Contest: Chaintech Needs Your Input

[UncleBob]

Chaintech wants to know what improvements their fans would like to see on future Chaintech motherboards. We want your input of what you consider to be an ideal motherboard. Please submit your idea to this thread before April 15th 12PM PST. Enter as often as you like. Chaintech will go through all of the submissions and pick one out as the most creative idea(s) and he/she will receive a brand new VNF4 Ultra Socket 939 AMD motherboard. The contest runs from April 8th to April 15th.

[Thrax2000]

I guess I'll take a stab at this.

I would be interested in an "upside down" motherboard. A trend of system builders is to put the psu on the bottom of the case for better cooling. Then they mount the motherboard on the other side of the case so it sits "upside down". I would like to see a motherboard manufacturer take this design and run with it. Put the video card at the edge of the motherboard instead of the middle. So in the upside down case it would be the highest component. With the new A64 CPUS and current GPUs, video cards have been the hottest thing in the case. Put them at the top with a fan sucking cool air in from the top and the pushing it out the back.

I know the idea probably won't be for the masses a motherboard manufacturer is looking for, as it necessitates case modding, but it’s an idea only a manufacturer can implement and no one has done it yet.

(The idea could work in a right side up case as long as some holes in the bottom of the case were made.)

[UncleBob]

Good idea....we have broken the ice! Best of luck to everyone!

[Chaintech Rep]

Thanks for the input Thrax

[Silversierra]

Chaintech should make several improvements.
Top 20
1. I think they should have a sli board that is cheaper than the competition.
2. They need a good micro atx board(nforce4ultra) for cases like the aria.(needs to have quiet cooling, gear it towards htpc).
3. Label/color code the front panel connectors, and show which are +/-. Better manual description is desired as well.
4. Put the power, ide, and floppy connectors on the top right of the motherboard. Also make sure the positioning of the slots/connectors don't interfere with each other.
5. Use better, more vibrant fluorescent colors like orange, yellow, blue, and green. Make the plastic uv reactive.
6. Use a higher definition onboard audio chip.
7. Use a silent fan on the chipset.
8. Allow more cpu and memory voltage options.
9. Use 6 rear usb, and include firewire B on the backplane as well. (get rid of serial, and maybe parallel connections)
10. Include a good oc utility that's easy, fast, efficient.
11. Allow the user to set the cpu fan speed in the bios or have a better cpu fan speed control.
12. More bios control options.
13. Support pci video for upgraders who haven't gotten a pci-e card yet.
14. Label which 20pins to put a 20 pin connector into the 24pin connector.
15. Specify what specs a power supply will need to run the motherboard with common configurations (wattage/amperage per rail).
16. Package the board to protect the chipset/cooler better.
17. Use high quality components.
18. Make sure there aren't any big/tall capacitors near the cpu to block aftermarket coolers.
19. Allow more space between memory dimms so heat spreaders have more room and can cool more efficiently.
20. Keep the boards reasonably priced, but build them solidly, and have the features needed to get the job done.

It may sound like I have many problems with Chaintech, but really I think my vnf4ultra is great. It would be awesome if it had some of these improvements though. Hopefully some of these ideas are used in future boards. I think it will really help Chaintech get a better market position.[IMG]http://[/IMG]

[joeyg]

I'm an S1689 fan. Continue using Uli chipsets. Maybe M1695 on a PCI-EX board. Get rid of the legacy ports, parallel and P/S2. Include firewire on all boards.

[grimmster]

well, since there is a huge range of motherboards...what I would like to see is a small form factor MB with only two memory slots (each would take 256, 512, 1gb, 2gb dimms), dual gigabit ethernet, pci-e slot for vid card, onboard quality sound, at least 6 SATA ports that supports raid, only one EIDE channel (for a dvd-burner), NO floppy EIDE channel, at least 2 built in usb 2.0 ports with lots of headers for more. As above, move PSU connect to the bottom and slots up to the top (upside down board)
1 PCI slot, NO ps/2 ports at all, NO printer port at all.

Basically a lean, mean machine

[nsx29]

This is my suggestion and I believe that most will agree on these:

1. Put a good cooling solution with durable fan on the chipset not
those that fail in few months

2. Please place the atx connector at the right hand corner of the board
not beside the cpu like current layout

3. Use better capacitors like sanyo throughout the board and not use
those oversized mutant blue caps ( since they blow up under heavy
PC usage)

Finally, I believe all these improvements can be made without increase the cost much because i am willing to fork out a little more for a little more quality.

[houndog]

depends what your looking for i guess.... mobo for the gamer... or good all around mobo. I like the idea of having a good quality onboard sound like the msi and the soundblaster live. Gives you room either way, the hard core gamer will always buy the best soundcard out there, but everyone else would be more than happy with onboard live. An Aggresive, quality chipset fan would catch the eyes of the overclockers/gamers, and work good for those who would want an all around board. I guess im trying to work things that would appeal to both sides of the spectrum. And finally, just for kicks, maybe some well placed flouresant paint that spells out 'Chaintec' only under a flouresant light that would be cool

[Colonel]

Chaintech should make a motherboard with AGP and PCI-express, since a lot of new builder are gaming with AGP they will like to use the AGP 8x before jumping to PCI-express..

