TheLostSwedeExamples? I don't agree here.

Fewer PCI slots that a 5 year old b350 mobo, fewer sata ports.

If you are a prosumer and need, for example, a sound card + capture card + lots of sata storage you are screwed.

PCI slots are configured 16/0/4 or 8/8/4. So if you need a couple of pci cards then you gimp your gpu.

Come on you and everyone else must open their eyes and see that manufacturers are selling less for more.

NVMe is the new hotness, SATA is old & busted.

We don't have ISA, PCI, AGP, floppy connectors, parallel printer ports, or PATA (IDE) on mainstream motherboards anymore, either.

Got lots of SATA spinning drives? Use an old mobo with an abundance of SATA for a TrueNAS box.

samumNVMe is the new hotness, SATA is old & busted.

We don't have ISA, PCI, AGP, floppy connectors, parallel printer ports, or PATA (IDE) on mainstream motherboards anymore, either.

Got lots of SATA spinning drives? Use an old mobo with an abundance of SATA for a TrueNAS box.

And what are you supposed to do when the old motherboard dies and you cant get any boards with the same number of ports anymore?
Sure a HBA card can fix that but that will eat PCI-E lanes

I am fine with 6 ports thats what most boards have these days and i have an PCI-E gen 3 x1 HBA card with 2 SATA ports on hand in case i need it
4 is too few and Asus are the worst when it comes to SATA ports all the other brands have models with 6 ports and Asrock even has boards with 8 SATA ports

shilkaAnd what are you supposed to do when the old motherboard dies and you can get any boards with the same number of ports anymore?
Sure a HBA card can fix that but that will eat PCI-E lanes

What did you do with your IDE drives and AGP video cards?

samumWhat did you do with your IDE drives and AGP video cards?

Thats not the same thing IDE and AGP had stopped production which is why they disappeared at the end they were dead standards and i never had anything that used either i needed to re-use

SATA is still being used by new devices and will keep being in use for a while longer, the bigest SSD´s on the market the 50 and 100 TB from Nimbus Data still uses SATA III
nimbusdata.com/products/exadrive/
WD, Seagate and all the others are on track with their 22 TB HDD´s coming out some time later this year and those still use SATA

SATA is NOT dead no matter how much some people and companies believe that delusion

tabascosauzScrew the Strix - that Gene right there is the big news! Good to see a proper OC board come back in a form factor that isn't insanely constrained for size.

Agreed, the Gene is lovely, nice to see it return,

shilkaThats not the same thing IDE and AGP had stopped production which is why they disappeared at the end they were dead standards

SATA is still being used by new devices and will keep being in use for a while longer, the bigest SSD´s on the market the 50 and 100 TB from Nimbus Data still uses SATA III
nimbusdata.com/products/exadrive/
SATA is NOT dead no matter how much some people and companies believe that delusion

Thus, NAS.

SATA is becoming obsolete for desktop systems. It already is for laptops.

Personally, I only need 2 SATA connectors. 1 for a single storage drive and one for spare. All my storage is NVME now, old spinners are for external boxes.

samumThus, NAS.

SATA is becoming obsolete for desktop systems. It already is for laptops.

And if you want to build your own NAS server instead of buying one from QNAP or one of the others what are you supposed to do?
I personally dont like the off the shelf NAS servers if they break you cant buy replacement parts like you can with a PC and then you got all the ransomware attacks on NAS servers

All i want is the ports for my 6 hard drives i dont need or want 20 USB 4,0 ports and 4 M.2 gen 5 slots at the expense of all that crap eating up lanes that could have gone to SATA ports or HBA cards
If at least some of the brands can just stick with 6 SATA ports i dont have a problem or anything to complain about

When SATA is not a dead standard there is no need to remove so many of them
Again 6 is fine 4 is not so Asus is the problem here

I am not going to spend any more time talking about this all i am going to say is i wont be buying Asus anymore there are other much better options from MSI and even Gigabyte and Asrock
They at least are not going out of their way to removing as many SATA ports

I hear you can get X570 boards with 8 SATA ports. Sounds like a pretty good start for NAS, and just about any AM4 CPU will be plenty.

The shrinking number of PCIe slots is annoying, and it's probably because of the added expense with each version of PCIe. I wouldn't be surprised if the expense of building PCIe 4+ lanes into a motherboard is part of what killed TRX40 Threadripper. PCIe is quickly becoming cost prohibitive and it's getting to be time to replace it.

gdp77Fewer PCI slots that a 5 year old b350 mobo, fewer sata ports.

