Seeking Motherboard but not Tech Savvy

[AnubisMLG]

Hey there everyone,

 

New to the forums here but I have watched quite a few of LTT's videos on YouTube. Anyway moving on, I needed some help and info on what kind of motherboard I should get for my new upcoming PC build. I am typically looking for a motherboard with multiple USB ports. My current PC has about 15 USB ports, at least externally. I am aware or at least think that some motherboards have a few internal USB ports on the motherboard itself. I guess what I am saying is that I would want as many USB ports on the tower/outside of the build as I can possibly get.

Any suggestions? I am currently looking at the GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS ULTRA but not totally sure if this would be good. I am not very tech savvy and don't fully understand how many actual USB ports motherboards have or could have.

[Jimkirk363]

U could always opt for another board and just use a powered USB Hub instead?

 

Ur not gonna be using all USB devices at once?

[Slottr]

What processor? Do you intend on overclocking?

[Firewrath9]

On the Rear IO, most motherboards have 10-12 on the back, 2 internal USB 2.0 headers, and 1 internal usb 3.0 header, and 1 internal USB C. Each header provides 2 ports with the exception of the USB C. However, most cases only have at most 2 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0. I bought a USB 3.0 hub that splits 1 usb 3.0 into 4 usb 3.0 for like 6$ on amazon.

[AnubisMLG]

1 minute ago, Slottr said:

What processor? Do you intend on overclocking?

i7-9700K and yes I plan on overclocking. Currently just seeking a motherboard with at least 10 USB Ports but would like to have up to 14.

[AnubisMLG]

2 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

On the Rear IO, most motherboards have 10-12 on the back, 2 internal USB 2.0 headers, and 1 internal usb 3.0 header, and 1 internal USB C. Each header provides 2 ports with the exception of the USB C. However, most cases only have at most 2 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0. I bought a USB 3.0 hub that splits 1 usb 3.0 into 4 usb 3.0 for like 6$ on amazon.

So with all that being said, how do you feel about the motherboard I mentioned in my 1st post? Any opinions and think it has enough USB ports?

[AnubisMLG]

6 minutes ago, jimkirk363 said:

U could always opt for another board and just use a powered USB Hub instead?

 

Ur not gonna be using all USB devices at once?

I may not be using all 15 USB ports but I do use probably about half of them maybe a bit more. I have quite a few USB devices hooked up to my current PC. 

[Firewrath9]

5 minutes ago, AnubisMLG said:

So with all that being said, how do you feel about the motherboard I mentioned in my 1st post? Any opinions and think it has enough USB ports?

Its good, and it has enough. However you may want to go with X570 as the intel procs are expensive. What CPU are you considering.

btw, I use this many USB ports, and I think that this is around the upper end of USB usage (unless you use a lot of external disks)

2 USB 2.0 for KB/Mouse

1 USB 3.0 for cable for phone

1 USB 3.0 for USB Hub which goes to flash drives/SD card reader, Headphone dongle, and external disks

1 USB 3.0 to DAC/AMP

1 USB 3.0 for webcam

1 USB 3.0 for micro USB for headset

 

Without the hub, this is around 10 ports total, and with the hub its only 7. I have a single remaining port. (My mobo only has 6, and my front IO only has 2)

 

[AnubisMLG]

4 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

Its good, and it has enough. However you may want to go with X570 as the intel procs are expensive. What CPU are you considering.

btw, I use this many USB ports, and I think that this is around the upper end of USB usage (unless you use a lot of external disks)

2 USB 2.0 for KB/Mouse

1 USB 3.0 for cable for phone

1 USB 3.0 for USB Hub which goes to flash drives/SD card reader, Headphone dongle, and external disks

1 USB 3.0 to DAC/AMP

1 USB 3.0 for webcam

1 USB 3.0 for micro USB for headset

 

Without the hub, this is around 10 ports total, and with the hub its only 7. I have a single remaining port. (My mobo only has 6, and my front IO only has 2)

 

So this is the entire build that I have looked at so far and not yet actually purchased but all the parts I am considering:

- i7-9700K
- 3x 120mm RGB Fans
- Corsair Hydro Series RGB 240mm Liquid CPU Cooling System
- 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- 32GB 3200MHz Trident RAM
- GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS ULTRA Motherboard
- 1,000 Watt Power Supply
- EVGA GeForce RTX 2080Ti FTW3 Ultra Gaming 11GB GDDR6

[Firewrath9]

10 minutes ago, AnubisMLG said:

So this is the entire build that I have looked at so far and not yet actually purchased but all the parts I am considering:

- i7-9700K
- 3x 120mm RGB Fans
- Corsair Hydro Series RGB 240mm Liquid CPU Cooling System
- 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
- 32GB 3200MHz Trident RAM
- GIGABYTE Z390 AORUS ULTRA Motherboard
- 1,000 Watt Power Supply
- EVGA GeForce RTX 2080Ti FTW3 Ultra Gaming 11GB GDDR6

I'd reccommend a 3700X and a X570 Aorus Ultra over the 9700k.

