WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:08.400 Welcome to the second installment of the 100ish dollar Z97 motherboard showdown. 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:13.200 As you know from the last video, we normally focus on badass top tier 00:00:10.559 --> 00:00:16.880 motherboards, which are uncommon in the real world, and as we've demonstrated in 00:00:15.280 --> 00:00:21.600 the past, don't really impact performance in a positive or negative 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:27.039 way. So, this series will focus on the more sensible, affordable motherboards, 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:28.960 which most people will actually be 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:33.280 buying. And we're going to explore their pros, cons, and tradeoffs. In this 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:37.520 episode, we'll be covering the experience of building a computer with 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:41.440 these motherboards. Things like PCI layout, fan header, and plug positioning 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:46.399 when installing into a case, accessories, and even color selection 00:00:44.160 --> 00:00:51.360 will be covered. And videos for stuff like BIOS usability and finished system 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:58.879 experience will be coming after CES, so stay tuned. 00:00:58.879 --> 00:01:05.840 The Cooler Master Neptune 240M features an exclusive pump design and their new 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:09.840 Sencio fans to provide impressive near silent performance. Click now to learn 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:14.320 more. One thing on motherboards that gets a 00:01:11.600 --> 00:01:18.080 lot of attention is the PCI layout. Even people that I've built for in the past 00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:22.880 have been overly worried about the futurep proof aspect of PCI layout 00:01:20.720 --> 00:01:28.000 despite them having no real intention of adding more than one GPU or any other 00:01:25.759 --> 00:01:31.920 card for that matter to their system. So for most people it is unlikely to make a 00:01:30.159 --> 00:01:36.240 difference, but it's still worth considering just in case. The top two 00:01:34.320 --> 00:01:40.960 slots and the bottom three slots on these boards are all identical. And 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:44.880 those will be the most used slots anyways because even when someone does 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:49.119 decide to add more cards, they're unlikely to use the ones in the middle 00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:55.119 that did vary somewhat because of their proximity to the top PCIe 16x slot, 00:01:52.799 --> 00:02:00.240 which will render one useless with any dual graphics card setup and the other 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:04.719 not recommended to give affforementioned cards some breathing room. The fan 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:08.160 headers, however, are of much greater importance if you want to take advantage 00:02:06.479 --> 00:02:12.400 of the fan speed control that's built into your motherboards. Many, if not all 00:02:10.479 --> 00:02:16.400 of these headers can be used in a normal system, and their position can make or 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:21.040 break the appearance of your cable management. Every board accommodated 00:02:18.640 --> 00:02:24.720 having a rear case fan, but after that, they varied quite heavily. Gigabyte had 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:28.800 a pretty balanced setup overall, although only having two headers near 00:02:26.480 --> 00:02:34.480 the top may limit your selection of AIO coolers slightly if the pump must be 00:02:30.959 --> 00:02:36.959 powered by a fan header. As Rock had the 00:02:34.480 --> 00:02:40.959 most included fan headers at six, but the positioning of them, while quite 00:02:38.720 --> 00:02:44.640 good for an air cooler, will no doubt be frustrating for anyone who wants to 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:48.879 install a liquid cooling system in the top of their case, as none of the fan 00:02:46.720 --> 00:02:54.000 headers are at the top of the board, and only some of them were actually four pin 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:56.080 PWM headers. ASUS lacked quantity with 00:02:54.000 --> 00:03:01.040 only four available fan headers, but at least the layout was fairly balanced and 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:04.560 MSI had, in my opinion, the best layout of all of them with headers spread out 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:08.000 all around the board, giving you the versatility to play around a little bit 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:13.760 with the placement of your setup. Something to note is that the positioning in general here is the key 00:03:11.440 --> 00:03:18.560 point, not amount of headers. Don't forget, you can mostly fix availability 00:03:15.760 --> 00:03:21.760 issues with inexpensive splitters. On to other connectors. Luckily for the PC 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:25.280 building community, motherboard manufacturers seem to have come to a 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:29.599 good old consensus when it comes to positioning of standard CPU and 00:03:27.440 --> 00:03:34.000 motherboard power and standard case headers. We've passed the dark ages of 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:39.280 randomly placed headers halfway up your freaking motherboard and 24 pin or 8pin 00:03:36.720 --> 00:03:44.799 power plugs randomly placed where they really really shouldn't be for the sake 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:50.000 