Robust socket 1700 motherboard

rangor gubbins

rangor gubbins

rangor gubbins

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Anyone got suggestions for very robust, long lasting 1700 socket motherboards?
I'm planning to upgrade my >10 year old pc (i7-4790K, with a gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK) with 13th or 14th gen Intel setup up.
I've been looking at MSI Mag z790 tomahawk and the Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX.
 
Anyone got suggestions for very robust, long lasting 1700 socket motherboards?
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Do you mean a motherboard with a reinforced CPU socket or do you mean a motherboard that will last a long time and not fail/become faulty after only a couple years of use?

I think you mean the latter and that's impossible to say without some sort of mass database of all motherboards returned to the reseller or manufacturer and the reason for the return.

People will say stuff like "I had an MSI motherboard that's lasted me ages" but that's a sample size of one, doesn't mean anything and not indicative of the wider RMA rate of any particular range of motherboards, by brand or by model.

One thing you could do is look at a particular motherboard model you think will work for your use case and then look at reviews of the motherboard - If you see many 1 star reviews saying it faild after only a few months of use, then maybe avoid that particular model.

That being said: All products have a failure rate. All of them. There might be a small percent difference between a model with high reliability and one with poor reliability and you'll never really know which is which without knowing the world wide statistics.

Reply with a budget when you have a chance. I wouldn't overthink it though, just go with one that works for you spec and budget wise.
 
JollyJamma said:
Do you mean a motherboard with a reinforced CPU socket or do you mean a motherboard that will last a long time and not fail/become faulty after only a couple years of use?

I think you mean the latter and that's impossible to say without some sort of mass database of all motherboards returned to the reseller or manufacturer and the reason for the return.

People will say stuff like "I had an MSI motherboard that's lasted me ages" but that's a sample size of one, doesn't mean anything and not indicative of the wider RMA rate of any particular range of motherboards, by brand or by model.

One thing you could do is look at a particular motherboard model you think will work for your use case and then look at reviews of the motherboard - If you see many 1 star reviews saying it faild after only a few months of use, then maybe avoid that particular model.

That being said: All products have a failure rate. All of them. There might be a small percent difference between a model with high reliability and one with poor reliability and you'll never really know which is which without knowing the world wide statistics.

Reply with a budget when you have a chance. I wouldn't overthink it though, just go with one that works for you spec and budget wise.
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thanks, yes, exactly that. One that will last a long time. Is there any difference on warranty period, or do any advertise as 'using more durable components' (i realise this could just be marketing BS!)?
The gigabyte motherboard i'm using now GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK was described with these features:
  • Extended server level 168 hour durability Test
  • Long lifespan Durable Black Solid caps
And i think it had a much longer warranty period than other boards of the time.

Budget depends really. I don't mind paying more for something that has a better chance of lasting a long time, e.g. £300, but ideally i'd prefer to pay closer to the £200 range.
 
Is there any difference on warranty period, or do any advertise as 'using more durable components' (i realise this could just be marketing BS!)?
Click to expand...
Basically, it's marketing BS. Brands will advertise Japanese capcitors as a way to say that the quality of the caps are higher buuuut that doesn't really mean anything anymore since most Japanese made caps are made outside of Japan and then shipped into Japan where they get a noddy badge that they are of a certain quality.

Japanese caps have an image of higher quality after the capacitor plague that affected PC parts back in the day. Read more here. It's not really a thing any more.

You can get really high end VRM power phases as a feature but that doesn't really make a difference to AM5 as the CPUs don't run as hot as Intel CPUs.

I'd suggest you read reviews of motherboards that you like the look of rather than asking for opionions - most people will just buy a motherboard on looks and when it BOOTS up, they'll claim that it's faultless and perfect with zero research or testing.

Go look at Buildzoids motherboard roundup on Youtube if you want a deep dive on features and what motherboards make sense at different price brackets - he's excellent since he knows what goes into a well configured motherboard and what doesn't.
 
Bit out of your price range but I've been pretty impressed by the build quality on the Z790 Aorus Master so far - the cooling and current delivery is over-specced quite a bit which should help with lifespan and the socket area seems well reinforced compared to some of the other Z790 boards. Sadly that doesn't necessarily flow down to the other boards in the range though.
 
Is this a gaming PC, or a productivity PC?

If productivity, I'd be looking at the newer Core Ultra CPUs instead of the potentially problematic/broken 13-14th gen CPUs, especially since your main goal is for this PC to last and we don't know if any lasting damage / longevity is possible with these CPUs (..fixed or not). The 13th-14th gen -K CPUs do have a 5 year extended warranty, assuming Intel still offers it.

If a gaming PC, I'd be going AM5.

In terms of the motherboard lasting, I agree with JollyJamma, it is impossible to say.

You could buy a cheapo H610 board for £60 and it lasts for 10 years, or an expensive £500 Z790 board that dies 2 weeks later.

Generally speaking: I'd make sure that you get a board that has a more powerful VRM than the CPU requires and decent cooling, especially if you plan to run a high-draw CPU like a 13900K at maximum load for extended periods. For a gaming PC, any modest board should do fine, regardless of CPU.
 
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So I'm so used to people going AM5 that I was on autopilot and posted links to videos about AM5 - I cannot find a Buildzoid video with a round up of Z790 boards, only fairly old videos featuring Z690.

I agree with Tetras on the points he raised.
 
Hmm, hmm, some more food for thought.
I'm definitely very out of touch with hardware choices for PCs.
AM5 looks like a good option, as does the ultra core cpus.
The PC will mostly be for office type productivity, plus ripping dvd and blurays, and some gaming now and again.
 
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