Asus Z270 Motherboards

[emsir]

These new boards from, Asus, the STRIX and ROG are off course excellent products.

Many features, like AMP, AIO and RGB headers and USB 3.1 port are some of them.

But features like USB 3.0 ports and USB 2.0 ports are missing or reduced on every Z270 motherboard from ASUS. These new boards are more expensive than the Z170 boards, and somehow the engineers at ASUS, have decided to scrap some of these features to make room for RGB and the ASUS FRONT ROG device. And created more Water pump and fan headers. The new AMP and AIO PUMP headers.

I don’t know why ASUS has done that. Many people have front USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports in their cabinets. More and more people use liquid cooling with USB 2.0 to monitor the fans and pump and temps. More and more people use USB Card readers for their cameras and smart phones etc. Some manufacturers are implementing USB 2.0 with their Power Supplies so you can monitor volts, power consumption and fan speed.

These features are not possible if you buy ASUS Z270 boards, so you have to remove devices and/or miss these features. Or buy another brand
That’s bad engineering, and when you pay nearly double the price for a Hero Z270 over a Z170 board, you would think you have all these features. But no.

So now with my new Corsair 750D airflow case and Corsair PSU with USB and Liqiud cooling with USB, my card reader (USB 3.0), the new Z270 Hero board cannot utilize these features. That’s just bad.

If you look at Asrocks Z270 Extreme 4 with a price half the price of ASUS. You get it all! 2 USB 3.0 headers. 3 USB 2.0 headers. 1 USB 3.1 header, and 5 Fan headers and 1 Waterpump header. You get SLI and 2 M.2 slots. Some of the STRIX do not have SLI!!

ASUS Z270 boards can’t deliver the features I need to have the system running my way. The Z170 Hero board can. Very strange.

[JustinThyme]

Every one of these boards had at least one USB 2.0 header. With that header if you need multiple USB 2.0 devices multiple compannies offer an internal USB 2.0 hub. I bought an NZXT mostly due to its finished look and its magnetic. Everything I had before and more is now plugged in there including my logitiech unifying receiver, power supply, Aquaero (ASUS lost their chance with me on the last generation with defunct software for fan and pump control) and anything else that require nothing but a SLOW communications loop. The Z170 M8E assy didnt have enough ports for all my slow commmunications devices either so I had the hub in that case as well and honestly it makes for cleaner cable management too as I have only one USB 2.0 cable in the front of my machine for a run just long enoungh to get to the header on a M9F which is about 2 inches. The front panel audio that Im actually going to pull has the longest run on the front side of the case. Im never going to use that again after buying an external 24 bit 192KHz DAC that nothing on board can touch and uses the optical Toslink out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEJ9dDvAbWo

As for card readers, you are kidding right?
I haven't used USB 2.0 for data transfer of any kind since USB 3.0 was released and I'm actually disappointed that more USB 3.1 devices haven't come to market yet and that some of the devices you mentioned haven't bothered to upgrade their interface and wont bother until they have to. Stepping up with new costs time in R&D and money to implement in the manufacturing process. Time for them to stop walking backwards and take a step forward.

My opinion is actually the other way around. ASUS has stepped up and stepped forward. Before the "In Search of Incredible" it was "Leading Innovations" Its time to put USB 2.0 to bed. Its old technology, 15 years to be exact which in the world of technology is ancient. USB 3.0 went mainstream 7 years ago.

There is actually a very hilarious side to your post. I read very much the same thing about USB 1.0 when USB 2.0 went mainstream 17 years ago. How many Boards are you seeing with USB 1.0 headers these days?

If you prefer Asrock boards as far as I know there are no laws preventing you from buying them. If you compare features though their boards that are priced right in line with ASUS Z270s give or take 5% are lacking features that ASUS has. Check the specs on their super carrier at a $380 price point and compare that to the Forumla at $9 more and see just how much more you get for the $9. Its a very long list with the exception of 1 less USB 2.0 header. The Asrock board you listed is not in the same ballpark as the Maximus boards. Compare that to the likes of the ASUS PRIME Z270 series which are on target with the exact same pricing and actually the closest one in specs, Z270-P is cheaper. All of the Prime boards have the same 2x 2.0 headers as the Asrock economy version.

