7 ms·

They used to make their own motherboards and sell them to consumers. They were known for being very high quality and very reliable. Now you can only get boards

They used to make their own motherboards and sell them to consumers. They were known for being very high quality and very reliable. Now you can only get boards for their chips from third party OEMs who tend to have much more variable quality (which vendors are "best" tends to change each board/chipset generation).

eropple 7y ago
I dunno about that. If you're buying whatever's on sale, yeah, you're at the whims of the stamp-it-out gods. But I build a lot of PCs and Gigabyte, for example, has been consistently reliable across...five or six generations of Intel chips? Plus some AMD builds in there. Absolutely zero failures. Anecdotal, but it also seems to line up with most of what I hear out there.
- kube-system 7y ago
  I see a lot of mentions of Gigabyte and Asus in this thread -- I have had good luck with MSI boards too. Maybe the reason Intel quit making boards is because there are lots of good motherboards now?
  - Alupis 7y ago
    It might also matter what "tier" of board you buy. Getting the "basement bargain" board for $20... well, you get what you pay for. But for each of those top brands, Gigabyte, ASUS, and MSI, buying their top tier products gets you a seriously good board. The gaming boards tend to have a lot of features a workstation user might not need, like great overclocking support, etc... but with that quality comes stability. Worth every penny to get a good motherboard when doing a build. That... and I no longer get cheap cases either... but that's another story. The moral? Don't skimp on your components, and you'll wind up with a much better system that lasts you for years.
    - eropple 7y ago
      I'd agree with this. I've never bought a "high end" board, either. Even the middle ground is fine.
    - tracker1 7y ago
      With cases, I think it's less about price and more about good airflow design, which will often mean buying more fans and/or a fan hub. There are really good cases from as low as $40 that will do better than some $120+ cases.
      - Alupis 7y ago
        The problem with cheap cases does tend to be airflow and locations for fans... but also the build quality of the case. Things like ports for routing cables without causing a rat's nest... cheap stamped sheet metal with sharp edges to cut yourself on, decent I/O backplate, temperature control zones, bottom mounted PSU, etc. A good quality case will cost you... but you can likely get several builds out of it over the years... so well worth it.
        tracker1 7y ago
        While I agree... performance is also an issue... Personally, I've been using the various Fractal Define series cases more often than not. Latest personal build is a Lian Li O11 Dynamic Razor Edition (frankly regret going RGB on a Linux box).
  - olau 7y ago
    Had an unstable Asus board. We bought 3 in the company, got them all replaced - I think we got a slightly newer revision back. Same problem, watch video for 5-10 minutes and it would crash, despite temperature being fine. Eventually I moved the processor to an Intel board (so yes, this is some years back, probably just before they stopped making them), and had no instability. The Asus motherboard was somehow incompatible with the processor, I guess. So I didn't go with Asus last time I bought a motherboard, although I wouldn't be surprised if they're otherwise fine.
tracker1 7y ago
Even different boards with the same chipset from the same mfg will vary a lot.

eropple 7y ago

I dunno about that. If you're buying whatever's on sale, yeah, you're at the whims of the stamp-it-out gods. But I build a lot of PCs and Gigabyte, for example, has been consistently reliable across...five or six generations of Intel chips? Plus some AMD builds in there. Absolutely zero failures. Anecdotal, but it also seems to line up with most of what I hear out there.

kube-system 7y ago
I see a lot of mentions of Gigabyte and Asus in this thread -- I have had good luck with MSI boards too. Maybe the reason Intel quit making boards is because there are lots of good motherboards now?
- Alupis 7y ago
  It might also matter what "tier" of board you buy. Getting the "basement bargain" board for $20... well, you get what you pay for. But for each of those top brands, Gigabyte, ASUS, and MSI, buying their top tier products gets you a seriously good board. The gaming boards tend to have a lot of features a workstation user might not need, like great overclocking support, etc... but with that quality comes stability. Worth every penny to get a good motherboard when doing a build. That... and I no longer get cheap cases either... but that's another story. The moral? Don't skimp on your components, and you'll wind up with a much better system that lasts you for years.
  - eropple 7y ago
    I'd agree with this. I've never bought a "high end" board, either. Even the middle ground is fine.
  - tracker1 7y ago
    With cases, I think it's less about price and more about good airflow design, which will often mean buying more fans and/or a fan hub. There are really good cases from as low as $40 that will do better than some $120+ cases.
    - Alupis 7y ago
      The problem with cheap cases does tend to be airflow and locations for fans... but also the build quality of the case. Things like ports for routing cables without causing a rat's nest... cheap stamped sheet metal with sharp edges to cut yourself on, decent I/O backplate, temperature control zones, bottom mounted PSU, etc. A good quality case will cost you... but you can likely get several builds out of it over the years... so well worth it.
      - tracker1 7y ago
        While I agree... performance is also an issue... Personally, I've been using the various Fractal Define series cases more often than not. Latest personal build is a Lian Li O11 Dynamic Razor Edition (frankly regret going RGB on a Linux box).
- olau 7y ago
  Had an unstable Asus board. We bought 3 in the company, got them all replaced - I think we got a slightly newer revision back. Same problem, watch video for 5-10 minutes and it would crash, despite temperature being fine. Eventually I moved the processor to an Intel board (so yes, this is some years back, probably just before they stopped making them), and had no instability. The Asus motherboard was somehow incompatible with the processor, I guess. So I didn't go with Asus last time I bought a motherboard, although I wouldn't be surprised if they're otherwise fine.

tracker1 7y ago

Even different boards with the same chipset from the same mfg will vary a lot.