Best brand motherboard nowadays?

Status
Not open for further replies.

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
Im planning to use any Christmas cash I get to start acquiring parts for a new rig to replace the Beast since she's wearing out. In y'alls opinions, what motherboard brand is the best in terms of durability and performance? My last 2 PCs have been MSI so I'm obviously kinda biased toward their products but looking around online I've taken a liking to some of the mobos by ASRock and Biostar and EVGA. What brand makes the best "bang for the buck" board?

Thank you
 

Intel_man

VIP Member
I own an EVGA mobo. They're not the cheapest out there, but I find that their boards are designed for enthusiasts without the fancy RGB LED stuff that you see now populating every other "gamer" branded boards. They just work and their current stuff looks very low key. Their support is quick, and there's also a huge community forum too if you want to talk about your EVGA products.

I'm not too sure about Biostar, but most ASRock boards are fine. Honestly, I've used MSI boards, Gigabyte boards, and EVGA boards. They're all fine. Just don't cheap out on the bottom of the barrel stuff with the minimum power phases and vregs on it.

If I were you, I would not start acquiring parts now. Either buy it all or most in one purchase, or don't buy it at all. Things change way too fast in the tech world to start buying parts by parts until you can build a computer.
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
I own an EVGA mobo. They're not the cheapest out there, but I find that their boards are designed for enthusiasts without the fancy RGB LED stuff that you see now populating every other "gamer" branded boards. They just work and their current stuff looks very low key. Their support is quick, and there's also a huge community forum too if you want to talk about your EVGA products.

I'm not too sure about Biostar, but most ASRock boards are fine. Honestly, I've used MSI boards, Gigabyte boards, and EVGA boards. They're all fine. Just don't cheap out on the bottom of the barrel stuff with the minimum power phases and vregs on it.

If I were you, I would not start acquiring parts now. Either buy it all or most in one purchase, or don't buy it at all. Things change way too fast in the tech world to start buying parts by parts until you can build a computer.
I do NOT any of that RGB stuff. All the blue LEDs I have now annoy me enough as they are, I don't need them to change colors now. For my next PC, I am planning to go with a red color scheme, and I just want a basic mobo with red trim like this one - this is the Biostar TA970, I kinda like it:
biostar-ta970-amd-970-atx-motherboard-socket-am3-24.jpg
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
It's less about brand and more about the actual product, as is frequently the case in computer components. My previous MSI board was honestly pretty meh and downright crap for any serious overclocking. It wasn't even fully stable at stock clocks on my 8320. Now with a different but similarly priced Gigabyte board I can push 4.5GHz comfortably. That said there is definitely something to be said for different brands and generally it's best to stick to the top 3. I'd recommend in somewhat preference based order, Gigabyte, Asus, MSI and then after that probably AsRock. I generally avoid BioStar and Foxconn as they're cheaper usually. EVGA probably makes good boards but they're not as big a maker as other brands and you frequently won't even have them in the running as they don't have a whole lot of models last I checked.

Edit: Mobo selection based primarily on color is asinine. Sure color can factor in but I'd find the right board/chipset first then look into what color options you have.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Can't go wrong with Gigabyte, in fact the only brand I can recommend right now. I have never used MSI, Asrock or Biostar boards but have heard many problems with them. I know I seem biased, maybe I am. But I've been building pc's for quite a few years now and up till about 10 years ago only used Asus boards. I've only had to rma 1 gigabyte board due to onboard video having issues losing output to the monitor. Pretty good record I think. I just feel gigabyte makes the better board at a decent price.

If I were you, I would not start acquiring parts now. Either buy it all or most in one purchase, or don't buy it at all.
Agree.
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
Can't go wrong with Gigabyte, in fact the only brand I can recommend right now. I have never used MSI, Asrock or Biostar boards but have heard many problems with them. I know I seem biased, maybe I am. But I've been building pc's for quite a few years now and up till about 10 years ago only used Asus boards. I've only had to rma 1 gigabyte board due to onboard video having issues losing output to the monitor. Pretty good record I think. I just feel gigabyte makes the better board at a decent price.


Agree.
I don't think you're biased. The "PC-Master-Race" nerd-culture at my school is pretty strong, and a lot of guys and gals I know are running Gigabyte boards.

Also I am holding off on acquiring parts until I get a definite parts list for sure. Not gonna do it "one piece at a time" I'm doing it all at once. This one here's just something I thought up, IDK if I'll build it though:
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/CrazyCalvinWilliams/saved/xcHGXL
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
I don't think you're biased. The "PC-Master-Race" nerd-culture at my school is pretty strong, and a lot of guys and gals I know are running Gigabyte boards.

Also I am holding off on acquiring parts until I get a definite parts list for sure. Not gonna do it "one piece at a time" I'm doing it all at once. This one here's just something I thought up, IDK if I'll build it though:
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/CrazyCalvinWilliams/saved/xcHGXL
How many times do we have to club you over the head before you get that any AMD config right now is pointless. Also why 390? 480 is comparable and less power and cheaper.
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
How many times do we have to club you over the head before you get that any AMD config right now is pointless. Also why 390? 480 is comparable and less power and cheaper.
As I said it's theoretical and will most likely not happen. And I'm really just not an Intel fan. I've always owned and liked AMD.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
As I said it's theoretical and will most likely not happen. And I'm really just not an Intel fan. I've always owned and liked AMD.
Look who you're talking to, I like AMD probably more than you do lol.

