Top LGA 1151 socket motherboards available in the market.
Top LGA 1151 socket motherboards available in the market.
That's entirely subjective. As long as your board's working fine, I don't see a reason to replace it with another 1151 board. 1151 is end-of-life. If you need to upgrade, you're better off jumping to a newer platform. (Then again I'm an RGB curmudgeon.)
The top choice for LGA 1151 v2 boards is the Maximus XI Apex, especially for its VRM quality, memory and GPU support. While I appreciate its design, it's hard to find one left. It might not be worth the investment compared to getting a better CPU at the same price. Newer boards are rare, and upgrading your CPU could be more cost-effective.
Black is acceptable, I'm looking for a solid motherboard with ARGB ports and maybe RGB lighting on it.
I managed to acquire both my CPU (i7-9700k) and motherboard from a friend who upgraded his PC. This was my first build, so I chose a case with an incompatible ARGB fan controller.
You can purchase USB ARGB controllers to keep your existing setup. For pure ARGB needs, consider swapping the board and CPU for a 12th generation i5—this will balance out costs at present prices.
the main issue is replacing the front fans because they only have six pin connections, though I've seen guides turning them into three pins for RGB and two for fan control—this seems a bit beyond my current abilities. I’d really like to swap out the motherboard and CPU for an upgrade, but since I just finished using my PC (only a month), I wouldn’t want to disassemble it and discard parts right away.
You'll still need to follow those steps regardless of getting a new motherboard. CPU/mobo pairings tend to sell better than buying them separately. I recommend doing both at the same time, using the built-in fan controller and swapping out the ARGB controller for one that connects to your motherboard's 3-pin header and internal USB port.