In exchange for more NVMe interfaces.

gdp77If you are a prosumer and need, for example, a sound card + capture card + lots of sata storage you are screwed.

Plenty boards out there that can handle that. Also, sound is largely external these days, as are many capture solutions.

gdp77PCI slots are configured 16/0/4 or 8/8/4. So if you need a couple of pci cards then you gimp your gpu.

As proven, it makes a negligible difference.

gdp77Come on you and everyone else must open their eyes and see that manufacturers are selling less for more.

They're not. You clearly have zero insight into what goes into making a motherboard.
I've been writing about tech since before Y2K and obviously been using it even longer and no, we're not getting less.
This is simply a matter of preference and I can agree on so much that the board makers might need a couple of models with some more legacy connectivity to cater to your shrinking use case, but that's it.

shilkaAnd if you want to build your own NAS server instead of buying one from QNAP or one of the others what are you supposed to do?
I personally dont like the off the shelf NAS servers if they break you cant buy replacement parts like you can with a PC and then you got all the ransomware attacks on NAS servers

All i want is the ports for my 6 hard drives i dont need or want 20 USB 4,0 ports and 4 M.2 gen 5 slots at the expense of all that crap eating up lanes that could have gone to SATA ports or HBA cards
If at least some of the brands can just stick with 6 SATA ports i dont have a problem or anything to complain about

When SATA is not a dead standard there is no need to remove so many of them
Again 6 is fine 4 is not so Asus is the problem here

I am not going to spend any more time talking about this all i am going to say is i wont be buying Asus anymore there are other much better options from MSI and even Gigabyte and Asrock
They at least are not going out of their way to removing as many SATA ports

And what are you going to do next generation when everybody is only supporting 4 SATA ports? Continue to sulk and complain that the nasty AIBs are being mean to you because they're continuing to scale back their use of old technology in favour of new? Honestly.

shilkaThats not the same thing IDE and AGP had stopped production which is why they disappeared at the end they were dead standards and i never had anything that used either i needed to re-use

SATA is still being used by new devices and will keep being in use for a while longer, the bigest SSD´s on the market the 50 and 100 TB from Nimbus Data still uses SATA III
nimbusdata.com/products/exadrive/
WD, Seagate and all the others are on track with their 22 TB HDD´s coming out some time later this year and those still use SATA

SATA is NOT dead no matter how much some people and companies believe that delusion

Except that they are still giving you four SATA ports. It's not like they're not giving you any SATA ports.
If you're buying 22 TB drives, why the heck would you need more than 4 SATA connectors?
I have 3 SATA HDD's and a DVD-burner I never use in my system. The 3 HDDs give me a total of 21TB of HDD storage. Then another 6TB of NVME m.2 drives.
If you need more than that, it's time to break free from that porn habit!
Or at least, it's time to stop hoarding huge files.

Sorry, but the number of people who need more than 4 SATA ports in 2022 is probably less than 1% of the DIY motherboard market.
SATA may not be dead, but it is clearly dying.

ChaitanyaFor RAID 5 array, if I just want sata ports then there are cheap M.2 solutions as well to add Sata ports but none of these support RAID.

Ebay has good listings for cheap RAID/HBA cards.
www.ebay.com/p/27026538211

Software raid is way to go these days. ;)

gdp77Fewer PCI slots that a 5 year old b350 mobo, fewer sata ports.

If you are a prosumer and need, for example, a sound card + capture card + lots of sata storage you are screwed.

PCI slots are configured 16/0/4 or 8/8/4. So if you need a couple of pci cards then you gimp your gpu.

Come on you and everyone else must open their eyes and see that manufacturers are selling less for more.

It seems to be a m.2 craze at the expense of everything else, madness.

davidhhhExcept that they are still giving you four SATA ports. It's not like they're not giving you any SATA ports.
If you're buying 22 TB drives, why the heck would you need more than 4 SATA connectors?
I have 3 SATA HDD's and a DVD-burner I never use in my system. The 3 HDDs give me a total of 21TB of HDD storage. Then another 6TB of NVME m.2 drives.
If you need more than that, it's time to break free from that porn habit!
Or at least, it's time to stop hoarding huge files.

Sorry, but the number of people who need more than 4 SATA ports in 2022 is probably less than 1% of the DIY motherboard market.
SATA may not be dead, but it is clearly dying.

