AM2+ mobo durability?

[scwtlover]

On the web, it's said, no one knows you're a dog. Nor do most of us know what weight to give opinions about component quality, at least in terms of durability. At least, I'm not aware of websites that do long-term studies of motherboards, the way leading auto magazines do of selected cars (well, at least, for a year).

These thoughts are prompted by my efforts to select components for a new build, my first since August 2006. Given my budget, a target of $800 (or less), possibly stretching to at most $850, I've focused on AMD and 780GX or 790GX boards. AnandTech's recent buying guide liked the ASRock A780GXE/128M 780G for its entry-level AMD system and the Biostar TForce TA790GX3 A2+ for its budget system. A Foxconn 790FX was its recommendation for "value midrange."

In this general price-range, I've focused variously on ASRock AOD790GX/128M as well as the 780GX flavor. But an established poster at Tom's Hardware forums reports problems with ASRock and MSI boards, namely, he says, they -- at least the one's brought to him -- haven't lasted more than a year. That led me to Gigabyte, make of the mobo in my current system. But an established poster at the AMD Processor forum says it's having quality control problems. I've also looked at Foxconn, which has gotten some good reviews. No one disses Asus, but the best price I"ve found on a 790G -- for a Asus M3A78-T 790GX/SB750 -- is $146.91, which brings me up to just under $850.

I don't need the "best" board. Within my budget, "good enough" is good enough. But when "good enough" leads in a particular direction, I'll try to follow. For example, I'm interested in photo-editing -- nothing too fancy, but interested. This led me to the Dell 2209WA e-IPS display, which I fortunately snagged at $227 (more than 1/4 my total budget). It arrived yesterday; so far, so great. And, as my opening paragraph suggests, for me, "good enough" includes durability.

So, what do you all think? To be reasonably safe, should I bite the bullet and pay for Asus? If not, what experience or knowledge do people have about the durability of other makers' boards. BTW, the CPU I currently plan to buy is the X2 7750 (internally, I believe, a Phenom). And, I expect to upgrade the CPU at least once as prices fall.

Thanks in advance.

 

[NXIL]

Hey S,

Asus sells more motherboards than anyone else, so there are going to be a LOT of complaints about Asus boards out there; even if only 1% have problems, that is a lot of problems when you are talking about millions of units. That does not mean Asus isn't an excellent brand, though, it is.

As I recall, Asus makes Asrock; Foxconn at least used to make a lot of Intel branded boards, and other brands as well.

You have heard no doubt of the 'power of the crowd', i. e. online user reviews. Despite some significant problems, (like unintelligent and uninformed "L-users" writing negative reviews after problems like an AMD chip not fitting in an Intel motherboard), their reviews can help.

I searched on AMD AM2+ mobos, sorted by customer satisfaction:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...8128%2CN82E16813157139

THis one looks good, but no firewire, if you needed that:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813138140

THis gigabyte looks solid:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128384

Asus, Gigabyte, Biostar: all very good brands. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them . Asrock is very good too I hear, but I have never owned one.

Anyway, choose one of the highly rated on Newegg boards and you should do fine.

HTH

NX

 

[Texun]

That's an interesting topic.

I only build for myself and friends but I've used boards from iWill, ASUS, Abit, ECS, Intel, Shuttle, Biostar and probably some others. The only brand that ever failed early was MSI, and that was with one board back in the KT266 days. I've had other MSI's since that worked well.

I can't put any science behind this, but since I started using quality PSU's several years ago I haven't been able to rank any manufacture over another in terms of reliability - they have all been stable. The ECS probably got more power on hours than any of them and it was still running great when I finally got tired of the old S754 platform and replaced it with an AM2. I know a good PS is important to stability and durability or longevity, but I have never seen any measurement to support it... stability maybe but not longevity. I think one reason that topic has been skipped in reviews is because the enthusiast crowd will generally replace hardware before it dies.

For some reason I am particularly fond of ASUS and Gigabyte now, although the other boards are still working fine. My theory, and again I have no science behind it, is to get a board with a proven chipset and support it with clean power.

Having said all that, while writing this reply I heard a loud pop somewhere in or under my 2 year old computer. I'm going to shut it down and see if I can find it.