Motherboard quality considerations, need community expert advice

[wwusa83]

Hey everyone. Working on building an AMD gaming rig. I know its probably better to go Intel at this point in time, but its so very hard for me to give them my money as silly as that sounds.

Anyway, looking at taking advantage of these Microcenter bundles: http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

Most likely going to go with either the 960t Zosma, or the 1045t Thuban. I'll get by with one of these processors and then upgrade to piledriver later. I think Bulldozer isn't worth it right now. This computer is targeted to last 3-5 years, so I'm really trying to look forward as much as possible.

I've used both gigabyte and asus in the past. Pleased with both. I'm currently running an ASUS board and am VERY impressed with the UEFI and it's level of refinement.

The Asrock 970 Extreme4 AM3+ ATX looks like an awesome board. I just worry about quality. I've read differing opinions on their build quality. Obviously I want it to last. I really prefer super tidy cable management so layout is important too.

Out of the 970 board listed.... which one? Stick with Asus? Go gigabyte? Try Asrock? (with triple PCI slots). I wanted the community to weigh in on this. What's ASrocks UEFI like? Thanks

 

[firo40]

In your case i would stick with Asus. The only good ASRock board i know of is the 990fx fatality, Alot of other ASRock boards benchmark alot lower then any other competitors boards. Infact ASRock started off as a side company of ASUS and later branched off independantly. For your processor i would say the thuban is your best amd option for future proofing, especially with an after market cooler, you could bring up the stock frequincy to respectable levels. If you really want a future proof amd board the 990fx fatailty is the way to go.

 

[bleechy]

In your case i would stick with Asus. The only good ASRock board i know of is the 990fx fatality, Alot of other ASRock boards benchmark alot lower then any other competitors boards. Infact ASRock started off as a side company of ASUS and later branched off independantly. For your processor i would say the thuban is your best amd option for future proofing, especially with an after market cooler, you could bring up the stock frequincy to respectable levels. If you really want a future proof amd board the 990fx fatailty is the way to go.

I agree, I only build using Asus boards. They seem to be the only manufacture apart from EVGA who consistantly make great design choices with good all round build quality.

 

[puttsy]

Another recommendation on Asus boards. They only other consumer boards I buy are Gigabyte and that's usually for non-primary, non-production environment machines. Asrock is hit-and-miss and, although they have some decent offerings, I wouldn't buy one. Asus is more expensive but, they are worth every penny if you want a reliable, long lasting setup. I've had problems with them but, Asus support is pretty decent and I've seen more lower end boards ship back than Asus.

I would also strongly urge you to reconsider Intel. Plain and simple, they are what I use in nearly any machine. They also tend to cost a bit more but, they too are worth it. We all have quams with various brands and companies but, you are only hindering yourself.

 

[Tavo_Nova]

for me I would recommend ASUS as well but I'm more of a MSi person I build all my rigs using both msi and asus mix and match, for gpu i only use msi,asus,sapphire, for cooling i like the msi but for the sleek box looks asus goes up there and for the mobo I would prefer msi since so been great but asus is there at the top, so yeah go with asus

for amd builds I've only went with asus mobo and and for gpu most of them are asus but some are sapphire(hate their box)