Asrock or Asus? Z390

[boed]

Hello,

THis isn't a thread about features but quality and support. I used to build a lot of MSI and gigabyte computers but feel the quality and support kind of suck so I'm ready to move on at this time. I've never build a computer using an asrock or asus motherboard. Let's pretend money doesn't matter and the only important things are support - e.g. if you have a tech question or 2 years from now will they still be updating drivers and firmware and quality - reliabilty.

Any thoughts on them? Anyone use both and have a preference?

 

[LTC8K6]

No experience with Asrock, but they are number three behind ASUS and Gigabyte. Asrock is part of Pegatron.

Always had good luck with ASUS.

EVGA should probably be looked at if your priority is support.

 

[UsandThem]

I've personally liked Asrock over the last 6 years or so. Asus is usually a solid choice as well.

However, any of the remaining motherboard manufacturers aren't known for having great support, or quick RMA processing (maybe with the exception of EVGA). Pretty much any of them will provide BIOS updates and such for several years as well, but if you need any tech help your best bet is to seek it on a computer tech site like ours.

 

[boed]

Thanks. Since I'm loading it up with 2 8x (RAID and 4port 10g nic) I'm considering the asus with the bridge. I understand PCIe bridges can add latency. I don't really want to pay an extra $1000 for a hedt board and processor with obsolete everything to get more PCIe lanes. I have a z170 on my current system and I'm able to tranfer between two nearly identical systems with pcie bridges at a full 10gb. My gaming performance is also excellent. I'd love to have more PCIe lanes but not at the cost in price and sacrifice in tech.

Seems silly to me that in 2018 we still have 3 or 4 PCI slots but only enough PCIe lanes to fully support 1 of them.

I game and do work - never video editing so for me at the moment Intel is the better choice although someday I may go back to AMD when that changes.

 

[LTC8K6]

A 7800X 6C/12T with 28 PCIE lanes and an X299 board is not that much more money if you need the lanes.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.3723937

A 9800X 8C/16T with 44 PCIE lanes will be about $150-$175 more than the 7800X.
You can drop a 9000X series chip in the board later on, if you need more cores and more PCIE lanes.

 

[boed]

Thanks - and for that combo it is a fair price but if I were to go hedt, I'd want the 7900x or a
i7-9800X which is just crazy expensive My guess is the 9800x will be over $1000. The aren't very energy efficient either and my PC is on about 16 hours a day. (not that it is going to cost my thousands of dollars extra - it is just I was brought up in a house where you never left even a 40 watt bulb on if you weren't in the room.

 

[LTC8K6]

Thanks - and for that combo it is a fair price but if I were to go hedt, I'd want the 7900x or a
i7-9800X which is just crazy expensive My guess is the 9800x will be over $1000. The aren't very energy efficient either and my PC is on about 16 hours a day. (not that it is going to cost my thousands of dollars extra - it is just I was brought up in a house where you never left even a 40 watt bulb on if you weren't in the room.

9800X RCP is supposedly $589.00

https://cdn.neow.in/news/images/uploaded/2018/10/1539014519_intel_3.jpg

 

[LTC8K6]

Face it, what you really need is a Ryzen 2700...

 

[boed]

Thanks - but I only need 1 processor $589 is for a group of 1000. Still it might be cheaper then the 7900 when it is released although I'm guessing there is a mistake somewhere.

 

[LTC8K6]

Thanks - but I only need 1 processor $589 is for a group of 1000. Still it might be cheaper then the 7900 when it is released although I'm guessing there is a mistake somewhere.

Yes, you can use the 1,000 piece price to gauge what the stores will sell them for. It will be a little higher than $589, as they will make a bit of profit off of each one, but it won't be anywhere near $1K. And places like Amazon and Newegg will get a better price than the 1K unit price.

Overall, Amazon will probably sell the chips close to the RCP price.

Unless supply is low and demand is high...

9900K RCP is $488-$499 and Amazon's price is $529.00, for example.

 

[LTC8K6]

You realize that a Ryzen 2700 8C/16T cpu and a good X470 motherboard are together just about $400?
And the 2700 has a low 65 watt TDP?

 

[boed]

That is a good price for the 2700 however still leaves me salivating for more PCIe lanes. I do use it for gaming too - https://www.techspot.com/review/1655-core-i7-8700k-vs-ryzen-7-2700x/page8.html

PS I'm not trying to be a PITA - I'm enjoying the information gathering you are helping me with - I don't think there is a silver bullet at this time. Maybe next year AMD or Intel will have something that blows my skirt up.

