Why would you get an expensive motherboard?

[jaywald]

Ok so, I currently have an Asus M5A78L-MLX V2 mini ATX motherboard to I'm upgrading so I can get Crossfire. I don't see why you would buy a £100+ mobo (like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-M4A78T-E-Motherboard-FireWire-8-channel/dp/B001T0HW88/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343640899&sr=8-1 ) when I can get everything I need from this http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASRock-970-EXTREME3-Extreme3-Motherboard/dp/B005POPRG8/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=3HE27JDOPUYVW&coliid=IU4CJV72CLHYO which is less than half the price, can someone explain?

 

[jay_nar2012]

I think what features the board have and what chipsets it has and what slots the boards have add up.....

 

[jaywald]

I think what features the board have and what chipsets it has and what slots the boards have add up.....

I suppose some people may need loads of slots but I just need 4x RAM 2xPCI 2.0 and 1 PCI so I think I'll just go for the £60 board.

 

[jay_nar2012]

So would i....

 

[Pinhedd]

It's a matter of quality and reliability.

Asus makes exclusively high quality non-reference boards. These boards have loads of added features and many parts are completely redesigned from the reference design that AMD/Intel provide.

Asus's entry level boards tend to compromise features rather than quality.

Higher end boards also use higher end components. For example, they will often use solid ceramic or polymer capacitors while cheaper boards will use less expensive electrolytic capacitors. Solid and polymer capacitors offer a greater lifespan and lower equivalent resistance which makes them ideal for greater power delivery.

When looking at which motherboard to buy it's important to look past the pricetag and number of USB ports. A $60 motherboard with crappy components will break down before a $100 motherboard with half decent components. If it breaks down early then you're stuck buying another $60 motherboard when the $100 motherboard would still be working just fine.

If you're ever considering Overclocking or running Crossfire/SLI it's is absolutely imperative that you buy a quality motherboard.

PCIe graphics cards can draw up to 150 watts each from the motherboard directly, so the above mentioned power delivery considerations need to be... considered.

The age old truth of 'you get what you pay for' is as true here as it is anywhere else. There are certainly budget motherboards for value minded consumers just like there are budget cars but you'd be as foolish to overclock a value motherboard as you would be to take a value car onto a racetrack.

 

[jaywald]

It's a matter of quality and reliability.

Asus makes exclusively high quality non-reference boards. These boards have loads of added features and many parts are completely redesigned from the reference design that AMD/Intel provide.

Asus's entry level boards tend to compromise features rather than quality.

Higher end boards also use higher end components. For example, they will often use solid ceramic or polymer capacitors while cheaper boards will use less expensive electrolytic capacitors. Solid and polymer capacitors offer a greater lifespan and lower equivalent resistance which makes them ideal for greater power delivery.

When looking at which motherboard to buy it's important to look past the pricetag and number of USB ports. A $60 motherboard with crappy components will break down before a $100 motherboard with half decent components. If it breaks down early then you're stuck buying another $60 motherboard when the $100 motherboard would still be working just fine.

If you're ever considering Overclocking or running Crossfire/SLI it's is absolutely imperative that you buy a quality motherboard.

PCIe graphics cards can draw up to 150 watts each from the motherboard directly, so the above mentioned power delivery considerations need to be... considered.

The age old truth of 'you get what you pay for' is as true here as it is anywhere else. There are certainly budget motherboards for value minded consumers just like there are budget cars but you'd be as foolish to overclock a value motherboard as you would be to take a value car onto a racetrack.

Really good in depth and relevant information, thank you sir. You really are making lean more to the higher end motherboard side but when you say higher end ones last longer how long do low ends last and how long do high ends last? (roughly)

 

[Pinhedd]

Really good in depth and relevant information, thank you sir. You really are making lean more to the higher end motherboard side but when you say higher end ones last longer how long do low ends last and how long do high ends last? (roughly)

Almost any motherboard should remain fully functional at least until the end of its warranty period. The standard warranty period for most PC components is at least 3 years with many components having 5 or even 7 year warranties. Some manufacturers even offer limited lifetime warranties. No manufacturer in their right mind would design a board that suffers a high failure rate within the warranty period, that's not a smart way to try and make money.

What tends to separate the really good boards from the rest is how well they can run outside the reference specifications and how long they can do it for. Every motherboard should be able to meet the bare minimum performance standards that AMD and Intel specify. If they don't, they may not be able to use the trademarks which allow them to market the boards.

