Why Are There So Many Motherboards?

[Aeradom]

I never realized just how hard choosing a motherboard was. Strangely enough, I've actually built four computers at this point, but I've always just gone with ones that are best reviewed, build guides and the like. Now that I've got a fairly good idea of what everything does at this point, I thought I'd just dive in and pick out my own MOBO. After all, I do that for every other component and in general MOBO components aren't that confusing so this shouldn't be an issue.

That's what I said before I spent two hours trying to pick out the right motherboard for the rig I'm planning to build at the beginning of the year. And even when I narrowed down the selection to Asrock MOBOs, Z170 chipset, and ATX form factor, I still end up with fourteen motherboards! With these motherboards, I just don't even know. The biggest differences seem to just be in the number of ports, but I know there is some software difference as well, like offering better OC support.

I have a very simple question, and it's the title but I'll repeat it for emphasis and that is why are there so many motherboards? I mean, from a marketing standpoint it makes no sense to have this many different ones when from what I can tell there are only minor differences between them. It's not like with Intel CPUs where there's your budget level (i3) , mainstream level (i5), and performance level (i5), or with the Nvidia GPUs where you have those three tiers but with x60 budget, x70 for the mainstream, and x80 for performance. I know that is a gross simplification and there are things that will vary them like low power versions, locked or unlocked, but by and large you know where to start (at least I do).

The biggest difference for me here is that with the GPUs or CPUs, I'm able to pinpoint what I'm looking for and then easily pick out the one that best suits my needs. With the motherboards, I just can't tell. It's why I wish they had one for the budget area that just need the bare essentials, another for the mainstream that might do some light overclocking and a few other things but nothing crazy, and then the performance for those who are running raids, multi-GPU support, and looking to OC up to like 5.0 GHz.

I guess what I'm asking for is advice when picking out the right motherboard to fit my needs in a relatively short amount of time (other than just using someone else's recommendation.)

 

[viewtyjoe]

Because stuff like onboard sound and network chips, as well as USB ports available, can, and do make a difference. This is doubly important since the M.2 connection is starting to become commonplace and we have USB-C out now. Between those two and Thunderbolt or whatever Intel's current proprietary connector is called, there's a number of options to make available, and it isn't horribly expensive to hit all those niches since it's mostly dropping in the appropriate chips/connections in the appropriate place on your board.

 

[dexxterlab97]

Different mobo suits people differently. Colors, socket, RAM slot, PCI-E slot, price. If you know what you are doing it wouldn't take much time. Read reviews, choose one fits processor done!

 

[g1abhi]

You have to filter out by your requirements:
1. do you need SLI
2. do you need a better audio chip for your expensive speakers
3. Do you need internal wifi card
4. Are 6 Usb ports enough
5. Is my Case see through ? does the color scheme matters
6. How many PCI slots i might use , ( Pcie SSD, 2 GPUS , 1 Wifi card , 1 Soundcard , A video recording card)
7. Do i need RGB effects ?
8. Do i intend to overclock to the max stable limit.?

Once you answer these questions you will be able to filter the best Z170 motherboard for you.

 

[Aeradom]

Because stuff like onboard sound and network chips, as well as USB ports available, can, and do make a difference. This is doubly important since the M.2 connection is starting to become commonplace and we have USB-C out now. Between those two and Thunderbolt or whatever Intel's current proprietary connector is called, there's a number of options to make available, and it isn't horribly expensive to hit all those niches since it's mostly dropping in the appropriate chips/connections in the appropriate place on your board.

Different mobo suits people differently. Colors, socket, RAM slot, PCI-E slot, price. If you know what you are doing it wouldn't take much time. Read reviews, choose one fits processor done!

I'm not saying there aren't differences, are even that there shouldn't be any, I'm saying that much like how with GPUs and CPUs where there is a standardized naming scheme where at least you know what's going on. For example, if I'm correct, Asrock does have sort of a naming scheme. Pro series are their budget boards, and I got that. But between the Extreme and Fatality series, the differences are muddied. In fact, you'll have situations where a Fatality series board is better than an Extreme 4 board, but then the Extreme 6 board is better than another.

To show you what I mean, let's look at the M.2 connection that you referenced. Ideally, I'd like to see the Pro series have none because it's a budget type board, and then whichever of the Fatality or Extreme boards is the middle tier have 1 port, and the top tier has 3. Instead, the Extremes 3, 4, and 6 have one part where the 7 has three. And over on the Fatality side, the K4+ and K6 have 1 and the "Professional i7" has 3.

The more I look at this, the less it looks like board makers offering choices and more about wanting to confuse consumers with marketing terms like "Professional i7", which might makes one think this is the board that the i7 works on. Or the "OC Formula" which can lead someone to believe that is the only board you can overclock on. Sure we know the difference, but take a step back and look at it from the perspective of a guy who is building his first PC. This could be organized a lot better...

You have to filter out by your requirements:
1. do you need SLI
2. do you need a better audio chip for your expensive speakers
3. Do you need internal wifi card
4. Are 6 Usb ports enough
5. Is my Case see through ? does the color scheme matters
6. How many PCI slots i might use , ( Pcie SSD, 2 GPUS , 1 Wifi card , 1 Soundcard , A video recording card)
7. Do i need RGB effects ?
8. Do i intend to overclock to the max stable limit.?

Once you answer these questions you will be able to filter the best Z170 motherboard for you.

That handles the hardware sure, but as I'm sure you are also aware, there are software differences as well as far as utilities offered. It be fine if a lot of the little things were standardized like with overclocking that you mention. For instance, why does the Extreme 4 allow for a higher maximum FSB frequency (600MHz) than the Extreme 7 which also has a higher cpu voltage tweak (2 v instead the normal 1.52 v). One would think that the Extreme 7 would have all the perks of the ones that came before, no?

Come on guys, you gotta admit some of these differences make no sense...

 

[matt4x4]

Yeah people like different colors. Who cares? Its under a desk, no one see's it at all. Do you actually look or peek into your computer and drool over the color or the lights. Then its the connectors. But some only have 2 slots of RAM, others like the Z170 you can get in DDR3. Its too the choice of options. Then the choice of exclusivity. Like in the grocery store, "Limit of 2", heck man even my chain computer store does that. They got 8 stores in western canada. You are right it makes no sense...

 

[g1abhi]

Haha , well that is indeed a chaos if you want to talk about that. You are talking about the z170 , half of the people are unaware of the difference between z170 h170 b150 and h110 . Some even buy the Z170 and K processor with a stone set mind to never overclock it ever.