Super Micro Gaming line...

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criccio

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So it seems Super Micro has a pretty full line up of Z270 stuff but you never really hear about them in this consumer space. Are people using these boards? https://www.supermicro.com/products/nfo/gaming.cfm

I found this thread from a couple years ago but it didn't really go anywhere. https://hardforum.com/threads/supermicro-gaming-motherboards.1873240/

Personally, I cannot really find a compelling reason to go with one of these over the likes of Asus/MSI/EVGA so I find it interesting seeing them in this space.

Thoughts?
 
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I love using supermicro boards. granted i only use them for dual xeon applications but i have never has a single complaint with their boards and i have had many of them.
 
Yeah I think most of us know SuperMicro makes quality products, that's a given. Just their offerings in the enthusiast desktop space are pretty unknown as far as I can tell.
 
I'm heavily leaning to using one of their boards for my next build. We all know SuperMicro makes quality, and the ASUS and MSI boards I like are disgustingly expensive heh
 
I've had quite a few SM boards, but my only experiences on the consumer side have been less than stellar (and also 15+ years ago). I like them on the server side, never thought about buying them for anything else - I'd be worried that their experience in microcode tuning and board design might not serve the differing needs as well, but who knows.
 
I have used Super Micro in the past for a desktop build, and we use them a lot at work for our HPC builds, but to be honest, most of my dealings with them are pretty difficult. Generally their stuff is pretty good, but occasionally they do some funky things with their boards that can defy logic. Trying to get support from them in those cases can be a bit of a toss up depending on what you are trying to do and what the issue is. So YMMV.
 
I've used supermicro dual socket A system with Athlon PX modded to MP. I had a lot of issues feting it to run properly.
 
i don't recognize supermicro boards without the gawdy green PCB's.

i hope they make some RyZen Boards.

wouldn't mind giving their consumer line a shot.
 
rgMekanic said:
I'm heavily leaning to using one of their boards for my next build. We all know SuperMicro makes quality, and the ASUS and MSI boards I like are disgustingly expensive heh
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In terms of servers I would rank Super Micro as a mid tier board provider. Nothing bad but not Quality.
 
Master_shake_ said:
does hp still have that warranty paywall for bios updates?
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I cant say, I am not involved to that degree. I just worked on the stuff and found HPE and Dell to have amazing systems that were almost trouble free to diagnosis and fix.
Right now I work with crap hosts and I miss Super Micro and I dream for HPE/Dell.
 
I swear Super Micro's website is about the same as it was in the 1990's.

You still can't even click on the motherboard pics for larger images. It's fucking infuriating. Anyway, Super Micro has been getting their feet wet in the enthusiast market for a few years now. They started by offering some overclocking on a few of their server style motherboards. They have now expanded beyond that, but it was some time ago. To be perfectly honest, I don't think they know what they are doing. They are a bit behind the times with their products that I'm looking at on their website. Every time I look at them, it's the same story. Looking at their motherboards, they are way out of date. The chipset cooling looks straight out of the early 2000's. The MOSFET cooling seems OK, but nothing special. There are a lot of amatuer hour mistakes on the design. For example, the primary PCI-Express x16 slot is too close to the memory slots on the CZ270=PG given the dual locking tabs for module retention. They've got some huge block looking thing to the right of the CPU. I can't see how tall it is, but it looks like it could be problematic. M.2 is confined to being underneath GPU's only. I don't see any EMI shielding on the audio subsystem. It may or may not have PCB isolation for the audio subsystem either. Debug LED readout isn't placed in an ideal location. You can't see it in a properly configured multi-GPU layout. They don't seem to have caught onto the RGB craze and I have no idea what the BIOS looks like but that's often been their weak spot. They also don't have all the reinforcement on the expansion slots or the RAM slots.

That could be a badass motherboard and it would fail to compete. The SuperMicro name is also not one that's well known outside the server and workstation market. Many of us here know of it because we have IT jobs or our interests cross over into those markets as well. Your average gamer has never heard of them and this stuff looks like cheap knock offs of more established brands. Their barebones gaming machines are server or workstation chassis (stamped and rolled steel) with red and black face plates on them. That pretty much tells you how well they understand the market. I don't know what their problem is in regards to why they are so out of touch. I think they either don't have the right person heading the endeavor to enter this market or they aren't willing to commit to it fully.
 
I used to buy Supermicro boards back in the day and was happy with them.
That was back before mobos had any built-in overclocking features.

One of their last boards I had was a popular one because it was one of
the first ones with Write Back L2 cache (discrete socketed high speed chips).

That was a 486 mobo (from what I remember) and I was running Windows 98.

I think I agree that I'd trust their server mobos now, but I don't think I'd buy a
gaming/overclocking mobo from them these days.

ASUS, MSI, and the others have way more experience in that area.

.
 
Dan_D said:
I swear Super Micro's website is about the same as it was in the 1990's.

