ASRock Wants the Best Mobo Ideas in the World

[axe1592]

Im strictly a gaming/overclocker running a 4 GHz Phenom II on an A780GMH thats run out of headroom so I dont need a ton of goodies, all I want is beef!

The ability to handle very high FSB speeds. My 780G craps out at 240. Need a lot more!

Needs to be able to handle lots of voltage running thru to the CPU and even NB cause we crank the voltage up on that as well.

Since most enthusiasts also highly overclock their GPU's, nice beefy components there are a must as well.

Will also need heavy duty cooling of the NB and other areas and I personally wouldnt even be opposed to using fans. Ill take some extra noise for a 4.4 GHz clock.

Dual BIOS's would be cool. One for tweaking and one for default should I screw anything up.

An CMOS reset button thats easier to get to and maybe one that can be ran to outside the case.

Basically, the ability to control, set or tweak every possible aspect of our hardware.

 

[jryan388]

I would easily pay an extra $20 for built in WiFi.

 

[epkfaile]

how about a integrated gtx480 with cpu mounting holes

 

[andrazz90]

1st A light that lights up/changes colour when something is not making a complete connection (like a badly slotted video card/cable)

2nd Pci slot securing notches that are above the vga cooler and not directly underneath the vga cooler (ie a place where you can actually reach!!)

3rd Better labelling when it comes to the location of front panel connections.

 

[Humans think]

A normal user would normally keep his motherboard and upgrade his computer once in its lifetime to add some memory and maybe a new graphics card.

An enthusiast will spend some time at the beginning for overclocking, expand the memory once or twice, add/replace the graphics card maximum 2 times, add some HDDs for extra storage, create a RAID and put some expansion cards like better wireless, more NIC, better audio e.t.c.

If I was buying today I would look for:
1) Reliability: put high quality capacitors and electronics and a sturdy construction for very heavy CPU coolers.
2) Future proof: All the latest technologies available to ensure longevity as they were meant to be implemented, for instance AMD version Sata III and USB3
3) EFI and full LBA64 support: 2TB discs will soon be history and I would like to boot from a drive >2TB furthermore you can give a custom look through a GUI and provide a functional boot selector with community driven skins, as well providing overclockers with tools and diagnostics before they boot to the OS. You can really make a difference here and differentiate from the competition.
4) Expandability: Give me as many expansion slots as you can with unrestricted lanes
5) Connectivity: Wireless (with access point capabilities), Bluetooth, IR receiver everything I can get.
6) Ability to use AMD and nVidia cards at the same time. I don't mean SLI and CF at the same time, but allow for use of nVidia card for CUDA for example and AMD eyefinity at the same time, I know that this can be done with some chipsets.
7) A RAID controller that uses CPU and memory (so it will not be very expensive) but has more capabilities, approaching the standalone ones and provides information of the drives in the back through LEDs
8) Cooler/Quiter: passive cooling when applicable.

 

[olorinpc]

Others have mentioned this, but here are some ideas combined together in what I would like to see.

1) Strip off legacy devices finally. Remove PS/2 ports, floppy, IDE, switch VGA for DVI.

2) Built in gigabyte ethernet and wireless. Both are needed.

3) Solid, well build, northbridge and southbridge heatsinks. Possibly active cooling options at least on the Northbridge. (Still giving plenty of clearance for aftermarket aircoolers.)

4) mini-lcd of some sort displaying system stats/info. RAM clockspeed, CPU vcore, etc. Instead of just the 2 digit post screen.

5) Overclocking options. Control buttons/knobs, able to change more than one facet of an overclock.

6) All pci-e slots run at 16x. Space them a little further apart to allow for dual-slot cards in crossfire to get a little breathing room.

Neat ideas that might not be for all or cost effective:

Lighted pci-e (mini and 16) connectors. ie, take the existing dark blue and make it a transparent blue with embedded LEDs. Button to disable on the board.

RAM slots that angle away from the CPU socket so we don't have to worry about aftermarket CPU aircoolers hitting them.

 

[physical]

I'm going to echo a bunch of other people on this one, but they are good ideas. I'll try to add a few of my own.

I don't want legacy connectors on my motherboard. (PATA, Floppy, PS2, etc) (This one is loudly spoken in most of the posts)

I disagree with the modular idea. Motherboards ARE Modular. The PCI-E bus is the whole modular part... Building modules for your motherboard is problematic because they are non-standard. If you want standard, make PCI-E parts!

I would like a premium feel to the components on board. If you aren't going to give me top notch parts, leave it off the board and I'll plug my own in. Current generation connectivity is great. Bluetooth, USB3, SATA, Ethernet; All good things.

