270-E Gaming - $190

I'm having a hard time with the comparison tools to see exactly why I should get one or the other.
I already have some DDR4-4000 memory to use, does that immediately cut out any of them?
I'm also planning on using two NVMe drives in RAID

I'm also trying to figure out which has onboard Thunderbolt (and I'm not even sure I care about that being there, but would be nice to have)

Which would you get and why?

If you choose the Hero, would you go with the Code over that and why?
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brkkab123
Level 7

‎01-12-2017 07:19 AM

As far as sound goes the Hero will kick the Sabertooth's ass. The Hero has SuprememFX where the Sabertooth doesn't. The Strixx may have it, too.
I went from a Saberttoth 990FX R 2.0 to a Maximus VIII Hero and I can't believe the sound difference between both pc's with the same Logitech 5.1 speakers.
As far as a Z270 mobo and a new Kabylake cpu, I don't see enough of a increase to warrant a mobo & cpu upgrade.
It's more of a upgrade for o;der desktops and laptops.Newer laptops, too, due to improvements the cpu has for saving power.
My pc runs 24/7 while it's folding@home and don't need anything lower powered.
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Chapel
Level 7
In response to brkkab123

‎01-12-2017 11:54 AM

brkkab123 wrote:
As far as sound goes the Hero will kick the Sabertooth's ass. The Hero has SuprememFX where the Sabertooth doesn't. The Strixx may have it, too.
I went from a Saberttoth 990FX R 2.0 to a Maximus VIII Hero and I can't believe the sound difference between both pc's with the same Logitech 5.1 speakers.
As far as a Z270 mobo and a new Kabylake cpu, I don't see enough of a increase to warrant a mobo & cpu upgrade.
It's more of a upgrade for o;der desktops and laptops.Newer laptops, too, due to improvements the cpu has for saving power.
My pc runs 24/7 while it's folding@home and don't need anything lower powered.


Well, my PC is from 2009 with 2011 processors, it's an upgrade (sort of) for me.
What is SuprememFX?
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brkkab123
Level 7

‎01-12-2017 07:23 AM

Sorry for any misspells, had 2 surgeries last week to rebuild a complex fractyyresd and dislocated left ankle. I'm alittle bit doped up on meds they prescribed for the 2 surgeries.
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brkkab123
Level 7

‎01-12-2017 07:24 AM

I will say my pc is the best sounding device in the house now.
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Chino
Level 15

‎01-12-2017 07:29 AM

The Maximus XI Hero should fit your needs. It's an awesome motherboard and has that onboard Thunderbolt header that you're looking for. 🙂
Overclocking The Core i7-7700K With DIP5 |Overclocking the Strix GTX 1080 | OC Panel & OC Panel II Guide | Overclocking i7-6700K to 4.6GHz | R5E 128GB DDR4 Setup | Liquid Cooling GTX 980 Ti Poseidon | R5E M.2 FAQ
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Chapel
Level 7
In response to Chino

‎01-12-2017 04:03 PM

Chino wrote:
The Maximus XI Hero should fit your needs. It's an awesome motherboard and has that onboard Thunderbolt header that you're looking for. 🙂


would you step up to the next one (Code) if the price were less than $50 difference?
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Chino
Level 15
In response to Chapel

‎01-13-2017 06:34 PM

Chapel wrote:
would you step up to the next one (Code) if the price were less than $50 difference?


If money is no option, I would definately get the Code over the Hero. 🙂
Overclocking The Core i7-7700K With DIP5 |Overclocking the Strix GTX 1080 | OC Panel & OC Panel II Guide | Overclocking i7-6700K to 4.6GHz | R5E 128GB DDR4 Setup | Liquid Cooling GTX 980 Ti Poseidon | R5E M.2 FAQ
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Menthol
Level 14

‎01-12-2017 05:43 PM

I haven't checked the specs but I am sure any of those boards are very good choices, personally I would go Hero, the code has the armor which may not be the best idea for fast M.2 drives as far as temps of the drives, if you use the Samsung 950/960 they are already superfast and raid is not much improvement.

The biggest thing I see is don't have high hopes of running the memory at 4000mhz, they may but again they may not, there is not a guarantee of that speed and not all CPU's will do it even if the board supports it. and will take some tuning to get there if it does work.
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Chapel
Level 7
In response to Menthol

‎01-12-2017 05:51 PM

Menthol wrote:
I haven't checked the specs but I am sure any of those boards are very good choices, personally I would go Hero, the code has the armor which may not be the best idea for fast M.2 drives as far as temps of the drives, if you use the Samsung 950/960 they are already superfast and raid is not much improvement.

The biggest thing I see is don't have high hopes of running the memory at 4000mhz, they may but again they may not, there is not a guarantee of that speed and not all CPU's will do it even if the board supports it. and will take some tuning to get there if it does work.


why wouldn't the memory run at 4000Mhz? It's TridentZ 4000Mhz memory. I was only planning on doing a RAID0 on the 960 EVOs for the 1TB of capacity. (It's cheaper than the 1TB by itself by like $200)

here are the parts I've already assembled. At this point I'm just waiting for Ryzen to see if it's worth it over the i7-7700K

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-4000 Memory (Purchased For $194.99)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-4000 Memory (Purchased For $194.99)
Storage: Samsung 960 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (Purchased For $269.00)
Storage: Samsung 960 Evo 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (Purchased For $269.00)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $349.99)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card (Purchased For $629.99)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA P2 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $149.99)
Monitor: Dell UP2516D 25.0" 2560x1440 60Hz Monitor (Purchased For $0.00)
Monitor: Dell S2417DG 23.8" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $2057.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-12 20:50 EST-0500
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