Question 1

Is this board big enough to fit the Geforce GTX 980 TI?

Accepted Answer

Yes it will fit fine. Although, the board is not the issue concerning whether or not a 980ti will fit, you should be more concerned about whether or not your case can fit it, and 980ti's can vary greatly in size

Question 2

How many sata cables does this come with? I see the picture and can't tell if it is 2 or 3.

Accepted Answer

Three total.  They come in two packages; one package contains a single regular cable.  The other package contains a single regular cable and a single cable with a right-angle/90 degree connector at one end.

Question 3

is this motherboard compatible with lga 1150 socket cpu's???

Accepted Answer

No - It's compatible with only LGA 1151 CPU 's
All current Skylake processors would be compatible

Question 4

How good is the onboard internet on this thing? Do I need a wired network adapter to get good internet? I assume I will need a wireless network adapter at least though.

Accepted Answer

The onboard NIC is fine in both basic function and performance.  It is a relatively modern chip (Intel I219-V) that works on several modern OSes, at least.  I have jumbo frames enabled, and I get within reasonable shouting distance of theoretical maxes which transferring large files . . . which is probably all you can ask for.  I have not tried any kind of real traffic managing/shaping over it, though.  Your assumption is correct; you will need a separate wireless adapter.  I have chosen a PCIe-based 7260 model, and it works fine with Win10 and variants of modern Linux.

Question 5

Will the MSI Radeon r9 390x fit on this?

Accepted Answer

That card will work fine. Card length generally doesn't matter to motherboards, but you should check that there's enough room in your case for it.

Question 6

Does this motherboard have wifi?

Accepted Answer

No, only ethernet.  You will need a WiFi card/ dongle

Question 7

The board has headers for additional USB 2 and USB 3 ports.  The manual says that the hardware needed to use these is 'purchased separately'.  Could someone point me to the part that I would need to make use of these ports?

Accepted Answer

Most PC cases come with the cables you need. They tend be attached to the external USB 2/3.0 ports on the front of the case and then have 18" or so worth of cable extension with the header adapter to plug into a motherboard. So if your case has external ports on it you should already have everything you need. If you don't, you will need to find expansion ports designed to go in external 5 1/2" bays. If you don't have those ports on your case send me another email question and I'll help you pick out some potential options.

Question 8

Does this motherboard have support for  SLI?

Accepted Answer

Yes it does and they provide an SLI bridge as well. Though that bridge might not work woth the nvidia 10 series

Question 9

How many fans am I able to connect to the motherboard?  I am trying to find out what type of case I should buy.  It seems like in the specs it mentions something about 4 fan connectors.  Does this mean I can have a max of 4 fans in my case.

Accepted Answer

You can have a max number of 4 fans in your case that can be controlled through the motherboard. If you want to control more fans, you just need to get a fan controller and add that in. Or you can just get fans and connect them to power, but you won't be able to control their speed/noise.

Question 10

I have a question about the quality of the onboard audio, for years i have been a 100% soundcard user and always found onboard sound lacking far behind in quality, but it has been quite a few years now, has onboard audio caught up? and will i get 5.1 sound that compare to my Soundblaster Xtrememusic card?

and is there sufficient adjustability in the onboard software? My board/parts are shipping now and hope to be building next week and im perplexed at what route to go with on audio as my PC is also my stereo.

Any thoughts / advice is greatly appreciated!!

-Scott

Accepted Answer

I'm currently using the SPDIF output on this motherboard and an Denon home theater amplifier to handle audio tasks, and I've found the audio to be more than acceptable for my needs - the noise floor is hard to detect (lower than the noise floor of my listening space) and I haven't heard any sign of interference from other computer components. I have not been happy with the driver support (Using Win10 64bit), and have had to remove and reinstall the drivers on a couple occasions when an application crash caused the audio driver to stop working. I don't think this is a motherboard problem per se, but your Soundblaster card may have better driver support. Since it sounds like you've already made the purchase, you can always try both ways and see what you like better.

Brand	ASUS
Model	Z170-A

CPU Socket Type	LGA 1151
CPU Type	Celeron / Core i3 / Core i5 / Core i7 / Intel Core 6th Gen (LGA 1151) / Pentium

Number of Memory Slots	4x288pin (DDR4)
Memory Standard	DDR4 3400(O.C.)/ 3333/ 3200/ 3100/ 3000/ 2933/ 2800/ 2666/ 2600/ 2400*/ 2133
Maximum Memory Supported	64GB
Channel Supported	Dual Channel

PCI Express 3.0 x16	2 x PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 slots (single at x16 or dual at x8/x8 mode) 1 x PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 slot* (max. at x4 mode, compatible with PCIe x1 and x4 devices) * The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with SATA6G_56. The PCIe x16_3 is default set at x2 mode.
PCI Express x1	3 x PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x1 slots
PCI Slots	1 x PCI Slot

Serial ATA (SATA)	6 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports (gray, 2 from SATA Express)
SATA Express	1 x SATA Express port (compatible with 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports)
M.2	1 x M.2 Socket 3 with M Key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (both SATA & PCIE mode)* Supports PCIE RAID configurations via onboard M.2 and PCIex16_3. * M.2 shares SATA mode with SATA Express. Change this item before installing M.2 SATA devices.
SATA RAID	0/1/5/10

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PS/2	1 x PS/2 keyboard/mouse port
Video Ports	1 x DVI-D
HDMI	1 x HDMI
RJ45	1 x RJ45
DisplayPort	1 x DisplayPort
USB 3.1	1 x USB 3.1/3.0/2.0 ports (teal blue, Type A) 1 x USB 3.1/3.0/2.0 ports (Type C)
USB 3.0	2 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports (blue)
USB 1.1/2.0	2 x USB 2.0 ports
S/PDIF Out	1 x Optical
Audio Ports	8-channel Audio I/O ports

Onboard USB	2 x USB 3.0/2.0 connectors support additional 4 USB ports (19-pin) 2 x USB 2.0/1/1 connectors support additional 4 USB ports
Other Connectors	1 x CPU Fan connector (4-pin) for both 3-pin(DC mode) and 4-pin (PWM mode) CPU coolers control with auto detection support 1 x CPU OPT Fan connector (4-pin) 1 x Water Pump header (4-pin) 4 x Chassis Fan connectors (4-pin) for both 3-pin(DC mode) and 4-pin (PWM mode) coolers control 1 x Front panel audio connector (AAFP) 1 x BIOS Flashback connector 1 x S/PDIF out header 1 x Thunderbolt header (5-pin) for ASUS ThunderboltEX series support 1 x TPM connector 1 x COM port 1 x 24-pin EATX Power connector 1 x 8-pin EATX 12V Power connector 1 x System Panel (Q-Connector) 1 x MemOK! button 1 x Clear CMOS jumper 1 x DRCT (Direct Key) connector 1 x TPU switch (advanced two-stage adjustments) 1 x EZ XMP switch 1 x Power-on button 1 x 5-pin EXT_FAN (Extension Fan) connector

Onboard Audio
Audio Chipset	Realtek ALC892
Audio Channels	8 Channels

Onboard LAN
LAN Chipset	Intel I219-V
Max LAN Speed	1Gbps

Physical Spec
Form Factor	ATX
Dimensions (W x L)	12.0" x 9.6"
Power Pin	24 Pin

Item#: 9SIC4VGKYV6165