MSI Z97A Gaming 6 its First Motherboard to Feature USB 3.1 Type-C

[btarunr]

MSI showed off the Z97A Gaming 6, the company's first motherboard to feature a USB 3.1 port, with the new Type-C connector. This board is essentially a Z97 Gaming 5, with a USB 3.1 controller, and the Type-C port on its rear panel. The board features an 8-phase CPU VRM, three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (x8/x4/x4 when all three are populated), an M.2 slot, SATA-Express, Killer gigabit Ethernet controller, and the company's Audio Boost onboard audio, with ground-layer isolation. Expect this board to sell around the $160 mark.



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[Constantine Yevseyev]

I think it would be actually a cool idea to "paint" these USB 3.1-compatible ports with different color. Like purple. Or maybe green.

 

[micropage7]

need more USB ports,

 

[Ahhzz]

I think it would be actually a cool idea to "paint" these USB 3.1-compatible ports with different color. Like purple. Or maybe green.

True. I like that I can spot a USB3 quickly on a client PC with the Blue "Paint".

edit:
And to beat the trolls, I know that not all USB3's are Blue, etc, etc, etc. Just pointing out it makes it easier for me when I have to transfer 20 or 30 Gb of data from one PC to another if I spot a USB3 quickly.

 

[nickbaldwin86]

need more USB ports,

I am with you.. 4 isn't enough and I really don't want to buy a USB 3.0 HUB just to have more ports

 

[natr0n]

So tiny.

 

[fusionblu]

I wonder if the reason of only having one USB 3.1 Type-C port is because there is a design flaw where having more than one will cause a hardware issue.

Also seems unusual this is also the only physical data transfer port on the MBA 12" that Apple are planning to release.

Looks like the most popular device that would use this connection would be a USB hub.

 

[BUCK NASTY]

I'll still have to try it 3 times before it will actually insert

 

[Mistral]

It's nice to see it on a motherboard but the place this connector really needs to start showing up is on the cases. We need it up front/top/side where it's easily accessible.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I don't get why they didn't just fill it with Type-A connectors and just use Type-C converters. Unless the USB Type-C doesn't allow this. In which case, it needs to sleep with the fishes. USB was always about compatibility.

The USB Type-C Specification 1.0 defines a new small reversible-plug connector for USB 3.1 devices. The Type-C plug will be used at both host and device side, replacing multiple Type-B and Type-A connectors and cables with a future-proof standard similar to Apple Lightning and Thunderbolt.[30][31] The 24-pin double-sided connector provides four power/ground pairs, two differential pairs for USB 2.0 data bus (though only one pair is implemented in a Type-C cable), four pairs for high-speed data bus, two "sideband use" pins, and two configuration pins for cable orientation detection, dedicated BCM-coded configuration data channel, and VCONN +5 V power for active cables.[32][33] Type-A and Type-B adaptors/cables will be required for legacy devices in order to plug into Type-C hosts, however adaptors/cables with a Type-C receptacle are not allowed.

I am going to avoid Type-C.

 

[Toothless]

Soon we'll have more USB types than blood types..

 

[detroit808]

Stupid motherboard, why isn't there more VGA and PS2 ports, is is 1989 after all... muppets.

 

[yon1000]

I think it would be actually a cool idea to "paint" these USB 3.1-compatible ports with different color. Like purple. Or maybe green.

Nice Idea. But i think you don't need it because the size is different unlike USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 which are the same size.

 

[cristi_io]

They should put more USB 3.1 ports, 2-4 ports.
PS: A VGA and a DVI ports on a 2015 motherboard? Can't believe this, they takes more space, should be HDMI and DisplayPort. On budget motherboards, it's OK, but on a high-end one?

 

[Overclocker_2001]

ps2 port rock compared to usb because:
-no key rollover problem
-less/no imput lag ( because they have lower irq )
-compatiblew with all operating system since 1990
-with a simple adapter u can use usb device in it ( loosing some function btw )
so for gaming device ps2 is somewhat better than usb ( especially if u don't have a ultra-non pro-gimmik mouse/keyboard ), and if you spent over 100$ on a ps2 keyboard you MUST want use it without any problem ( usb to ps2 adapter aren't trouble free! )

for the display connectin type......
oh well...
only thing needed is a dvi-i port and an hdmi / display port ( DP for work oriented mobo, hdmi for mediacenter )

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.. who really use motherboard integrate graphics on a gaming motherboard??

c'mon make me laugh ( motherboard display connection are useless on a gaming rig )

 

[detroit808]

"-compatible with all operating system since 1990"

Well that's the dumbest thing I've seen all week.
Good luck finding Windows 3.1, 95 or 2000 drivers for this board glue sniffer!!