 

[mxnerd]

I like ASROCK. Their RMA is easy and fast.

I personally visited ASROCK HQ in SoCAL and even talk to their technician face to face.

I live nearby and got motherboard replacement next day.

 

[boed]

So far the Intel i9 reports are not great. Any new AMD CPUs or chipsets coming out soon? I'd like the best for gaming. If I stick with intel I may get the 8700k

 

[UsandThem]

So far the Intel i9 reports are not great. Any new AMD CPUs or chipsets coming out soon? I'd like the best for gaming. If I stick with intel I may get the 8700k

Nope. What you see right now, is what you get until AMD launches their next CPU sometime in the spring.

 

[boed]

I think I'm going with the 8700k - which would have surprised me a month ago - although the AMD is a very very close second. I'll wait to see if the Asus WS pro comes down in price. I only found them 2 places and the cheaper of the two was $400!

 

[unr3al]

My two cents? I can honestly say I've only had good service from Asus, be it laptops, motherboards, graphics cards, heck I've even got an Asus DVD-RW drive I've been using for about 10 years, still works although the tray tends to get stuck these days. No surprise after that long though. They tend to be expensive, but in my experience it's worth it.

 

[The Sauce]

I am an ASUS guy. I have been building since 1990s and I have never had to deal with their tech support....maybe that's why I'm an ASUS guy. I tried Gigabyte and MSI and both times had problems and went back to ASUS (although that was a long time ago). If I recall correctly a while back (maybe 10 years or so) the top ASUS mobo designer left and went over to Asrock. I was always tempted after that to try it out, but I just believe in ASUS quality, and I love their BIOSes. To further make that point I am still running my P8Z68 Gen 3 mobo from 2011 overclocked to the balls, running 24/7/365 without a single hiccup.

My next mobo will be the Z390 Maximus Hero. I agree with others here that if your top priority is support, EVGA is the way to go. They are solid.

 

[unr3al]

I can't agree more. I've had Gigabyte motherboards die on me multiple times, I had a Gigabyte GPU die, then the one I got after the RMA also died. So I'm not a fan of Gigabyte at all. Asus hasn't let me down once.

 

[ttechf]

Asus all the way. Quality and the BIOS is superior to others. I like Gigabyte boards too [nice LOOKING boards] but Asus is just better all around.

 

[boed]

So I got the Asrock. It wouldn't post. I got a few emails immediately after asking them what I should do. They got back to me right away and we ran some tests. Unfortunately luck of the draw, my MB is not operational. I had 2 types of memory - put in the right slots repeatedly. I reseated my CPU a few times. Removed everything from it - reset the cmos. Removed it from my case. Tested with a power supply that works on another computer, tested with a video card that works on another computer, double checked the power connections on the motherboard. I did get much faster responses to my questions and far more detailed responses to my questions than I ever got from gigabyte - however this is my first motherboard DOA. I"m no expert on building PCs but I've done about 20 and this left me disappointed although again - it is a matter of luck and mine seems bad at the moment


The Asus I would pick isn't available yet.

 

[UsandThem]

So I got the Asrock. It wouldn't post. I got a few emails immediately after asking them what I should do. They got back to me right away and we ran some tests. Unfortunately luck of the draw, my MB is not operational. I had 2 types of memory - put in the right slots repeatedly. I reseated my CPU a few times. Removed everything from it - reset the cmos. Removed it from my case. Tested with a power supply that works on another computer, tested with a video card that works on another computer, double checked the power connections on the motherboard. I did get much faster responses to my questions and far more detailed responses to my questions than I ever got from gigabyte - however this is my first motherboard DOA. I"m no expert on building PCs but I've done about 20 and this left me disappointed although again - it is a matter of luck and mine seems bad at the moment


The Asus I would pick isn't available yet.

Sounds just like you had bad luck, and it could happen with any manufacturer.

One thing you said caught my attention though was you stated you had two types of memory. Did you try booting with only one kind installed?

 

[boed]

I had 2 sticks of each. I tried booting with 1 stick, 2 sticks of the same, 1 stick of the other type, 2 sticks of the same. (in the correctly paired slots). Never two types at the same time.

 

[UsandThem]

Maybe I missed it, but what Asrock model did you end up getting?

 

[boed]

Hello,

I ended up trying the Asrock Taichi ultimate. Technically it had almost everything I hoped for and more.