Can't Find a Place to Buy My Chosen Motherboard

[Ailuros]

It's like the title says. I've asked on here about my build before (see here). Then, I was just seeking general thoughts. But now that I'm ready to start buying parts, I find that no place has the motherboard I want unless it is used in "acceptable" condition (Amazon) or it is absurdly expensive (over 2x the usual price). What should I do? I will not compromise and buy a lesser board, but I want to maintain maximum compatibility with OS X for my build. Does anyone know places to get parts online that are off the beaten path and won't require me to drive cross-country to get the darn thing? Or maybe a comparable motherboard with the same features and compatibility? The board in question is the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD3 Ultra (not the regular UD3)

Edit: While Googling furiously, I lucked across a page comparing the UD3 Ultra to the Ultra Gaming. Further comparison of Gigabyte's own site shows the two are nearly identical. I'm not sure what differences (if any) there are between the two, but the Ultra Gaming is on the Buyer's Guide. Does anyone know of a reason why I couldn't substitute the Ultra Gaming for the UD3 Ultra?

 

[trs96]

I would go with the Z170X-UD3 and skip the gaming version. Any model with "gaming" attached to it has more bling like LED lights and flashy colors that you pay more for. The UD3 can do anthing you need it to and only costs 100 USD AR right now.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...128840&cm_re=z170X-UD3-_-13-128-840-_-Product

Makes the choice very easy. That's my view point on the decision you need to make. If you want to spend 60 dollars more and can afford it, no reason you couldn't get the gaming version. You'd be paying more for overclocking features, liquid cooling support and TH3 which you may not use. If you have to have TH3 it might justify the extra cost.

 

[Ailuros]

TH3?

 

[trs96]

TH3?

shorthand for Thunderbolt 3

 

[Ailuros]

Ah. Thunderbolt 3? Does it have USB C (3.1)? That's what I really care about.

 

[trs96]

The basic UD3 model has USB C 3.1

 

[Ailuros]

Okay. According to this, it looks like that the 3 main suggestions in the buying guide for a CustoMac Pro are almost exactly the same. The only real big thing I see on this comparison site is that the UD3 Ultra has a MiniDisplay Port instead of a DisplayPort, more supported overclocking frequencies, and an internal COM port instead of an Ultra M.2. Also, it looks like the UD3 only has a VGA instead of DisplayPort, but I intend to use HDMI, so that's not a big deal. So, I might just go for the UD5 or UD3. Oh, and the UD3 doesn't have DisplayPort but VGA?

 

[trs96]

DisplayPort isn't needed onboard (motherboard) because you'll have multiple DPs on the 1060 graphics card.

 

[Ailuros]

Yeah. I didn't figure that was a big deal. I'm more concerned about running into an issue like this.

 

[Stompyy]

I own the ud3 and can say it's a pretty neat board for the price. 2x m.2 slots and has some orange leds if you care for aesthetics. Still need to try to hackintosh it though, but I guess there shouldn't be any major issue in regards to that.