Question What's the point of buying a expensive motherboard for gaming?

[Gizmo j]

Shouldn't you just buy the cheapest motherboard that's compatible and save the rest for a better GPU and CPU?

 

[DigDog]

Pretty much, yeah.

As the price goes up, features improve or are added, but most basic mobos tend to be fully functional.
Unfortunately it's an all-or-nothing market, so often to get one specific feature, you wind up paying for many more.

 

[daveybrat]

Well i for one like better audio and Intel Lan for my motherboards so i like at least a decent to mid-range board.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well i for one like better audio and Intel Lan for my motherboards so i like at least a decent to mid-range board.

Not to mention better VRMs for overclocking. Most real overclocking boards are a tad overbuilt, so if you run them at stock speeds, they should have extremely good longevity.

Most all except for possibly some extreme budget boards, use solid caps these days. But back in the day, that was a "deluxe" feature that people paid extra for too.

But when Biostar (to use one example) can put all-solid-caps on a $50 S775 mATX board, you know that there's no reason that every other "tier 1" mfg can't as well, and generally, they all do. Gigabyte started the trend, mostly, with their "Durable", and later, "Ultra Durable" lines.

 

[Indus]

If you're overclocking your CPU, LLC is a major improvement in the higher boards. It's the difference between a crash and a stable clock.

If you're not overclocking... you can get by with a budget board.

 

[gorobei]

nowadays there isnt a huge point. intel and amd are already giving you built in overclocks so the headroom is already mostly used up. better vrm will extend part longevity and lifetime reliability but its a mixed bag. most of the high end boards are low volume so firmware updates for things like spectre/meltdown are low priority for the oem. if the mb fails a year or two down the road and you arent ready to upgrade/build new then finding an exact replacement is harder.

ironically, the boards marketed with 'gaming' can be worse component wise because gamers rarely bother to actually learn what makes a good board. the gordian knot that is asus' mb lines is just appalling.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

most of the high end boards are low volume so firmware updates for things like spectre/meltdown are low priority for the oem. if the mb fails a year or two down the road and you arent ready to upgrade/build new then finding an exact replacement is harder.

If you need something reliable without bells and whistles, try and find a board used by IT cafes, system and/or boutique builders. They're usually not flashy, but are well built, and get support because of being used by such. Also makes it easier to find replacements, since they're made in bigger batches.

 

[whm1974]

If you need something reliable without bells and whistles, try and find a board used by IT cafes, system and/or boutique builders. They're usually not flashy, but are well built, and get support because of being used by such. Also makes it easier to find replacements, since they're made in bigger batches.

I've used two ASRock boards for mine and my dad computers when I built them and never had any issues with either of them. A midrange budget board is more then enough for then enough for most uses.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

CPU overclocking is the most overrated thing in gaming and I can't believe how many builds I see with people dropping big money on board, cooler, and unlocked processor at the expense of gpu. An unlocked cpu is huge if you do a lot of heavy duty emulation (eg Cemu, RPCS3, Yuzu) but otherwise I'd go cheap board, good but not necessarily unlocked processor, stock cooler, and pass on the ssd until later if that money could instead go to a higher tier of gpu. I wouldn't buy the absolute cheapest board but I'd buy the best cheap board.

 

[whm1974]

CPU overclocking is the most overrated thing in gaming and I can't believe how many builds I see with people dropping big money on board, cooler, and unlocked processor at the expense of gpu. An unlocked cpu is huge if you do a lot of heavy duty emulation (eg Cemu, RPCS3, Yuzu) but otherwise I'd go cheap board, good but not necessarily unlocked processor, stock cooler, and pass on the ssd until later if that money could instead go to a higher tier of gpu. I wouldn't buy the absolute cheapest board but I'd buy the best cheap board.

I don't know about skipping the SSD to get a higher tier dGPU since spinners will slow down the computer greatly. Since I a started using SSDs I find systems without them to be very annoying to use. Such as my dad's computer or my notebook.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I'll never buy an expensive board either. The only necessary extra features to me are integrated Intel AC Wifi and Z-chipset for DDR4 2666+ support, anything else is external USB. Like others have said CPUs now turbo so high OOTB and OC headroom so low that OCing CPUs has become pretty pointless.

Funny because 4 years ago I ran 4790K on a H81 and everybody thought I was committing CPU heresy.

