Z370 Motherboard features

[Alice in game]

Looking at many motherboards, I had a hard time seeing the difference between many of the cards available. I could see many look like they have the same features, almost wondering what are the differences.

 

From what I could see, most of them have similar IO with about 6 usb (selection change from boards), 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN port, internal 2x usb 2.0, 1x usb 3.1 gen 1, thunderbold header, 2x M.2 optane ready, 6x SATA3.

 

The most "rare" features are 1Gbps LAN, 8x SATA3, 1x USB 3.1 Gen 1 type C, WiFi... number of fan/rgb header ? ... RGB light ?

 

I have the impression that the cheapest card would already offer just all the feature I would need, especially as I do not care about RGB.

 

So I have two question.

What Z370 card would you buy if you had to build a computer for for yourself ? (and why)

What are the features that more expensive cards have that you would be looking for ?

 

Because it's the cheapest, I would go with something like the  ASRock Z370 Pro4

[TARS]

I would wait until there are more boards available, when a new chipset/cpu is released the variety is always low and their bios are usually full of bugs.

 

Also consider what features you will actually use, I have built so many computers over the years and most of the features go unused...  by the time I think about adding a component to utilize a feature a new chipset/cpu is released.

 

I would concern my self with 4 pin headers qty & placement for PWM use, M.2 placement, usb3 header placement and would tailor my choices around the case I was using.

[Alice in game]

21 minutes ago, Tars said:

I would wait until there are more boards available, when a new chipset/cpu is released the variety is always low and their bios are usually full of bugs.

 

Also consider what features you will actually use, I have built so many computers over the years and most of the features go unused...  by the time I think about adding a component to utilize a feature a new chipset/cpu is released.

 

I would concern my self with 4 pin headers qty & placement for PWM use, M.2 placement, usb3 header placement and would tailor my choices around the case I was using.

I have to convince myself that I need a new computer first  mine is still able to run things properly and I feel it would be a waste to buy a new computer just for the sake of buying a new computer.

 

To give you an idea, my actual computer only have USB 2.0 and I do not own any USB 3.1 device, so that would be a "new feature" for me, but not even something that I would use.

 

I would agree with your statement of header placement. Could even add the sata port placement. I prefer to have them all facing the side, and not facing up like Asus Prime Z370-P, that also only have 4 port.

[TARS]

USB 3 headers are sometimes placed near the back of the board that requires a cable to be run across it which is why I mentioned that, yes you are correct about SATA I forgot to add that.

 

USB 3 for file transfer speed using external storage device such as a jump drive is nice to have.