Best Value Intel B360 Motherboards

[Julio Franco]

Following to our best motherboard picks on Intel's Z370 and AMD's budget B350 platform, today we're checking out the best value Intel B360 motherboards. Our criteria for this one was simple: the boards must feature some form of VRM cooling to be considered, and of course, pricing. Less than $100 a pop.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/bestof/intel-b360-motherboards/

 

[Puiu]

Prices will most likely get a bit better after the novelty wears off and more boards get released. I agree with the closing thoughts, the launch prices should have been lower if you consider the fact that they also launched them really late.

 

[mrtraver]

Am I the only experienced builder who had to look up what a VRM is?

 

[bas416]

Am I the only experienced builder who had to look up what a VRM is?

www.dell.com click click next?

 

[Ben Myers]

What!!!!???? The Gigabyte B360M-D3H does not have an old-time parallel printer port! Get the ports right! Too much port! Hiccup! Perhaps the 15-pin VGA connector above the DVI connector was mistaken for a 25-pin parallel port? This article should be corrected because it does a disservice to Gigabyte.

But for me, the B360M-D3H has a most wonderful old-time 6-pin PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, which means I could use my most wonderful best ever made IBM Model M 101-key clickety-clack keyboard with spring-loaded never wear out keys, and type really fast.

A VRM is a Voltage Regulator Module which takes whatever voltage is most common in the motherboard and converts it to the much lower voltage needed by the CPU. A VRM is not perfectly efficient in doing this conversion, hence the heat produced due to the inefficiency. It's nice to have a VRM with a passive (no cooling fan) heat sink, to keep its operating temperature down.

 

[ddferrari]

When did $100+ mobos become "expensive"? You couldn't touch a decent mobo for under $150 a few years ago...

 

[Ben Myers]

When did $100+ mobos become "expensive"? You couldn't touch a decent mobo for under $150 a few years ago...

FWIW, I have been building systems of very high quality with Gigabyte and Asus boards priced in the $60 to $70 range. Not sure why I'd want to pay more unless a client had a requirement that could not be met with the less expensive boards.

 

[Steve]

What!!!!???? The Gigabyte B360M-D3H does not have an old-time parallel printer port! Get the ports right! Too much port! Hiccup! Perhaps the 15-pin VGA connector above the DVI connector was mistaken for a 25-pin parallel port? This article should be corrected because it does a disservice to Gigabyte.

But for me, the B360M-D3H has a most wonderful old-time 6-pin PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, which means I could use my most wonderful best ever made IBM Model M 101-key clickety-clack keyboard with spring-loaded never wear out keys, and type really fast.

A VRM is a Voltage Regulator Module which takes whatever voltage is most common in the motherboard and converts it to the much lower voltage needed by the CPU. A VRM is not perfectly efficient in doing this conversion, hence the heat produced due to the inefficiency. It's nice to have a VRM with a passive (no cooling fan) heat sink, to keep its operating temperature down.

One word: header.

 

[vimann]

In Europe these budged boards are too closely priced to Z370.
The lowest of the low B360 and H310 are priced like the boards listed in the article.
I undestand the pricing is not that great because they're new, but that defeats the very purpose of their existence. Never mind the fact that we waited ages for them.

 

[Ben Myers]

One word: header.

You are so right. A good photo of the board does show a parallel port header. Serial, too. Well, in my always odd travels through the business, I run into people would would like to use true parallel and serial devices every day. And not the not-always-reliable USB-parallel and USB-serial adapters. Mostly in the worlds of embedded systems, very oddball devices and Linux. Must have cost Gigabyte almost nil to add these niceties.

 

[Boilerhog146]

What!!!!???? The Gigabyte B360M-D3H does not have an old-time parallel printer port! Get the ports right! Too much port! Hiccup! Perhaps the 15-pin VGA connector above the DVI connector was mistaken for a 25-pin parallel port? This article should be corrected because it does a disservice to Gigabyte.

But for me, the B360M-D3H has a most wonderful old-time 6-pin PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, which means I could use my most wonderful best ever made IBM Model M 101-key clickety-clack keyboard with spring-loaded never wear out keys, and type really fast.

A VRM is a Voltage Regulator Module which takes whatever voltage is most common in the motherboard and converts it to the much lower voltage needed by the CPU. A VRM is not perfectly efficient in doing this conversion, hence the heat produced due to the inefficiency. It's nice to have a VRM with a passive (no cooling fan) heat sink, to keep its operating temperature down.

One word: header.

with having the headers on the motherboard ,did Gigabyte include the actual ports ,with the package ,for those that would take advantage of them,Gigabyte has been famous for having the needed connectors in the box,like esata connectors ,7.1 sound connectors ,firewire ,etc,etc,
I've bought lots of Gigabyte boards over the years ,and allways found a load of connections options included in the package.

 

[HyPeroxya]

Good article , but not sure why shouldn't b310 boards exist @ $60? its cheaper than b360 and for that saving you lose ??? Is it artificial segmentation eg no m.2 slots on b310 or some other valuable item that is missing ?
asrock mitx b360 97gbp FYI

 

[sunsanvil]

You mention the 95watt CPU support on the ASRock, but dont speak of it one way or the other on the rest. Do we assume that means they are all hamstrung like that MSI B360 PRO-VD you recently tested (max 65W, max short term of just 82W)?

I know...with current pricing, everyone is saying "just get a Z370"....except any decently priced one lacks the one thing which might actually be useful in the coming years (USB 3.1 G2).

 

[gonzalo2525]

Any of these boards will support a 9900k in some future update (VRM Power) ?

 

[neeyik]

The B360 chipset certainly supports 9900Ks (proof) so they should support them now, with the appropriate BIOS revision.

A quick check of some of the motherboards:

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/B360M Pro4/index.asp#CPU = yes it does
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/B360-A-PRO#support-cpu = yes it does
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/TUF-B360M-E-GAMING/HelpDesk_CPU/ = yes it does
https://www.gigabyte.com/uk/Motherboard/B360M-D3H-rev-10/support#support-cpu = yes it does

Now if you're planning to overclock the hell out of a 9900K on those boards, that's a different question entirely...