Which motherboard? ASUS HERO IX vs GIGABYTE GAMING 7 (270z) / Music Production Hack

[gundogg9999]

Friends,
I will buy the following parts, and I am undecided on the motherboard.
The thing is I want Thunderbolt for the future. There seems to be more golden builds and more complete instructions for ASUS motherboards, maybe due to @Stork and @pastrychef builds.

Now, there are some good guides for Gigabyte stuff 270 - but none of them are 100% complete/working.

Bella (yes, Ive already named her) will be used for music production - 100%. Although I do not have a TB audio device now - in a year there is a high chance that I will purchase now.

It would appear to a Novice - that an ASUS motherboard is the way to go given the instructions. Of course I could always add the thunderbolt expansion in the future.

I also notice that the ASUS Hero IX has a lot of great I/O at the backs. And I could add the expansion card in a year - but how reliable is this?

What are the advantages of ASUS vs Gigabyte? What is the reason most go with ASUS?

Anyway here is the other parts list below. I think generally the other parts make sense. Its just the motherboard.

Thanks peeps. You guys rock.

Peace. Gdogg.

PARTS:
PSU: 850 Watt EVGA SuperNOVA G2 850 Modular 80+ Gold
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX schwarz DDR4-3000 DIMM CL15 Single (I realise maybe I need to change for ASUS board)
HDD: 500GB Samsung 960 Evo M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 32Gb/s 3D-NAND TLC Toggle (MZ-V6E500BW)
CPU: Intel Core i7 7700K 4x 4.20GHz So.1151 WOF
CASE: Fractal Design Define S Midi Tower ohne Netzteil schwarz
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12S Tower Kühler
EDIT: Graphics card - I will use the onboard graphics for now - due to financial reasons.

 

[Stork]

Have you seen some of BoomR's builds and sticky threads in the Music forum section? He's a recording engineer with a lot of experience.

I just use GarageBand with MyHero for my recording requirements. I do have a Firewire PCIe card to interface with my external audio units.

I was a long time Gigabyte motherboard user until on of the moderators suggested I try the ASUS motherboards. I'm sold on the ASUS motherboards as they have a BIOS that is very easy to use.

As for Thunderbolt, well, IMO, unless you're professional recording engineer, you can do without it. I came to that conclusion with my Thunderbolt 1 system (Thunderball...I name my systems). The peripherals are expensive and IMO don't have a good "bang for the buck" versus Firewire, USB 3+ and/or eSATA.

However, he said, I've read that Intel will reduce the cost (if not eliminate) the royalty cost charge to use their Thunderbolt chipsets in 2018. So, Thunderbolt costs could be almost negligible and comparable to USB and Firewire in cost. So, I'd wait for Thunderbolt if you really need it.

MyHero, which is a VIII HERO, has a motherboard header for the optional ASUS ThunderboltEX 3 card. But, that card is a $70+ option. IIRC, the IX HERO has the header, too. The new Coffee Lake X HERO motherboard might does not have it.

 

[gundogg9999]

Stork, thanks mate.
I am setting up the machine for a professional home studio - I expect the machine to last me 3-5 years. its going to cost me 1500 euro in the end, and nowadays you can buy some good hardware with that kind of money - Thats why Im trying to educate myself and plan for the future. In my community portable audio interfaces it is about 50% Focusrite (USB) and 50% UAD. So the TB need may well and truly arise. RME is also very popular.

I read something about the "Channels" on the Gigabyte not being shared well between m.2 and ssd? Does someone know more about this? Any other troubles?

Ok so Bios on ASUS is better. Ive never had issues with Bios?!
Any other advantages anyone?

Will check out the @BoomR stuff. cheers