Happy with MS-7514 motherboards? Open-box offers and poor reviews

[Matt]

I'm thinking of buying one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130180
MSI P45 Neo3-FR LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

There are several similar MSI boards:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813130180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813130181
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130185

and none of them have very high ratings by newegg's customers.

Besides that, newegg is selling a lot of these boards "open box".

Presumably these are boards that have been returned because of problems.

These boards have features that I want: 16GB RAM capacity, many PCI
slots, serial and parallel ports.

I don't care much about overclocking, but these boards seem to have
special support for OC.

Can I expect that the problems can all be solved by BIOS updates, or
maybe that they are due to damage from OC, or should I expect that there
are hardware design problems that can't be fixed?

 

[Dave]

I'm thinking of buying one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130180
MSI P45 Neo3-FR LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

There are several similar MSI boards:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813130180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813130181
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130185

and none of them have very high ratings by newegg's customers.

Besides that, newegg is selling a lot of these boards "open box".

Presumably these are boards that have been returned because of problems.

These boards have features that I want: 16GB RAM capacity, many PCI slots,
serial and parallel ports.

I don't care much about overclocking, but these boards seem to have
special support for OC.

Can I expect that the problems can all be solved by BIOS updates, or maybe
that they are due to damage from OC, or should I expect that there are
hardware design problems that can't be fixed?

Ummmm...don't pay too much attention to user reviews. End users make a lot
of mistakes in the research phase of a build which they tend to blame on the
motherboard, even if there's nothing wrong with the motherboard. That is
why you have so many "open box" mainboards.

OTOH, you are REALLY limiting yourself by insisting that a motherboard have
serial and parallel ports. What next...a math coprocessor slot, perhaps?


You probably don't need 16GB of RAM capacity, either. If you use that much
RAM, what the heck are you running, and why are you even considering a
mainboard with only ONE CPU slot?

If you keep in mind that you can always add serial/parallel ports very
cheaply, that opens up some good possibilities. For the same price, you can
get better quality here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359

-Dave

 

[Paul]

I'm thinking of buying one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130180
MSI P45 Neo3-FR LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

There are several similar MSI boards:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813130180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813130181
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130185

and none of them have very high ratings by newegg's customers.

Besides that, newegg is selling a lot of these boards "open box".

Presumably these are boards that have been returned because of problems.

These boards have features that I want: 16GB RAM capacity, many PCI
slots, serial and parallel ports.

I don't care much about overclocking, but these boards seem to have
special support for OC.

Can I expect that the problems can all be solved by BIOS updates, or
maybe that they are due to damage from OC, or should I expect that there
are hardware design problems that can't be fixed?

If the motherboard does not have good reviews in the regular product
section, why would you touch it with a barge pole ?

That is why those customer reviews are so valuable - you're using someone
else's expensive experiment, to prevent you from making the same mistake.

Sure, a miracle might happen, and all the problems could be fixed with
some future BIOS update. But, maybe a competitor's board works right now...

Paul

 

[Matt]

OTOH, you are REALLY limiting yourself by insisting that a motherboard have
serial and parallel ports. What next...a math coprocessor slot, perhaps?

Not exactly insisting. If it has a lot of legacy PCI slots, I can add
in a serial/parallel board.

You probably don't need 16GB of RAM capacity, either.

Really, 256K ought to be enough for anybody ...

Don't you find it a little ridiculous when 95% of the motherboards in
use can be maxed out with $50 worth of RAM? I expect to use the board
for five years or more. We are not going to be running on 32 bits five
years from now. Some people are now building programs that use 16GB and
more. Software is the only thing holding us back ... hmmm ... now how
did that happen?

If you use that much
RAM, what the heck are you running, and why are you even considering a
mainboard with only ONE CPU slot?

Oh, I thought the future was multicore, not multi-CPU.

For the same price, you can
get better quality here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359

Thanks---will consider ... yes, they are rather similar except for the
legacy I/O. Actually the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R you link to is probably
better since it has two more PCI-E slots than the MSI.

 

[Matt]

Ummmm...don't pay too much attention to user reviews. End users make a lot
of mistakes in the research phase of a build which they tend to blame on the
motherboard, even if there's nothing wrong with the motherboard. That is
why you have so many "open box" mainboards.

Apparently the users who buy these MSI boards are more error-prone than
those who buy certain other boards.

OTOH, you are REALLY limiting yourself by insisting that a motherboard have
serial and parallel ports. What next...a math coprocessor slot, perhaps?

I notice the the PCI-E serial+parallel boards are way expensive compared
to PCI boards, but the Gigabyte motherboard you indicated should have
enough PCI slots anyway.

