Best Motherboards

[Crashman]

The latest reviews I saw list the # of NVMe supported... M.2 is NVMe, no? (that's M-key... chips up, contacts facing away from you, M-key slot is on the right; B-key slot is on the left. Of course, B+M is SATA, not NVMe... and SATA B+M drive won't fit in NVMe socket.)

I'm sorry that one has to scroll down to the award description to find the "Read Review" link, but the first board on the list links to a review, with a table, that starts off with:

Specifications

Socket	LGA 1151
Chipset	Intel Z390
Form Factor	ATX
Voltage Regulator	13 Phases
Video Ports	HDMI 1.4, (2) Thunderbolt (DP 1.4, 1.2)
USB Ports	10 Gbps: (2) Type-C (via Thunderbolt), (2) Type A5Gb/s: (4) Type A; (2) USB 2.0
Network Jacks	(2) Gigabit Ethernet (1x PCIe share), (2) Wi-Fi Antenna
Audio Jacks	(5) Analog, (1) Digital Out
Legacy Ports/Jacks	(1) PS/2
Other Ports/Jack	DisplayPort In (for Thunderbolt passthrough)
PCIe x16	(3) v3.0 ( x16/x0/x4, x8/x8/x4, x8/x4/x4) (*4-lane slot switchable from PCH to CPU)
PCIe x8	✗
PCIe x4	✗
PCIe x1	(2) v3.0
CrossFire/SLI	3x / 2x
DIMM slots	(4) DDR4
M.2 slots	(2) PCIe 3.0 x4^ / SATA* (^Excludes ports 4-5, 0 : *4-5, 1)

From the point you can see that the board has two M.2 slots with PCIe/SATA combo interface (the PCIe is NVMe), and that:
^ when you use the PCIe interface on the first M.2 slot, it shuts off SATA ports 4 and 5
^when you use the PCIe interface on the second M.2 slot, it shuts off SATA port 0
*when you use the SATA interface on the first M.2 slot, it shuts off SATA ports 4 and 5
*when you use the SATA interface on the second M.2 slot, it shuts off SATA port 1

Of course that's a Z390 chipset, which is typically limited by the HSIO resource that can feed either an SATA port OR a PCIe pathway. The only reason for a single SATA interface on M.2 to steal two SATA ports is that the same 2-lane automatic switch is being used to direct HSIO regardless of whether its using SATA or PCIe transfer modes.

 

[Akala]

I am confused which to choose X470 or X570

 

[Crashman]

I am confused which to choose X470 or X570

That's fine. X470 doesn't have PCIe 4.0, and it saves you money.

 

[mac_angel]

when you do reviews for these different motherboards, or various hardware, have you ever tried dealing with the companies for customer service or tech support as a regular customer? Or look at how often they update their drivers and/or BIOS, especially considering the amount of security issues that have needed these updates?
Years ago I had a lot of problems in dealing with Gigabyte and I've stayed away ever since. I see your reviews on some things, so I look around at other sites when something catches my attention, and I end up finding other customers having the same problems that I have had in the past. I have even tried reaching out to Gigabyte for pre-sales questions, and never got a response back. And looking at their newer motherboards, including the ones you have on here, and there have been no updates on the BIOS or drivers in almost a year. And trying to ask them about it, I get an automatic response saying they'll get back to me next business day. I have never heard back.

 

[Crashman]

when you do reviews for these different motherboards, or various hardware, have you ever tried dealing with the companies for customer service or tech support as a regular customer? Or look at how often they update their drivers and/or BIOS, especially considering the amount of security issues that have needed these updates?
Years ago I had a lot of problems in dealing with Gigabyte and I've stayed away ever since. I see your reviews on some things, so I look around at other sites when something catches my attention, and I end up finding other customers having the same problems that I have had in the past. I have even tried reaching out to Gigabyte for pre-sales questions, and never got a response back. And looking at their newer motherboards, including the ones you have on here, and there have been no updates on the BIOS or drivers in almost a year. And trying to ask them about it, I get an automatic response saying they'll get back to me next business day. I have never heard back.

You're welcomed to pester current authors into prompting a response from Gigabyte

 

[COLGeek]

Closing this old thread. Thanks everyone.

For new questions, please start your own new thread.