The best way to describe "above and beyond" is to provide an example. Intel's Sandybridge desktop 2000 series memory controller only "officially" supports up to DDR3-1333. The Sandybridge-E processors and select mobile 2000 series processors support up to DDR3-1600. One of the constraints for "official" DDR3-1600 support is that operation is only guaranteed with one memory module per channel and [I believe] one rank per module. Using multi-rank modules or more than one module per channel only guarantees DDR3-1333 speeds. However, high quality motherboards which have better power delivery features than Intel calls for can easily run multiple modules per channel at DDR3-1600.

DDR3-1600 is pretty easy to do though, almost every motherboard can run 4 modules at that speed. What about speeds that aren't supported at all? What about DDR3-1866 which is only supported officially by AMD's bulldozer processors? What about DDR3-2000/2133/2400/2600, etc... What does it take to run 2 modules in each channel versus just 1? Each step up requires better components not just on the CPU but on the motherboard itself.

Here's a comparison chart showing what I'm talking about, look at the bottom graph on that page

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z77-extreme6-z77a-gd65-z77h2-a2x,3187-21.html

These are all high end cards, notice the spread between the ASRock/Asus boards on top and the Biostar board on the bottom? That's one thing that your extra money gets you.

Naturally, any overclocking like that (memory, CPU, or otherwise) puts stress on the components. A cheap motherboard simply won't overclock much at all or may lack any overclocking features period. Those that do overclock will have their lifespan shortened, often below that which would be provided by the factory warranty.

A motherboard that is subjected to abuses that it wasn't designed to take (or wasn't properly designed to take) won't last long. A motherboard that is designed to take abuse will last quite a long time. Exactly how long is hard to tell, a lot depends on the user and how much they stress it.

 

[jaywald]

Almost any motherboard should remain fully functional at least until the end of its warranty period. The standard warranty period for most PC components is at least 3 years with many components having 5 or even 7 year warranties. Some manufacturers even offer limited lifetime warranties. No manufacturer in their right mind would design a board that suffers a high failure rate within the warranty period, that's not a smart way to try and make money.

What tends to separate the really good boards from the rest is how well they can run outside the reference specifications and how long they can do it for. Every motherboard should be able to meet the bare minimum performance standards that AMD and Intel specify. If they don't, they may not be able to use the trademarks which allow them to market the boards.

The best way to describe "above and beyond" is to provide an example. Intel's Sandybridge desktop 2000 series memory controller only "officially" supports up to DDR3-1333. The Sandybridge-E processors and select mobile 2000 series processors support up to DDR3-1600. One of the constraints for "official" DDR3-1600 support is that operation is only guaranteed with one memory module per channel and [I believe] one rank per module. Using multi-rank modules or more than one module per channel only guarantees DDR3-1333 speeds. However, high quality motherboards which have better power delivery features than Intel calls for can easily run multiple modules per channel at DDR3-1600.

DDR3-1600 is pretty easy to do though, almost every motherboard can run 4 modules at that speed. What about speeds that aren't supported at all? What about DDR3-1866 which is only supported officially by AMD's bulldozer processors? What about DDR3-2000/2133/2400/2600, etc... What does it take to run 2 modules in each channel versus just 1? Each step up requires better components not just on the CPU but on the motherboard itself.

Here's a comparison chart showing what I'm talking about, look at the bottom graph on that page

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z77-extreme6-z77a-gd65-z77h2-a2x,3187-21.html

These are all high end cards, notice the spread between the ASRock/Asus boards on top and the Biostar board on the bottom? That's one thing that your extra money gets you.

Naturally, any overclocking like that (memory, CPU, or otherwise) puts stress on the components. A cheap motherboard simply won't overclock much at all or may lack any overclocking features period. Those that do overclock will have their lifespan shortened, often below that which would be provided by the factory warranty.

A motherboard that is subjected to abuses that it wasn't designed to take (or wasn't properly designed to take) won't last long. A motherboard that is designed to take abuse will last quite a long time. Exactly how long is hard to tell, a lot depends on the user and how much they stress it.

These are some of the most informative answers I've ever had After some consideration I've decided to go for a cheaper mobo for several reasons. Thank you for your answers.

 

[jaywald]

Best answer selected by jaywald.

 

[nikorr]

This topic has been closed by Nikorr