Most reliable motherboards

[DevPete]

I've always had Asus motherboards because of their reputation for reliability, but from my experience they seem to be pretty poor. Out of my last three boards, one had a known memory compatibility issue (I had to under-clock the memory) and my current one has issues on very hot days (took 4 boots to get into Windows the other day) and also during the colder months (hangs randomly). This board has been like it from new, although I can't be certain whether it's the board, the memory, the i7 CPU, or maybe the SSD, but it's never been overclocked and the temperatures have always been below 40C.

Are Asus still considered the best, or should I look at Gigabyte or MSI? I'm looking for a Coffee lake i7 machine. Are there any chipsets to avoid or go for? It's not for gaming and I won't be overclocking but some gaming potential would be good. I'm looking at a mATX with the H370 chipset but would go for others if I found the right specs.

 

[8 Pack]

Are you buying the cheaper end boards or what?? Because high end ASUS I have these least issues and we are testing hundreds of things!! also how do you know its not the sticks themselves or the CPU IMC did you try them on a different board?? I dont get how you lose confidence in a manufacturer when your totally speculating the board is the issue???

If you are going to switch go AsRock this is a solid option and better than MSI and Gigabyte in my eyes.

H370 with an i7 come on man!!

 

[DevPete]

Are you buying the cheaper end boards or what?? Because high end ASUS I have these least issues and we are testing hundreds of things!! also how do you know its not the sticks themselves or the CPU IMC did you try them on a different board?? I dont get how you lose confidence in a manufacturer when your totally speculating the board is the issue???

If you are going to switch go AsRock this is a solid option and better than MSI and Gigabyte in my eyes.

H370 with an i7 come on man!!

I've bought a variety of boards. The best one was a budget one. My current unstable one was a pretty good spec, it was a ROG board. It's not practical for me to test the components in other machines. As it's now an old machine I'd need to source second hand parts and it would take months of testing. It can go many weeks without a single failure so I'd need to test is for a quite some time to know whether it has been fixed. Load doesn't seem to affect it, so a load test is also unlikely to prove anything.

H370 with an i7. Is that good or bad?

 

[pandem0nium]

I've had problems even with high end asus boards. I've had a Crosshair v formula Z and a RIVE Black both die a death.

Gigabyte is probs your best bet due to the UK based RMA centre, which would mean a quick turnaround.

 

[D.Roberts]

What Gigabit board would be equivalent to an Asus maximus IX formula.

Mine died so need to replace it or go for another one but was trying to stay away from Asus tbh.

EDIT

TBH I realy cant see ANY THING equivalent to my current faulty board .

Need to wait for OCUK to get more in as TBH this is my only option.

Pretty gutted I want to get on with my rebuild purchased loads of new stuff for it

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/project-warranty.18824261/

 

[8 Pack]

Go asrock taichi in this case. Very solid.

 

[D.Roberts]

Ohhh 8 Pack himself

Hi yeah was looking at them I aint gonna lie truy do love the Asus board I had with the style and features it had realy gutted it died I thought these things where solid...must have been so unlucky .

I am waiting for OCUK to let me know when they will be getting more Asus maximus IX formula boards in TBH I am willing to wait I have waited over a month now (ASUS RMA IS TERRIBLE) so a little longer to get the board I had wont hurt any more .

Thanks

 

[Rroff]

I've not really found any brand that is completely problem free - Asus has been terrible in my experience but strange enough Asrock who I believe are related have been pretty decent - Gigabyte I've generally found good but sometimes issues with first boot and some models have had dodgy VRM cooling. MSI have been pretty average.

A lot of the other brands I've broader experience with seem to have either pulled out of the UK and/or pulled out of the motherboard market in general.

 

[D.Roberts]

Hmmm realy a bit lost here now might give Asus one more try as nothing realy does stand out to me.

Just hope it wont take long to get some more stock on them as said waited ages not sure I can go much more LOLOL .

Its like loosing a limb I tell ya even more so this PC I have is like a very special gift I was truly lucky to have got it as I could have never afforded any thing like it my self.

Was realy gutted when it died .

EDIT

@Rroff also it seems OCUK have practicaly no z270 motherboards in stock or very limited options.
They have I think one Gigabyte board but thats not full ATX etc.
Realy between a rock and a hard place at the moment.

