Meh, also on Strix E which idiot designed that M.2 "heatsink"?

ChaitanyaMeh, also on Strix E which idiot designed that M.2 "heatsink"?

Seems to be for 2+2 drives?

The Prime board should be perfect for those here complaining about not enough slots.

The prime is the only micro ATX option?
That is kinda sad, matx builds are underrated as they combine the ease of build of ATX with a smaller size.

persondbThe prime is the only micro ATX option?
That is kinda sad, matx builds are underrated as they combine the ease of build of ATX with a smaller size.

I agree, especially since SLI/CF is gone now.
They really should make the Gene again.

Asus doesnt fool around with vrm's

Probably why they are so expensive.

natr0nAsus doesnt fool around with vrm's

Probably why they are so expensive.

Yes because their VRM technology hasn't been there for a decade or so.

Less pcie, moar price, good move.


The state of consumer motherboards is a scandal.

UpgrayeddI agree, especially since SLI/CF is gone now.
They really should make the Gene again.

Same, ATX builds are so silly these days, I don't see the point of building something so large. I'd only even consider ITX or mATX. A case the size of like an AP201 is 'about right'.

phintsSame, ATX builds are so silly these days, I don't see the point of building something so large. I'd only even consider ITX or mATX. A case the size of like an AP201 is 'about right'.

I semi-agree - if you are designing an ATX board to only have 2 PCIe slots then it doesn't leave a lot of room for the more exotic use cases, be it people with multiple GPUs for actual productivity / rendering / other uses so might as well just stop at mATX - if they run out of space on one side they can always do the rick of putting sockets on the other or wire the additional lanes to a breakout connector (e.g. U.2 style).
But where I disagee is if you had a proper ATX board and a proper use for all those slots - then fair play to you.

Dare I say that some of these boards are designed to go in to cases that look more like:
this: rather than this:

I guess partly for the board makers it's easier to manage the PCIe signal traces a short distance to M.2 sockets and maintain PCIe4/5 speed vs the larger PCIe sockets and boards and fill out an ATX board without doing anything too exotic in terms of component choice or circuit arrangement - but still want $400+.
All those additional M.2 sockets could be normal PCIe connectors (maybe with just 4 lanes wired) so that they can be used for M.2 adapater cards, additional xGb/s LAN NICs, other types of HBA, or hell even a sound card or any other devices - those options are now limited on some of the upper end boards (which is kind of ridiculous).

natr0nAsus doesnt fool around with vrm's

Yeah they do.... and they regularly attach the 'prime' branding to junk at the low end.

Confirmed Asus have given up on 8X8 Pcie lanes for the Strix board.

Who care about this when DDR6 RAM coming early 2025???