If people are complaining that there aren't enough PCI-E slots, then put more of em in there. Make sure to give enough space for 2-4 double width x16 cards. Don't put connectors under them!

Move connectors to better locations. I understand there are some things you have to deal with when making a good path, but do your best on this one. Nothing will endear you more to your enthusiast users if assembly and disassembly are a pleasure.

I'd like a better Heatsink design for the chipset, VRM, etc. Right now, the only mobos that qualify for 'enthusiast' are the ones that EK makes a full coverage block for. Make it easier for EK and others to make parts to improve yours.

I'd like some UEFI, BIOS is gettin old. I don't really see the point of Fastboot environments on desktops, no need to include one.

If you are building an entry level all in one GFX included model, stick to one connector. Bundle the necessary adapters to get the job done.

Some indicator lights would be neat stuff... Let me know when things are going on inside... the kids love flashing lights

Anyways... 2 cents, hope you enjoy.

 

[ethaniel]

Modular rear ports. I'm using two or three ports, the rest are just laughing at me. Holes on the PCB. Holes for using zip ties and making a better cable management. And I would love to see the old classic green for PCBs once more.

 

[bkirwood]

1/ Make SLI and Crossfire graphics cards appear as a single video card to the OS so that software support for SLI and Crossfire are not required to get the full benefit from your graphics cards.

2/ Interactive 5.25" display (touchscreen would be nice) enabling push button change of overclock speeds and displaying useful information like CPU and memory temperatures, current data transfer speeds (CPU, graphics, USB, Sata)and power consumption. Also display where bottlenecks are occurring to assist user to purchase the best possible upgrades for their system. Display POST error messages in the event of failure preventing start up.

3/ Rear Leds to help you see where to plug in your connectors when the computer is located somewhere without sufficient lighting. eg under the desk

HTPC

We have the technology for wireless keyboard, mouse, storage arrays and displays, so lets design a motherboard that runs your computer as normal, but also has a HTPC OS on a ROM chip that runs separately to your main OS and displays to a wireless screen, is controlled wirelessly and can access multimedia content from your home network and maybe from the internet. It can share the resources of the computer, (managed by the motherboard) with priority given to the main OS, and access a second blue ray drive in the computer to play blue ray discs and dvds. Most computers would not use any where near 100% of their resources and the HTPC requirements are so low that even TVs can do a reasonable job. Seeing the HTPC interface software would be loaded on a chip, it can start instantly without the usual wait times of current HTPCs. If the computer is situated near a TV, an onboard HDMI port could allow for displaying the HTPC OS directly instead of requiring a tv with a wireless video receiver. I currently have a HTPC in addition to my computer and would gladly pay a lot extra for a motherboard that would prevent me from needing this extra computer. This wireless solution would also prevent the need for a HTPC or a Blue Ray player on display near the TV meaning that the TV can be mounted on the wall with no need for a tv unit freeing up extra space in the lounge room. Just have a wireless receiver attached to the top or bottom of the TV and it can all be controlled using a remote.

Enable the HTPC components of the computer (blue ray drive, TV tuner card, HTPC ROM chip etc) to be powered while the rest of the computer is shut down or in sleep/hibernation.

 

[maxinexus]

Few things that could make life easier
1. CMOS reset should be on the outside on the read pannel
2. Nice back plate for CPU,Northbridge, and DIMMS
to help cool thing down
3. rear pannel audio port could be put on PCIe card
4. optional watter cooling blocks for north bridge and MVR
5. and of course ditch FDD and IDE noone on high end is using them anyway

Thanks and good luck with new generation MB

 

[djahr]

A new motherboard should have built in bluetooth, because with the growth of smart phones and tablets, bluetooth will make desktop to mobile transfers very simple and easy. It should have support for SSD and at least 8 usb for card readers and case usb etc... Adding Wireless N and Wireless Video built in for higher end models. Another Feature that might be nice to create is 4-Pin power to CPU at the bottom of the board because with bottom mount PSU and larger graphics cards some PSU cables just arent able to reach around the GPUs to plug into what is at the top of the case.

 

[claec]

I personally would like to see a solid, reliable, budget-friendly board for under $100. This board would feature native SATA 6.0 gbs and native USB 3.0. It would have two PCI Express 2.1 slots, two PCI slots, Gigabit LAN, integrated wireless N, integrated bluetooth, 8-channel digital audio,at least 6 rear USB ports, and Firewire. The PCI Express 2.1 slots would be well spaced in order to leave plenty of room for dual slot coolers. The SATA ports would be in-between the GPU slots to ensure they are not blocked. The board would have extensive passive cooling (no fans) in order to achieve stability without the cost of noise. The passive cooling would be low-profile in order to avoid conflict with components. As for memory it would have 4 slots of DDR3, spaced away from the CPU socket in order to avoid conflict with large heatsinks. There would be slight spacing between the slots to accommodate thinker heatsinks. It would have 6 3-pin fan headers located throughout the board for better cable management. Also, the front I/O cables would plug into a module that would then plug into the board to make installation much easier. The board would have no IDE, no Parallel, and no Serial ports. It can either be Intel or Amd CPU compatible. All boards would be constructed from reliable and durable materials. Basically, it would be a good all-around budget-friendly board that would ensure flexibility and ease of use. Oh, and the board would have clips around the edge for cable routing. And it would be colored black with dark grey ports/slots. This isn't an enthusiast board, its a board for the average Joe who just wants a good PC.