 

[whm1974]

I'll never buy an expensive board either. The only necessary extra features to me are integrated Intel AC Wifi and Z-chipset for DDR4 2666+ support, anything else is external USB. Like others have said CPUs now turbo so high OOTB and OC headroom so low that OCing CPUs has become pretty pointless.

Funny because 4 years ago I ran 4790K on a H81 and everybody thought I was committing CPU heresy.

Isn't the H81 limited to two DDR3 slots? I choose a B85 board for my dad due to that reason and others.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I don't know about skipping the SSD to get a higher tier dGPU since spinners will slow down the computer greatly. Since I a started using SSDs I find systems without them to be very annoying to use. Such as my dad's computer or my notebook.

I was thinking more to temporarily skip the SSD and add one later. They're nice for loading into games more quickly, but I think it's crazy when I read builds where people try to shoehorn in a cheap 120GB SSD and buy a lower tier gpu instead of just buying the better gpu now and then a reasonably large ssd a little later.

 

[Lovec1990]

Shouldn't you just buy the cheapest motherboard that's compatible and save the rest for a better GPU and CPU?

you could, but im under impresion that expensive motherboards has better comopnents like VRMs plus RGB and features you probably will never use

 

[Insert_Nickname]

They're nice for loading into games more quickly, but I think it's crazy when I read builds where people try to shoehorn in a cheap 120GB SSD and buy a lower tier gpu instead of just buying the better gpu now and then a reasonably large ssd a little later.

Actually, it's the other way round. SSDs are nice (even necessary) for their impact on general purpose use. Games don't really care if they're loaded from a spinner or SSD.

If -all- you do on a system is gaming, then yes, you can skip the SSD. But I really wouldn't touch a HDD system at all for anything else. Dropped HDDs for anything but bulk storage 10 years ago, and haven't regretted it once since. This is from a guy who raid0'ed 10.000RPM WD Raptors back in the day.

Particularly Windows Update on a 5400RPM mobile drive is enough to drive anyone to do crazy things.

 

[whm1974]

Actually, it's the other way round. SSDs are nice (even necessary) for their impact on general purpose use. Games don't really care if they're loaded from a spinner or SSD.

If -all- you do on a system is gaming, then yes, you can skip the SSD. But I really wouldn't touch a HDD system at all for anything else. Dropped HDDs for anything but bulk storage 10 years ago, and haven't regretted it once since. This is from a guy who raid0'ed 10.000RPM WD Raptors back in the day.

Particularly Windows Update on a 5400RPM mobile drive is enough to drive anyone to do crazy things.

Actually given how large games are getting, SSDs can help in that regard as they can speed up level changes and other things.

 

[Excelsior]

I used to be more concerned about getting an expensive motherboard but I've been very happy with my Asrock for $80. I completely agree with an above user that additional money spent on cooling/overclocking could probably spent better elsewhere (better GPU/display/etc).

 

[whm1974]

I used to be more concerned about getting an expensive motherboard but I've been very happy with my Asrock for $80. I completely agree with an above user that additional money spent on cooling/overclocking could probably spent better elsewhere (better GPU/display/etc).

I myself have never spent over ~$100 for a motherboard and aside from the second BioStar board, I had zero issues doing so.

 

[Sgt. York]

Don't expensive motherboards have the most bling?

 

[whm1974]

Don't expensive motherboards have the most bling?

Usually yes they do. Aside from HEDT platforms, I wouldn't over spend ~$100 for a board to avoid unneeded bling.

 

[EXCellR8]

I'm kind of bummed out that high end boards no longer ship with hybrid VRM cooling blocks, as I typically liked having the option to connect them to water out of the box--especially with OC but I suppose the less energy needed to OC the CPU is better as a trade off.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Isn't the H81 limited to two DDR3 slots? I choose a B85 board for my dad due to that reason and others.

The H81 was an Asus ITX which was the only sanely priced ITX mobo at that time, besides 2 DIMM slots for 16GB was more than enough even till now.

 

[whm1974]

The H81 was an Asus ITX which was the only sanely priced ITX mobo at that time, besides 2 DIMM slots for 16GB was more than enough even till now.

Yes but my dad could only afford 8GB, I choose four slots in case he would need to upgrade.

 

[hayhayhayday]

I have always went one step up from bottom(say $70-80 vs $50-60) and stuck to medium overclocks and never had an issue. If you plan to upgrade before it dies resale on bottom end boards is often near zero where might recover the price difference on mid range board

 

[SPBHM]

overclocking, more options for connectivity, that's pretty much it