A crowd funded motherboard(s) for audiophiles - Part 2

[lmitche]

3 minutes ago, Johnseye said:

 

So then it would define the device speeds using the 16x lane not limit that lane to free up the m.2. Thats what I was afraid of. 

I dunno, let's see what rickca says.

[lmitche]

6 hours ago, Johnseye said:

 

I read that too. They're promoting their boards as mining compatible. If a riser card can fit into one pcie slot and you can divide the lanes then there's opportunity for multiple pcie cards in an ITX board. Even if it only splits that one 16x lane there's some benefit. I just wish it would mean the m.2 could utilize it. Now it's also possible to use an Optane in a riser card and not the m.2. 

Take a look here:

 

https://www.computershopper.com/ces-2015/ces-2015-tour-new-silverstone-fortress-and-raven-cases-and-more!/silverstone-fortress-ftz01-vs.-raven-rvz02-thickness-comparison

 

It may be a tease however.

[lmitche]

6 hours ago, Johnseye said:

 

The link was to 2015 pc cases.  Wrong link?

No, it shows a two PCie cards running off a single itx slot. This is still a leading mini-itx case despite being 3 years old.

 

I am not sure two cards can work with this case despite the picture showing otherwise.

[lmitche]

More exciting Intel i9 rumors here:

 

https://wccftech.com/intel-9th-gen-core-i9-9900k-i7-9700k-i5-9600k-cpu-specs-leak/

[lmitche]

7 hours ago, PieterP said:

For a custom HQ-player PC build I am looking for a Motherboard, can you advise me? Considerations from my side: I just bought a second hand Ryzen 5 1600 but I want the option to (easily) upgrade to Ryzen second-gen at a later stage (e.g. 2600 or 2700), size ATX is fine. I have a Paul Pang V2 USB card in my current daphile streamer (Asrock Q1900-ITX) which I want to try in my HQ-player PC, I also need a small graphics card for the set-up.

 

Looking at mobo's around 150 euro I found the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming being recommended by hardwareinfo. It has a proper power supply, USB-dac up (clean USB power) and I can easily upgrade to Ryzen 2nd gen. What do you think of this mobo? They say that the bios of Gigabyte is not user-friendly?

 

I have bought the DSD DAC DSC v2.5.2 (from the 'do it your self audio' site) and it will have an Amanero input (USB connector) at first. Later on I might want to try the NAA route (beagle bone black with network connector and I2S output, and subsequent isolation and reclocking) in stead of USB-Amanero. My question is whether it is better to have a mobo with two network connectors if I want to connect my HQ-player PC to a NAA directly instead of using a network switch? The Hardwareinfo recommended Gigabyte Aorus AX370 has two network connectors. What do you think of this mobo here? 

 

Do you have any other thoughts/suggestions that I should consider for a mobo? 

Pieter,

 

Yes, a dual nic solution makes sense for a 2 pc system. This design seems to be confirmed over and over again. Personally I am sticking to a single pc solution, but others prefer two machines.

 

I don't like gigabyte motherboards and I'd try to find an Asus product instead. I haven't researched x470 boards in detail but something like the ROG Strix X470-F Gaming looks good on it's face.  

 

 

My experience is that the gigabyte products just don't have the same quality of bios support and updates as the Asus product.

[lmitche]

I can't speak for others. Over the long haul, the Asus company just seems to have better bios support than other manufacturers.

 

You get what you pay for.

[lmitche]

16 hours ago, PieterP said:

Would this onboard wifi be of any advantage 

Pieter, the first thing I did when installing my new motherboard was to remove the WiFi card. It is easy to unscrew the cage and remove it entirely. Best to keep WiFi sources away from the audio system.