At $250 the Gigabyte Z170X-Designare motherboard is a bit on the expensive side for this chipset but it does come with a long list of features which make it interesting. This ATX board has both three reinforced PCIe 16x and 1x slots as well as onboard U.2, Thunderbolt 3 with dual USB 3.1 Type-C, and dual Intel LAN which is more that you find on a Z170 board. Modders Inc offers more information on additional features present on this board, including the RGB rash present on it, as well as performance benchmarks in this recent review.
"The majority of mainstream motherboards are priced under $200. When it comes to describing one situated north of this border, "practical" is not exactly the first word that comes to mind. For the budgetary pragmatic, this is indulgence territory and for the most part that is a correct assessment. But as the old proverb goes, all work and no play …"
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
Motherboards
- Asus Republic Of Gamers RAMPAGE V Edition 10 @ Guru of 3D
- ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming Aura @ Kitguru
- MSI Z170A MPOWER GAMING TITANIUM (Intel LGA1151) @ techPowerUp
- ASRock Fatal1ty X99 Professional Gaming i7 @ Kitguru
- Gigabyte X99-Ultra Gaming @ Kitguru
I want faster networking more
I want faster networking more common usb3.1 meh thunderbolt on a desktop meh, u.2 meh 10gbe > all that other shit, prices on networking equipment wont drop till its more common on consumer shit.
Thunderbolt 3 actually
Thunderbolt 3 actually includes 10Gb ethernet support. Only useful at the moment for directly connecting two computers – no switches or adapters exist that I’ve seen – but it’s there.
10gb switches for you juniper
10gb switches for you juniper also has some. http://www.netgear.co.uk/landing/10gigabit.aspx?cid=wmt_netgear_organic
Sure, I was thinking of a
Sure, I was thinking of a switch with USB-C ports so you could plug Thunderbolt into it directly. But you need optical cables to get any real distance on Thunderbolt, so an adapter is probably more practical.