Why are all of the new motherboards covered in plastic ?

[Oyeve]

I'm in my mid 50s and have six rgb fans and 4 sticks of corsair rgb ram and I love it. My case is a modest corsair black case with a side window. My mobo is pure black with an rgb strip. I like messing around with the lights. Cool patterns and all that. I still use my ancient huge shiny pure copper zalman heatsink from a 2006 build that still fits my 8700k cpu. And I've been building pcs since the early 80s. I agree on the stupid transformer cases tho.

 

[rchunter]

I'm with you on the plastic and rgb. I don't think I would buy a board with it. Pretty soon all that will be left without it is server boards lol.
The only thing rgb in my machine is my aio and you can turn that off.

 

[killster1]

I'm with you on the plastic and rgb. I don't think I would buy a board with it. Pretty soon all that will be left without it is server boards lol.
The only thing rgb in my machine is my aio and you can turn that off.

which ones cant you turn off? yea this is just a fad, im sure in a few years they wont have lights it will be about computers installed inside your arm or leg

 

[rchunter]

which ones cant you turn off? yea this is just a fad, im sure in a few years they wont have lights it will be about computers installed inside your arm or leg

Yeah I can see that happening. Implantable microchips are coming within the next 5-10 years probably. If WW3 doesn't happen first.

 

[mopardude87]

Prob need to mess with my ROG 360-G some more but it kind of lights up in the corner and its doing a throbbing effect atm. I just installed it yesterday. I like the effect its doing. Some people not a fan of the color scheme of this board but idk its kind of cool. Picked it up for the features and build quality but overall its been solid.

Not lots of plastics, seems to have all you really need with a reinforced pci e slot which i really like. I kind of wish some of the other boards will follow this example maybe minus the theme on the pcb Do need to tinker with it. I do need to tinker with it and see if this option to get 4.6Ghz across all cores is true for a 8700 non k or not or else i need to fix its default voltage. 1.32V under load is a bit high.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I find it interesting that 12 years ago PC cases all started to be way over decorated and started to look like transformers as people said at the time. Cases have mostly returned to a more modest look like fan lights or a case window, however motherboards and memory are now looking like transformers.
Funny how markets perform, will this be the zenith of decorated boards and everything will become more modest or will there be more lights and things added to boards.

 

[kasakka]

I find it interesting that 12 years ago PC cases all started to be way over decorated and started to look like transformers as people said at the time. Cases have mostly returned to a more modest look like fan lights or a case window, however motherboards and memory are now looking like transformers.
Funny how markets perform, will this be the zenith of decorated boards and everything will become more modest or will there be more lights and things added to boards.

I don't know who we are supposed to blame for this aesthetic either. Who decided that people want hardware that has all kinds of off angles in any heatsinks, covers etc? One of the stupidest things is those RAM heatsinks that will poke holes in your hand as they stick out so far up while blocking you from installing some CPU coolers.

In the meantime you have to comb through specs on motherboards to figure out what their actual differences are as manufacturers flood the market with different versions that are almost the same except for price and what kind of plastic shroud has been slapped on.

 

[mopardude87]

I don't know who we are supposed to blame for this aesthetic either. Who decided that people want hardware that has all kinds of off angles in any heatsinks, covers etc? One of the stupidest things is those RAM heatsinks that will poke holes in your hand as they stick out so far up while blocking you from installing some CPU coolers.

I am waiting for the sata cables to have rgb. Would not be surprised if someone links them to me. My case had some led fans and i went with the most boring scheme i could to replace them with. Noctua Redux fans in a nice gray. Currently do got the rear 120mm using a 69 cfm CM and its alright but the blue glow which has been in most of my builds going back to 2006 is kind of ran its course. Its likely to be replaced with another Noctua or a higher cfm fan of sorts.

Then when i drop in a gpu i have to make sure it doesn't have as many lights as Vegas i guess too. Nothing says exciting like a 5700 blower?

