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Can't Find a Place to Buy My Chosen Motherboard

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If you use a Gigabyte z170x board, you must update the BIOS before installing an i7 processor. You cannot update the BIOS unless you have 6th generation CPU (i3 or i5) already installed. I have the UD3 (not the UD3 Ultra) and it is a fine board. There are very few differences between the two boards. For me, it doesn't matter that the M.2 slots eat a lot of SATA slots. Considering the difference in cost and in spite of performance, I decided to go with ordinary SSDs.

Some people here have said that the i7 processors really don't offer enough improvements to justify the difference in price at this time.

Here's a link to the Gigabyte site with a comparison page showing the full specs, side-by-side, for the UD3, UD3 Ultra and the UD5:

http://www.gigabyte.com/Comparison/Result/2?pids=5480,5499,5891
 
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DrBEN said:
If you use a Gigabyte z170x board, you must update the BIOS before installing an i7 processor. You cannot update the BIOS unless you have an i6 or previous generation already installed. I have the UD3 (not the UD3 Ultra) and it is a fine board. There are very few differences between the two boards. For me, it doesn't matter that the M.2 slots eat a lot of SATA slots. Considering the difference in cost and in spite of performance, I decided to go with ordinary SSDs.

Some people here have said that the i7 processors really don't offer enough improvements to justify the difference in price at this time.

Here's a link to the Gigabyte site with a comparison page showing the full specs, side-by-side, for the UD3, UD3 Ultra and the UD5:

http://www.gigabyte.com/Comparison/Result/2?pids=5480,5499,5891
Click to expand...

Hey, did you successfully install sierra on the UD3? because I have that exact board and would like to be able to chat with someone who has it already installed... feel like giving me ur skype or anything to chat on? Thanks!
 
DrBEN said:
If you use a Gigabyte z170x board, you must update the BIOS before installing an i7 processor. You cannot update the BIOS unless you have an i6 or previous generation already installed
Click to expand...

What??? sorry im confused now, im planing on building my 1st hack with a z170x / i7 (like the building guide for customac pro suggests), but now i need an i6 first? what if i dont have an i6 "just laying around"?
 
Board manufacturer's have now brought out the Z270X MOBO series, which are designed specifically to work well with the i7 Kabylake processors. The Z170Xboards already in the sales distribution pipeline cannot run an i7-7700 with the factory BIOS on the board.

However, Gigabyte has a BIOS to download that will support the i7 on the Z170X but the BIOS must be installed and to install it you must have a compatible 6th generation Intel CPU (i3 or i5) already installed. In other words, Gigabyte has updated their BIOS as as to make it possible for you to use an i7 but they expect most (all?) Z170X users to be up and running already and therefore interested in updating to the i7, not in making an initial installation.

The real question is WHY you want to use a new generation CPU on a MOBO designed for the previous generation. The old board is cheaper of course (because people buying anything new usually want this years new model, not last years new model. That's why car dealers (and MOBO dealers) discount the old models.

Performance, however is not very different for the two processors on the Z170X board. If you were going with a newer Z270X MOBO, there might be some performance advantage, depending on your needs.

By the way, this is what the opening note to the April buyer's guide says:
"If you're building a CustoMac, Intel's 7th Generation Kaby Lake CPUs and 200 Series motherboards are now available, however the platform is not native yet in macOS. It is a great time to take advantage of closeout pricing on fully compatible components. Intel's 6th Generation Skylake CPU + 100 Series Motherboards + NVIDIA GeForce 'Pascal' Graphics Card is [still] the current recommendation." (emphasis added)
 
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DrBEN said:
Board manufacturer's have now brought out the Z270X MOBO series, which are designed specifically to work well with the i7 Kabylake processors. The Z170Xboards already in the sales distribution pipeline cannot run an i7-7700 with the factory BIOS on the board.

However, Gigabyte has a BIOS to download that will support the i7 on the Z170X but the BIOS must be installed and to install it you must have a compatible 6th generation Intel CPU (i3 or i5) already installed. In other words, Gigabyte has updated their BIOS as as to make it possible for you to use an i7 but they expect most (all?) Z170X users to be up and running already and therefore interested in updating to the i7, not in making an initial installation.

The real question is WHY you want to use a new generation CPU on a MOBO designed for the previous generation. The old board is cheaper of course (because people buying anything new usually want this years new model, not last years new model. That's why car dealers (and MOBO dealers) discount the old models.

Performance, however is not very different for the two processors on the Z170X board. If you were going with a newer Z270X MOBO, there might be some performance advantage, depending on your needs.

By the way, this is what the opening note to the April buyer's guide says:
"If you're building a CustoMac, Intel's 7th Generation Kaby Lake CPUs and 200 Series motherboards are now available, however the platform is not native yet in macOS. It is a great time to take advantage of closeout pricing on fully compatible components. Intel's 6th Generation Skylake CPU + 100 Series Motherboards + NVIDIA GeForce 'Pascal' Graphics Card is [still] the current recommendation." (emphasis added)
Click to expand...

Oh I see.... Thanks man! My confusion comes from that opening note " intel 6th generation skylake+ 100 mobo" cause it was recommended on the guide along with the z170 mobo, and when I googled "Intel 6th generation Skylake cpu" the i7 and i5 pops up.....so i thought the i7 was indeed a 6th generation skylake cpu compatible with the z170 mobo... :( **** man, back to the drawing board....no prob anyways cause i cant even find the f*** mobo that i need lol:banghead: edit: oh probably i was confused with the i7 4770 :eek:, THAT was the one on the list when i was selecting the parts (some time ago) ...would that be compatible with the z170?....any help is appreciated:mrgreen::mrgreen:
 
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