Z890/X870 feature dreamlist

[Dristun]

New gen is incoming, so let's dream for a moment and discuss what we'd love to see and have. Popular, unpopular, whatever, all opinions go.

• More USB-C than USB-A ports: Most of the stuff I personally have and use today is now on USB-C. Seeing just a couple of C-ports on flagship boards is annoying. While they're at it, make USB3 the minimum acceptable standard.
• More boards with 2 RAM slots: Considering that one can get even 96GB (completely overkill for many years to come!) in a two-stick package and most DIY people on this planet are yet to upgrade to DDR5 and will be buying a new kit, I struggle to see why three quarters of the boards out there need to have 4 slots. Besides, shorter traces = good, right?
• All power connectors on one side: Sort of like EVGA did on Z790 Classified. Easier to wire, looks better.
• Say no to ugly plastic covers: They're useless, obstruct heatsinks and I've yet to see a board that looks better thanks to them.
• Please, God, no fans!: this is self-explanatory. Just make a proper copper heatsink, come on.
  
  Off the top of my head, this is what I'd love to see. What about you?

 

[Onasi]

My take is that for regular consumer use the Z and X chipsets are overpriced and overkill. The B-series is absolutely a better deal and more than enough in 95% of cases.
So my dream, if we are to overcome this, is to stop making Z and X motherboards have such an unreasonable premium unless they are doing something really out there (i.e extreme OC boards or an expensive 10 gig NIC).

 

[ir_cow]

• All power connectors on one side: Sort of like EVGA did on Z790 Classified. Easier to wire, looks better.

Have to rotate the socket for this to happen. EPS is for CPU power, which is why it's always at the top going directly to the VRM.

 

[TheLostSwede]

New gen is incoming, so let's dream for a moment and discuss what we'd love to see and have. Popular, unpopular, whatever, all opinions go.

• More USB-C than USB-A ports: Most of the stuff I personally have and use today is now on USB-C. Seeing just a couple of C-ports on flagship boards is annoying. While they're at it, make USB3 the minimum acceptable standard.

Well, the higher-end boards will have two USB4 ports, so there's that. Doesn't look like there will be a lot more USB-C ports apart from that.

AORUS X870 leak confirms Ryzen 9 9950X Zen5 flagship CPU - VideoCardz.com

AORUS X870 and Ryzen 9000 details leaked ahead of launch The new motherboard for next-generation AMD Ryzen CPUs. It appears that Gigabyte has now confirmed that the new AM5 motherboards will indeed carry X870. This means AMD will be skipping the X770 series for its new generation of...

videocardz.com

 

[Dristun]

Well, the higher-end boards will have two USB4 ports, so there's that.

In 10 years we'll have another new USB format and they'll finally put in more than two USB-Cs, got it

 

[Hyderz]

Above all affordable prices… not necessarily cheap cheap like the old days, we know those days are gone… good motherboards are super expensive …. That said I like better layout of where fan headers are, better build quality from asus, msi and gigabyte

 

[datnoz]

Affordable, well built, no shitty bioses (like gigabyte's ones), max 4 m.2 slots, bring back those poor sata ports.
And no just 7 usb ports at rear io is not enough (looking at you asus and gigabyte), and more usbc/tb4/usb4/20gbs ports. but not only rear, also internal.
But not only rear, also internal. Seriously what do you want me to do when my case has double the number of usb ports than my mobo.
Not 3 fan headers, even 10yo cases have more fans than that.
What else could i complain about...
More than 3 pcie slots could be acceptable, and not a server/workstation/ultra high end only feature.

 

[chrcoluk]

The main benefit of 4 dimms is modularity, start out with lower capital spend to get build going with 2 dimms, then get to the intended capacity later on by adding 2 extra dimms. I have done this practice on so many past builds.

I have also had issues in various OS where USB3 didnt work, and USB2 saved the day so had working keyboard. At the very least keep the USB2 headers on the board for cases with USB2 slots.

Currently the only USB-C devices I own are phones, and they have cables that can be used in type-A ports. As such I have never used my PC USB type C port.

--

My wish list.

No fan headers around the CPU slot.
No NVME slow between GPU and CPU, silly location for heat and access.
Every motherboard in the product list to have screwless M.2 installation.
No less than 4 PCIe slots on boards.
Able to meet advertised memory speeds in 4 dimm configuration.
Bios that adheres to CPU vendor spec out of the box.
Bios that isnt buggy.
M.2 heat spreaders that are thicker than slab thickness across entire board range.
8 SATA ports on mid/high end boards, 6 on budget.
Integrated Intel NIC that has true offload, not fake offload.
Dont place M.2 slot for wifi card below GPU.
Variants with M.2 slots on back of board. (this obviously is a problem with current/older cases).
For the front mounted variants extend board to make room for M.2 slots at far side.
No onboard fans (agree with this one).

The obvious with my wants, is I clearly think layouts that favour consumers is more important than trying to have short traces (cost optimised).

