Various motherboards and their power loops

[digitalbuda]

I'm looking to purchase a motherboard in the $100 - $150 range soon. But when I look at Asus, MSI and Gigabyte (socket 1155 for Intel), a lot of users have mentioned issues with their motherboards rebooting over and over and some having BSOD after a few weeks/months of ownership.

Is there an issue with a particular chipset that affects them all? The majority of the owners don't have issues but about 1/4 of them are reporting the reboots after a short time in ownership.

I just don't want to have to deal with the same issues that some of these guys are going through.

 

[bankster55]

The "double boots" are a well known phenomenae.
I have had it going back to P965 mobo
It is basically a "reset" - you have done something that a bios/CPU/O/S cannot deal with, so it tries again under a "reset" condition.

The causes are many and also well known
Foremost is not enabling any spread spectrum option (some Z68 have 2). Further aggravated by bios changes that alter whether "auto" means disabled or enabled. You must always select enabled.
Not enabling XMP option for RAM is another. If it has it (some have 2 profiles) - use it.
Any BCLK other than 100.0 - not 103.0 or 100.3
Changing C-states under ceratain conditions
The ASUS AI Suite is another system wrecker, dont even think about using any but the latest. Looks sexy/nice features/fan controls, but I refuse to use it.
Wireless routers, if you have this issue, use another brand or wired.
PLL overvoltage on or off is critical option - this has also been changing with bios versions
Many SSD's have detection issues on Intel controller (think OCZ)
Non XMP RAM should be set manually to CPUID SPD page settings exactly
Full CMOS clear (PSU unplugged and bat out, 30 min)
Overly agressive bios settings should be made reasonable
ASUS:
DIGI+ VRM Load-line Calibration to Medium
DIGI+ VRM Phase Control to Medium
DIGI+ VRM Duty Control to T. Probe
DIGI+ VRM Frequency to VRM Frequency Mode, 350 Khz <--- I believe this makes the difference.
Extra controller enabled and drivered, but nothing inserted. Disable in dev man.
The sleep issues seem to have been finally solved with latest bios (after 10 months)
There will always be troubles with USB devices, since most are not certified and there are many thousands of them
I could go on and on.....
I have over 150 tips I have accumulated since Jan on P67 Z68 and am still gathering. This mobo rollout mandated doing your homework more than any other. Def wrong time for a beginner to jump in.

To sum up, if you are knowledgeable, theres no reason for any prob with these mobo. They are fantastic!