Question Why are all mainboards black?

[_Rick_]

Old guy question/rant:
Back in the day, we had green mainboards, and it was good.

Then came the oughts, and mainboards got red, orange, blue, yellow - while some still stayed green.
In the teens though, it appears beside some brief flirtation with white mainboards, black become the de facto mainboard color - except for server or very low entry level boards.
What happened to blue Gigabyte boards? Red ASUS or AsRock boards?

Sure, these days we occasionally get pattern prints onto the PCB, which can be interesting - but color has drained from mainboard PCBs - instead we stick a ton of colored LEDs onto them.

But is aRGB really a reason behind the push to black mainboards? Sure, it somewhat manages reflections, and doesn't call attention to it - but if you shell out big money for colored braided internal power cables, why not pay extra for...yellow mainboards?

Anyway, browsing mainboards has become a bit depressing, with literally ever board being black, with fancy boards having contrasting heatsinks.

/rant.

 

[Jimminy]

I blame that (and the RGB nonsense) on these durn glass cases.

 

[UsandThem]

I guess I never really cared about the colors/looks of boards back in the day, and since I don't use cases with windows now, it doesn't matter to me what they look like now. However, I will say the "rainbow bright" boards of multiple colors were particularly ugly if anyone wanted to show off their build.

As long as they are reliable and have the features I use/need, that's really all I'm after.

 

[bbhaag]

Because boring black mainboards match well with boring black cases and everybody loves their boring black cases. Black is the new beige bro.

 

[CP5670]

I like the black, it blends into the background and lets accents stand out. There are a few white boards out there though.

The same thing happened with video cards. For many years Nvidia cards were green and AMD/ATI ones were red, but they both became black at one point.

 

[UsandThem]

The same thing happened with video cards. For many years Nvidia cards were green and AMD/ATI ones were red, but they both became black at one point.

Back when GPU manufacturers used to put illustrations on their video cards was so hot.

 

[killster1]

Back when GPU manufacturers used to put illustrations on their video cards was so hot.

View attachment 42166

yea me too but just doesn't work very well with triple fans here is one my fav..

i absolutely loved all the DFI boards that had UV orange / green / yellow etc. Is it weird that i loved the UV but dislike the RGB ;/ quiet possibly all the manufactures that made the boards we liked are now not producing boards any more ;/

 

[PingSpike]

I don't like black cases. I had a black case I was installing a black motherboard into with black screws and I dropped a screw into the case. I really struggled to find it because even with a lamp directly over the open case...I couldn't see anything! The case was a black hole that just soaked up all the light.

I actually use a really old crummy case from the mid oughts or something for my main rig now since even though it is black, the internals are unpainted chrome. I'd prefer white or any color boards but those are just quite hard to find. My server I paid extra to buy the case that was painted white.

Its because of RGB though. You turn all the lights off and nothing reflects to take away from the RGB glow. But if you don't care about that its just a pain. Caring about how the internals look wasn't much of a thing 20 years ago, sure for some people it was a big deal but it wasn't what everyone was into. So I guess you can blame it all on the introduction of the side window, which while not a bad idea in and of itself seemed to set this in motion.

 

[mikeymikec]

I don't like black cases. I had a black case I was installing a black motherboard into with black screws and I dropped a screw into the case. I really struggled to find it because even with a lamp directly over the open case...I couldn't see anything! The case was a black hole that just soaked up all the light.

I had this too recently. I had to tilt the chassis until the screw moved.

 

[mindless1]

It's complimentary to the blackness of the souls of the damned. Same reason kids like blacked out cars.

I much prefer boards where you can more easily see and trace the circuits, and see when heat has darkened areas an abnormal amount indicating a potential fault. This may be a second reason why boards are black, people worrying over a normal amount of discoloration.

 

[mindless1]

I'm a little surprised that nobody challenged that assessment. You could just like black... but as mentioned, it's a PITA for diagnostics.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I had this too recently. I had to tilt the chassis until the screw moved.

Do what the "Pros" do. Grab the case in it's current state, turn it completely upside-down, and shake vigorously until you hear the screw drop out onto the floor, never to be found again.