You still can't even click on the motherboard pics for larger images. It's fucking infuriating. Anyway, Super Micro has been getting their feet wet in the enthusiast market for a few years now. They started by offering some overclocking on a few of their server style motherboards. They have now expanded beyond that, but it was some time ago. To be perfectly honest, I don't think they know what they are doing. They are a bit behind the times with their products that I'm looking at on their website. Every time I look at them, it's the same story. Looking at their motherboards, they are way out of date. The chipset cooling looks straight out of the early 2000's. The MOSFET cooling seems OK, but nothing special. There are a lot of amatuer hour mistakes on the design. For example, the primary PCI-Express x16 slot is too close to the memory slots on the CZ270=PG given the dual locking tabs for module retention. They've got some huge block looking thing to the right of the CPU. I can't see how tall it is, but it looks like it could be problematic. M.2 is confined to being underneath GPU's only. I don't see any EMI shielding on the audio subsystem. It may or may not have PCB isolation for the audio subsystem either. Debug LED readout isn't placed in an ideal location. You can't see it in a properly configured multi-GPU layout. They don't seem to have caught onto the RGB craze and I have no idea what the BIOS looks like but that's often been their weak spot. They also don't have all the reinforcement on the expansion slots or the RAM slots.

That could be a badass motherboard and it would fail to compete. The SuperMicro name is also not one that's well known outside the server and workstation market. Many of us here know of it because we have IT jobs or our interests cross over into those markets as well. Your average gamer has never heard of them and this stuff looks like cheap knock offs of more established brands. Their barebones gaming machines are server or workstation chassis (stamped and rolled steel) with red and black face plates on them. That pretty much tells you how well they understand the market. I don't know what their problem is in regards to why they are so out of touch. I think they either don't have the right person heading the endeavor to enter this market or they aren't willing to commit to it fully.
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Thats the kind of insight I was looking for! I woudln't have noticed the details about the physical layout like that so that's great to be able to now see.
 
I may have to take back what I said about current Supermicro Z270 boards.....

Read reviews on the Supermicro C7Z270-CG and it's pretty impressive.

.
 
Spartacus said:
I may have to take back what I said about current Supermicro Z270 boards.....

Read reviews on the Supermicro C7Z270-CG and it's pretty impressive.

.
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I saw a couple reviews on it. They are generally positive, but seem to confirm my opinions about the motherboard that are both positive and negative. I suspected the UEFI wasn't that great and one of the reviews I read said exactly that. The layout mistakes on that one are minor but still exist. There is no RGB lighting on it that I could see. There is no PCIe or memory slot reinforcement or bracing. These things really don't impact functionality but point out there are little things that SuperMicro isn't yet doing that the rest of the industry is. I don't know if that's worth anything to anyone or not. For my money, that motherboard doesn't do anything that an equivalent MSI, ASUS or GIGABYTE motherboard won't do as well or better. Those other motherboards are flat out prettier so unless there is a huge price difference in favor of the Supermicro and you don't mind the horrid UEFI I wouldn't bother with that board right now.

Supermicro is motivated to do well in the industry so they are definitely a company to watch going forward.
 
Also, think of how motivated they will be for firmware updates and the like - ASUS/MSI/etc have tons of experience with the bugs gamers hit (vs server users) and are pretty fast about fixing them (Gigabyte aside - but that seems to just be my bloody luck). SuperMicro may not have the experience or resources to address them as fast.
 
Dan_D said:
I saw a couple reviews on it. They are generally positive, but seem to confirm my opinions about the motherboard that are both positive and negative. I suspected the UEFI wasn't that great and one of the reviews I read said exactly that. The layout mistakes on that one are minor but still exist. There is no RGB lighting on it that I could see. There is no PCIe or memory slot reinforcement or bracing. These things really don't impact functionality but point out there are little things that SuperMicro isn't yet doing that the rest of the industry is. I don't know if that's worth anything to anyone or not. For my money, that motherboard doesn't do anything that an equivalent MSI, ASUS or GIGABYTE motherboard won't do as well or better. Those other motherboards are flat out prettier so unless there is a huge price difference in favor of the Supermicro and you don't mind the horrid UEFI I wouldn't bother with that board right now.

Supermicro is motivated to do well in the industry so they are definitely a company to watch going forward.
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Not having RGB lighting makes it more enticing for me to buy :D. Still I rather buy the better overall board and if it comes with RGB lighting either turn it off or find reason to use it. The lack of PCIe slot support while can be minor but could also mean damage later making the board useless, accidents do happen. Those little things do add up to something big on the overall feel and use of the board.
 
>>Not having RGB lighting makes it more enticing for me to buy :D.

Yep, me too.
All of the colorful lighting is not a very useful feature to me.

That and having such a bullet-proof VRM and "server level" design is very attractive.
Reliability is way more important than pretty lights. :)

.
 
The thing is, I don't have windowed cases so RGB lighting isn't a huge deal for me either. What I'm saying is, that its one more thing Supermicro doesn't have that everyone else does. So unless there is a discount to go with motherboard A that doesn't have the feature vs. motherboard B that does, it makes more sense to go with the one that gives you more in case you change your mind down the line. It's good to have options. Now, if the Supermicro motherboard could actually take a CPU further than any other motherboard without losing out on important features, then I'd ignore the RGB lighting thing. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. Right now all the Z270 motherboards I've tested only differ in regard to their features, not their overclockability.
 
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