Buying a motherboard

Hi  

I own Computer shops and we build Custom machines...

We ALWAYS use Asus boards.... as IMHO they are the best by far...

Other end of the scale is Asrock... we wouldn't have one in any of my shops, not for machines and not for sale...

All the best Brett  

I've built quite a few gaming PCs over the years for myself and clients. I have never had any board of good quality manufacture that failed unless it was DOA to start with. The extra expense for a board should be for needed options/extras/features, not just to try to get a "better" board. A DOA board can come from any manufacturer. Unless you need or want the extra features of a more expensive board, the same manufacturer's board with less features will be just as reliable as the more expensive one. Maybe a bit more reliable due to less that can fail.

I agree 100% with Brett928S2's view of Asus. But I disagree with his view of AsRock. They have come a long way since being simply a low end branch of Asus.

You could always go with Gigabyte or MSI. They usually have less features (such as less back panel USB 3.0 ports, less SATA ports, different PCI-e lane configurations, etc etc) but are less expensive. Of course, you could go with a lower end P8Z77 board. They usually just have less features but not lowered reliability.

I currently have an asus board. I like it. But I hate how most asus boards that are 150 or under are thin flimsy and are to short on the right side for any standoffs to mount in. It makes it hard and annoying to work on.

The answer to almost any question is "It depends" - let me elaborate:

If you will be running a decent, middle-of-the-road processor, and if you do not intend to overclock it - then almost any decent, middle-of-the-road board will work.

If your aim is to overclock - then you want a board with a more robust Power-Management scheme that you will only find on the higher-end boards (some of the mid-scale boards will let you achieve "mild" overclocks, but you have to choose carefully.

I DO believe that at least in part, you get what you pay for. The better boards generally utilize higher-quality components that are more likely to last longer.
There are some good "values" (bang-for-the-buck) out there - but finding them requires some research time (read the forums & reviews that are not on a Sales site - but do not treat any single source as "gospell") You don't want to spend money, find that what you spend your hard-earned dough on falls short, and then need to spend more moolah. The way to avoid this is to spend wisely up front.

I would not "cheap-out" too much - remember that what you buy is already obsolete or on the brink of it. Better stuff (but not "bleeding-edge" Status-Priced components) will let you keep it around longer and be a better value in the long run.

I generally recommend going one of two ways:

#1 = Buy decent mid-scale stuff and plan to upgrade every 2 years (a good case and power supply can stay-around MUCH longer).

#2 = Buy near state-of-the-art, and you can probably get 4-5 years out of it before it falls too far short of being able to run the latest software.

if you want a high quality board that is not flimsy and you are looking into overclocking try the asus sabertooth but if you do not want an asus board (i do not know why you would not) try a msi board

Not interested in overclock and aren't the sabertooths like 300 dollars. That is way to much for a motherboard in my opinion. The most I would ever spend is 200. and that is pushing it. I should have mentioned my budget in the question. anyways howdo you cloe a thread? I' done with this one?