motherboard ?

[XWrench3]

first off, i will probably have more than one question about motherboards, but i need to address them one at a time. i know several parameters that i will need to stick to, like micro atx size, the socket, processor i want to use, etc. but my first question about selecting a motherboard is about the "number" of the board. meaning z97a , h81 , b85 etc. do these mean something in particular? like are most gaming boards a "z" series, business boards a "b" series, etc. and what about the 2 digit number? also, i notice that some of them have a Military Class 4: Top Quality & Stability, or Military Class Essentials - Total Protection rating above their discretion. what does that mean?

 

[PP Mguire]

Z series enthusiast
H series (H97) mid tier
B series low end.

The different series denote what the chipset provides. Z series allows overclocking of K CPUs and typically support SLI along with having more USB3/SATA3 ports.

Each chipset provides all basic functionality and don't differ in end performance.

Z97/H97/H81/B85 all utilize Haswell (4th gen) Intel CPUs, Z170/H170/B150 are for Skylake.

i notice that some of them have a Military Class 4: Top Quality & Stability, or Military Class Essentials - Total Protection rating above their discretion.

Marketing bull****.

 

[XWrench3]

ok, round 2. i decided to go with an Intel i5 - 6500 processor. so that means an 1151 socket. my main reasoning was 1) i would not have to overclock, 2) updated graphics (since i do not plan to install a separate video card at least at this time, 3) usb 3.1 capability out of the box, and 4) more time before the processor is completely outdated. so now i have to decide on chipset. i am really not sure what that even means for certain, but it looks to me like it boils down to features of the board. i do not see a reason to buy a z170. so either a H110 series, H170, or a B150. looking at all of the specs, this looks like a lot more involved that i originally thought. i guess the first question is some of the boards say specifically that they support the 6th gen intel processors. is that a big deal, or will they all do the same job? // next is about memory. all the boards support ddr4 2133mhz memory. is there any point in buying memory that is faster than the board supports? meaning if i get 3300 memory, is the board going to limit it to 2133mhz? and, how important will that really be anyway? i will be doing light gaming at best. but i surf a LOT. also, many of the boards talk about ddr4 BOOST. is that just hype, or is it worthwhile? i have a back injury which makes a good chair very important in my life. and i hate being totally bored. the other part of this equation is i am nearly 60, which includes nearly 60 year old eyes. and for you "young whipper snappers" old eyes do not focus fast like your do. /// next on my list of questions, is the pci slots. should ALL of them be rated at 3.0, or is that only important for the pci express 16 slot? /// and last for now, is about the graphics. some of these boards offer all sorts of things in addition to the graphics that are made into the cpu. is that important? or will the cpu graphics over ride anything the board has to offer anyway.

 

[XWrench3]

well, i have been obsessing on this for 10 days now. i have eliminated the H110 series, due to the limited number of sata plug ins, and adding a sata card will not only eat an expansion slot, but the cost makes upgrading to a b150 or h170 board a better choice. i have more or less figured out most of the questions from my above post. with the exception of the graphics claims.

of course, i have a few different questions. 1) what the heck is a "chassis intrusion connector"?? MSI B150M ECO LGA 1151 Intel B150 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

2) on this whole usb 3.1 thing, i read that the "first generation usb 3.1" connector, is just the usb 3.0 connector renamed. but the "type c" connector, transfers data @ 10gb/s, so is the 10gb/s hardware installed in a board that only has the first generation type plug on it? i know there is nothing out there commercially available that uses the type c connector yet. but if it truly transfers data @ 10gb/s, it seems very unlikely to me that products using it can not be that far off. since all of the boards i am currently looking at are in the $85-100.00 price range, it seems like getting a board without the type c capability would be rather foolish. whether it has the "c" connector or not is secondary to having the capability to me.

3) is really only for my curiosity. i already have a 6th generation i5 6500. which is not an overclock processor. i did not plan on overclocking. but i am curious if it COULD be overclocked? and if a z series board is essential to do that. like i said, i am JUST curious.

well, thats all for now. time to go back and obsess some more, and try to figure this out once and for all.

