The GA-Z170N sure does seem to be a popular board. I almost got one myself, but went with the H170 instead.
I'm still leaning towards the ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Impact, or the other one they released, B150, I think? But I'm just trying to find the best bang for my buck. I'll have some money at the end of the year (CD Maturing) to spend. Using some of it to buy a computer. Would like to keep it under $2k with the OS/Monitor, etc. Rest will be rent/furniture/back into another CD.
This topic has derailed before it even started
But I don't see a problem with a general chat topic, although we do already have fragmented topics like the "What did you do today ?", "Because we should laugh at least once a day", "Show your new toys Topic" and "What games are you playing?", which for me covers a lot of stuff I'm willing to share.
Another forum I'm on it's called the Whore Thread, lol. People just hop in the thread and chat about non-sense all day. Biggest thread on the form. Figured since this one is pretty new, instead of having to hunt and create a new thread for every single little comment, might as well have one big one.
A few suggestions I'd like to make on your list:
- a Z170 board has not much use if not paired with a overclocking-enabled CPU (i5-6600K or i7-6700K), since every board from the H110 to the Z170 will perform exactly the same. It's features and extras that remains if overclocking isn't needed. As
@BirdofPrey mentioned you could look into a H170 board that has probably the same feature set but costs considerably less.
I'll take a look! If I go with the above build (I have a few others that do list the 6600K) it'll be a starter build that I'd upgrade overtime. So I'd like to stay with a motherboard that I could use the 6600K with if I so desire to upgrade.
- The FuryX RAM is pretty, but it's wasted money. Just get the cheapest pair of 2133 or 2400MHz (about the same price) with CAS Latency at 15ms or lower with as low-profile heatsinks as possible (or none at all) because these are an unexpected enemy in SFF world, giving problems with CPU cooling in general. "Crucial Ballistix Sport" and "G.Skill Value F4" seem like good choices.
My build is going to be a lot aesthetics. As much as I like the massively tiny frames/towers/cases that you folks here use, they wouldn't really be much good to me. I'm aiming to make something I can look at everyday and enjoy. One of my builds features the NZXT Hue+ and the Crucial Vengeance LED RAM. Yeah I know, get the pitchforks out! I'm starting with the Raijintek Metis and using these two builds as inspiration.
Mod 0 by Newbtek (PCPP) -
http://pcpartpicker.com/b/hPCypg
Bombate ITX by Bloob002 (PCPP) -
http://pcpartpicker.com/b/stjcCJ
If I can't get the Metis to look and feel how I want it to, I'd probably move into either a Fractal Design Define Nano S, a EVOLV ITX, or a Geeekstore A10 if I can get my hands on one. Something a bit large with more room to experiement. Originally I wanted a Manta, but since I don't plan on doing any massive water-cooled loops it's not really needed.
- Potentially with the money saved on these two previous items, you can buy a larger SSD if needed.
I have a couple of them sitting around the house, so I'm not too worried about it.
- the ST45SF-G power supply is a noisy one, I'd much rather recommend the Corsair SF450.
I'll take a look, haven't done much in the way of power supplies just yet. I'm still looking around for good deals and whatnot on them, but seeing as how it won't be till the end of the year I have to bide my time.
