Does More Expensive Motherboard Equal Better Quality?

[tolagarf]

I guess this question is very relative as many expensive motherboards doesn't necessarily have better components, but just more features (*cough* RGB ). But what's your own experience with this?

As an example here's my own history with X99 motherboards:

1. MSI X99A SLI Plus, had a defect PS/2 port or controller which stopped working once Windows loaded. Got my money back
2. ASUS X99-A, kept getting overclock fail even though there was no OC. Batteri and CMOS got reset, it didn't care. Sold to a friend who actually managed to fix it using some bizarre fix for an old range of ASUS boards.
3. ASUS X99-A II, suddenly died and took the PSU with it, or was it the other way around? Nobody knows for sure...
4. ASUS Sabertooth X99, I sold this board because this forum hyped me so much that brown'ish colors suck and LED's are the new kid on the block! LOL never listen to hype, this was the worst mistake I ever did! This board is rock solid and I should never have sold it.
5. ASUS X99-E, current board. Working as intended and have no major complaints except the sound card is a dud or something. Ended up buying an external sound card, the ASUS Xonar U7 MK-II due to this.

I'm about to buy into the new X299 platform, probably going for the i9 7800X 6/12 CPU and I'm really worried about which motherboard to pick. I'm more and more leaning towards the ASUS TUF X299 MK-2, as I'm starting to get hives every time RGB shows up on PC parts Have to admit I was completely flabbergasted when I saw the X299 boards Gigabyte showed off. Just wow, what a bunch of junk. And the ASUS ROG Strix I was like /facepalm

TLDR; I want quality and longevity over tacky junk

 

[Tolemac]

Lets hope Asus bring out a Sabretooth X299 motherboard. From my experience with the AM3+ socket boards I had 2 Sabretooth 990fx boards rev 1 and 2. They were both rock solid and I think one of them is in my nephews rig. still going strong 5 years later

 

[tolagarf]

Lets hope Asus bring out a Sabretooth X299 motherboard. From my experience with the AM3+ socket boards I had 2 Sabretooth 990fx boards rev 1 and 2. They were both rock solid and I think one of them is in my nephews rig. still going strong 5 years later

I believe those X299 TUF MK1 / 2 boards are the Sabertooth. Not sure why they didn't use the Sabertooth name for them, it might just be an oversight and still appear on the packaging.

 

[tinytomlogan]

I believe those X299 TUF MK1 / 2 boards are the Sabertooth. Not sure why they didn't use the Sabertooth name for them, it might just be an oversight and still appear on the packaging.

They always had the TUF naming on them - the Sabertooth side is what theyve dropped.

Paying more does get you better quality but it depends how much you want to pay compared to what is actually needed. There is always a sweet spot to be found for your needs and again in the range of board options

 

[evilcorp]

Paying more does get you better quality but it depends how much you want to pay compared to what is actually needed. There is always a sweet spot to be found for your needs and again in the range of board options

You are right. I wish that i had learnt that years ago instead of going for the most expensive board i could afford rather than considering what i actually needed or wanted. I now always start with a list of requirements like overclocking stability/ board stability/ how many sata ports. A lot of the extra 'gaming' features i find pointless and RGB doesnt appeal to me at all. I will pay more for a stable board. The sabertooth/ tuf boards have been some of the most reliable boards i have had.
I was also looking at the ASUS TUF X299 MK-2 for an X299 upgrade and apart from the RGB it looks like it could be a solid board. I had a great experience with an x79 sabertooth that was rock solid stable.

 

[Tolemac]

Personally I would have liked to have see a TUF without the RGB "flashy lights" board. I think that subtle white led strips are ample imo

 

[tolagarf]

You are right. I wish that i had learnt that years ago instead of going for the most expensive board i could afford rather than considering what i actually needed or wanted. I now always start with a list of requirements like overclocking stability/ board stability/ how many sata ports. A lot of the extra 'gaming' features i find pointless and RGB doesnt appeal to me at all. I will pay more for a stable board. The sabertooth/ tuf boards have been some of the most reliable boards i have had.
I was also looking at the ASUS TUF X299 MK-2 for an X299 upgrade and apart from the RGB it looks like it could be a solid board. I had a great experience with an x79 sabertooth that was rock solid stable.

Yeah the only thing I noticed is that it's lacking the U.2 port for external PCI-e SSD, but I guess most of us can live without it anyway, or use an adapter should it be needed. But besides that it looks solid to me, has exactly what I need. The armor on the MK-1 is a nice addition, but I don't believe it's crucial.

Personally I would have liked to have see a TUF without the RGB "flashy lights" board. I think that subtle white led strips are ample imo

I'm quite sure you will be able to disable it or change the color to white within its BIOS. I have several options with my X99-E board for that.

 

[AlienALX]

I've owned plenty of cheap boards in my time and never really had an issue with any of them. This includes a rebranded MSI X99 plus, a Gigabyte X79 UD3 (though this is the Rev 1.1 with better phases) a Foxconn Flamingblade GTI (was weird on the bios front, but other than that worked perfectly well) a few Asrocks and so on. I am not the sort of person who buys boards for features. I buy them to run a specific CPU, so USB 355 isn't really my thing given all of my USB devices are happy to run 2.0.

However times are changing. We now have all of this cack being tacked onto boards (RGB etc) and thus something is going to suffer. I once had a Asrock 990FX Extreme 3 and it was pants. 4 phases for FX 8, made out of paper thin fibreglass and so on. That was my fault though really for not doing my research first. I just saw 990FX chipset and the price, £80.

Actually I have had equal failures from expensive boards. I paid nearly £350 for a MSI Big Bang Xpower II and it died after 11 months. CPU fets basically gave out.

 

[tolagarf]

I actually ended up buying another i7 7700K and an ASUS Z270 TUF Mark 2 motherboard. I just couldn't justify spending nearly £300 more to get an i9 7800X for a gaming PC. The CPU would be without a doubt more expensive and from my experience with X99 the motherboard will make your wallet cry

Hopefully this system will boot this time around...

 

[Kaapstad]

More expensive equals more features which most people don't use.

For gaming a cheap simple motherboard from a well known vendor will perform just as well as the top of the range one.

 

[Dawelio]

More expensive equals more features which most people don't use.

For gaming a cheap simple motherboard from a well known vendor will perform just as well as the top of the range one.

Yup, hence why I never went with an Formula board for example. Too expensive and just unnecessary for my uses.