Durability of cheap motherboards vs more expensive ones

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closingBrace

closingBrace

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Dec 17, 2014
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Hi guys,

Here is my question:

From the same manufacturer, for the same workload and under the same environmental conditions, does the "high end" boards last longer than the "lower end" ones?

Now, here are some more details...

Please consider this question as a generic one.

I'm planning to build a new system next year (Q1'16 or Q2'16). I wonder if I should focus only on features or if I should also consider "quality" and "reputation". I mean, if I find two boards, let's say ACME G12345-ABC at $125 and ACME T12345-XYZ at $200. Let's say both have all the features I want and the only difference is that ACME T12345-XYZ have some bonus features that I don't plan to use and is part of the ACME's "high end" products lineup.

Can the T12345-XYZ lasts longer (doing the exact same thing, at the exact same place, in the exact same case, with the same components, in the same exact condition of use and the same exact environmental conditions) only because it is part of the ACME's "high end" products lineup?

Here are some concrets examples. (These are only examples, I will not buy any of these boards. In fact, I will buy a Skylake/LGA1151 µATX board) :

GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 or GIGABYTE GA-G1.Sniper Z97?

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK2, ASUS Z97-DELUXE or ASUS MAXIMUS VII FORMULA/WATCH DOGS?

MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition or MSI Z97A GAMING 6?

ASRock Z97 Extreme3 or ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer?

OK, I think you understand what I mean...

This is not a Gigabyte vs ASUS vs MSI vs ASRock question, this is really a "XYZ low end" vs "XYZ mid end" vs "XYZ high end" question.



So,

From the same manufacturer, for the same workload and under the same environmental conditions, does the "high end" boards last longer than the "lower end" ones?





 
Solution
Azn Cracker
Higher end boards do use higher quality capacitors and other components to better regulate voltage. It helps you overclock more. And of course comes with the extra features. But if you don't use them, then it's useless

I would assume that they will have better durability, but your computer will most likely go obsolete before you can take advantage of that. I would just go for the cheaper one if you don't plan on heavy overclocking and will not use the extra features.
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Azn Cracker

Azn Cracker

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Jul 28, 2009
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Higher end boards do use higher quality capacitors and other components to better regulate voltage. It helps you overclock more. And of course comes with the extra features. But if you don't use them, then it's useless

I would assume that they will have better durability, but your computer will most likely go obsolete before you can take advantage of that. I would just go for the cheaper one if you don't plan on heavy overclocking and will not use the extra features.
 
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Solution
D

dudeman509

Dignified
Jan 23, 2015
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I've had several $200+ Asus boards go kaput on me a year or two later - I've sworn them off, although I've got a Pentium-III one that still worked after 13 years.

Meanwhile, my sub-$100 Gigabyte board...still going, almost 2 years in, without a problem.

Honestly, every brand probably makes a piece of junk board every now and then. If you're waiting on the later K-series chips to come out, there should be a quite a few professional and user reviews on various boards by then (although there are now reports that several 4-core "K's" will release with the standard "S" chips in Q3, so who knows. I always read tons of reviews before making a purchase, though.
 
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boosted1g

Titan
Jun 12, 2013
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Brands is the first thing to look at.

ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASROCK are all quality brands and the probability of even a budget board having a defect is low.
Biostar, ECS (aka ElliteGroup), FOXCONN, are all junk low end motherboards that can be junk at the $50 level or the $200 level.

H81 and B85 chipset boards are budget geared boards with lower features, and less quality capacitors and parts. They are fully adequate for budget builds and non-overclocakable CPUs and it is not like they are going to have a shorter life for normal use. Now some H81 boards are advertised as overclocking but wont provide the same quality as a Z97 mid-high range board.
H97 and Z97 boards are higher quality (z97 is for overclocking, chipset wise that is the difference).

In regards to the $125 vs $200 motherboards. There is really no issue of reliability/quality of the $125 board as most all of the core parts are the same. It just comes down to the extras in the $200 board.

ADDED:
Most $200 boards offer very little over $150 boards so unless there is some feature in the $200 board you just have to have then you can sleep just fine at night getting the $150 board.
 
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