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| Thread ID: 50471 | 2004-10-21 10:31:00 | Cheap vs Expensive MBoard | bk T (215) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 283350 | 2004-10-21 10:31:00 | How critical is the role of the Motherboard in the performance of a computer, given that all other components are identical? Will an 'EXPENSIVE' Motherboard (say, > $400 ) perform better (in general broad terms) than an ordinary (or cheap Mboard of around $100 - $150 range)? |
bk T (215) | ||
| 283351 | 2004-10-21 10:53:00 | An expensive motherboard generally allows you to put the latest and fastest components in it. If you have older slower components then your better off buying a cheaper motherboard. The mobo is usually determined by what you plan to put in it.(now and future) |
Raikyn (6293) | ||
| 283352 | 2004-10-21 11:29:00 | Depends on what you want to do with your system after you have built it. Some cheap motherboards are just that cheap and nasty, inferior componentry. Other cheap mobos have solid componentry but are cheap because they lack the extra features of more expensive types, sata, gigabyte lan blah blah. cheaper boards may possess the same chipsets as more expensive boards but lack the supporting build quality and superior components that make a really good board. eg Japanese capacitors as against taiwanese ones . The bios support may be lacking in cheaper boards for tweaking your board to max potential. One company may supply a range of boards utilising the same chipsets and some may be expensive dogs and others gems. Price while an indication of a high performance board is no guarantee. The only real way to determine is reading up on reviews, talking to those who have experienced boards you may be interested in in short researching. I tend to use asus because of features, quality and performance but my suppliers and their techies swear by abit now on the quality of components/build quality and performance so i'll probably head abit next upgrade. Random thoughts late at night G/night |
the highlander (245) | ||
| 283353 | 2004-10-21 11:34:00 | Get a mobo with a good chipset and your set,The difference in price comes down to bells and whistles (audio,firewire,sata,brand of nic,packaging,instructions,Dual bios(pppfffttt) Bundled software and build quality(how many out of each batch will be faulty) You don't see many "stinker" boards from the major brands anymore,This i would put down to the fact that everything is analised to such an extent and so many people now shop for indivdual components. No matter what your price range google will tell you if its worth purchasing. |
metla (154) | ||
| 283354 | 2004-10-21 11:41:00 | edit **analysed** |
metla (154) | ||
| 283355 | 2004-10-21 19:57:00 | Or, to put another slant on it - Price is only one factor in assesing VALUE. The worst board may not neccesarily be the cheapest, but it will almost always be the worst value. A free board is not good value if it limits, or irritates you frequently The best board is not always (or even often) the dearest. It may be more board than you want or need though. Reliability, warranty, performance and ease of use, together with a bit of headroom for future needs are usually more important than price. |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 283356 | 2004-10-21 20:22:00 | Aslong as you stay away from the super nasty brands such as PCChips and Elitegroup (ECS) you cant go wrong. You also need to choose a good chipset, if your buying Intel buy an Intel chipset (dont even consider VIA or SiS) and if your buying AMD then VIA and nVidia both make good chipsets. The difference between cheap motherboard and expensive motherboards is generally the features offered, features generally determine the price. The only other thing that may effect price is overclocking performance, boards that were designed to overclock or just overclock well often depend a premium. For example the DFI nForce2 motherboard was an awsome overclocker and had stacks of features and an awsome bundle, thus it was expensive, but the Abit NF7-S with a small bundle and less features often overclocked just aswell but was far more affordable. Gigabyte make some really good cheap motherboards, other good brands are MSI, Abit, ASUS, Soltek are pretty cheap but have been known to make a few lemons its always a good idea to read a few reviews before buying a Soltek. MSI recent releases of Intel and AMD boards are some of my favourite at the moment and offer good performance and value, DFI still seem to be making some of the best overclocking motherboards but its still to be seem as to whether or not theyve delt to many of the bugs that plagued there earlier boards. Theres nothing wrong with a cheap motherboard as long as its not ECS or PCChips, just remember that new technology demands a a premium price and could be the reason for some motherboards being expensive, especially those with Intels 9XX chipsets. |
Pete O'Neil (250) | ||
| 283357 | 2004-10-21 20:24:00 | Is there realy such a thing as a bad motherboard these days. It seems to me that the only reason for price variations are what is on the m/b's. There is no point in getting one that supports things that you will never use. In my case I'll never use fire wire or Lans. And who realy needs a dozen USB ports. I've got eight on my comp. , but I only ever use two.And do you need or want connectors on the fron of your case? On the expensive boards these are what you are paying for. Jack |
JJJJJ (528) | ||
| 283358 | 2004-10-21 20:32:00 | > edit > **analysed** I thought you were right the first time metla. Analised just seemed to fit perfectly with the topic.:D Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 283359 | 2004-10-21 20:41:00 | >Will an 'EXPENSIVE' Motherboard (say, > $400 ) perform better speed wise they can be 1-2% faster than an elcheapo (for the same chipset) the top brands general have better parts and are more tweakable. the better parts and better design makes more stable, however due to their highly tweaked nature (with some boards) some can be less stable than the middle of the road boards. the middle of the road brands are ussually a good buy for the average user. while not the fastest they are ussually stable but are missing the advanced optoins (tweakability) of the more exspencive boards. the elcheapo's.......keep well clear of. generall unstable and die often. ECS are a bit werid. they are the biggest budget manafacture but they also make boards for other manafactures including some topend brand names. as far as what cpu etc you put into it...it dosn't make any difference. a crash happy pc is just as bad if its a slow one or a fast one. |
tweak'e (174) | ||
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