Best warranty / support desktop motherboards?

[westly197]

I've been working for a company that builds systems and has been using Intel desktop boards for years for the support we get. Intel keeps inventory of the boards at all times and replace defective boards overnight no questions asked for the three year warranty period (other then if there is any physical damage). Intel has announced they are going to move away from selling desktop boards, so now I need to find another supplier, and this is where I'd like some help.

Are there any MFG's that offer 3 year warranty with no hassle replacement as I described Intel has been doing? I've had issues with Asus who offers a 3 year warranty, but hassles you forever , and does not keep inventory. My last Asus board took a month and a half to get replaced in addition to hours on the phone. I've had good results with Gigabyte, but never had an RMA issue to see how they perform.

I'd love to hear about good and bad experiences form motherboard makers that offer a 3 year or better warranty! What are you experiences?

 

[Nec_V20]

My first thought to who not to recommend was ASUS as well.

I have never been dicked around as much by any other company than by ASUS. I have nothing whatsoever positive to say about their support and I do not buy their products any more if I can avoid it.

 

[Kenmitch]

I'll. 2nd or is it 3rd no Asus. My experience with multiple rma's wasn't a good one.

No other rma experience for me other than a power supply about 15yrs ago. I dont usually keep hardware longer than a year or so.

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

Yeah Asus sucks!
this is a picture of the corner of my $450 Rive board, after Asus shipped it back to me..................... AWESOME!

OF course now they wont reply to my emails

 

[MiRai]

I'm not entirely sure this is up your alley because it sounds like you're looking for "standard" motherboards, but I would say that eVGA has an amazing warranty. Their stuff comes with the typical 3-year warranty offered by other manufacturers, but on top of that, you can extend it another 2-7 years if you'd like for just a little bit more money.

http://www.evga.com/support/warranty/extended.asp

The cost of the extended warranty depends on the MSRP of the product you purchased, but eVGA customer support has never done me wrong. Not to mention, they also offer an advanced RMA service which could end up being pointless if you never have to RMA your product. /shrug

I'll also be the fourth to say "no" to Asus. I haven't really had to deal with them more than once or twice, but every time I've had to, I was afraid it was going to be a nightmare.

 

[aigomorla]

lol asus had some big time monkeys at there facility.
My friend sent back a dead board... i made him take pictures of the cpu pin array, include it in an email + leave a copy of the picture in the board box.
Asus emails him going bent pins.. wont RMA... please pay 50 dollars.
ROFL... after showing them the picture.. then the email reference... and then telling them to turn that white paper that was inside the box arround...

Asus actually apologized and gave my friend a brand new sealed board.
However serious monkey business with ASUS.


the best Customer service i have ran into:

1. EVGA!!! awesome service everytime i needed it. however they only make good GPU's.
2. Crucial Micron: i have done many RMA's to these guys also. Each time they took very good care of me.
3. Intel - if it really is defective... intel will FIX IT and do it quickly.
4. Corsair - another great RMA experience..
5. HIS - for AMD cards, i trust no other more then HIS.

Noticed i didnt list a single motherboard vendor...
Gigabyte is also acceptable in service.
Ive had a few dealings with them in which you can tell they honestly tried to help.
However i have yet to RMA a single Gigabyte board back, mostly due to none of them having failed.
However i dont use cheap boards... so in ASUS's defense as well, i have yet to have a high end ROG board fail on me as well.
But i have seen instances of both company's high end board failing... just not in my hands yet. *knocks on wood*

 

[blackened23]

EVGA has great CS but their motherboards suck. IMO. I agree with you that they only make good GPUs.

Personally i'm an asus guy - i've used their for years and years with no issues. Not having to use CS to me is better than having a board die.

 

[MontyAC]

I got excellent replacement service from ASRock late last year. I contacted them on Monday via email that my Z68 board died. Got a RMA number later that day and mailed the board to them. They sent a replacement board via FedEx delivery on Saturday. It was quick and painless.

 

[WilliamM2]

I've only had to RMA a few Asus boards. It sucked each time. I've had other brands fail, mostly MSI, but never under warranty.

 

[TheGoat Eater]

In my years of doing testing and overclocking / whatnot I have had my share of calls to companies. While going through more boards than months in that year I would say the best experience I had was with BFG, and then MSI (which is still in business lol ). MSI recently has been a pleasure to work with when I was having trouble with my GT60 0NE 403US ( was issues stemming from Win8 and mine for not going to win7 sooner LOL ). I really disliked Asus at the time that I used their costumer service, also I found EVGA lacking and more like just going through the motions.