 

[nforce4max]

I submitted my entry.

 

[surfer1337dude]

I would like to see a motherboard that supports the newest sockets (depending on brand...I prefer amd but intel is fine), 2 or 3 usb3.0 headers along with 3 usb2.0 headers. Plus 2 (or 4) pci-e 2.0(or better) slots (support both sli and crossfire). Also the new intel fiber connector would be awesome. Integrated graphics is a must for me (although I usually dont use them, if anything ever happens with my video card it is an excellent backup until a new one gets shipped to me). A cmos clear button is very convenient. Also supporting ddr3 memory (faster the better). Also for the ram put some colored lcd screens on it to show the ram usage right on the mobo (also include one for the cpu)...Ive seen it done 1 other time and with a clear case looked great (not the cpu though). Next use all copper (anodized preferably) heat sinks/pipes and use plenty of them for best cooling. If possible try a different kind of design to keep as much dust out of them (maybe cnc the copper from the side/ends and keep a thin layer on the top solid[maybe?]). Also while it might raise the price of the board a little, only use solid quality parts (compasitors and so on). Also please change the little lock/bracket for pci-e cards, the little piece of plastic you just bend out of the way is so annoying and have had them break so many times. Cable management is also a crucial issue for me. If you put any plugs please make sure that they are well supported and no weak feeling (perfect example are HDMI plugs, the last mobo I had with one wasn't supported and had bent a few times because it was barely held onto the mobo rear panel). Thanks for listening

 

[digitalrazoe]

If you are going to ask to keep PCI-X and PCI you might as well keep the rest Firewire A and B et al .. Until intel get their proverbial head out of their hind areas and the professional audio industry starts adopting USB 3.0 until then at least keep the headers on the mobo so one can make a decision if they want it or not.At least put give us 1394b Apple has had it since dirt what the hell?

The other gripe ? why have all these PCIe lanes if:
A: They are going to be blocked by double ( and triple ) wide Video cards where is the 4x and 8x ( not the physical 16x electrical 8x crap) slots ?
I would love to ditch PCI for PCIe 4x

B: Have enough PCIe Lanes to run all that is to run at full bandwidth! thats right I said it and I am sure many of you are just as pissed off. USB 3.0 multiple PCIe 16 slots SATA 3.0 isn't going to mean squat if you don't have the lanes to keep the traffic flowing. Which means INTEL GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS AND LET NVIDIA MAKE CHIPSETS!!! AMD MORE LANES - please. 144 lanes would be a nice start.

Since you can have 10+ SATA ports I wont go into why I think PATA should stay - I have yet to see a drive that will keep such ports saturated enough .. yeah I know hard drives cant do it either ... but they atleast try at playback Don't get me started about burning.. we all know the most reliable discs are best made "slow roasted"

In summary ... More lanes !!! MUCH MORE LANES !!! and ditch pci/pcix for pcie 4x for mainstream and pci 16x for you hardcore sli'rs out there ...

 

[waethorn]

Make a motherboard that's RELIABLE! ASrock boards have a horrible track record, just like ECS and Jetway, and it's no wonder ASUS spun them off as a budget brand.

Note to ASrock: Turn up the good, and turn down the the suck. You got the suck knob cranked to 10.

BTW: being the first company to have a good quality Mini ITX board based on the 890GX or 880G with USB3 and SATA 6Gbps is what I'm looking for in a motherboard company right now. Mini ITX cases with long-length slots and half-decent power supplies to accommodate a good video card is something else that's extremely difficult to find (and Lian Li and Silverstone are overpriced. I'm thinking that Antec should build one in the New Solution series at a respectable price -- WITH a power supply!)

 

[yose3]

a bult in TV tunner on the mother board..... that would be great....

 

[vtnwesley]

I'd like a mobo with an integrated pre-boot OS would be nice. I know it's a little bit fad-like, but for a lot of lower end systems, especially mini-itx type systems, running custom Android 3.0 or Chrome OS or something of that ilk would be quite nice.