 

[Overclocker_2001]

"-compatible with all operating system since 1990"

Well that's the dumbest thing I've seen all week.
Good luck finding Windows 3.1, 95 or 2000 drivers for this board glue sniffer!!

am i wrong or 3 line upper i wrote PS2 ?

ps2 port rock compared to usb because:
-no key rollover problem
-less/no imput lag ( because they have lower irq )
-compatiblew with all operating system since 1990
-with a simple adapter u can use usb device in it ( loosing some function btw )
so for gaming device ps2 is somewhat better than usb ( especially if u don't have a ultra-non pro-gimmik mouse/keyboard ), and if you spent over 100$ on a ps2 keyboard you MUST want use it without any problem ( usb to ps2 adapter aren't trouble free! )

 

[xChoice]

dvi...... that ugly thing should have disappeared long time ago -_-, vga too, but i think that its so dirty cheap that it wont happen.... as for usb 3.0/3.1 and usb type-c connector, all of the usbs on a motherboard should be 3.0 as for now, and start migrating them to 3.1 by this time, retaining some type-a (2-4) and going for type-c for the rest.

Now... i dream of having a car (the cheap ones.....) by q4 2015/q1 2016, that has it's audio system with a type c usb instead of type a, doesn't need to be 3.1 in transfer speed, just a type c connector <.<

 

[cristi_io]

ps2 port rock compared to usb because:
-no key rollover problem
-less/no imput lag ( because they have lower irq )
-compatiblew with all operating system since 1990
-with a simple adapter u can use usb device in it ( loosing some function btw )
so for gaming device ps2 is somewhat better than usb ( especially if u don't have a ultra-non pro-gimmik mouse/keyboard ), and if you spent over 100$ on a ps2 keyboard you MUST want use it without any problem ( usb to ps2 adapter aren't trouble free! )

for the display connectin type......
oh well...
only thing needed is a dvi-i port and an hdmi / display port ( DP for work oriented mobo, hdmi for mediacenter )

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.. who really use motherboard integrate graphics on a gaming motherboard??

c'mon make me laugh ( motherboard display connection are useless on a gaming rig )

I wasn't talking about PS2, i was talking about the video ports, VGA and DVI, maybe DVI Dual Link is OK for 2560*1600@60 resolutions (and yes, the IGP in the 3770K supports this resolution on DisplayPort, on HDMI is limited to 1920*1200@60, atleast on a Asus maximus Gene V).
Those video ports take up too much space, they are legacy, old arhitectures.
I know gamers don't care about that, but still, on a modern motherboard build in 2015, it's a step back. You have a small, easy to plug connector, without those small screws (what a mess if you wanted to unscrew the conector).

 

[FordGT90Concept]

am i wrong or 3 line upper i wrote PS2 ?

Virtually no new motherboards have PS/2 nor FDD header. Both were supported via PCI via a legacy controller and both have been axed in the latest designs.

 

[neliz]

Virtually no new motherboards have PS/2 nor FDD header.

FDD, I agree, that died out long ago, but every self respecting motherboard has a PS/2 connector because of the aforementioned benefits and generally less compatibility issues with legacy bioses. Examples: Asus ROG boards (even the mini-ITX) Gigabyte gaming etc.

if a motherboard doesn't have a PS/2 connector, it's because it's a cost-saving measure, not because PS/2 has died.

 

[Starlord]

Looks like this board has more differences over the gaming 5 than just USB 3.1 and Type C, I also noticed an optical S/PDIF output and sata express. Seems if you are in the market for a gaming oriented medium priced Z97 board and want something future proof (at least in terms of connectivity), this board is very interesting.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

FDD, I agree, that died out long ago, but every self respecting motherboard has a PS/2 connector because of the aforementioned benefits and generally less compatibility issues with legacy bioses. Examples: Asus ROG boards (even the mini-ITX) Gigabyte gaming etc.

if a motherboard doesn't have a PS/2 connector, it's because it's a cost-saving measure, not because PS/2 has died.

I've been using a USB keyboard for almost a decade across a wide variety of hardware and only one computer doesn't like my KVM because the keyboard works fine plugged directly in. I've even plugged in a computer from 1997 (Windows 95B) without issues. So, legacy BIOS...you're talking hardware that's been scrapped by now. Very few of these systems were UEFI.

The only downside to USB is polling and in this era where everything has a dual-core processor or better, that's a non-issue. Let's also not forget that a lot of the polling issues can be resolved by embedding a processor in the keyboard.

Some motherboards may come with a single PS/2 port but that doesn't mean people are using them.

 

[neliz]

Some motherboards may come with a single PS/2 port but that doesn't mean people are using them.

Maybe it's time that TPU polled this. I can imagine the people with the fancy multi-function keyboards going for USB (3.0!) while more traditional gamers just prefer PS/2 (like me.)

Also, on Z77 and X79, there were plenty buggy bios behavior. You want to go into the bios, so you start mashing delete. but if you do this too quickly after power-on (or key-pressed at power) a USB keyboard would not be initialized.

 

[Sasqui]

Soon we'll have more USB types than blood types..

They really did take the "Universal" out of USB. Seriously, they should have called it something else because it is no longer universal!!!