hm, that’s a good point btw (re: mobos), since last time I’ve bought a mobo, Gigabyte was recommended to me, and lo and behold, has worked since 2009/10 flawlessly.
For the mITX-build for my dad, I went with ASUS. I’d have eyed gigabyte again but will wait for reviews to indicate which X370 variant will be the go-to option. 32gb RAM is a must, or … 64 … gotta stop dreaming, now.
I’ve gone for this http://pcpartpicker.com/product/gHkD4D/corsair-case-cc9011047ww case, because my dad wanted to be able to use an internal disc drive (well, an external drive would surely have done the trick, but whatev), and it was almost too easy to fit everything in the case.
However. There’s that nagging voice which is still pondering whether I shouldn’t go for tower dimensions for my ryzen build, because I kinda like those (black) monoliths, and had two of them already (from 1998ish to 2002, and from 2009/10ish to now) … good thing that I’ll have a bit of time to think about this before going shopping.
Yeah, I think that’s the one I see recommended.
I was just real into the idea of having a desktop as singular, compact, and dense as a console. It’s an object I can look at, touch, and pick up, and that’s appealing.
I’ve also to consider the gaming aspect this time, since I have … well ……
AFAIK, Zotac has no AM4 boards in the works and ASRock has ATX and mATX boards ready for launch. AMD and various mobo manufacturers have indicated that ITX boards are coming “later”, which to me implies that they’ll come with R5 chips, which is in a nebulous Q2
I did it
I finally bought a new computer
7700k, 64gb ram, 960 pro
this thing’s gonna scream
Picking out a motherboard is really fucking hard though
There are about 5 manufacturers that make Z270 boards, each with 5-20 slightly different models, and each with a uniquely terrible comparison feature on their site. I spent like an hour on Gigabyte’s website picking out a motherboard model only to find out it’s apparently not sold anywhere.
And the model numbers! Which is better: the STRIX Z270E or the STRIX Z270F? And obviously, the Z270G is better than the both, right? These statements are all wrong and for different reasons. There is no consistency. The model numbers convey almost zero information so you have to look at every single one.
The big thing this year is plastic shrouds slathered in RGB LEDs. It’s a revival of everything that was terrible about PC building in the early 2000s combined with everything terrible about new cars.
that’s why I like ITX boards, there’s usually only like two affordable Z-series models every generation
this is exactly what I was thinking of. with one of those mediasonic proboxes for my harddrives. seems like it’d be better and cheaper to get 2 of the 4 bay ones than 1 of the 8 bay ones though
It’s pretty simple. Just ask yourself:
From there, I would then start inspecting the internal I/O to see if they meet your requirements (mostly w/r/t fan headers in this day and age)
With that said, I’m going to be an asshole and tell you to buy the cheapest Asus board. Alternatively, you could buy a used Z170 board and ask the seller to upgrade the BIOS up to Kaby Lake support.
I know all of that, it’s just a huge fucking pain. There’s no coherent way to compare motherboards. It’s pretty much buy whatever they sell you, without scrutiny.
Look at internal I/O options? When every single motherboard specifies it differently it’s just exhausting. It’s horrible for consumers and even worse for someone looking for something specific. I spent literally hours trying to figure out exactly what wifi adapters a couple of boards had.
Added bonus of shit: having 50 different models means the market is so split up it’s impossible to get meaningful reviews for anything.
I ended up getting an ASUS Z270F fwiw
you could try ask yourself “can I run Linux on this?” and go googling for (Z-)board-name + linux, and suddenly the non-existent options fold away, to leave … a few that are not working. That, however, makes you at least ditch a few more boards, so you’ll end up with a few that are mentioned once or so, which are working™ with linux.
or you do it the @Felix way, did that for my dad’s PC (up there somewhere) and that was a wonderful/super-easy choice to be made.
I have zero interest in linux on the desktop
what will you be using that amount of RAM for?
Visual Studio, VMs, and keeping everything in cache forever
missed opportunity for a joke about chrome
Guess I do gotta have room for all those stackoverflow tabs
I guess I could add that newegg had a killer deal on the exact ram I wanted and I decided to just go for it and get two sets so I would never have to worry about matching them in the future. Hopefully this one will last at least as long as my current computer and I can just put in a new video card every few years.
I just had to ssh into my desktop to restart cleanly after the display crashed but the catch is that this was on windows
Rather pleased with myself
is it worth installing the geforce experience stuff or should i just stick with the standalone drivers i installed on first boot ages ago
