Best Motherboards For The Money: October 2014 (Archive)

[adamovera]

Are you having a hard time keeping track of the best motherboards out there? Our resident motherboard expert helps you pick the right platform with this collection of award-winning boards covering today's top AMD and Intel processors.

Best Motherboards For The Money: October 2014 : Read more

 

[FritzEiv]

Archived comments are found here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2882550/motherboards-money-october-2014.html

 

[DrakeFS]

I know this article is completely subjective (what's best for you might not be best for me), I would like to see a specific motherboard marked as best for a specific task. Such as: Gaming, HTPC, NAS and maybe Prosumer Workstation uses.

 

[scottoOH]

Why is there nothing on the H170 boards???

 

[Crashman]

Why is there nothing on the H170 boards???

I'm not sure, maybe Joe Trott can tell us?

 

[wkingmilw]

Why no Asus boards in the top 10. They dont build any good ones?

 

[vonbose]

I think a $475 motherboard may be in the "Diminishing Returns Kick In" catagory.

 

[Crashman]

Why no Asus boards in the top 10. They dont build any good ones?

Asus quit sending high-end motherboard samples and I haven't felt like busting our budget to buy them. These boards can't win without reviews.

The company's midrange motherboards usually costs a little more than similarly-equipped models from two other competitors, which means they don't get as many value awards.

 

[10tacle]

The company's midrange motherboards usually costs a little more than similarly-equipped models from two other competitors, which means they don't get as many value awards.

They dropped the ball on LGA-1151 then. Their Z97-A is a very good bang-to-dollar midrange board for 1150. And the fact ASUS doesn't even send you guys high end boards to test anymore is even more disappointing.

I'll be keeping all this in mind for my next build for sure. And I've been almost solely building with ASUS motherboards for over 15 years. VERY disappointing. Makes me want to ask around other tech sites if they ever get sent high end ASUS mobos for review.

 

[Crashman]

The company's midrange motherboards usually costs a little more than similarly-equipped models from two other competitors, which means they don't get as many value awards.

They dropped the ball on LGA-1151 then. Their Z97-A is a very good bang-to-dollar midrange board for 1150. And the fact ASUS doesn't even send you guys high end boards to test anymore is even more disappointing.

I'll be keeping all this in mind for my next build for sure. And I've been almost solely building with ASUS motherboards for over 15 years. VERY disappointing. Makes me want to ask around other tech sites if they ever get sent high end ASUS mobos for review.

Everyone else gets these boards, our site in only under a partial boycott due to the lack of awards. No matter how much good I say about a particular board, someoone will be upset if those positive statements don't translate into an award.

We lowered the standard for our lowest award (approved) to allow the recognition of solid products that don't stand out in the value analysis, but I personally haven't had a chance to put Asus's latest models under that broader award umbrella.

Gigabyte had similar issues. I told both companies "If you can't beat them in value, beat them at being the best", and Gigabyte eventually (many months later) sent its top Z170 model. Without any top Asus model to compare, the top award was an easy win for Gigabyte.

 

[10tacle]

That's an eye opener, and that's all I need to know. This is exactly why I trust TH reviews and am proud to be a part of it.

 

[MARCILIO]

If Asus motherboards are not tested and on reviews, this article should not title " the best ones".

 

[hotcheetos25]

Yeah I was wondering about the Asus motherboard. I recently bought one but have seen as many reviews as I expected. Maximus VIII Extreme EATX and so far it has been a real beast. Still, even though I have it and like it, I like seeing reviews as to how it is doing against other motherboards from other brands. Such a shame.

 

[Crashman]

Yeah I was wondering about the Asus motherboard. I recently bought one but have seen as many reviews as I expected. Maximus VIII Extreme EATX and so far it has been a real beast. Still, even though I have it and like it, I like seeing reviews as to how it is doing against other motherboards from other brands. Such a shame.

The EATX label is another problem since the board isn't 13" wide. It's closer to XL-ATX, minus one slot.

 

[Gtech942]

Planning my next build and was hoping this article would help...especially when you say, "readers without the time to read everything." "Perfect!" I thought. Wrong!! Unfortunately, it didn't help because of the lack of Asus boards that I'm considering. I understand budget issues, but I was wondering through the article, "Where are the Asus Intel boards?" Then to find out in the comments and not in the article that Asus wouldn't donate was a disappointment...in them and TH. I still appreciate the info and love TH, but wish you had put that out there at the beginning. I probably would still have read the article but would have known up front that I still had more research to do.