I understand wanting to theorize builds but at the very least do something that's up to date? You've got a build spec'd out for nearly 2 grand that will perform marginally worse than my build (lack of overclock) that I'm already wanting to upgrade and cost me about half that. Come on.
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
Look who you're talking to, I like AMD probably more than you do lol.

I understand wanting to theorize builds but at the very least do something that's up to date? You've got a build spec'd out for nearly 2 grand that will perform marginally worse than my build that I'm already wanting to upgrade and cost me about half that. Come on.
As nice as it would be to have one, I don't need a super coked-out crazy-insane build. The performance of my 2010-built rig is more than enough to run most things I throw at it, and I'm just looking to build a PC to replace it (with some minor performance upgrades) since my rig's slowly dying. Believe me, I'd love to have a 3000-watt 8-core PC with 3-way-SLI'd whatevers, but I wouldn't ever use it to it's full potential.
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
I jumped off the AMD bandwagon years ago.

As nice as it would be to have one, I don't need a super coked-out crazy-insane build. The performance of my 2010-built rig is more than enough to run most things I throw at it, and I'm just looking to build a PC to replace it (with some minor performance upgrades) since my rig's slowly dying. Believe me, I'd love to have a 3000-watt 8-core PC with 3-way-SLI'd whatevers, but I wouldn't ever use it to it's full potential.
Anything you buy today will be 2x better than what you have now. So it will wind up being "coked-out" anyway.

I also exclusively run Gigabyte boards. The exception was my first custom build, which ran a Machspeed board (MSI counterpart).
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
Anything you buy today will be 2x better than what you have now. So it will wind up being "coked-out" anyway.
True. But still I'm fine with the "medium end" of the performance level. I don't need the Ferrari of PC's, and I don't want the Geo Metro of PCs either. Right now I have the Corvette of PCs, and I'm just looking to trade up a few model years.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
As nice as it would be to have one, I don't need a super coked-out crazy-insane build. The performance of my 2010-built rig is more than enough to run most things I throw at it, and I'm just looking to build a PC to replace it (with some minor performance upgrades) since my rig's slowly dying. Believe me, I'd love to have a 3000-watt 8-core PC with 3-way-SLI'd whatevers, but I wouldn't ever use it to it's full potential.
That's not my point at all. My point is you've configured a build that's 1.8K and performs similarly to my machine that I built for half that. If you've got 1.8K to spend your build list is a huge waste of that money.

I jumped off the AMD bandwagon years ago.
Anything you buy today will be 2x better than what you have now. So it will wind up being "coked-out" anyway.

Not if he buys an 8320, lol. Those gains are only going to be tangible in clock speeds and the few instances of extra cores. Pretty sure the IPC jump from Phenom to Piledriver was marginal at best. I think even some Phenom II's had better IPC than Bulldozer IIRC.
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
That's not my point at all. My point is you've configured a build that's 1.8K and performs similarly to my machine that I built for half that. If you've got 1.8K to spend your build list is a huge waste of that money.
My list has more parts too, like a large SSD, more RAM, Windows Ultimate, wifi card. That's probably where the extra $$$ is coming from
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
I have the Corvette of PCs
Yeah....no you don't. I don't consider Corvette's garbage.

If you've got 1.8K to spend your build list is a huge waste of that money.
No shit. I just looked at that build.

1. Why the hell would you waste money on a platinum certified fully modular power supply? Let alone an 860 watt PSU? You can live with a 600W.
2. Why the hell would you buy Windows 7 Ultimate for $218? [holy shit Batman!]
3. Why the hell do YOU need 32GB of RAM?
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
Yeah....no you don't. I don't consider Corvette's garbage.


No shit. I just looked at that build.

1. Why the hell would you waste money on a platinum certified fully modular power supply?
2. Why the hell would you buy Windows 7 Ultimate for $218? [holy shit Batman!]
Okay okay so my Corvette-PC has 300,000 miles and has been in a few accidents.
and to answer 3. for video editing

And to answer 1, IDK, I'll change that part, and 2, I heard Ultimate is better, and I didn't know that $218 was a lot for Windows

I like this supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817341053
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
Okay okay so my Corvette-PC h
It's not a Corvette. It's a riced up Honda or a Mazda. Not a Corvette.

I heard Ultimate is better
You obviously don't know what the actual differences between a copy of pro and ultimate are. Let me tell you. Language Packs and Bitlocker, neither of which you'd use. Find a copy of 8.1 Pro or 10 Pro for $100 instead of wasting your money.

Why do you think you need a 1000W PSU?
 

The VCR King

Well-Known Member
It's not a Corvette. It's a riced up Honda or a Mazda. Not a Corvette.


You obviously don't know what the actual differences between a copy of pro and ultimate are. Let me tell you. Language Packs and Bitlocker, neither of which you'd use. Find a copy of 8.1 Pro or 10 Pro for $100 instead of wasting your money.


Why do you think you need a 1000W PSU?
Hell thats it? Ill just use home premium then. Thank you so much for the explanation! :D

and for the 1000W PSU, it's so I have overhead in case of future expansion
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top