of system air flow. I like right angle sockets for SATA, but not all cases 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:54.239 allow the stiff USB 3.0 no front panel cable to be installed this way. So, I 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:58.400 understand why most boards opt for a non-angled socket, but I must say I 00:03:56.480 --> 00:04:03.120 really like MSI's implementation with two sockets, one angled and one normal, 00:04:01.519 --> 00:04:07.599 because even though very few cases actually have four USB 3.0 ports, this 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:11.840 gives you the flexibility to even either have tidier cable management or better 00:04:10.239 --> 00:04:16.160 compatibility. As for the rest of the headers, USB 2.0, know front panel audio 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:20.639 and front switches. ASUS, Gigabyte, and ASRock all had varying degrees of good 00:04:17.919 --> 00:04:24.720 enough labeling, but MSI's front panel switches labeling was kind of off in the 00:04:22.880 --> 00:04:27.759 middle of nowhere, which was a little bit annoying to actually kind of find 00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:32.479 and could be frustrating for some people. ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte all 00:04:30.479 --> 00:04:36.800 featured some degree of plastic guard around their headers, which can help you 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:41.680 not screw up when tediously plugging in all your various headers, but the ASRock 00:04:38.960 --> 00:04:44.720 board did not feature any of these, but not a huge deal. The accessories 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:48.880 included with these boards were essentially all the same standard fair 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:53.600 you'd expect on a value board. Exactly what you need with no flashy LED 00:04:50.880 --> 00:04:57.600 displays and OC brackets or any of that kind of stuff. Each included a user 00:04:55.280 --> 00:05:02.160 guide of some sort, an IO shield, two SATA cables, one driver disc, and every 00:04:59.840 --> 00:05:06.160 board except for MSI included a case badge with Gigabyte and ASRock also 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:10.400 giving you an SLI bridge as they support that feature. In terms of colors, every 00:05:08.400 --> 00:05:16.080 board had an unfortunate shade of brown for their PCB except for ASRock and 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:21.039 ASRock, Gigabyte, and MSI all went with fairly standard blue or red color scheme 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:25.520 with ASUS deciding to be a hero and go with gold. I get it. They're trying to 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:30.240 communicate their whole we are the gold standard motherboards 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:35.280 thing. But personally, I would prefer a propaganda sticker on the box instead of 00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:38.639 tacky gold on my motherboard. Although, if you want to go for that Iron Man 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:44.479 look, matching it with some red components may work out for you. All one 00:05:41.840 --> 00:05:48.560 of you. Who's ever going to do that, Mr. Downey Jr.? In summary, this video is 00:05:46.880 --> 00:05:52.639 about the importance of paying attention to how all your components will work 00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:57.039 together instead of just how many raw features each one of them has 00:05:54.479 --> 00:06:00.880 individually. Thanks to standardization, your case will probably determine how 00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:04.960 well your cable runs work more than your motherboard. Your cooler will probably 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:08.880 determine what fan header layout is best for you and your desired color scheme. 00:06:07.440 --> 00:06:12.800 Also, the colors of the rest of your components in all likelihood will 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:17.680 probably determine what color you want your motherboard cooling heat sinks to 00:06:15.039 --> 00:06:23.520 be. So, the moral of the story is to plan for what you will actually use and 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:29.120 not to overspend based on what you think you might possibly use in four to 5 00:06:27.039 --> 00:06:33.600 years when you'll probably be replacing this board. Anyways, by the way, the 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:38.000 next video coming in this series will be the BIOS usability rundown of all these 00:06:36.080 --> 00:06:41.120 boards, which will also be very important. So, stay tuned for that. All 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:44.800 right, guys. In the comments down below, let me know what you think is important 00:06:42.880 --> 00:06:48.319 about motherboards. And in the finished system experience and BIOS usability 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:52.400 videos, let me know what you guys want to see. Again, comments down below or on 00:06:50.960 --> 00:06:55.840 the forum. While you're commenting down below, or before you leave to the forum, 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:59.840 be sure to like or dislike this video depending on how you like the fact that 00:06:57.520 --> 00:07:03.520 we're doing kind of lowerend motherboards than we normally do. Share 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:07.599 the video if you think it's good and subscribe to the channel if you have not 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:10.560 already over on the forum. And if you don't like the ads on the forum, you can 00:07:08.880 --> 00:07:14.479 become a contributor. 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