your experience with cheap vs expensive motherboards

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Apr 23, 2017
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Hey guys I want to learn as much as I can about motherboards and what makes this https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/ROG-STRIX-Z270H-GAMING/ a sub-$150 motherboard

and this https://www.asus.com/mx/Motherboards/ROG-MAXIMUS-IX-EXTREME/ a $600 motherboard.

I mean, sure the $600 motherboard has more ports and more everything but I have my specific concerns regarding:

AUDIO QUALITY:

Are there any significant audio quality differences among the different motherboard series such as PRIME, STRIX, TUF, ROG and other vendors' series?

Which one is right for:

Gaming (with and without headphones, audio surround etc)

Audio production

Are high-end integrated audio solutions really worthwhile? or perhaps it's best to stick to budget motherboards like B350 or H110 ones?

Why would you want to use sound cards or DACs rather than the audio that comes with the motherboard?

GAMING FEATURES

You know, things like supremeFX audio, Sonic Radar III, Game cache, better Ethernet networking are they worth it? Could you tell the difference in the real-world?

BIOS AND FEATURES:

Why using fan controller software or whatever the case may be instead of third party-programs? Are the extra BIOS functions useful? Depending on the final user, a gamer, an overclocker, a content creator of course.

WORKSTATION USE:

Should you purchase a motherboard just because it has a WS designation on its name? What are the benefits? At what point the extra reliability and added features become a necessity?

FUTURE-PROOFING

How do you justify purchasing a more expensive motherboard instead of a cheaper one plus more RAM or a better CPU? Will it make any difference? maybe because of the ports etc?

If possible explain the differences between the PRIME, STRIX, TUF, ROG and recommend good price-to-performance alternatives no matter the brand. Let me know if other motherboard manufacturers give any advantages over ASUS I should be aware of. Or it's just marketing and maneuvers to make you waste your money on pricier stuff.



I know it's a lot but I'm confused I have done some research but there are so many things to consider. YOU DON'T REQUIRE TO SOLVE ALL MY QUESTIONS just share your knowledge thanks
 
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I have 2x Z77 mobo's in pc's currently. An Asus p8z77-v LE, the absolute bottom rung Asus z77, and an MSI mPower Z77 Big bang edition, the top of the line MSI Z77 mobo. Huge difference. Start with OC ability, the Asus has next to no heatsinking, you'd be lucky to get an i7 past stock turbo settings. The MSI heatsinks are huge, heatpipe linked affairs and I have no issues getting an i7 to 4.9GHz. Bios. The Asus is user friendly, but doesn't do much other than enable/disable/auto, very few user addressable changes. The MSI is complicated, has multiple settings with numerical values, pull down menus etc etc. Extremely easy to dial in exact figures or tweaks. Audio, no comparison. Think pc speakers vrs full 8.1 surround sound. Fan headers, 3 vrs 5. Sata 6Gb, 2 vrs 4. And more.

There's only 2 real classifications of anything pc related, mainstream vrs enthusiast. When it comes to the enthusiast class mobo's from Asus, 95% or better of all maximum OC verified records in the last 20 odd years have been done on Asus ROG.

Is the price worth the board? Impossible to answer. There's too many variables. My wife's pc has the Asus p8, i5 oc'd to 4.3, won't go higher, uses pc speakers and is a general websurfer and minecraft machine. My pc has the MSI, is hooked to an Onkyo component system and games at 4.6-4.9GHz. But thats the usage intended for the board. If you have no plans on using the board for what it can do or is intended for, then yes, it's over-priced, just as trying to maximize usage of a low grade board means you should have bought a better one.
 
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Thanks for your opinion it helps a lot

Of course things have changed and now we see more and more features that would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago being included in "budget-oriented motherboards"
 
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And yet there's also cutbacks, aimed at promoting lower grade boards, while making enthusiast boards more needed. Look at AMD's new B350 and X370, the B350 is a single gpu board, that's it, just the one pcie x16 slot. If you have any thoughts on sli/crossfire at all, whether now or in the future, you'd best shell out the cash now for the more expensive X370, or you'll be out of luck. Intel boards are somewhat similar, but are using the sata/nvme/m.2 slots instead, with the higher grade boards having better connectivity, dual NVMe supported slots etc, while the budget boards are lucky to get a single Sata m.2 native slot. So it ends up with motherboard choices being chosen less for actual performance, and more for aesthetics purposes and gimmicks
 
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I am going to try to give you some useful answers here and I am sure that other people will add onto what I am saying so here it goes.



The Maximus IX Extreme is a $400 board with a $200 monoblock installed for watercooling only that cools both the CPU and the VRM. It also has an integrated flow meter and electronic leak detection to prevent damage to the computer. Is it a better board than the Strix? That depends on whether you are willing to spend the extra money for it. Does it have better components? I would have to say yes but itis still a bit overpriced for what it is. Would I buy it? Yup, it is a very good solution for a high end gaming rig.