I mean I wouldent mind giving Asrock a go or Gigabyte but OCUK have very limited choice right now...or if I see a motherboard I like would OCUK order it up even if they dont have it advertised on there site?

I looked a while ago and there was a lot more (about two weeks ago) now they have all been removed etc.

 

[pastymuncher]

I have never had any problems with Asus boards but I understand they have gone downhill over the past couple of generations. My next board will probably be from Asrock as they have come a long way since their early days and are very well thought of these days. One brand that I avaoid at all costs is MSI because every single board that I ever had of theirs has failed for one reason or another.

 

[D.Roberts]

Shame

Any way I have heard back from OCUK looks like im getting credit for my board
And they cant get another Asus so I have asked about gigbyte I am asking can they get me a gaming 9,8,7 etc so shall see

I truly hope so as the boards they have on the site I dont want nothing pops out at me

Totaly gutted about this totaly

 

[Ice Tea]

One brand that I avaoid at all costs is MSI because every single board that I ever had of theirs has failed for one reason or another.

Was that running at stock in most cases?

 

[D.Roberts]

Does any one have any of the gigabyte gaming series boards?
I was looking at the gaming 9 but will NEVER go SLI so seems a bit OTT.
the gaming 7 etc looks nice but this still depends on if OCUK can get any AGHHHHHHH well over a month now without PC LOL.

 

[hornetstinger]

Buy a qtec motherboard hehe built in pyrotechnics to make cod more realistic. Actual bangs from base unit to simulate grenades

 

[D.Roberts]

LOLOL

 

[JasonM]

Since 2009 I've been using Gigabyte boards, I count 5 in that time and everything been fault free, some have even been running as servers in 24/7 use.

But i'm super super careful with my computers. Take ESD precautions when building, hold components by edges, use Silverstone FT-02 cases with the 3 x 180mm fans on low speed (good cooling), use Seasonic PSU's (good voltage regulation), under volt board/memory/cpu where I can, I even have some of my computers plugged into Tacima Hi-Fi mains conditioners. End result is I do have very reliable computing.

 

[D.Roberts]

Awesome I am sold on getting a Gigabyte board just need to decide on the

gaming 9,8 or 7 probably 8 or 7 wont ever go SLI any way but still.

Just hope every thing works out this is killer man.
Over a month without a PC and I just want to get it back up and running plus carry on with me project log

I have purchased loads of stuff for it here is a list of main compnents

i7 7700k (Will never overclock realy have no need to tbh considering what I came from so)
Asus Maximus ix Formula (this is now scrapped so hope to get a Gigabyte)
16GB of ram
Corsair rx1000i PSU
Asus 1080 None Ti also not overclocked no need to tbh
x2 SSD
x1 500GB m.2 drive
Bitfenix red cables Yummy

and some other bits and bobs

 

[pastymuncher]

Was that running at stock in most cases?

50/50 to be honest. My own boards were always their top end boards and the P45 Platinum was the one when I decided I had had enough. The chipset died after just two weeks and it got stuck in a boot loop. I refused a replacement MSI board from the retailer and ended up with a Asus P45 Pro Turbo and haven't touched a MSI board since. I have replaced several Intel and AMD socket MSI boards for others that just ran at stock as well. There was also the stupidly high chance of bricking the boards because all of their bios flashing methods were just terrible. No other manufacturer ever had such a high instance of bios flashing failure from my experience and the many tales of woe on the internet. Their own forums were full of disasters and they just seemed incapable of moving forward with a reliable flashing tool. I don't know what they are like now for flashing but to be honest I don't want to try. I will never touch MSI motherboards again. From what I have just been reading about Asus boards I won't ever buy another of theirs either.

 

[Ice Tea]

The last time i had a MSI it was socket 775 and i had hoped they might have improved as something about the board always felt sluggish.

 

[D.Roberts]

Asus mate the boards look niceee and they have cool features but if ya need to RMA it then ya may as well give up TBH.
I am lucky OCUK are in the middle (one of the reasons I use OCUK for there awesome customer service).

But yeah Asus I am staying clear off now if I can help it.

Still waiting to hear back about the Gigabyte so cant wait finally some light at the end of an upsetting tunnel.