 

[PP Mguire]

Since I answered all that stuff and it was lost before I'll retype since I'm not at work and my crap shouldn't be blocked. Answering first post first, then second post with numbered replies.

All of these boards only support 6th gen Skylake processors.
Don't worry about RAM. If DDR3 1600 is quick enough for everything DDR4 2133 is quick enough for everything 5 years from now. Memory boost is marketing bull****.
All PCI-E on these setups are 3.0 even if they aren't rated that. The PCH even supplied 8 3.0 lanes.
The IGP on each CPU is the same, the board only offers different output connectors like some graphics cards can supply different connectors. Not really a big deal.

1: Something not to be worried about. It's a dumb thing that's been around since the 90s.

2: USB3.1 Gen 1 is 5Gb/s, Gen 2 10Gb/s. Type C is only the form factor, it doesn't depict how fast it is. There are type C devices but mainly limited to smart phones. As a person who's up and up on tech, not even I'm interested in type C yet as there is a lot of **** going on with it I don't like. Cables frying devices for one.

3: No. ASRock is supplying boards that have an external clock generator to bclk OC non-K chips but it's only time before Intel blocks that too.

If you're looking at spending that much on a board you might as well get a Z170. There are a couple out there less than 100.

 

[Yami]

2: USB3.1 Gen 1 is 5Gb/s, Gen 2 10Gb/s. Type C is only the form factor, it doesn't depict how fast it is. There are type C devices but mainly limited to smart phones. As a person who's up and up on tech, not even I'm interested in type C yet as there is a lot of **** going on with it I don't like. Cables frying devices for one.

Other than phones+laptops (a bunch of laptops have type c ports now), Samsung have this
Samsung Portable SSD T3 Specifications | Samsung SSD

 

[XWrench3]

PP Mguire, THANKS! i know loosing a post is a pain, and thanks for replying. I figured that some of their claims were just their way of polishing a t**d, so people not knowing any better would buy their product. if you don't know, it just hard to tell what is real, and what is hype. I learned a long time ago to ask questions before you buy, if you can not afford (time or money) to throw it away and start over. Honestly, it should have dawned on me that its cheaper to make as much as possible the same, than to keep outdated stuff around. I guess i have been out of work to long, and forget about the economy of buying in mass quantity. / yes, cables frying devices does not sound good to me either. i have seen that before. when copper first got stupid expensive, companies were trying to down size cables in order to save money. most of the time they got away with it. but we saw some cases where it bit them pretty hard. you can only push so much thru one size cable. // i would not purposely buy an AS Rock board just for the purpose of overclocking. and even if i did end up with one of their boards that did, i am 99.999% certain that i will be more than happy with the speed of my processor compared to my old core duo. but you are right, i might as well look at some of the lower priced z series boards since i am that close in price. is there anything major BESIDES overclocking that a z series board will have to offer over an h series board? i know full sized boards have more expansion slots. but there is only so much room in a micro atx.

Yami, i have seen that a few days ago. personally i dont have anything that i would need to transfer that a 64gb flash drive wouldn't handle. and as a backup, i would much rather have something my teenage kids would not RUN OFF with! but thanks anyway.

 

[PP Mguire]

Basically I wouldn't worry yourself too much on it. Boards are all a dime a dozen when it comes to Intel. If you survived with a C2D for this long this Skylake setup will probably last you longer.

The only thing that's not for certain is the outbreak of technology. I think with AI and lots of other things coming in 10 years time we may or may not be using desktop computers the same. Meaning all of this may not be relevant. When you bought the C2D setup computers were still pretty slow and clunky. An era of great stagnation really. I think whatever you buy right now will be fine for the upcoming years and the only thing you might need to do is worry about what the future brings in terms of computing.

The great thing about USB is all the connectors are pretty much interchangeable. So even if you got a phone with a type C connector you don't necessarily need a type C connector on your computer. They are the future, but adoption rates will be slow like anything else.