[JeremyWills]

i have a chaintech 7njl1 great board, the cool thing is they used UV reactive plastic like the DFI stuff on this board, under UV it works great, I have never seen any other board maker do this except DFI and this particular Chaintech board. Id like to see Chaintech do it again, yes I should consider boards on stability, not thier flashiness but I have taken the time to invest in Uv lights, and would maybe swap to an a64 board in this same case, it would be nice too keep the lights, took lots of time installing and route the wires to the inverters etc... anyhow just my 2 cents suggestion more UV please, and include UV cables etc...

oh yea, heres another one I think might be a good idea, how about a cube sized box, like the shuttles and such, I noticed some other companies like biostar and asus also jumped in this direction, why not chaintech, the htpc concept is growing, seriously

also, wouldnt it be cool if a mobo manufacturer tested and verified memory that overclocks usually well, couldnt they do a combo deal, give the customer a chance to buy the board and a set of mem that is already been verified and tweaked out in the bios for that board, kinda like dually channel mem kits that have been tested together and packed together once passed, but do this with the qc check of the motherboard actually being sold, that way you can provided a guide in the paperwork that shows lets say well ok, if you buy an AMD cpu, heres the exact settings of this board to make it work like this mhz, and the mems already been set, ok I know the overclockers crowds probably laugh at me, but an outta the box oced board mem combo would be nice, vidoecard makers like bfg sell thier cards with oc editions, why not mobo makers and take the guess work outta which ram to buy etc...... and pack together a pretested board and mem combo?

i think thats nuff for now

[pctoolbin]

I am sure at some point, people may begin repeating each other as each person has their own opinion on what they feel would be an "ideal motherboard", but in being asked I'd offer this opinion of mine to Chaintech:

1. No Floppy connector
2. 4+ SATA connectors built to use the southbridge, but having the option to be "bus lockable" for people who want to overclock.
3. mini-heatsinks packaged as an "extra" for people who want to use them....
4. ATX connector to the "right edge" of the board.
5. Leave enough space/room for third party components that may be used by enthusiasts (i.e. taking the board layout into consideration for larger heatsink/fan combos, power supply units like the Ultras which have fatter connectors for the 12V and ATX connectors, etc.)
6. Having the latest technology built INTO the board to alleviate the need to pay for expensive add-ons.....instead of using crappy CPU intensive components, let's get low CPU intensive components. Chaintech's 7.1 Audio card is a value card, but sounds awesome! Build this chipset into the motherboard....
7. For components that may not be able to added as low-CPU usage....bundle PCI or PCI-E cards with the motherboard. I'd pay an increased bundled price to get something "all inclusive".....
8. Absolutely *NO* integrated video.....except for budget mobos....and budget mobos could be built with *NO* expansion slots....
9. PCI-E or AGP solution together on one board.
10. Chaintech: Save your money as a corporation and stop with the software bundles.....use that money to improve the hardware. There's enough 'open source' and 'freeware' out there to find a solution. I'd rather have a piece of hardware I know that works as flawlessly as possible.....
11. Four or Six DDR2 slots all dual-channel capable.....
12. As for headers for the back of the case: No PS2 ports, no "game" port, no COM or LPT ports.....I want dual NICs, dual firewire, four USB 2.0 ports, and at least one firewire and USB 2.0 header connector internally on the board for being able to add a front panel addition.
13. And since we're talking most things being "onboard" with quality components, then there needs to only be one or two additional PCI/PCI-E slots for expansion cards, so this leaves room to still have a full size board and the "quality components" have a place to go.....even if a PCI riser card would need to be used to achieve this...
14. Motherboard "look": Have the motherboard possibly come in a couple different colors (maybe limited editions of the same board)....or certain colors for the CPU types....but make them "dark" color PCBs with bright writings that possibly would be UV reactive......or even have a sound sensitive LED or two (or a group of different colors for different high/low tones) to correspond with the onboard sound to react to the beat -- this would have absolutely no functional value, but for case modders and people who like to show off their systems, it would set Chaintech apart when someone asks "who makes that board"

Thanks for the contest opportunity!

[themortarman]

Not really a motherboard feature.

I don't own a Chaintech board but, occasionally we get members that wonder over to the Storage forum looking for help with thier storage needs.

To be perfectly honest the Chaintech manuals do not cover the basic details very well at all. Thank goodness for forum like these, the new computer builder would be lost without a site such as this.

[faroukabad]

some kind of starter budget mobo kit with budget mobo, vid card, sound card, all Chaintech brand for first time builders and people who want an adequate new machine on a budget. Could have cables, other cards and products that Chaintech makes, T-shirt? It would take the stress out for people who might want to build but don't want to do all the research necessary to find out what's compatible and all that. Add a manual that includes building tips for first timers. Have all the boards and cables be color coordinated for cases with windows.

[LostInTennessee]

I believe there is a demand for a mATX NF4 Ultra (dual core capable) Motherboard for Overclocker's with BIOS to match. Chaintech, you know the requirements. OCer’s voltages, quality capacitors, space for larger CPU HSF, quality chipset HSF, etc.... No one makes a OCer’s mATX MB the will OC like stink yet that I know of. Be the first.