 

[pauldun170]

Or like this one ? Was a great board for many years for me.

Gigabyte 7VAXP

View attachment 7110

Chipset fan.....(shudders)

 

[mopardude87]

Chipset fan.....(shudders)

Whats funny its kind of made a comback with the X570 motherboards. I guess its become such a problem people are resorting to X470 boards with their Ryzen 3000 chips.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Whats funny its kind of made a comback with the X570 motherboards. I guess its become such a problem people are resorting to X470 boards with their Ryzen 3000 chips.

I don’t think it is much of a problem, I do think it is the combination of:
More cost
Chipset fan
The first to own “tax”
No practical features gained

**When I say practical I mean very few homes need a pcie 4.0 machine, the increased speed for storage just doesn’t make enough of a difference.

 

[mopardude87]

I don’t think it is much of a problem, I do think it is the combination of:
More cost
Chipset fan
The first to own “tax”
No practical features gained

**When I say practical I mean very few homes need a pcie 4.0 machine, the increased speed for storage just doesn’t make enough of a difference.

Yeah its certainly a combination but often times when the fan comes up its kind of the reason they go for the x470. They got the other reasons but which one tops of the list i bet is cost and the fan. I do love that motherboards have come to a point they offer so much you wouldn't mind a "downgrade" if it saves money. I still don't own a usb 3.0 item yet have finally taken advantage of sata 6. If i get a m.2 drive sometime this year i guess i have taken maybe full advantage of my B360 motherboard. Only way i guess i would use usb 3.0 is if i can make a bootable W10 thumb but i guess last i heard its only supporting 2.0? I did get my 2.0 to boot and install 10 off a usb 3.0 front port so if things have changed i would be curious to know. I would then have merit in a usb 3.0 drive!

 

[VirtualLarry]

One of the stupidest things is those RAM heatsinks that will poke holes in your hand

I've noticed that. Some of the Team Group RAM heatspreaders are dangerous! (IMHO)

 

[VirtualLarry]

I still don't own a usb 3.0 item yet have finally taken advantage of sata 6. If i get a m.2 drive sometime this year i guess i have taken maybe full advantage of my B360 motherboard. Only way i guess i would use usb 3.0 is if i can make a bootable W10 thumb but i guess last i heard its only supporting 2.0? I did get my 2.0 to boot and install 10 off a usb 3.0 front port so if things have changed i would be curious to know. I would then have merit in a usb 3.0 drive!

Ehh, you don't own any USB3.0 thumb drives, or USB3.0 portable external HDDs? How do you back up your PC? NAS? How do you back up the NAS?

Seriously, those two items have been USB3.0 (or better?), for years now. At least 5 years. Get with it.

(*Those Adata UV128 Yellow/Black "Slider" USB3.0/3.1 drives, are often on sale at Newegg for $8.99 for a 3-pack, I stock up whenever they have a sale.) They're not hugely reliable for storing random data on, but they make great one-and-done WORM-type boot sticks, their USB3.0 read speeds are great, for boot USBs that's a good thing, and they're so cheap ($3 ea., approx), that if one dies, you just toss it.

 

[SamirD]

Unless you venture into pure enterprise gear.

This is where all the real muscle has gone. Check out a supermicro motherboard--plain jane the same way they used to always make them. One of the few manufacturers still around from the original days.

I've actually gone away from desktops and to using old servers as desktops--solid, reliable, and very expandable. Oh, and cheap, did I mention cheap?

 

[mopardude87]

Ehh, you don't own any USB3.0 thumb drives, or USB3.0 portable external HDDs? How do you back up your PC? NAS? How do you back up the NAS?

Seriously, those two items have been USB3.0 (or better?), for years now. At least 5 years. Get with it.

