Seems like recently a new round of mobos from various manufacturers came out and there seems to be literally several dozen from each manufacturer. What is the benefit of doing this? I understand having some options in different price ranges, but that many just makes no sense to me. Why not just make maybe 10? That should cover low end to midrange to enthusiast in a few different sizes perfectly fine.
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Why do manufacturers release so many motherboards?
- Thread starter kasakka
- Start date
Darkswordz
Gawd
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10 Seems about right:
m-ITX:
Budget
Midrage
m-ATX:
Budget
Midrange
High End
Enthusiast
ATX:
Budget
Midrange
High End
Enthusiast
m-ITX:
Budget
Midrage
m-ATX:
Budget
Midrange
High End
Enthusiast
ATX:
Budget
Midrange
High End
Enthusiast
Also EATX for the ones that like it big.
Yeah, too many SKUs. They should consolidate that a bit, old seeing SKU for WiFi, and a different one for Bluetooth, and a different one for BT+WiFi, and a different one for BT with Blue LEDs, and a different one for WiFi with Red LEDS, etc...
Yeah, too many SKUs. They should consolidate that a bit, old seeing SKU for WiFi, and a different one for Bluetooth, and a different one for BT+WiFi, and a different one for BT with Blue LEDs, and a different one for WiFi with Red LEDS, etc...
To confuse the hell out of you and it worked.
They could benefit from more in some markets. Only having a single or maybe two Threadripper boards doesn't hit a large enough gamut of price points for that platform. I will agree that in some cases (cough, ASUS cough...) they have way too many models and families that overlap.
KazeoHin
[H]F Junkie
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MSI does the same thing...
Do you want the Bazooka? The Mortar? Maybe the Krait? Or the Gaming Pro? Or just the PC MATE? PC PRO? MPOWER? X POWER? gaming M5? Gaming M7? Gaming pro carbon? SLI PLUS?
All the big manufacturers are guilty of it. At least ASUS' lineup makes a certain amount of sense when you look at it. The naming convention of them is something you can learn, although they do change it enough to be annoying. With MSI, that Bazooka, Motar, etc. shit is fucking retarded. There isn't a clear hierarchy for it without looking at a chart. I've actually told MSI how ridiculous its naming convention for its product line is.
sanders4617
Weaksauce
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Money$. They want to hit every aspect of the market. Those who can't afford anything but a cheap motherboard to those who want the best and will pay.
I get that and I've said as much. The issue comes down to the massive amount of overlap these motherboard models sometimes have. It can create extra confusion for some consumers. Its easier than you might think to justify a massive model lineup, but motherboard makers still seem to go overboard at times. Sometimes it really does come down to board A and board B being essentially the same but board B has "Gaming" on it to appeal to a certain crowd.
Denpepe
2[H]4U
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Then meltdown and spectre come and you need to revise the bios of a gazillion mobo's which is a pain and then you let people hanging without updated bios.
MrGuvernment
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For the most part the bios across most of one brands boards are not very different.
NoxTek
The Geek Redneck
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Why does Ford produce so many cars?
Why doesn't Kellogs make only one kind of corn flakes?
Why does Coca-Cola make Sprite, Minute Maid, Mr. Pibb, Fanta, and Barq's?
Why doesn't Kellogs make only one kind of corn flakes?
Why does Coca-Cola make Sprite, Minute Maid, Mr. Pibb, Fanta, and Barq's?
Yeah I hate it. I was at microcenter to pickup a MSI x299 board that was open box and almost $100 off. I got there and ask to look at it first and sure enough the pins we're smashed. I don't know how they took back that MB. Like abunch of pins in the corner and everythin but the CD was missing and several MD standoffs rolling around under the MB. I went over to the MB section to try and get something else worked out with nothing and more confused about what to get now lol. So many MB to choice from.
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I thought it was to take more money off you without doing that much more work.
We have the standard motherboard in this corner. In this corner we have gamer standard (more heat sinks same vrm's). We have gamer x standard in the third corner (more heat sinks+rbg led's). AAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDD in the final corner we have ultimate gamer X (heat sinks+ rbg's + better vrm's). Then we do it in white with flashier heatsinks... or a different shell...
MrGuvernment
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yes but many of those are considerably different between the offerings... when mobo makers have one board with say built in wifi and one with out, and one with 10 USb3 ports and one with 6....
You over-estimate the morality of Conglomerates.
Denpepe
2[H]4U
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This made me chuckle! XD
D
Deleted member 133315
Guest
Yea, I agree entirely.
fuck asus
Gigabyte ftw
Even tho I do use a asus mobo
Sense it does make ?
You're missing High End and Enthusiast at Mini ITX level. Some beastly builds in that format want/need high end features and only really want to compromise on PCI and ram slots.