Also, a sabrent rocket 1TB over the 970 evo, and you don't need a massive PSU. 750 should do just fine.

[dizmo]

You have to go into the higher end chips to get more USB ports natively on the rear IO. You can use add in cards, which is what I'd do if you're trying to expand...or, as others have said, USB hubs. What on earth are you plugging in? Seems like an excessive number of devices.

 

36 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

On the Rear IO, most motherboards have 10-12 on the back, 2 internal USB 2.0 headers, and 1 internal usb 3.0 header, and 1 internal USB C. Each header provides 2 ports with the exception of the USB C. However, most cases only have at most 2 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0. I bought a USB 3.0 hub that splits 1 usb 3.0 into 4 usb 3.0 for like 6$ on amazon.

Uh, no. Most have 5 - 7. 10 - 12 is only common on very high end boards.

[AnubisMLG]

3 minutes ago, dizmo said:

You have to go into the higher end chips to get more USB ports natively on the rear IO. You can use add in cards, which is what I'd do if you're trying to expand...or, as others have said, USB hubs. What on earth are you plugging in? Seems like an excessive number of devices.

 

Uh, no. Most have 5 - 7. 10 - 12 is only common on very high end boards.

So for a higher end board with more native USB ports on the rear IO, what would you recommend?

Add-in cards? Not sure what you mean by that.

USB hubs, I am guessing those are like those external USB things that give you the ability to hook up more USB devices.

Well I stream, or at least used to. I have quite a few devices and things that hook into the USB ports atm. I don't utilize all 14 or 15 USB ports I have but I do use about half. I think about 6 or 7 ports are occupied. Plus some of the others have gone bad and do not recognize any device that gets put into them. So I also use the extra ports as a backup USB port.

[Firewrath9]

Just now, dizmo said:

You have to go into the higher end chips to get more USB ports natively on the rear IO. You can use add in cards, which is what I'd do if you're trying to expand...or, as others have said, USB hubs. What on earth are you plugging in? Seems like an excessive number of devices.

 

Uh, no. Most have 5 - 7. 10 - 12 is only common on very high end boards.

first of all, he's picked a very high end board. also, many low-mid range boards have 8-10 on the rear IO aswell.

Low end boards: The much-recommended B450 Pro4. That has 8 on the rear IO. B365 Pro4 also has 8. B360 Aorus Gaming 3 has 8. B360 Prime Plus has 8.These are all low-end boards (~100$ +- 25) with mid-range chipsets. Perhaps some manufacturers skimp out on the rear IO, but there are many options.

Mid-range boards (~150$ +- 25) X470 GPC has 10 USB ports. X470 Aorus Ultra has 10. Z390 Aorus Pro has 10. 

None of these are "Very high end", and sure not every board has 10, but most 130$+ boards have at least 8.

Pretty much all boards have at least 6.

 

[Firewrath9]

9 minutes ago, AnubisMLG said:

So for a higher end board with more native USB ports on the rear IO, what would you recommend?

Add-in cards? Not sure what you mean by that.

USB hubs, I am guessing those are like those external USB things that give you the ability to hook up more USB devices.

Well I stream, or at least used to. I have quite a few devices and things that hook into the USB ports atm. I don't utilize all 14 or 15 USB ports I have but I do use about half. I think about 6 or 7 ports are occupied. Plus some of the others have gone bad and do not recognize any device that gets put into them. So I also use the extra ports as a backup USB port.

well the X570 Aorus Pro has 10, most mid-range to high end boards have at least 10

[AnubisMLG]

3 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

well the X570 Aorus Pro has 10, most mid-range to high end boards have at least 10

Yeah I am looking into the X570 Aorus Pro, thanks for the suggestion! I appreciate your time and advice. Just making sure that I get a decent amount of USB ports.

