Is there an AM3+ board that works assuredly? [update: it was the CPU!]

[PliotronX]

We don't know if it's sheer bad luck or what but my neighbor first took a risk at an open box Gigabyte 990FX gaming board. He said it fired up twice and on the third time it would never POST nor beep. Did not matter what components we swapped out so he sent it back and got an MSI 970A-G43 PLUS that didn't even fire up once. Same thing, no POST, no beep. I even eliminated the new case as a culprit by running the board and graphics (two different cards, one of which the new 380X and the other a known good GTX 650) outside of the case and jumping the power switch header. Still no POST, no beep.

My neighbor is at wit's end because he had sold his Xbone and TV for all of this and is quite depressed. What is a sure choice for his FX 6300? I tried to steer him towards ASRock because my Z87 and Z97s have been incredible. Should I go through the trouble of helping him order the ASRock 970a-g/3.1 or let him give up because even the ASRock has reports of the same thing? Is this an inherent issue with AM3 chipsets? We can't even get a beep without RAM installed at all which is a bad sign. Anyone run into issues with AM3+ boards and finally hit upon a good'n?

 

[Magic Carpet]

I went thru a few am3 boards myself, one died due to overclocking and the other I fried quite consciously, though. Just let my Thuban kill it.

Running stock, however, should not pose any threats, however. Bad luck, maybe? I'd try that ASRock listed on NE, good price too.

 

[Leyawiin]

I've had over the last three or four years a total of five AM3+ boards. ECS, Asus, Biostar and now in my possession two Gigabyte boards (one 760G and the other 990FX). They've all been fine. I've liked some better than others (features, BIOS, overclocking ability), but none have failed. Your friend just had a bad open box experience. Oh, and there's no PC component that is guaranteed to work.

This was probably the easiest build I ever did. It was with an FX-6300. Plugged it all in and it worked perfectly with no adjustments. Easy to use BIOS.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0091RA8U0/?tag=extension-kb-20

 

[PliotronX]

Thank you for the input guys! Just wanted to give an update because we were totally stumped and had refused to believe that the 6300 was DOA but it turns out that it was and AMD replaced it fairly easily! What prompted the belief to pursue the RMA with AMD was the last board that we fell on was the ASRock 970a-g/3.1 and while the 6300 did the same thing with no POST and no beep, this time the system ran fine with a Phenom II. The replacement 6300 that they had sent was NIB, cooler and all and has been running beyond perfectly and my neighbor is happy. This is the first time I have ever seen a DOA CPU and I have been buying them since 1996.

 

[xLegenday]

I guess the new GlobalFoundries makes this kind of stuff never heard before happen
Same thing, the only dead CPU's ever was because of, broken pin from frozen CPU, moisture, but never from normal operation failure

 

[nenforcer]

This is quite rate but you will on occasion hear about this regarding Intel chips as well.

 

[Elixer]

ESD can kill a chip before it even hits the socket... even more so with finfets.