What's he real difference between these groups - what separates each of them and what feature differences would you expect? Can High End and Enthusiast be the same thing except for RGB bling and branding?
Also you will frequently see another group added to those with labels like 'military' or 'durable' to indicate that they'll keep working in your build until the day you die.
Asus has TUF as the top dog in one generation and as a budget-midrange option in the other. Not to mention it is all but impossible to find out the exact differences between boards.
Official Gigabyte
Verified GBT Rep
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As a rep for a manufacturer this literally made me laugh. Just to give you our perspective its simply due to different market segments. There are gamers, enthusiasts, workstations, etc. There are also gamers who are enthusiasts, and enthusiasts who need work station specs... and on and on. Add in different price points and you can see why there are so many SKU's.
To piggy back off the car analogy lets assume there are lets say 3 baseline models A, B, C. Model A & B can have a 4 or 6 cylinder motor. Model C can have 6 or 8. Of each of these models you can also get a tow package and/or leather seats. In just this scenario we now have 24 (Is my math right?) combinations of cars... The difference is they can add a tow package to any model after its manufactured, where as we cannot.
Long story short we really don't do it to confuse anyone. We (read me specifically) actually spend a lot of time trying to simplify the messaging so you guys know what you are getting and what makes sense for your needs.
Aenra
Limp Gawd
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Assuming you are whom/what you say you are, may i, a looong, longtime Gigabyte customer pass some advice/wishes/complaints?
Will veer off topic, but now that i've found one of you, lol, as you are an elusive species
- BIOS updates; manhours=money, i understand, so this is not asking, demanding or complaining; just an FYI that you guys need seriously find a way to convince the people upstairs that there's an issue here. We cannot have 4 and 5 months of waiting for an update. X99 Designare? X399 Designare? Could go on. Oh wait, not five months, it's like a year for the X99 isn't it.. still on F5B. Have more examples if you want them.
- Segmentation is also problematic. You do have too broad a range. Examples? Only recently.. The AM4 Gaming 5K has no reason to exist what with its butchered down phases; you made a lot of clueless people unhappy, because they bought it and now are screwed. The gaming 5 was enough for midrange and an honest product; the K5? Not so much.
Likewise with say the TR4 platform; Designare's the top of the Gigabyte top, and yet it does not have an external BCLK switch; come to think of it, its little brother, the 399 Gaming, also doesn't. Despite the fact that the competition offers it, all of them. You split the line into two different motherboards and have neither of them featuring the plex chip.. logic? None.
UDs, likewise. You have so many UD models even someone like me (far from clueless), has to spend literally hours of forum searching to grasp what's what between them. If you think that's "helping" us customers, you might want to reconsider. Especially given the generic info you provide us with, zero technical facts. Leading me to:
- Presentation, facts, specifications. You used to denote the number of phases, you have recently stopped. Why? You have sometimes 2 or 3 different UD models and yet, looking at them with the compare tool, they'll appear identical. Why? Someone over at marketing needs a lobotomy.
- You have been receiving complaints about voltage fluctuations in a number of boards, ranging a number of platforms, for a number of years and yet the problem persists; still; today. This is not good. Ironically, the problem is of far lesser an importance, as in some cases it's just a matter of your voltage readouts being too cheap to do a frequent enough polling. You know this, but have yet to do anything.
- QoL features. WiFi 'off' from BIOS? Nope. Secondary RJ45 'off' from BIOS? Nope. Why? Competition does it and with good reason, you can even diagnose with these kind of options.. why don't you offer them too? You've certainly been asked to, and repeatedly at that.
- Packaging. The only company out of the 4 big ones that ships its motherboards without a sealed sticker.. how on Earth is one to know if their brand new product really is new, or has been opened? They can't. At the kind of bulk we're talking about here (thousands and thousands of stickers), it must be like $0,001 per sticker a cost and i'm pushing it; so why not add them? Think buyer mentality a bit, think psychology. And lastly, think issues. I have personally had to beg twice, because some low wage monkey had opened my board, but i could not prove it even though i knew (i know how you package them).. why couldn't i prove it? You guessed it, because no sticker.
Will edit if i think of more, but for now.. and again, no offense, accusatory as it may initially appear. Am primarily a Gigabyte customer, happy to support; doesn't mean i have no issues however. You are losing customers; it's mostly petty stuff (well, minus the BIOS updates issue), but it does add up eventually.
If you're not who you say you are (which is very likely, i know), i fed a troll. It happens
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Aenra
Limp Gawd
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Speaking of issues, or ones perceived as such, i thought i'd also add my opinion on something most complain about, the graphical interface.
I personally like your BIOS's UEFI; a lot. I dislike the Asus kind of UEFI; too many buttons, too many subcategories, too many pages, too many back and forths and click click clicks.. Gigabyte's UEFI is a breeze for me, i know what's what and where, nice and simple; concise.