You dont work with media and need to keep everything around and you dont know me what i do or what i have or need to keep around so speak for yourself
I have around 36-38 TB of Media and with the backups thats 72-76 TB of media and i have 96 TB of total storage space spread out on 6 hard drives and i need the backups so no i cant take half the drives out

And no i am not buying a NAS server for drives and there is a number of reasons for that and i wont go into details

6 SATA ports is fine like i have already said multiple times every brand other than Asus has multiple boards with 6 SATA ports
Only Asus has gone out of their way to have only ONE board and thats the most expensive board in their lineup which is BS

And like i have also said multiple times when there is an option with 6 ports i am going to pick that and if it comes to that i am going with a HBA card i already have an x1 with two SATA ports i can use if i need it

6 SATA ports is fine for what i need 4 is not and i dont give a damm what everyone else thinks and says about that you can sod off for all i care you dont have that much data and backups

shilkaYou dont work with media and need to keep everything around and you dont know me what i do or what i have or need to keep around so speak for yourself
I have around 36-38 TB of Media and with the backups thats 72-76 TB of media and i have 96 TB of total storage space spread out on 6 hard drives and i need the backups so no i cant take half the drives out

And no i am not buying a NAS server for drives and there is a number of reasons for that and i wont go into details

6 SATA ports is fine like i have already said multiple times every brand other than Asus has multiple boards with 6 SATA ports
Only Asus has gone out of their way to have only ONE board and thats the most expensive board in their lineup which is BS

And like i have also said multiple times when there is an option with 6 ports i am going to pick that and if it comes to that i am going with a HBA card i already have an x1 with two SATA ports i can use if i need it

6 SATA ports is fine for what i need 4 is not and i dont give a damm what everyone else thinks and says about that you can sod off for all i care you dont have that much data and backups

I suspect this is a way to revive the HEDT market by crippling mainstream to make that more attractive, and sure enough I googled and is rumours.

Want to use things like game capture, storage, sound cards all at once, no problem we have this expensive HEDT for you.

Do what I did last time I upgraded:-

1. Buy cheap case with lots of HDD bays
2. Buy hardware RAID card
3. Remove old hardware from desktop PC
4. Install 2 & 3 into 1
5. Add HDDs to taste.

Then, build new desktop rig.

chrcolukSoftware raid is way to go these days. ;)


It seems to be a m.2 craze at the expense of everything else, madness.

Yes, people wanting the latest and fastest technology on a site called techpowerup is absolute madness!

shilkaYou dont work with media and need to keep everything around and you dont know me what i do or what i have or need to keep around so speak for yourself
I have around 36-38 TB of Media and with the backups thats 72-76 TB of media and i have 96 TB of total storage space spread out on 6 hard drives and i need the backups so no i cant take half the drives out

And no i am not buying a NAS server for drives and there is a number of reasons for that and i wont go into details

6 SATA ports is fine like i have already said multiple times every brand other than Asus has multiple boards with 6 SATA ports
Only Asus has gone out of their way to have only ONE board and thats the most expensive board in their lineup which is BS

And like i have also said multiple times when there is an option with 6 ports i am going to pick that and if it comes to that i am going with a HBA card i already have an x1 with two SATA ports i can use if i need it

6 SATA ports is fine for what i need 4 is not and i dont give a damm what everyone else thinks and says about that you can sod off for all i care you dont have that much data and backups

So, just to recap.
1) Your personal needs are extremely uncommon, as I pointed out.
2) You seem to think that the rest of us should have to pay more for an excess of old technology features that you and a tiny percentage of customers actually want or will use.
2) Tech companies better serve their customers (and their bottom line) by catering to the needs of the masses, not those of a very small percentage of users with very specific personal needs scenarios.
3) There are nearly a dozen ways that you could actually very easily solve this problem. (With the easiest being to just swap out drives as you need them - and it's completely free!)
4) A PCIe SATA expansion card can be had for around $10.
5) You just told us that have already acquired this simple and cheap solution, yet are still complaining and attacking people here.
6) You actually unironically complained earlier in this thread that they're giving other customers features they want with more m.2 slots and USB posts, and that that is hurting you. Seriously?!?

I wanted more m.2's than my last motherboard provided. I figured out a cheap and easy way around it (with a pci expansion card.) What I did NOT do was go on endlessly complaining online about the injustice of them not meeting my own personal needs and then arguing with and attacking and being toxicly rude and antisocial to complete strangers online for pointing out that my needs were very uncommon.

And you know what? My needs were not all that uncommon, and the companies responded by adding more m.2 ports to the current generations of motherboards. My new x670 motherboard has 4 m.2 slots, all of which I'm currently using, along with all 4 SATA ports. . Maybe there's a life lesson in there?