 

[Matt]

I recently purchased an open box mobo from Newegg
and figured I did not have too much to loose as it had a 15 day return
policy
and the board was so cheap I could hardly resist.

Hmmm ... I went back to check those open-box listings and couldn't find
them. I found a lot of them earlier.

 

[Matt]

If the motherboard does not have good reviews in the regular product
section, why would you touch it with a barge pole ?

That is why those customer reviews are so valuable - you're using someone
else's expensive experiment, to prevent you from making the same mistake.

Sure, a miracle might happen, and all the problems could be fixed with
some future BIOS update. But, maybe a competitor's board works right now...

Paul

ha ha ... you're right ... thanks for stating what should be obvious ...

 

[Dave]

You probably don't need 16GB of RAM capacity, either.

Really, 256K ought to be enough for anybody ...

Don't you find it a little ridiculous when 95% of the motherboards in use
can be maxed out with $50 worth of RAM?

I have a couple of letters from lawyers somewhere around here, asking me to
claim my piece of the pie. (probably a coupon for $10 off a $100 purchase,
ha ha) Basically, RAM manufacturers were sued in a class action suit and
LOST. Seems they were price fixing until recently. I don't find it
ridiculous that 95% of motherboards can be maxed out with $50 worth of RAM.
I find it ridiculous that this hasn't always been true.

I expect to use the board for five years or more. We are not going to be
running on 32 bits five years from now. Some people are now building
programs that use 16GB and more. Software is the only thing holding us
back ... hmmm ... now how did that happen?

RAM manufacturers stopped price fixing?

NOW it is LCD screen manufacturers who are price fixing. I didn't make that
up btw, but I'm too lazy to search for a link right now.

Oh, I thought the future was multicore, not multi-CPU.

That's true. But by the time you need a program that REQUIRES 16GB of RAM,
it won't matter how many cores you've got on one chip...you'll need more
than one chip!!! -Dave

 

[Matt]

I have a couple of letters from lawyers somewhere around here, asking me
to claim my piece of the pie. (probably a coupon for $10 off a $100
purchase, ha ha) Basically, RAM manufacturers were sued in a class
action suit and LOST. Seems they were price fixing until recently. I
don't find it ridiculous that 95% of motherboards can be maxed out with
$50 worth of RAM. I find it ridiculous that this hasn't always been true.

Ah, so in 1996 we should have been able to get 64MB or RAM (no more than
the max for a Socket 7 motherboard) for $50. The going rate was
something like $600. That might be $1000 in today's dollars. That is
some real price fixing. Want to revise your claim?

 

[Dave]

Ah, so in 1996 we should have been able to get 64MB or RAM (no more than
the max for a Socket 7 motherboard) for $50. The going rate was something
like $600. That might be $1000 in today's dollars. That is some real
price fixing. Want to revise your claim?

Revise it how, exactly? When prices are "fixed", they are generally "fixed"
to be artificially high. Ummm, what was your question again? -Dave

 

[Matt]

I don't find it ridiculous that 95% of motherboards can be maxed out with $50 worth of RAM. I find it ridiculous that this hasn't always been true.


Revise it how, exactly? When prices are "fixed", they are generally
"fixed" to be artificially high. Ummm, what was your question again?
-Dave

As far as I know, "always" includes 1996. I find it implausible that
they could have fixed the price at twelve or twenty times its "natural"
level.

 

[Dave]

Revise it how, exactly? When prices are "fixed", they are generally

As far as I know, "always" includes 1996. I find it implausible that
they could have fixed the price at twelve or twenty times its "natural"
level.

I don't. There is no limit on greed. -Dave

 

[Dave]

I don't. There is no limit on greed. -Dave

_____

Yes, there is - reality.

At $600 for ~64MB, did people buy it? I guess they were all living in
fantasy land? -Dave

 

[Matt]

At $600 for ~64MB, did people buy it? I guess they were all living in
fantasy land? -Dave

They were successful charging $600, and since there is no limit on their
ability to fix prices, why didn't they charge $1200?

 

[Matt]

_____

Yes, there is - reality.

Not asking whether they were greedy enough to want to try it, asking
whether it is a practical possibility.

The answer is that some of the price fixers would defect and drop their
prices to take more profits than the other price fixers. Prisoners'
Dilemma.

 

[pokey man]

At $600 for ~64MB, did people buy it? I guess they were all living in
fantasy land? -Dave

I remember paying 5.99 / chip. 234 k chip lol

Pokey

 

[pokey man]

opps 256k lol it was dark.

I remember paying 5.99 / chip. 234 k chip lol

Pokey