True story. Names may or may not have been changed to protect the innocent.

 

[UsandThem]

Do what the "Pros" do. Grab the case in it's current state, turn it completely upside-down, and shake vigorously until you hear the screw drop out onto the floor, never to be found again.

From the picture you previously shared here of your warehouse living room, it's not a surprise the screw disappeared.

 

[mikeymikec]

Do what the "Pros" do. Grab the case in it's current state, turn it completely upside-down, and shake vigorously until you hear the screw drop out onto the floor, never to be found again.

True story. Names may or may not have been changed to protect the innocent.

How did you know about my favourite trick with small laptop screws?

 

[nerp]

From the picture you previously shared here of your warehouse living room, it's not a surprise the screw disappeared.

OK as a forum vet, I need to ask. Where is this picture? I need to see it. It will solve a mental mystery I've had for many years now.

 

[UsandThem]

OK as a forum vet, I need to ask. Where is this picture? I need to see it. It will solve a mental mystery I've had for many years now.

I can't remember what OT thread Larry posted it in (his new avatar drawing is based on it).

Will you link to the picture for nerp, @VirtualLarry?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Some including myself, think Soltek is responsible for the Black PCB catching on. I had the Golden Flame baby -

https://www.hardwareasylum.com/n7700/The-Soltek-SL-75FRN-L-Motherboard-Throwback

As he mentions at the end

This could be argued but the Black PCBs you see on most motherboards today was started by Soltek. Before that most companies were using Green, Brown and Red. As it would turn out the “alternative” colors were rather toxic making them difficult to get past the environmental regulations.

 

[_Rick_]

I had the little brother of this one in my server:

That's quite a few years past nForce 2 though.

Found blue boards right down to Intel's 70 series chipset.

 

[Z15CAM]

I loved the old Green EPOX and IWill MB PCB's + a few brown Asus, Abit, an SIS Tomato Boards back in the day.

Hard to forget that "RED" MB when MSI came on the scene - LOL

The colour RED, in paint, is the most expense colour to simulate.

I tend to spell Canadian.

 

[bigboxes]

I just built a new main rig. Almost everything is black. I even went all black on a Noctua HSF. But like UsandThem said, I don't have a window and RGB has no function. If I was a teen, then yeah, get a window, plop the case on your desktop and show it off to everyone!

I do miss the color mobos of the 00s. I was an Abit man. I still have one working Socket A motherboard. I keep my first motherboard even though it's dead. I've disposed of the other dead ones. Just not my first Abit board. LOL

 

[Asterox]

I had the little brother of this one in my server:

That's quite a few years past nForce 2 though.

Found blue boards right down to Intel's 70 series chipset.

Nice, "that model was the most popular among the fans of Italian FC Lazio".

S.S Lazio Fcootball Club History

Lazio S.S. Lazio (Società Sportiva Lazio SpA) is an Italian football team based in the city of Rome, founded on January 9, 1900. Lazio have ...

worldsportedition.blogspot.com

My Gigabyte B450M S2H, well it is mostly dark brown or color of s..t.I have no objection, because this is the only one cheeper B450 motherboard with HDMI 2.0.I need HDMI 2.0/4K60hz, PC is connected to 4K TV or this is HTPC PC.

MSI/Asus/Asrock B450 competition, in this price segment offers only motherboards with old HDMI 1.4 trash.

 

[Furious_Styles]

I really liked the blue boards with copper heatsinks/pipes.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Likely because Black basically works with every color scheme, and with DIY PC stuff going the "lifestyle" route with all the RGB stuff and windowed cases (no judgement, just saying what is) part manufacturers have to build to what works and what sells for these folks.

I think we went through a really colorful "personalize your box" phase several years ago and it probably turned out that Black components outsold everythjng else, so why put money into other colors?

I have a soft spot for Red ATI boards, Purple ECS boards, and Blue Gigabyte boards.

But I'm a little surprised we haven't gotten a wave of retro green "raw mask" boards as it seems like it would appeal to the older DIY crew. Kinda like that 80's nostalgia craze we went through recently.