As previously mentioned my current PC has 4 on the front/top of the case and the rear has about 10 or so. 

[Firewrath9]

1 minute ago, AnubisMLG said:

Yeah I am looking into the X570 Aorus Pro, thanks for the suggestion! I appreciate your time and advice. Just making sure that I get a decent amount of USB ports.

As previously mentioned my current PC has 4 on the front/top of the case and the rear has about 10 or so. 

yeah. A hub like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O0KISQE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

is pretty high quality (its aluminum), and offers decent enough speeds for flash drives. Get it on sale though, 18.99 is a bit expensive. Or get the plastic version which is cheaper.

[dizmo]

25 minutes ago, AnubisMLG said:

So for a higher end board with more native USB ports on the rear IO, what would you recommend?

Add-in cards? Not sure what you mean by that.

USB hubs, I am guessing those are like those external USB things that give you the ability to hook up more USB devices.

Well I stream, or at least used to. I have quite a few devices and things that hook into the USB ports atm. I don't utilize all 14 or 15 USB ports I have but I do use about half. I think about 6 or 7 ports are occupied. Plus some of the others have gone bad and do not recognize any device that gets put into them. So I also use the extra ports as a backup USB port.

Once you go higher end they're more-or-less going to be decent. I'd go with something Asus, then AsRock, then Gigabyte.

I'd never buy an MSI board.

 

It's a PCIe expansion card you can add to the system to increase the number of USB ports.

16 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

first of all, he's picked a very high end board. also, many low-mid range boards have 8-10 on the rear IO aswell.

Low end boards: The much-recommended B450 Pro4. That has 8 on the rear IO. B365 Pro4 also has 8. B360 Aorus Gaming 3 has 8. B360 Prime Plus has 8.These are all low-end boards (~100$ +- 25) with mid-range chipsets. Perhaps some manufacturers skimp out on the rear IO, but there are many options.

Mid-range boards (~150$ +- 25) X470 GPC has 10 USB ports. X470 Aorus Ultra has 10. Z390 Aorus Pro has 10. 

None of these are "Very high end", and sure not every board has 10, but most 130$+ boards have at least 8.

Pretty much all boards have at least 6.

 

Sooo I'm not sure about your math but the GPC has 8. The Aorus Ultra has 10, but only if you count the Type C, which still isn't super common for what most people will plug into the back of a PC. Pro has 9.

 

If we go to mid/higher end boards, ones in brackets include USB C :

• Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 - 7(8)
• Z390 Taichi Ultimate - 7(8), yet 3 ethernet ports...
• ROG Maximus Xi - 7 (8)
• EVGA Z390 FTW - 8
• ROG Strix Z390 - 7 (8)

So that's most of the boards between $200 and $300...not having 10 USB ports. None have 10. Do you know what 8 isn't? 10.

What did I say? Most have 5 - 7...which is true. Sure, you could include USB C, but that still puts me closer than you, and frankly USB C isn't widely adopted enough to really be counted yet.

 

Can you find boards with more? Certainly. However, that's not the norm.

[Firewrath9]

Just now, dizmo said:

Once you go higher end they're more-or-less going to be decent. I'd go with something Asus, then AsRock, then Gigabyte.

I'd never buy an MSI board.

 

It's a PCIe expansion card you can add to the system to increase the number of USB ports.

Sooo I'm not sure about your math but the GPC has 8. The Aorus Ultra has 10, but only if you count the Type C, which still isn't super common for what most people will plug into the back of a PC. Pro has 9.

 

If we go to mid/higher end boards, ones in brackets include USB C :

• Z390 Phantom Gaming 9 - 7(8)
• Z390 Taichi Ultimate - 7(8), yet 3 ethernet ports...
• ROG Maximus Xi - 7 (8)
• EVGA Z390 FTW - 8
• ROG Strix Z390 - 7 (8)

So that's most of the boards between $200 and $300...not having 10 USB ports. None have 10. Do you know what 8 isn't? 10.

What did I say? Most have 5 - 7...which is true. Sure, you could include USB C, but that still puts me closer than you, and frankly USB C isn't widely adopted enough to really be counted yet.

 

Can you find boards with more? Certainly. However, that's not the norm.

lmao somebody seems angry

[dizmo]

3 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

lmao somebody seems angry

Not at all, I was looking anyway, and I knew you were wrong. Wasn't hard to provide proof.