 

[GerKNG]

reasonable pricing would be great.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I'm easy to please. Get the Z790 Tachyon X and put a Z890 chipset and LGA 1851 socket in it. Upgrade the Wi-Fi chip to Wi-Fi 7 and replace the 2.5 GbE NIC by a 10 GbE. There, dream board.

 

[chrcoluk]

I'm easy to please. Get the Z790 Tachyon X and put a Z890 chipset and LGA 1851 socket in it. Upgrade the Wi-Fi chip to Wi-Fi 7 and replace the 2.5 GbE NIC by a 10 GbE. There, dream board.

Not enough PCIe slots.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Not enough PCIe slots.

MSI will be making a Z890 Ace and a Godlike as well, you'll be covered

I love my Z690 Ace, it is well supported and runs my 13900KS fantastic, but I think its shortcomings became quite apparent in face of this refresh wave of Z790's - and even the Z790 Ace Max still has the same problems to an extent (since it's the same platform overall) - E-ATX with high expandability and extreme performance sadly don't mix.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I'm easy to please. Get the Z790 Tachyon X and put a Z890 chipset and LGA 1851 socket in it. Upgrade the Wi-Fi chip to Wi-Fi 7 and replace the 2.5 GbE NIC by a 10 GbE. There, dream board.

Thankfully my needs/wants are more meager and covered by some X670E boards already...

Wifi 7
10+ usb with at least one type C and 5 ish 3.1/3.2
2.5GB lan or better
No sharing pcie 5.0 lanes with the cpu/1 m.2

I do have 5GB/5GB internet available to me but the cost is stupid and don't really use the ethernet for anything that would need above 2.5 so 10GB lan would just be a nice to have at this point....


Getting the cost down is the more important aspect all the sub 300 usd boards kinda suck except a couple asrock boards that are at least passable at least in my book.

The msi X670E gaming plus is probably the only sub 300 usd board I really like but corners were cut to get it to 229 ish what it runs at now.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Thankfully my needs/wants are more meager and covered by some X670E boards already...

Wifi 7
10+ usb with at least one type C and 5 ish 3.1/3.2
2.5GB lan or better
No sharing pcie 5.0 lanes with the cpu/1 m.2

I do have 5GB/5GB internet available to me but the cost is stupid and don't really use the ethernet for anything that would need above 2.5 so 10GB lan would just be a nice to have at this point....


Getting the cost down is the more important aspect all the sub 300 usd boards kinda suck except a couple asrock boards that are at least passable at least in my book.

The msi X670E gaming plus is probably the only sub 300 usd board I really like but corners were cut to get it to 229 ish what it runs at now.

I'm in the same boat, really. It's been extremely hard to justify replacing this motherboard as it is, even though I could probably get a more refined experience if I purchased a super high end board for my i9-13900KS and skipped Arrowlake altogether. I'm in one of those situations like... is there even a point? My processor is so incredibly powerful that it demolishes any workload I could possibly throw at it right now. On the other hand, my RTX 4080 is powerful, but it does not measure up to the task of ultra 4K/120 gaming on all games. It's a great experience still...

I wish my budget was unlimited, but it's been smaller than ever. I'm really considering just snapping up one of those Z790 Tachyon X's (very pricy, but I already have a KS chip for it, so...), a new case, and overhauling my current build to prepare it for an RTX 50 series flagship around the time Blackwell refresh comes out. That and I can repurpose this Z690 Ace into my new server, all I need to grab is a cheap Intel 300 CPU...

 

[Selaya]

good decent affordable boards in the $200 range that carry useful features instead of halo shit maybe 0.1% of all people care about (looking at you pcie 5.0)

 

[R0H1T]

What, where's TB6 or PCIe 7.0

In 10 years we'll have another new USB format and they'll finally put in more than two USB-Cs, got it

No in 10(5?) years we'll have USB 6x5 gen 1.2.4.8

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I'm in the same boat, really. It's been extremely hard to justify replacing this motherboard as it is, even though I could probably get a more refined experience if I purchased a super high end board for my i9-13900KS and skipped Arrowlake altogether. I'm in one of those situations like... is there even a point? My processor is so incredibly powerful that it demolishes any workload I could possibly throw at it right now. On the other hand, my RTX 4080 is powerful, but it does not measure up to the task of ultra 4K/120 gaming on all games. It's a great experience still...

I wish my budget was unlimited, but it's been smaller than ever. I'm really considering just snapping up one of those Z790 Tachyon X's (very pricy, but I already have a KS chip for it, so...), a new case, and overhauling my current build to prepare it for an RTX 50 series flagship around the time Blackwell refresh comes out. That and I can repurpose this Z690 Ace into my new server, all I need to grab is a cheap Intel 300 CPU...

There is so many factors that make those really high end boards that can do high memory frequency hard to justify.... Even if you have one will your memory controller handle it. I'm at the point in life where I want to just set it and forget it with mostly out of the box shite. I want 1000% stability over anything else an extra 5-10% isn't worth it imho and that is probably being generous on the % front.

 

[Dr. Dro]

There is so many factors that make those really high end boards that can do high memory frequency hard to justify.... Even if you have one will your memory controller handle it. I'm at the point in life where I want to just set it and forget it with mostly out of the box shite. I want 1000% stability over anything else an extra 5-10% isn't worth it imho and that is probably being generous on the % front.