I think neither are mainstream configurations, the only people I know off trying to use m.2 as mass storage is people on tech forums, especially techpowerup.

If motherboards only ever served mainstream use we would only have 1 pci express slot, 2 sata ports, one m.2 port, micro atx form factor, 2 dimm slots, no overclocking chipsets, low end VRM, and only basic bios options.

Dont kid yourself people using 4+ m.2 devices is some kind of mainstream configuration it is not.

However the difference with sata ports is they have a tiny footprint, making a board have 6 or 8 instead of 2 isnt at the expense of removing other connectivity, its only downside is making a board a few dollars more expensive. In other words it didnt compromise motherboards.

M.2 slots on the other hand go in place of PCIE slots and significantly compromise the versatility of what a motherboard can do and its expandability options, they force a compromise on to board designers and ultimately on the consumers buying these boards. With 2 of them on a board it was just about possible to not lose anything but more then that they been placed in locations that compromise the board. It makes a mockery of the PCIE lane advancements that have been made, in the past the issue was a DMI bottlenecking capacity, now its a lack of PCIE slots.

There is solutions that could make everyone happy, vertical mounted M.2, M.2 PCIE addon cards, back mounted M.2 (would require new case designs), U.2.

So yes you may prefer M.2 as a replacement mass storage, but dont pretend its a mainstream configuration. On places like reddit and mass storage communities, there is a fair amount of people using storage addon cards to expand functionality, so you find the relevant people in the relevant communities. Streaming communities capture cards etc.

chrcolukI think neither are mainstream configurations, the only people I know off trying to use m.2 as mass storage is people on tech forums, especially techpowerup.

If motherboards only ever served mainstream use we would only have 1 pci express slot, 2 sata ports, one m.2 port, micro atx form factor, 2 dimm slots, no overclocking chipsets, low end VRM, and only basic bios options.

Dont kid yourself people using 4+ m.2 devices is some kind of mainstream configuration it is not.

However the difference with sata ports is they have a tiny footprint, making a board have 6 or 8 instead of 2 isnt at the expense of removing other connectivity, its only downside is making a board a few dollars more expensive. In other words it didnt compromise motherboards.

M.2 slots on the other hand go in place of PCIE slots and significantly compromise the versatility of what a motherboard can do and its expandability options, they force a compromise on to board designers and ultimately on the consumers buying these boards. With 2 of them on a board it was just about possible to not lose anything but more then that they been placed in locations that compromise the board. It makes a mockery of the PCIE lane advancements that have been made, in the past the issue was a DMI bottlenecking capacity, now its a lack of PCIE slots.

There is solutions that could make everyone happy, vertical mounted M.2, M.2 PCIE addon cards, back mounted M.2 (would require new case designs), U.2.

So yes you may prefer M.2 as a replacement mass storage, but dont pretend its a mainstream configuration. On places like reddit and mass storage communities, there is a fair amount of people using storage addon cards to expand functionality, so you find the relevant people in the relevant communities. Streaming communities capture cards etc.

Says the guy pretending that needing multiple PCIe slots is some kind of mainstream configuration in 2022!
Or that needing more than 4 SATA slots in 2022 is some kind of mainstream configuration.
Again, representatives from the motherboard makers have repeatedly polled their users and found that these needs you're complaining about are only shared by a tiny fraction of their customer base. That's precisely why they're not actually putting what very few of their customers want on their upcoming lines of motherboards. They're called next gen motherboards, not last gen motherboards.

Compromise is only a bad word to selfish people.

davidhhhSays the guy pretending that needing multiple PCIe slots is some kind of mainstream configuration in 2022!
Or that needing more than 4 SATA slots in 2022 is some kind of mainstream configuration.
Again, representatives from the motherboard makers have repeatedly polled their users and found that these needs you're complaining about are only shared by a tiny fraction of their customer base. That's precisely why they're not actually putting what very few of their customers want on their upcoming lines of motherboards. They're called next gen motherboards, not last gen motherboards.

Compromise is only a bad word to selfish people.

Except I never said its a mainstream configuration. I just said historically this is what board manufacturers have done, they have catered to a minority of users.

Please point me to these polls that were aimed at customers directly not ones done by tech enthusiast sites. For reference I have never been invited to a poll by Asus, ASRock etc. and I am registered on their sites.

Ironically I think saying lets pile on m.2 ports for the benefit of a few % of people that use them is actually selfish because its a configuration thats restrictive, whilst PCIE ports are not restrictive, because guess what, you can actually use m.2 devices on them via addon cards.

PCIE ports are the compromise, you contradicting yourself.