Reliability of current motherboards?

[Janie]

I'm shopping for a motherboard and am dismayed to see what seems to me
to be an unacceptably high proportion of problems with boards from
formerly reliable companies.

For instance, 15% of newegg customers rated Asus's p5q pro very poor or
poor due to DOA boards, dead slot, etc. 19% rated Asus's P5N the same
way for the same reasons. A large number of EVGA, Gigabyte and
customers of other companies told similar tales. And too many of the
x58 boards seem worse.

I don't want to gamble with this purchase, but I'm thinking there's no
way to avoid that. So I wonder if anyone here, maybe someone who deals
with a large number of components, might be able to give me some advice
based on their experience that will tip the odds a little more in my favor.

Thanks.

Janie

 

[Kent_Diego]

There is no gamble. ASUS, EVGA and Gigabyte have RMA service based in USA.
If it fails, ship it to them and they will repair or send you a new one. I
am sure most of the 15% that reported DOA really had some other issue as
that is often the case with motherboards. I usually buy the open box
motherboards from Newegg and save a lot. I did have one ASUS MB that
sometimes did not boot. Turns out there was a little sticker stuck in the
PCIe slot. Works great now.

 

[philo]

There is no gamble. ASUS, EVGA and Gigabyte have RMA service based in
USA. If it fails, ship it to them and they will repair or send you a new
one. I am sure most of the 15% that reported DOA really had some other
issue as that is often the case with motherboards. I usually buy the
open box motherboards from Newegg and save a lot. I did have one ASUS MB
that sometimes did not boot. Turns out there was a little sticker stuck
in the PCIe slot. Works great now.

Yep...
I purchased and open-box board from NewEgg at a substantial savings.
Though the cmos battery was dead...once I replaced it...the board worked
perfectly.

Since NewEgg had a 15 day return policy on it...I figured that
purchasing an open-box item was not too big of a gamble.

That said...as to ASUS...they are still a good name...though I've never
thought there was anything "magical" about them. They can still have an
occasional failure just like any other reliable manufacturer.

 

[Jon Danniken]

For instance, 15% of newegg customers rated....

More like 15% of newegg customers who decided to fill out the rating, out of
whom are a much higher percentage of those with problems than the overall
purchasers.

In other words, take the "reviews" with a grain of salt.

What they are useful for is helping to notice if there might be a particular
problem with a particular model, like back when some boards had bad caps.
When half of the reviews say, "the caps turned bad after three months and
bulged and leaked," it sounds like a pretty safe bet that there is a
problem.

Likewise, when the problems are scattered about, it can be due to operator
error, or just random chance of a bad board (with a higher percentage of
those getting the bad board/ having operator error reporting it).

Jon

 

[Robert Brereton]

I'm shopping for a motherboard and am dismayed to see what seems to me to
be an unacceptably high proportion of problems with boards from formerly
reliable companies.

For instance, 15% of newegg customers rated Asus's p5q pro very poor or
poor due to DOA boards, dead slot, etc. 19% rated Asus's P5N the same way
for the same reasons. A large number of EVGA, Gigabyte and customers of
other companies told similar tales. And too many of the x58 boards seem
worse.

I don't want to gamble with this purchase, but I'm thinking there's no way
to avoid that. So I wonder if anyone here, maybe someone who deals with a
large number of components, might be able to give me some advice based on
their experience that will tip the odds a little more in my favor.

Thanks.

Janie

Hi

When I build a PC I go for reliability against bleeding edge. In the last
few machines I built I used Intel boards, currently DP35DP with a core 2
quad q6600, but will look again now as there are some newer models out.
Intel boards don't generally overclock, but unless you are going to be into
serious gaming I consider this setup is fast enough for normal office use
and the occasional game.

Hope this helps

Bob

 

[Janie]

I'm shopping for a motherboard and am dismayed to see what seems to me
to be an unacceptably high proportion of problems with boards from
formerly reliable companies.

For instance, 15% of newegg customers rated Asus's p5q pro very poor or
poor due to DOA boards, dead slot, etc. 19% rated Asus's P5N the same
way for the same reasons. A large number of EVGA, Gigabyte and customers
of other companies told similar tales. And too many of the x58 boards
seem worse.

I don't want to gamble with this purchase, but I'm thinking there's no
way to avoid that. So I wonder if anyone here, maybe someone who deals
with a large number of components, might be able to give me some advice
based on their experience that will tip the odds a little more in my favor.

Thanks.

Janie

Thank you very much, everyone, for your sensible and practical comments.
I feel more comfortable about getting a MB and will focus on features
and stop worrying about possible problems.

Janie