Depending on what kind of builds you are doing I can definitely recommend MSI as a place to contact if you are looking for consumer level boards OR more of their industrial type boards. Depending on the volume I think that it would likely be the way of: get boards from channel - use boards - if there is an issue then contact MSI rep you deal with the expedite things as a business that does higher volume.


Just my 2 cents as I worked in that side of the industry a while ago and know first hand of that situation. Hope that helps and good luck

 

[westly197]

Thanks for the reply's, keep-em coming! So far I've used Supermicro for some very high end E5-2687W based systems and Gigabyte for some low end i3 systems. I'm kinda surprised to MSI recommended, though I've had good luck with their low end boards in the past. I forget when exactly, but for a while there I was having nothing but issues with feature packed boards, so I tried some simple MSI boards and never had an issue (like 10 years ago, I think the systems are still running!).

 

[Kremlar]

Similar situation here. Used to use a variety in the past - ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI but switched to 100% Intel years ago and never looked back.

Intel seems to be pushing people towards ASUS, but the support won't be anywhere near Intel for small players. On the upside their H61M-A is a solid basic board - we've been using tons.

Also ramping up and selling more Intel NUCs - the form factor is very attractive.

 

[A_Square_Circle]

I got excellent replacement service from ASRock late last year. I contacted them on Monday via email that my Z68 board died. Got a RMA number later that day and mailed the board to them. They sent a replacement board via FedEx delivery on Saturday. It was quick and painless.

Was it one of their Extreme boards?

ASUS owns ASRock. I know ASUS offers "Rapid RMA" on their ROG boards. They send you a refurb then you send your broken board back. Though they want your CC # to charge you for the board (& refund the charge after they get your board back, assuming they dont accuse you of breaking it).

God help you if you don't have a ROG board though. They'll probably break it in half on purpose and then accuse you of breaking it.

 

[ShintaiDK]

EVGA has great CS but their motherboards suck. IMO. I agree with you that they only make good GPUs.

I am actually playing with an EVGA Z87 Stinger right now. Quite good I must say.

To the OP, avoid Asus. They had a good run some years a go. But they seem to completely blew it then since and doesnt deserve the recommendations they get.

In terms fo RMA I dont have much experience with direct connetion to companies, since all shops here handles the warranties. So they shop would have to had closed before contacting the mnaufactor.

 

[artvscommerce]

I can't comment on the RMA process, but if I were you I'd look at MSI. Great products and great support.

 

[Blue_Max]

You know, it's worth just dealing with a great local store if you have one. Often, a store-level extended warranty makes things LOADS easier. My local Memory Express does that... get their extended "replacement plan" on something (especially the mobo/cpu combo) they'll simply *replace* them - without much fuss either.

Of course, if a manufacturer will do it without much shipping charge, I'll support them!

 

[Blue_Max]

I can't comment on the RMA process, but if I were you I'd look at MSI. Great products and great support.

I'm really had good luck with MSI products the last few years - I'll take 'em over ASUS any day!

 

[PhIlLy ChEeSe]

I wanted to update, Asus is making good on my board, they sent me a pre paid shipping label and are supposed to be sending me a new board?
I wait with bated breath, on topic all the major brands are good. I have had very good service from Asus in the past, but as stated shipping issue's happen. Always take picture's so there is no question as to WHO or HOW the damages happened.
Other vendors I have good service with Gigabyte, MSI, EVGA left me out to dry on the PIN BURN P55. Plus there motherboard quality has gone down hill since the X58, I'm sure they have good service just not my money!
I'll post back if and when my board returns.............

 

[Shawn]

I don't know if this is helpful at all, but I've been using gigabyte boards for years and have never had to RMA any of them. It's all I buy now when I purchase a new board. While a good warranty replacement is important if you get boards which won't die on you in a 3 year period then that's obviously preferred. Just my 2 cents.

 

[chadashcroft22]

Yeah only boards I will do are gigabyte due to them including dual bios which if it works just once is a godsend. After owning an asus tablet and gaming notebook all i can say is there quality sucks.

The gaming notebook I had to send into rma because they cheaped out on the plug in for dc power. It literally broke and i couldn't use the laptop until it was fixed. While the rma process was pretty hassle free I just question why they would cheap out on probably the most important part on a notebook.

And the tablet was a nightmare because every android update they would break 5 things while only improving a couple. It had a tegra three chip and at the time of release was the most powerful one on the market yet it couldn't play back videos in the youtube app at hd without stuttering everywhere.