"Would you have an opinion versus the Gigabyte LGA1151 Intel Z170 2-Way SLI ATX DDR4 Motherboards GA-Z170X-Gaming 7?"
Sorry; can't help you out there but maybe others familiar with those boards can chime in. From this review it's a close call but seems the Gigabyte board won overall and mainly due to that audio (Creative) you mention.
Intel Z170 Motherboard Roundup > Picking Some Favorites - TechSpot
I ordered an Asus Z170 Deluxe as an open-box sale item. Has WiFi support.
Wi-Fi should be avoided unless there is no other choice. Our forums are full of posts from people with audio problems (crackling, popping, dropouts, etc) and many have been caused by Wi-Fi. I see the same problem on recording forums I visit.
Disagree, other than I would use Ethernet if I could. For three months now I have had wifi and tested both sound card and on board sound. I have both enabled. Games, music, etc are all crystal clear with the Asus board. Check the reviews, both wifi and sound.
ASUS Z170 ROG Maximus VIII Formula review - Final Words Conclusion
You are lucky. As I noted, the Win 7/Win 8 and Tenforums have many posts of audio problems that Wi-Fi is one known cause.
Thanks all for the input.
I kept the XFX ATI Radeon R7-370, HDDs and Crucial M500 240GB SSD from my Dell.
Corsair:
Carbide 330R Titanium Edition Silent Mid-Tower Case
HX850i PSU
Hydro Series H100i V2 Liquid CPU Cooler
Asus Z170-Deluxe motherboard
Intel i7 6700K CPU
Samsung 950 Pro 256 GB M.2 SSD
G.Skill 32 GB DDR4 3200
Win 10 Pro OEM key
All-in-all about $1500
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