I'm down for some tweaking, but I'm also quite realistic about it. Performance-wise i'm getting nothing... and that's what makes it so hard to justify. I don't see a potential 10% as worth it...

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I'm down for some tweaking, but I'm also quite realistic about it. Performance-wise i'm getting nothing... and that's what makes it so hard to justify. I don't see a potential 10% as worth it...

Don't get me wrong those boards are cool as hell and I would love owning one I just don't think paying double or triple is worth it anymore would rather that extra $$$ go into my gpu or display which typically matter a lot more.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Don't get me wrong those boards are cool as hell and I would love owning one I just don't think paying double or triple is worth it anymore would rather that extra $$$ go into my gpu or display which typically matter a lot more.

Thankfully with the G3 OLED there's pretty much no upgrade for me in that front... a better GPU's all I really need in the medium term. I'm really picking to find faults on my PC LOL

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Thankfully with the G3 OLED there's pretty much no upgrade for me in that front... a better GPU's all I really need in the medium term. I'm really picking to find faults on my PC LOL

Yeah regardless of how stupid the 5090 is I will try to find some way to justify it even though the 4090 is already more than I need and whatever 8800X3D ends up being as well the battle with FOMO will never end lol.

 

[Super Firm Tofu]

Yeah regardless of how stupid the 5090 is I will try to find some way to justify it even though the 4090 is already more than I need and whatever 8800X3D ends up being as well the battle with FOMO will never end lol.

Same. I already have a plan for my 4090.

As for Z890 and X870, I'm holding back until they've both had their time with the early adopters. My last launch day purchase still stings a bit.

I'm not expecting any new features from either side as far as chipsets and motherboards are concerned, and the only thing I'd like from both sides are more PCIe lanes but that's not gonna happen.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Currently the only USB-C devices I own are phones, and they have cables that can be used in type-A ports. As such I have never used my PC USB type C port.

Sorry, what? My mouse, my headsets, my earbuds, my monitor, my laptop, my desktop (ok, three ports), just everything I have are USB-C now.
However, if we're talking high-speed data, then yes, it's not super useful, but the reset DAS I reviewed for TPU is USB-C only, although it's only 10 Gbps, but more and more things are moving to USB-C only. Yes, at speeds up to 10 Gbps, you can still use the USB-A ports, but anything above that isn't an option.
My monitor also has USB-C, which has been handy when I needed to do some stuff on my laptop, as I could use a bigger, higher resolution display and power my laptop over USB PD with a single cable.
However, USB-C is still something of a mess cable wise, so it's important to buy the right cables if you want to use them for high speed data transfers or anything above 65 W charging.

No NVME slow between GPU and CPU, silly location for heat and access.

That's actually a really good placement, as you can get a massive heatsink in there and out of my three SSDs, my technically hottest running SSD is there and it's at least 10 degrees cooler than the two under a metal plate below the graphics card.

8 SATA ports on mid/high end boards, 6 on budget.

SATA is largely dead, expect no more than 4-ports on most board for this gen.

 

[Hyderz]

SATA is largely dead, expect no more than 4-ports on most board for this gen.

True Also cases I’ve been brackets for like 4 sata ssds, even smaller ones have 1 or 2

 

[chrcoluk]

Sorry, what? My mouse, my headsets, my earbuds, my monitor, my laptop, my desktop (ok, three ports), just everything I have are USB-C now.
However, if we're talking high-speed data, then yes, it's not super useful, but the reset DAS I reviewed for TPU is USB-C only, although it's only 10 Gbps, but more and more things are moving to USB-C only. Yes, at speeds up to 10 Gbps, you can still use the USB-A ports, but anything above that isn't an option.
My monitor also has USB-C, which has been handy when I needed to do some stuff on my laptop, as I could use a bigger, higher resolution display and power my laptop over USB PD with a single cable.
However, USB-C is still something of a mess cable wise, so it's important to buy the right cables if you want to use them for high speed data transfers or anything above 65 W charging.


That's actually a really good placement, as you can get a massive heatsink in there and out of my three SSDs, my technically hottest running SSD is there and it's at least 10 degrees cooler than the two under a metal plate below the graphics card.


SATA is largely dead, expect no more than 4-ports on most board for this gen.

Interesting, brought a mouse not long ago and its type A, same with new sound equipment. Likewise I got the latest elgato USB capture model and also type A (ok on this one its A and C, comes with both cables). Going to use C for the elgato then so I have an extra A port.

I had to use a hub on my steam deck to utilise USB devices. As everything I got is type A.

If I ever do need more type C, I can get a pci express card, with that said though, there is nothing stopping board vendors adding more type C, just that I think they can do it without removing type A, every board I have owned always has empty space on the back plate.

SATA is largely dead, expect no more than 4-ports on most board for this gen.

My SATA drives say hi. Currently between 2 systems using 12 drives. SATA runs cooler/less power, more convenient to install/remove, and can have higher capacity.