Reliable LGA 2011 mobo?

Neurotoxin · 2013-04-12, 03:48 AM

I've been looking around all week for a reliable LGA 2011 motherboard, and I've had zero luck. I don't plan to overclock, but I intend to load up the system with good hardware. Here's what I need:

-Reliable. Must not be DOA, or shipped with bent or broken pins.
-Up-to-date BIOS guaranteed. I see a lot of cards that are being sent out with old or defunct BIOS chips.
-Works as advertised. I'm planning to get a crapton of DDR3-1600 quad channel memory, and I need it all to work at full speed.
-Warranty and quality RMA service. ASUS is out, they are disgusting with RMAs.

Based on all that, is there a specific motherboard I should look at?

Thanks!

Rbstr · 2013-04-12, 11:06 AM

It's not like there are a ton of options...Gigabyte, MSI , EVGA, Intel, Asus and ASRock. Those are you options and if, after a week of looking, you've decided that none of these are reliable, or somehow acutely susceptible to getting damaged during shipping you're SOL.

On the BIOS...who cares? Just update the thing. It's not hard.

Neurotoxin · 2013-04-12, 02:50 PM

I use reviews (mainly from newegg.com) to determine the average fault level of a board. Based on how long its been around, how many DOA / bent or broken pins / Old BIOS chip (needs to be shipped in to be replaced, its hardware not firmware) the review has compared to positive reviews. Additionally I can tell if the manufacturer's RMA process is good or if it is junk, find out about common hardware failure and breakdown rates, and know if there are any other limitations (like the mobo only running ram at 1333).

ASUS is definitely out. Their slow and dishonest RMA process, and rate of broken or failure-prone boards, means they are definitely not an option for a LGA 2011 motherboard.

I might just need to see if a local vendor / retailer has an in-store return policy that would let me avoid the need for RMA. I'll need to review Best Buy and Frys policies...