The question wasn't really targeted at you, just a general observation tbh.
With all of the plastic and RGB nonsense that you are buying if you actually break it down, there is not much difference other than power delivery, and the PCB quality, and that would certainly not add 100% extra cost from £150 to £300. Obviously features add cost, but the only extra features you see added are more USB ports and 10GBe or 2.5GBe etc. nothing that cannot be expanded with cards or cables really.
$399 for a non HEDT board in my opinion is a waste, it is pure milking by the board manufacturers, and when you are someone like me who regularly deals with the stupidly priced Asus workstation boards, it is hard to fathom why they are doing it. I actually feel bad for those who think they are getting 'good value' with these products.![]()
I agree mostly, too much bling and the further up the stack you go the less value you get. Given the new tech though, PCIE 4.0, the potential to drop a 16C in and very fast NVME it seems prudent to get a higher end board if you intend to make it last a few years. I wouldn't bother if I was one of those who upgrade every couple of years.
Personally I'm looking for a higher quality pcb/VRM, 3x m.2., front panel USB C. Faster networking option would be nice but not essential. The downside is to get some or all of those you have to also buy a load of useless marketing guff. I'd like X399 boards with AM4 processors. Lots of options and IO but without the huge cost of the CPU.
Tl;dr not everyone thinks the higher end boards are good value but are just forced to buy unwanted features to get the ones they actually want
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