Please don't change that. I cannot possibly be the only grown up that prioritises the practical over the.. aesthetic?
I personally like your BIOS's UEFI; a lot. I dislike the Asus kind of UEFI; too many buttons, too many subcategories, too many pages, too many back and forths and click click clicks.. Gigabyte's UEFI is a breeze for me, i know what's what and where, nice and simple; concise.
Please don't change that. I cannot possibly be the only grown up that prioritises the practical over the.. aesthetic?
The biggest problem I have with almost all motherboards is the absolutely horrible layout. This was especially true back when both PCI and PCIe slots were on boards, but it still true today with boards that only have PCIe slots.
With the amount of PCIe lanes available on current high-end CPUs and boards, ATX is really too small of a form factor.
If we started having industrial style enthusiast setups (backplane and CPU card), that would be the bomb-diggity. You could choose whatever backplane you wanted and then choose the CPU card you wanted.
More modularity = better.. except maybe for long term profits for the mfgs.. and that is why it will never happen.
With the amount of PCIe lanes available on current high-end CPUs and boards, ATX is really too small of a form factor.
If we started having industrial style enthusiast setups (backplane and CPU card), that would be the bomb-diggity. You could choose whatever backplane you wanted and then choose the CPU card you wanted.
More modularity = better.. except maybe for long term profits for the mfgs.. and that is why it will never happen.
As far as motherboard manufacturers go, your naming convention is among the least confusing. It isn't perfect but its easier to figure out than the naming conventions of some of your competitors offerings.
Aenra
Limp Gawd
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With one exception, if i may.. the 'Ultra' designating.
In theory, you'd imagine the 'Ultra' being the top tier (if no Designare) and everything else below it, right? Except in practice, it's exactly the opposite; can imagine a lot of people buying the 'Ultra' because they've the money to spend and ultimately getting a belated wake-up call
With one exception, if i may.. the 'Ultra' designating.
In theory, you'd imagine the 'Ultra' being the top tier (if no Designare) and everything else below it, right? Except in practice, it's exactly the opposite; can imagine a lot of people buying the 'Ultra' because they've the money to spend and ultimately getting a belated wake-up call
I didn't say it was perfect, but it could be worse. Someone pointed out how ASUS TUF series was a high end product one generation and low end the next. MSI has it's Arsenal Gaming stuff. Mortar, Grenade, etc. Figure that crap out.
kirbyrj
Fully [H]
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Exactly, what happened to the Sabertooth lineup? The 990FX boards, X58 boards, and X99 board I had were all great.
Aenra
Limp Gawd
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I think you folks are confusing things here.
(seeing Dan's reply to me, i wasn't sure if i should specify further, some folks just don't like being corrected and i'm not into arguments, but..)
Asus recently decided to "redo"(?)/"reconceptualise"(?) their mobo lineup, it being the reason we now have complaints such as the above.
There was a proper announcement, plus coverage from various sites regarding this.
TLDR this has not to do with naming (talking about ASUS in specific), as it has not changed, but with the new standards they decided each lineup must meet; them differing from the ones you may have been accustomed to.
No, i won't look up the announcement for you; yes, it has been made. I can be lazy too
(seeing Dan's reply to me, i wasn't sure if i should specify further, some folks just don't like being corrected and i'm not into arguments, but..)
Asus recently decided to "redo"(?)/"reconceptualise"(?) their mobo lineup, it being the reason we now have complaints such as the above.
There was a proper announcement, plus coverage from various sites regarding this.
TLDR this has not to do with naming (talking about ASUS in specific), as it has not changed, but with the new standards they decided each lineup must meet; them differing from the ones you may have been accustomed to.
No, i won't look up the announcement for you; yes, it has been made. I can be lazy too
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I don't want it to be my job to constantly watch out for company announcements. I want to have the information I need the moment I decide to purchase a new MBO and that information should be readily available on the company's website. If one can't figure out how the boards differ, that is the company's failure.I think you folks are confusing things here.
(seeing Dan's reply to me, i wasn't sure if i should specify further, some folks just don't like being corrected and i'm not into arguments, but..)
Asus recently decided to "redo"(?)/"reconceptualise"(?) their mobo lineup, it being the reason we now have complaints such as the above.
There was a proper announcement, plus coverage from various sites regarding this.
TLDR this has not to do with naming (talking about ASUS in specific), as it has not changed, but with the new standards they decided each lineup must meet; them differing from the ones you may have been accustomed to.
No, i won't look up the announcement for you; yes, it has been made. I can be lazy too
Aenra
Limp Gawd
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100% with you.
Am only separating someone's flawed expectations with a company's (inadvertently) obfuscating their model lineup.
The first is user error, the second is company fault.
I don't honestly know how to put this in a clearer, more concise manner.