I bought my gaming PC pre-built back in 2015. It came with an msi 760GMA-P34 (FX) motherboard, which was advertised as "Military Grade II". While I was able to use it just fine for high-end PC gaming, there are a few things that I'm not too happy with.
First is the on-board audio. Audio coming from the speakers is ok, but if I plug in headphones via the audio jack on my desktop case, I hear static in the background every time I play a PC game. That's why I plugged in a headphone DAC/amp.
Second is the low number of ports. This mobo has only 4 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports, and one 3.0 header and two 2.0 headers, which give me the maximum number of 2.0 ports of 8 and 3.0 ports of 4. Thing is, my case has only one 2.0 port and 3.0 port each, and I have multiple USB 2.0 devices plugged into my PC at once, which is why I have a USB 2.0 hub plugged in. The three 3.0 ports are just fine for VR such as Oculus Rift, but even if I do get a headset, I tend to leave it plugged into the three 3.0 ports because I'm kinda lazy, and I don't want my PC to have cables sticking from the top or front all the time. The lack of USB 3.0 ports is the reason why I have a USB 3.0 PCIe card plugged into the PC, which brings me to the lack of PCIe slots on the mobo. I have my GTX 1060 connected to the PCIe x16 slot and the x4 slot is located just 1 space below, which makes the graphics card cover that slot completely, so I had to buy an extension kit for that PCIe x4 slot and as a result, the inside of my desktop PC doesn't look great. The mobo also has an old-school PCI slot which doesn't seem to be working; I plugged in a USB 2.0 card and the devices that I plugged into it were not working at all, which is why I still have a USB hub plugged in.
I've been looking for a new motherboard with the features that I'd like to have, on newegg.ca and Amazon.ca:
I've heard that AMD Ryzen is a huge upgrade over FX. I've been playing fairly recent games (up to 2016?) with my current FX in ultra settings just fine. Is upgrading to Ryzen worth it?
First is the on-board audio. Audio coming from the speakers is ok, but if I plug in headphones via the audio jack on my desktop case, I hear static in the background every time I play a PC game. That's why I plugged in a headphone DAC/amp.
Second is the low number of ports. This mobo has only 4 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports, and one 3.0 header and two 2.0 headers, which give me the maximum number of 2.0 ports of 8 and 3.0 ports of 4. Thing is, my case has only one 2.0 port and 3.0 port each, and I have multiple USB 2.0 devices plugged into my PC at once, which is why I have a USB 2.0 hub plugged in. The three 3.0 ports are just fine for VR such as Oculus Rift, but even if I do get a headset, I tend to leave it plugged into the three 3.0 ports because I'm kinda lazy, and I don't want my PC to have cables sticking from the top or front all the time. The lack of USB 3.0 ports is the reason why I have a USB 3.0 PCIe card plugged into the PC, which brings me to the lack of PCIe slots on the mobo. I have my GTX 1060 connected to the PCIe x16 slot and the x4 slot is located just 1 space below, which makes the graphics card cover that slot completely, so I had to buy an extension kit for that PCIe x4 slot and as a result, the inside of my desktop PC doesn't look great. The mobo also has an old-school PCI slot which doesn't seem to be working; I plugged in a USB 2.0 card and the devices that I plugged into it were not working at all, which is why I still have a USB hub plugged in.
I've been looking for a new motherboard with the features that I'd like to have, on newegg.ca and Amazon.ca:
- Multiple PCIe x16 and x4 slots
- 8 or more USB 2.0 ports
- 4 USB 3.0 ports
- USB 3.1 Gen2
- No Video-Out
- Built-in DAC for on-board audio
- RGB-Out for LED strips
I've heard that AMD Ryzen is a huge upgrade over FX. I've been playing fairly recent games (up to 2016?) with my current FX in ultra settings just fine. Is upgrading to Ryzen worth it?
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