Anything that offers future-proofing, if only for a while, is always good. as others have said, USB3.0 and SATA3 (do what you have to do to make it run at full speed) would be great.

Basic stress testing tools for the CPU, RAM, and GPU would be great as well.

 

[dogman_1234]

Either an Intel 2011 or AM3r2 socket for the next CPU generation.

GUI based BIOS that can be accessible form the units operating system.

Overclocking options that includes an "OC theory task"- or the BIOS gives ideas on the most stable OC the CPU can handle AMD be used to overclock it to the extreme without it crashing.

Dual CPU sockets on standard desktop motherboards.

New style ATX..does not have to be ATX, it can be something new.

Northbridge/Southbridge chipset options.

External thermometer to monitor entire components, monitor temperature inside chassis, and control fan speed on one module system.

Onboard SSD, for downloads of non OS peripherals.

 

[praeses]

I would like a motherboard, or all motherboards from ASRock to have the PCI-E 1x,4x,8x slots to be open at the back to allow for longer cards to be inserted without modifications.

Consequently, no raised components should occupy the space if a 16x card were inserted. This would make it much easier to re-use a graphics card for extra video connections, physx, and so fourth.

 

[Graham_71]

Good build quality & system stability should always be top priority, with components designed to last many years rather than just out last the warranty, and not to load any components to close to there maximum tolerance. After that speed & simplicity of use are also important.

Simpler bios, instead of 2-3 pages full of settings to enable or disable just a list of operating systems, you select the one(s) you use and the bios is optimised accordingly.

The opposite of a turbo button, this should be simple & cheap to implement, just divide the bus clock by 10, this would then work in addition to the cpu's power saving capability but the user would have full control over when to use it, I would use it for the following :-
1. Reading / Writing emails
2. Web browsing
3. Times when I leave the PC for 10-20 mins and don't want to wait for it to boot up when I return.
4. Leaving the PC on just to play music through winamp
Any modern cpu running at 100-200 MHz should be more than adequate & the power savings would be very welcome.

Shorter start up times would also be nice, my mobo takes about 5 seconds for the all clear beep before windows starts to load. Bring back the good old days of the BBC Micro where the OS is up & running within 1 second !.

I agree with a previous comment here, must have all the latest technology, USB3 SATA3 PCIe3 & remove all the old legacy support, I have not used a 1.44 floppy in over 5 years now & there's virtual floppy drive software if anyone needs it to make a bootable DVD

One Connector to replace all those front panel wires + USB3 & headphone/mic included.

 

[doyletdude]

I'm not planning on winning here because this isn't my suggestion but...[citation][nom]DrClaw[/nom]A motherboard that has a utility built into the Bios to stress test your components. This would enable OCers to test their settings without having to constantly boot in their full OS. The UI for this stress test could also display pertinent information like voltages and temperatures.[/citation]
This combined with a very small Flash memory drive with programming similar to CPU-Z and multiple stress testing would be really helpful. Eliminate the OS out of the equation.
Also I would be interested in motherboards where all the chipset heatsinks were watercooling capable (kinda just plug it in to the loop, no need to find new heatsinks) and in teh cosmetic arena of things, if ports and internal slots could light up when something is either plugged in or data in traveling through that channel, i think that would be really cool looking. And i agree with other people, you need to drop some of that legacy stuff on the high end x58 and 890 chipsets. IT just doesn't make sense.
Quick re-cap:
Overclocking utilites that nclude modern detailed info and stress testing independant of the OS.
Heatsinks that in a sense plug and play with watercooling.
Light up slots
less legacy stuff taking up channels and space

 

[devorakman112]

A socket am3 board that supports usb3, sata3, and SLI. My deepest desire is to run an amd based system running high end SLI cards, without the limitation of being stuck to usb2/sata2 it saddens me that there is not a single board out there that does this.

 

[ptroen]

Forget integrated SSD. The throughput is too low.

What I would want is additional RAM slots at a different location(on the mobo) which has a onboard battery(similar to CMOS) for a bootable RAMDISK partition. With a RAMDisk partition your are talking in the gigabits per second instead of 300-500 megabytes per second. Conventional DDR3 has easily over 20 gb/s.

Also, RAM is cheap now. The low end consumer can easily fit 4-8gb for a OS partition and install WinXP/Linux within that ram itself. Not to mention this solution would cost significantly less then a onboard SSD.

 

[Supermuncher85]

Asrock has great products, that cater well to the enthusiast as well as the bargain hunter. Missing from the product mix right now is a motherboard that appeals to the customers that don't require 3 PCIe lanes for graphic cards, but would rather have more sata ports. Especially for those who need a lot of storage there really is no motherboard on the market right now that caters for 10 drives. Especially when editing a lot of high definition video content, storage becomes important very important.