[emsir]

JustinThyme wrote:
Every one of these boards had at least one USB 2.0 header. With that header if you need multiple USB 2.0 devices multiple compannies offer an internal USB 2.0 hub. I bought an NZXT mostly due to its finished look and its magnetic. Everything I had before and more is now plugged in there including my logitiech unifying receiver, power supply, Aquaero (ASUS lost their chance with me on the last generation with defunct software for fan and pump control) and anything else that require nothing but a SLOW communications loop. The Z170 M8E assy didnt have enough ports for all my slow commmunications devices either so I had the hub in that case as well and honestly it makes for cleaner cable management too as I have only one USB 2.0 cable in the front of my machine for a run just long enoungh to get to the header on a M9F which is about 2 inches. The front panel audio that Im actually going to pull has the longest run on the front side of the case. Im never going to use that again after buying an external 24 bit 192KHz DAC that nothing on board can touch and uses the optical Toslink out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEJ9dDvAbWo

As for card readers, you are kidding right?
I haven't used USB 2.0 for data transfer of any kind since USB 3.0 was released and I'm actually disappointed that more USB 3.1 devices haven't come to market yet and that some of the devices you mentioned haven't bothered to upgrade their interface and wont bother until they have to. Stepping up with new costs time in R&D and money to implement in the manufacturing process. Time for them to stop walking backwards and take a step forward.

My opinion is actually the other way around. ASUS has stepped up and stepped forward. Before the "In Search of Incredible" it was "Leading Innovations" Its time to put USB 2.0 to bed. Its old technology, 15 years to be exact which in the world of technology is ancient. USB 3.0 went mainstream 7 years ago.

There is actually a very hilarious side to your post. I read very much the same thing about USB 1.0 when USB 2.0 went mainstream 17 years ago. How many Boards are you seeing with USB 1.0 headers these days?

If you prefer Asrock boards as far as I know there are no laws preventing you from buying them. If you compare features though their boards that are priced right in line with ASUS Z270s give or take 5% are lacking features that ASUS has. Check the specs on their super carrier at a $380 price point and compare that to the Forumla at $9 more and see just how much more you get for the $9. Its a very long list with the exception of 1 less USB 2.0 header. The Asrock board you listed is not in the same ballpark as the Maximus boards. Compare that to the likes of the ASUS PRIME Z270 series which are on target with the exact same pricing and actually the closest one in specs, Z270-P is cheaper. All of the Prime boards have the same 2x 2.0 headers as the Asrock economy version.

If you read what I post. I said I have USB 3.0 Reader: " So now with my new Corsair 750D airflow case and Corsair PSU with USB and Liqiud cooling with USB, my card reader (USB 3.0),

I do not prefer Asrock. It was just an example. Again, I said nothing about I prefer Asrock. Do you read my post??

About your 1.0 USB argument.....this is actually more hillarious. Every USB 2.0 is backward compatible with USB 1.1. So you can still use USB 1.1 on 2.0 USB. USB 3.0 (1) is also Backward compatible with 2.0, but not on Motherboard headers as they use 19 pin on the header.

You are completely missing my point. If you have 2 USB 2.0 front USB on your case and 2 USB 3.0 on your case, ASUS Z270 offers no more on the motherboard. If you use the ROG Front Panel you are running out of USB 2.0 completely on ASUS STRIX and ROG motherboards. ROG panel shares with USB 2.0 header. And ASUS offers free ROG Front Panel if you buy a ROG Z270 motherboard. So no USB 2.0 header on a ROG motherboard that costs between 230-600$ !

And somehow you agree with my point: " and I'm actually disappointed that more USB 3.1 devices haven't come to market yet ". That excactly what I was saying. Almost no one uses USB 3.1 No cases have USB 3.1 front USB. No card readers, no liquid coolers, no PSU, uses 3.0 (1) There is no reason to use USB 3.0 (1) to monitor fan speed, pump and temps. It has no benefit and just waste of USB 3.0 capabilities. USB 3. 0 is meant for external USB flash drives and HDD and card readers (speed)

I am going to look for Gigabyte Z270 AORUS Gaming 7, 8 or 9 motherboard next time.They offer everything regarding to USB headers and fan headers. And these boards are excellent boards and high end boards, just like ASUS.

[JustinThyme]

I don't mean to sound precocious. My words were based purely on the level of disdain you seem to have with ASUS in many of your posts. I simply replied to to what I have read and reread carefully in your multiple post in several areas. Perhaps gigabyte would be a better fit for you.*