I got some documents,some pictures and drivers for everyones computer that i know saved in Individual folders on a 16gb Kingston 2.0. More then plenty. My build is very basic, i keep just games on it with the latest drivers and i basically only game and watch youtube and visit these forums. I won't lie about the last reinstall of W10 and how slow it felt moving over all the drivers for my B360. I honestly could download them faster on my 400mb connection but i do need the network driver and well i guess i may go 3.0 for that. Out of the 6 computers i folders saved for, only 3 even have usb 3.0.

I guess since i rarely need to go for the Kingston, i haven't found warrant in replacing it but perhaps since its as reliable as reliable can be i could perhaps find a 3.0 back up version for the computers i deal with that have 3.0. Last reinstall of W10 and set up of all my games took pretty much 3 hours and that was with origin only downloading BF4+BF1 at a transfer rate of about 36mb out of my 55mb cap. The files i got saved for those other people they got them saved as well so there is some redundancy still.

A dire need to even use system restore or even consider a fresh format has not been a thing for me since i put in a 4850 during the Vista days and dealt with a blue screen that was so brutal it managed to crash my entire partition to where i couldn't get it to boot even in safe mode. Luckily it was a fresh build so i lost nothing anyways. Besides that i only do fresh installs if i replace my main drive and that i have only done about 7 times since 2006. The last time i won't lie i considered just having all games kept on my 500gb 860 and just moving my os to a m.2 . Origin was just so slow. I might do this eventually but the 860 is plenty at the moment.

 

[Raduque]

Back in the old-school PC days, the motherboards were all over the place in plastics and color. Once building a PC became mainstream, AGP were colored different than the ISA slots and the comm ports where pink, brown, green, blue and every other color imaginable. Then you would have a metallic gold or blue heatsink on the southbridge. It truly looked cobbled together from a parts bin. Take a look back at some of the older Abit boards or other defunct manufacturers.

We called those fruit salad boards way back in the day.

 

[SamirD]

We called those fruit salad boards way back in the day.

Haha, I never heard that back in the day, but it would have made sense.

 

[IntelUser2000]

I don't know who we are supposed to blame for this aesthetic either. Who decided that people want hardware that has all kinds of off angles in any heatsinks, covers etc?

Ok, you can't do much to make your motherboard unique. So if one manufacturer decides on something to differentiate themselves, others will follow. Ironically that means everyone is again no longer unique, but it still allows them to use the new feature to jack up prices.

And it seems certain portion of the hardware building community wants it. Youtube and streaming sites definitely are all about RGB lighting. They all check the box for features, which means it can be used to increase profits and margins.

 

[realibrad]

Ok, you can't do much to make your motherboard unique. So if one manufacturer decides on something to differentiate themselves, others will follow. Ironically that means everyone is again no longer unique, but it still allows them to use the new feature to jack up prices.

And it seems certain portion of the hardware building community wants it. Youtube and streaming sites definitely are all about RGB lighting. They all check the box for features, which means it can be used to increase profits and margins.

For me, it's about clean lines. I like the plastic as well as the RGB when it is uniform. That said, all things gamer seem to want big and extreme. Look at Corsair and their gamer logo.

 

[Ranulf]

The heathens in this thread not liking Gigabyte Blue Boards. Was it Abit that got away from green with their brown/beige pcb's in the early 2000s?

 

[chrisjames61]

I personally believe it has to do with higher profit margins.

Everything is about squeezing more money out of people. IMHO it reeks of desperation. I want robustness and features not toys. RGB and "armor" do nothing, literally nothing except add cost to your build.

 

[sdifox]

It has always baffled me why people pay for good psu with clean power then muddle it with LED driver noise. Them pointess shrouds annoy me too.

 

[DrMrLordX]

It has always baffled me why people pay for good psu with clean power then muddle it with LED driver noise. Them pointess shrouds annoy me too.

I leave the bling turned off.

 

[sdifox]

I leave the bling turned off.

Gonna use my Ultra Dragon which houses my Opteron 165. Board died from blown caps. Will house Aerous Ultra and Ryzen 3700x