SO MANY BROWN PCBs!

[ZeroSix]

Is it just me, or are motherboard manufacturers making products with black PCBs less and less!? A year ago I bought my Gigabyte board for around $149.99-ish, and at that time most of the boards I was shopping around for had black PCBs, especially the ones made by MSI, ASUS, etc etc. But now at the same price point, everything is BROWN. I'm so very OCD about coordinating colors, and I would HATE to have a black case, blue fan accents, blue LEDs, blue PCIE and DIMM slots... and then a brown PCB. Idk, is that anyone else here? Has anyone else noticed this trend or am I just freaking out over nothin'? 

[Archangel1994]

Eh?

 

Black/red or Black/blue is the trend right now. Have yet to see a significant amount of black PCB's.

[MuffinTopMike]

Yeah most motherboards seem to be an ugly brown colour.,I just wish they would bring back blue motherboards.

[Tagiau]

Well if you are still seeing brown pcb's, it is time for you to stop looking at low end motherboards, or z68 motheroards. 

[eLucid]

Or you can get a nice ninja looking board. The yellow accents kinda ruin it though.

 

[ZeroSix]

Well if you are still seeing brown pcb's, it is time for you to stop looking at low end motherboards, or z68 motheroards. 

Or you could go on Newegg and look at MSI/ASUS Z87/Z97 boards around a 150 usd price point, they are all Brown. 

 

Jerk.

 

 

Or you can get a nice ninja looking board. The yellow accents kinda ruin it though.

 

 

Yellow is such a rare color for PCs, I have seen that board before though and it looks really awesome. 

 

The MSI M-POWER with the huge M on it is amazing too! I was thinking of buying it and going with a "House of M" themed build.

[Geekazoid]

Is it just me, or are motherboard manufacturers making products with black PCBs less and less!? A year ago I bought my Gigabyte board for around $149.99-ish, and at that time most of the boards I was shopping around for had black PCBs, especially the ones made by MSI, ASUS, etc etc. But now at the same price point, everything is BROWN. I'm so very OCD about coordinating colors, and I would HATE to have a black case, blue fan accents, blue LEDs, blue PCIE and DIMM slots... and then a brown PCB. Idk, is that anyone else here? Has anyone else noticed this trend or am I just freaking out over nothin'?

I have noticed this. Maybe they all got dropped in the toilet :lol:. People can be quite clumsy sometimes.

In all seriousness though, I have and that's the reason that I have had to opt for a more

expensive mobo, because brown doesn't go too well with a black and white H440.

[LogicalDrm]

Jerk.

 

 

Hey! Learn some manner before posting in here. We don't need that kind of attitude in this forum.

 

On topic though. I think manufacturers have gone two ways in this. They have GAMING labelled products which have black PCB and then there's another line of (borrowing MSI's branding) PC MATE style mobos. While still being Z-series boards and having same features as GAMING boards, they use brown/blue PCB. My guess would be that those are for people who don't have windows in their cases but still like the OC etc. capabilities.

 

As for Neweggs pricing range, I see more mobos with black PCB. Most brown ones are either Asus (goes with gold theme) or AsRock. On AMDs side this might be more but that is because manufacturers don't see AMD as GAMING platform atm. This may change in future.

[mr.skyrim_pc]

Or you can get a nice ninja looking board. The yellow accents kinda ruin it though.

It's not yellow, it's gold.

[Koka458]

I have Grey Gigabyte MotherBoard...

[DigitalHermit]

Be thankful they're not green...

 

Like the PCBs on the Kingston ValueRAM line...

[eLucid]

It's not yellow, it's gold.

 

 

Same shit, different pile. It still ruins the look.

[Gontier]

Why are you surprised? GIGABYTE is the cheapest manufacturer of the bunch. Plastic shrouds on GPUs, shoddy MB BIOS UI, brown PCBs. I've never known anyone to buy a GIGABYTE product for aesthetics, rather because they were on a budget. Those plastic guns on the G1 Sniper boards scream Chinese plastic to me. 

[flibberdipper]

Why are you surprised? GIGABYTE is the cheapest manufacturer of the bunch. Plastic shrouds, shoddy BIOS, brown PCBs. I've never known anyone to buy a GIGABYTE product for aesthetics, rather because they were on a budget.

I picked my Z97X-Gaming 5 for the looks... I wanted one of the ROG boards, but I don't have money falling out my ass.

