Most reliable motherboard with USB 3.0

[Daniel Prince]

I want to buy a VERY reliable motherboard with USB 3.0. I would
prefer an AMD CPU but I would get an Intel if it was more reliable.
I do not play any games. I will not be over clocking my system. I
will be upgrading to Windows 7 64 bit at the same time.

Should I look for a motherboard with all solid polymer capacitors?
Are there any other things I should look for? Are there any brands
I should avoid? Are there any brands I should seek out?

Can anyone recommend a good motherboard that will work well and last
a very long time? Thank you in advance for all replies.

 

[Paul]

I want to buy a VERY reliable motherboard with USB 3.0. I would
prefer an AMD CPU but I would get an Intel if it was more reliable.
I do not play any games. I will not be over clocking my system. I
will be upgrading to Windows 7 64 bit at the same time.

Should I look for a motherboard with all solid polymer capacitors?
Are there any other things I should look for? Are there any brands
I should avoid? Are there any brands I should seek out?

Can anyone recommend a good motherboard that will work well and last
a very long time? Thank you in advance for all replies.

Gigabyte has various price ranges of solid polymer motherboards.

But electrolytic capacitor boards would also work well, as long
as the capacitors aren't made with the counterfeit electrolyte.
For example, I have a motherboard over ten years old, and the
capacitors are still good on it. One of the capacitor companies
rates capacitors (at low operating temperatures, so not compromised
by high temperature operation) at around 15 years. and the failure
mechanism at 15 years, is a dried out seal on the bottom of the capacitor.

But if you want solid polymer, a good percentage of the market
uses those as well.

You can use the reviews on Newegg, to spot bad designs. If a motherboard
has a nagging issue, with enough reviews entered, you'll be able to spot it.
Try listing the motherboards by "best review rating", as then you'll
narrow the search to the better boards.

There might be a couple hundred motherboards that meet your requirements,
which is why picking one is an almost random process.

On the latest (Z77) based motherboards, the USB3 is part of the chipset.
I think AMD also has a chipset with USB3 built-in, but the design of
the thing almost makes the motherboard+CPU better for home theater systems.
The only benefit of built-in USB3, is on the chance the hardware is better
than one particular third party USB3 chip. As far as I know, the original NEC
USB3 chip was good - I don't recollect hearing any problems with it. But
there have been several other brands since that one, and they're probably
cheaper for the motherboard companies to buy.

If a USB3 port were to ever fail, you'd have the option of installing
a PCI Express card with USB3 chip on it as a replacement.

Paul

 

[Larry]

Gigabyte has various price ranges of solid polymer motherboards.

But electrolytic capacitor boards would also work well, as long
as the capacitors aren't made with the counterfeit electrolyte.
For example, I have a motherboard over ten years old, and the
capacitors are still good on it. One of the capacitor companies
rates capacitors (at low operating temperatures, so not compromised
by high temperature operation) at around 15 years. and the failure
mechanism at 15 years, is a dried out seal on the bottom of the capacitor..

But if you want solid polymer, a good percentage of the market
uses those as well.

You can use the reviews on Newegg, to spot bad designs. If a motherboard
has a nagging issue, with enough reviews entered, you'll be able to spot it.
Try listing the motherboards by "best review rating", as then you'll
narrow the search to the better boards.

There might be a couple hundred motherboards that meet your requirements,
which is why picking one is an almost random process.

On the latest (Z77) based motherboards, the USB3 is part of the chipset.
I think AMD also has a chipset with USB3 built-in, but the design of
the thing almost makes the motherboard+CPU better for home theater systems.
The only benefit of built-in USB3, is on the chance the hardware is better
than one particular third party USB3 chip. As far as I know, the originalNEC
USB3 chip was good - I don't recollect hearing any problems with it. But
there have been several other brands since that one, and they're probably
cheaper for the motherboard companies to buy.

If a USB3 port were to ever fail, you'd have the option of installing
a PCI Express card with USB3 chip on it as a replacement.

   Paul

FWIW, I had a gigabyte mb a few years back when I was into building my
own desktops. Up to that time I always used gigabyte boards in my
builds. When we moved from sea level to 7500 feet in the mountains,
the mb stopped working. Apparently the change in altitude popped the
little capacitor cans on the mb. The pressure inside the little cans
was too much.

Larry

 

[Paul]

FWIW, I had a gigabyte mb a few years back when I was into building my
own desktops. Up to that time I always used gigabyte boards in my
builds. When we moved from sea level to 7500 feet in the mountains,
the mb stopped working. Apparently the change in altitude popped the
little capacitor cans on the mb. The pressure inside the little cans
was too much.

Larry

Wow. Never heard of that before.

Paul

 

[DevilsPGD]

Wow. Never heard of that before.

Me neither. I wonder what percentage of motherboards travel by air at
30,000 feet of mostly unpressurized cable at some point in their lives?

I'd be a bit surprised if it were the pressure, and wonder more if it
were juts coincidence or other factors relating to the move?

Either way, sucks to own the board, and pretty cool if that was the
cause.

 

[Larry]

Me neither. I wonder what percentage of motherboards travel by air at
30,000 feet of mostly unpressurized cable at some point in their lives?

I'd be a bit surprised if it were the pressure, and wonder more if it
were juts coincidence or other factors relating to the move?

Either way, sucks to own the board, and pretty cool if that was the
cause.

I was surprised also. Several of the capacitor cans were swollen and
had burst. Interestingly two dell laptops came through with no
problem. They were in the same moving van. The several computers I
have purchased since have never had a problem.

Larry

Larry

 

[Paul]

I was surprised also. Several of the capacitor cans were swollen and
had burst. Interestingly two dell laptops came through with no
problem. They were in the same moving van. The several computers I
have purchased since have never had a problem.

Larry

There have been cases, of counterfeit capacitors, where the manufacturer
places ordinary electrolytic (wet) capacitors, in polymer housings. Which
strictly speaking, is a safety hazard. If there is overpressure in such
a housing, it would require the seal in the bottom to blow out. Perhaps
in fact, the caps weren't true polymer ones.

If there was brown or orange staining underneath the capacitor can,
that implies a liquid is involved, and then it isn't a solid polymer cap.

You could also attempt to read the legend off the side of the cap, and
do a search in Google on the brand name, to see if counterfeiting
of those particular ones is a known problem.

Paul

 

[Motor T]

I want to buy a VERY reliable motherboard with USB 3.0. I would
prefer an AMD CPU but I would get an Intel if it was more reliable.
I do not play any games. I will not be over clocking my system. I
will be upgrading to Windows 7 64 bit at the same time.

Should I look for a motherboard with all solid polymer capacitors?
Are there any other things I should look for? Are there any brands
I should avoid? Are there any brands I should seek out?

Can anyone recommend a good motherboard that will work well and last
a very long time? Thank you in advance for all replies.

I've been using this one for a couple years now with a AMD Phenom
1055 cpu and Windows7 64bit. I edit video and many other things
running at once. No problems at all.
http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=890GX Extreme4
I did a lot of research and read a lot of reviews before buying it. I
concur with almost all of them. Very good board.