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Are cheap motherboards a good idea?

Forum Overclocking : Motherboards - Are cheap motherboards a good idea?

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I'm looking at using my spare amd64 3200+ to build a gaming lan rig, are there any issues with using cheap motherboards if I don't intend to use lots of expantion cards or overclock?
A while ago I had a a7n8x-x which a features such as dual channel memory and sata cut out, but new cheap motherboard have these what sort of thing might be cut out?

does this board: GIGABYTE GA-K8N-SLI nForce4
have any advantages
over this one: GA-K8N51GMF-9 nForce6100 Socket 939
if I don't intend to use sli? and why is it the cheap one has firewire while the more expencive one doesn't?

http://www.pbwellington.co.nz/p.aspx?4300
http://www.pbwellington.co.nz/p.aspx?4591

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Quote :

I had a K8NXP-SLI motherboard and it ran REALLY nice. No SLI, but I did OC to 2750 mhz. I also had the mATX board you list. It crapped out on me in about a year. No OC, nothing dramatic. It was an HTPC that was also used for internet. It initially had a problem with not POSTing after plugging it in unless I held the power button in for about 5 seconds until it fired up, then shut down by itself. After that, it was fine. When it finally "died", I had to do that whole routine, even though it hadn't lost power. I haven't heard anything from GB on an RMA, and that was in November.

Reply to RJ

Gigabytes tech support sucks. I asked them a simple question and they took 2 months to get back to me, apologizing for the delay and saying nothing that answered the question. Instead they asked me something and I didnt bother replying coz 2 months is too long for me to wait. In fact, I had forgotten I even asked them anything by then.

Reply to randomizer

I used an extremely cheap motherboard with integrated graphics with a e6300 for a computer for my parents awhile ago and everything went smoothly. If it will do what you want then who cares how much it cost.

Reply to dagonoth

After having a "performance" ASUS board crap out on me and caused me nothing but trouble, I switched over to a simple mATX GeForce 6100 board. It's been nothing but good to me since I switched out boards, although even with decent Zalman cooling and power supply, the thing is probably the worst overclocking motherboard I've delt with. But after getting constant BSOD on the old board, I just wanted a stable computer for once.

For simple use, they work just fine and good. If you plan on some serious overclocking (which you might want to do with a older proc like that) look into full ATX boards instead.

Reply to chrispyski

As long as you don't plan on overclocking and you only need the basics, a cheap mobo is fine. I'm currently using a $45 socket 754 Gigabyte ULi M1689 board. It has worked flawlessly. However I do miss out on little things, like knowing what timings my RAM is running on.

Never delt with Gigabyte tech support but I do personally know that Epox has amazing tech support. Just throwing that out there. Good luck.

Reply to turboflame

Even if you're using a cheap mobo, just make sure to do some research and get the right one. Cheap mobos do usually lasts just pass it's warranty which is one year for most board. I suggest a lower-mid range board for use if you want it to last over two years.

Reply to chuckshissle

I thought asus has 3 year warrentys on all their boards are do their low end ones have shorter ones?

Reply to impreza

That's what I'm saying if the board has good warranty like more than 1 year then get that one. You can be sure it will last for a while. Some cheap low end mobos just fries itself over a year.

Reply to chuckshissle

check out "Asrock boards
inexpensive version of Asus with
limited OC but often some suprising extras
using a dual sata2 on main computer now and
its been great for over 18 months
only mild OC ,, IMHO they are great boards for
limited builds such as you intend'
but the price and performance depends on your
needs and $$$ if it works ,try it

Reply to hammerhead2

The stories here fall into two categories:
I used a cheap motherboard to build a computer for ______ (fill in the blank) and the POS died after only _______ (fill in the time).
or:
I used a cheap motherboard to build a computer for ______ (fill in the blank) and the only way it's gonna die is to hit it with a big hammer.

With a little luck thrown in, that's the difference between "cheap" and "inexpensive".

john

Reply to jsc

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