[eLucid]

Why are you surprised? GIGABYTE is the cheapest manufacturer of the bunch. Plastic shrouds on GPUs, shoddy MB BIOS UI, brown PCBs. I've never known anyone to buy a GIGABYTE product for aesthetics, rather because they were on a budget. Those plastic guns on the G1 Sniper boards scream Chinese plastic to me. 

 

RoG boards are for people that fall for over the top extra's along with massive amounts of marketing hype/snake oil bs. Every time someone associates themselves with the rog brand I immediately think he/she has more money than brains.

 

The entire rog line-up is what all the spoiled children get.

[smjpl]

@ZeroSix

 

Are these the brown PCBs you are on about?

 

 

All the MSI ones look black with either red, yellow or blue. Some of the Asus ones (like the Asus Z97-A pictured above) have some brown highlights (I'd call it pale bronze) but all the PCB seem to be black.

 

You could probably paint the three components that are actually brown if you really really want an Asus board.

[Gontier]

RoG boards are for people that fall for over the top extra's along with massive amounts of marketing hype/snake oil bs. Every time someone associates themselves with the rog brand I immediately think he/she has more money than brains.

 

The entire rog line-up is what all the spoiled children get.

 

I like how you immediately throw that assumption out there when GIGABYTE was the only brand I named. I don't associate myself with any brand, not even with Dell who is my employer. Yeah, I like features and looks and I have the money for it. Not complaining one bit because I am a satisfied customer. I think the people that cheap out and buy from brands like GIGABYTE or Thermaltake aren't fully satisfied, and somewhere down the road they look at a rivaling product and wish they had something more. 

[WoodenMarker]

@ZeroSix

Some of the Asus ones (like the Asus Z97-A pictured above) have some brown highlights (I'd call it pale bronze) but all the PCB seem to be black.

Nope, that's brown. Many boards that seem black in pictures are actually brown in person due to lighting. 

[grimmjow660]

Look at Asus Z97 AR, the color is what made me go for instead of the A.

[i_build_nanosuits]

Nope, that's brown. Many boards that seem black in pictures are actually brown in person due to lighting.

yes, but once you drop them into a case they become black again...they just look brownish when held under a light or the sun...this is a non issue.

[WoodenMarker]

yes, but once you drop them into a case they become black again...they just look brownish when held under a light or the sun...this is a non issue.

That's not the case if there's any internal lighting--which might be the case for anyone who is worrying about the color of the pcb in the first place. 

[i_build_nanosuits]

That's not the case if there's any internal lighting--which might be the case for anyone who is worrying about the color of the pcb in the first place.

not true...only white leds would allow you to assest if the PCB color is dark brown or black...any colored leds will make's it impossible to tell wheter the board is black or dark brown

[WoodenMarker]

not true...only white leds would allow you to assest if the PCB color is dark brown or black...any colored leds will make's it impossible to tell wheter the board is black or dark brown

Good point. That's also why I like white leds--they show off the components well. 

[i_build_nanosuits]

Good point. That's also why I like white leds--they show off the components well.

i agree...but they also show dust, fingerprints...anyways everybody has it's preferences i guess...my machine is black and red (with a Z87-G45 gaming motherboard which is indeed dark brown when looked under direct light) and i have red led strips inside the case and i swear even with the panel open and computer turned off the motherboard looks black as a long as it's not under direct light.

[ZeroSix]

In all seriousness though, I have and that's the reason that I have had to opt for a more expensive mobo, because brown doesn't go too well with a black and white H440.

 

EXACTLY. Now imagine if you ordered a limited edition color like Black with blue accents like I did... (today I just asked NZXT to switch my order to white and black though and they sorted that out. Great customer support btw).

 

 

Why are you surprised? GIGABYTE is the cheapest manufacturer of the bunch. Plastic shrouds on GPUs, shoddy MB BIOS UI, brown PCBs. I've never known anyone to buy a GIGABYTE product for aesthetics, rather because they were on a budget. Those plastic guns on the G1 Sniper boards scream Chinese plastic to me. 

Maybe that's your experience with Gigabyte, but I find that that they make quality MoBos, especially the Z77X-UD4H that I have been using the past year. 

Also that is the only name you mentioned.

 

@i_build_nanosuits

 

I am a stickler for aesthetics as MANY enthusiasts are, but I don't want to pay a premium just for a black PCB. A year ago even at $150 black PCBs were the standard for all the reputable big brands like MSI, GIGABYTE and ASUS, but now you're not seeing them unless you're paying closer to 200. And Brown PCB's will show up brown or as a shade of a color that IS NOT BLACK under any decent lighting except UV LEDs.