This is difficult to answer because it very much depends on you and how sensitive your ears are. Here is an example, my sister is blind and even though neither her nor I have any type of hearing defects she is able to hear things that I can only imagine. That being said most mid to high end boards with equivalent quality audio will be totally adequate for 90% of the people out there.



As far as the Supreme FX goes, please see my above comment. Better ethernet is always a good thing, today 100Mbts is the standard with 1000Mbts quickly taking over, and yes it is worth it IF you have internet speed greater than 100Mbts.



The question of fan controllers is this. Do you want the board to control your fans (PWM fans) and water pump (if water cooling) or do you want to manually control them yourself? The more flexibility that you have in your BIOS gives you a finer control over your entire system especially to get the most from your system. ASUS's UEFI BIOS is one of the best and it gives newer people an automatic way to set up OC for both the CPU and GPU (if using an ASUS video card).



This is a tough question. I was going back and forth between the Rampage Edition 10 and the ASUS X99-E-10G WS, I finally decided on the Rampage board because I could install a full coverage waterblock solution on it. The WS board does have some very compelling reason to buy it if you are looking at a HEDT that is capable of both CAD/3D rendering/video work as well as being able to be a gaming rig as well.




It depends on the features and the parts use on the board. Some boards support only 4 memory slots where others support 8. The quality of the VRM capacitors makes a difference too. High quality 10K caps that are made in Japan do cost extra but you get much cleaner power from them. Are they worth it? In my opinion yes.

As far as future proofing goes both Intel and AMD are both rolling out new chipsets and processors as we speak. They are both at the moment having issues. Intel more than AMD at the moment but neither are perfect yet. Intel will be releasing Coffee Lake early next year and the will replace the current LGA1151 chips with probably a new socket as well. Add to that that PCIe will probably be hitting the market by the end of the year and it is going to be hard to future proof and computer right now. So, you can either wait till the bugs are out of the newer chips of build a system that will last 3 to 5 years from the current LGA1151 or LGA2011v3 socket boards.



In my opinion, and I am sure that many here will disagree with me, the price to performance argument is one of the worst that you can use. Figure out what you want out of your motherboard, then research all the boards, after that figure out what is the best board the you can afford on your budget.



We were all in the place you are now. Keep asking questions and do your own comparisons. Find out what features are important and which are not based on your needs and budget.

 
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Unfortunately for most, buying a pc with a set budget is the worst way to buy a pc there is. Instead, what should be done is 3 lists made. 1) expectations. What you want to do with the pc, how far you want to push it, noise quotient etc. Research will bring 2) what you need to make that happen, what you must have, which leaves 3) the luxuries that you'd love to have but aren't necessarily needed. These lists include everything from size and shape, colors, coolers, brands, everything. This is when you pick the mobo, absolutely first. It determines everything that comes after, be it Ryzen or Intel, 1 gpu or 2,oc or not, ATX or mATX or mITX etc. The mobo need be based on nothing more than amount of fan headers, or ram capacity or color or price etc. With the mobo picked, start crossing stuff off the lists, starting with 1. Everything else will fall into line then. If budget is a concern, it's just a matter of adjusting the needs list to accommodate. But everything does boil back in one way or another on motherboard choice, it's the core component after all.
So does the higher price of some boards justify the expense? Often yes, simply because it'll do what's needed, when a budget board won't, or requires extra in order to accomplish needs.
 
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I know it's hard to define a budget, you often can cut back on parts or extend it a few dollars more to get something that is a much better value.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough I meant if you are new to PC gaming and don't plan on using a lot of features you get the one that is a balance between features and price. Needless to say, it has to cover your necessities at least.
 
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Thank you so much for the information very complete you two guys made me realize that these $600 boards aren't exactly a waste of money. Just like any other component they are not for everyone and "price-to performance" comes down to how important the extra features are for you.

But I didn't understand this "the WS board does have some very compelling reason to buy it" but you did not specify which are those compelling reasons. Might you explain please?
 
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The WS boards are built for workstation use. 4x gpus, 10x Sata ports, optimized pcie lanes for Xeon processors etc. Those are things important to ppl doing Cad type apps where core usage, multiple ssd/hdd usage is common. Most normal pc's, even high end gaming machines, will sli gpus at most, have no need for 10x Sata ports + multiple m.2 slots etc. So the WS has benefits that are tailored towards professional usage. Not to say all that wouldn't work nice in a gaming machine, but it's honestly overkill, overpriced for most gaming usage. Which is where the ROG boards step in, pretty much the same basic capabilites, but only 6 Sata, 2x NVMe, better audio codecs and a few other gimmicks aimed at gamer usage instead of professional usage. Having the bandwidth, network etc capabilities of dual lan is nice for professional usage coming off server based pro routers etc, but most households are limited to things like a single Comcast line, so dual lan is pretty much a wasted amount of mobo space. If the WS boards are the Ferrari of mobo's, you don't buy one just to go to the end of the driveway to get the mail and the paper.
 
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What he said -- LOL

The WS boards (especially the ASUS x99 WS boards) for those that do CAD/video work/3D render work but also want to game as well. They are a very versatile motherboard.
 
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OK thank you guys for your answers :)
 
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