Are Asus x99 boards currently having a bad run?

The Internal

Limp Gawd
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Nov 14, 2004
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132
Hey all.

So, I'm looking to do a build around my i7-6850k and I've encountered a surprising number of bad reviews / complaints about Asus x99 motherboards toasting their CPUs and/or needing multiple RMAs.

I was considering going with an ASUS board, despite the X99-A having some recurring issues in the i7-5820k build I did for a family member but noticed a LOT of reviews on Newegg and a number of threads in forums about their CPUs getting toasted.

Has ASUS been doing a "bad run" for awhile on the x99 platform? I really like white / black aesthetics of many of their boards (as well as some of the EZ moad features of the AI Suite), but am a little nervous to throw down money on a board that could kill my CPU.

Can anyone confirm if this is indeed a thing? If so, I would welcome suggestions on mATX or ATX x99 boards with thunderbolt 3 support, 2 way SLI and Crossfire support, as well as M.2 NVME and RAID 0 support. Looking to build a gaming / media production / do everything rig.
 
Been using the ASUS Rampage V Extreme, the original one from 2014 and I have not had any issues with it and still using it, works great. Not sure about the latest boards though, but ASUS is generally a well reputable brand though I heard nasty stories about their RMA and customer service, but I'm yet to deal with them but I recommend them.
 
I've historically liked Asus as well. Based on the litany of bad reviews for the same problems on Newegg and Amazon, I'm really wondering if I need to avoid them for the time being. In general, I've noticed a dearth of very well received 2011-v3 motherboards on major web stores, with CPU failure, USB issues, or slow boot times being the most common complaints.

That also begs the question... is it the motherboards, or are the 6th gen 2011-v3 i7 processors to blame?
 
I've historically liked Asus as well. Based on the litany of bad reviews for the same problems on Newegg and Amazon, I'm really wondering if I need to avoid them for the time being. In general, I've noticed a dearth of very well received 2011-v3 motherboards on major web stores, with CPU failure, USB issues, or slow boot times being the most common complaints.

That also begs the question... is it the motherboards, or are the 6th gen 2011-v3 i7 processors to blame?

I think you have to factor in that X99 was hella complicated compared to earlier mobos. It took me all of an afternoon to get a solid Ivy Bridge OC that's still running strong 5 years later. It took a couple of months to get X99 on a RVE dialed in, just a bunch of stuff I'd never heard of. I take the customer reviews with a grain of salt. For one thing, the auto vcore when you just dial in a multiplier is WAY too aggressive. I got 1.4v+ just by entering 46 as the CPU multi. I never intended to auto OC anything, just playing around the first day, but I was really surprised to see that much voltage. Asus says, to their credit, that their auto voltage has to be enough to cover worst chip scenarios, but damn, you can just imagine how the average Joe made out. Plus all the endless pages of other settings, training DRAM voltage vs eventual, plus the whole DDR4 thing and the manual doesn't really say what 90% of those settings do.

I wouldn't take for my RVE, but I can see why a lot of people would give up, say the board was wack and return/RMA it.
 
My ASUS X99 Deluxe II is on its way to ASUS as I type this. Woke up Thursday morning and computer was powered off. Tried to restart and no luck...wouldn't post. Figured my Seasonic 1000W fried and would check it out when I got home from work.

Swapped out the Seasonic for a smaller Corsair and got the same result. Bare-boned it and no change. I'm hoping it was the M/B and not my 6900K. The CPU is also still under warranty, but I don't want to have to wait to replace that one, too.
 
What you need to understand, is that ASUS outsells most motherboard manufacturers on Earth. ASUS outsells many other manufacturers combined. Yes, X99 is complicated and all of them are a bit more difficult to work with than X79 motherboards were. XMP compatibility, general RAM compatibility and some processor related bullshit are common things with not only X99 but Z170, Z270, C612, X370, and X299. Essentially this is becoming common place for most newer platforms as they increase in complexity.

That said, I've reviewed a fuck ton of X99 motherboards. ASUS' have been some of the best. Specifically the X99-Pro, Rampage V Extreme, Rampage V Edition 10, and a few others I'm probably forgetting have all been fine. I've enjoyed the two Rampage boards for some time. I would have kept my Rampage V Extreme, but the Rampage V Edition 10 was available to me so I took the free upgrade. It's a nice board and it's been rock solid since day one. Once I dialed it in, I haven't looked back.

Keep in mind that both my Rampages were retail samples from ASUS, that were abused by Kyle and me during reviews. We aren't kind to them. I then put them in my own machine and abused the fucking shit out of them since the platforms / respective board launches. I've never had any issues with either one outside of memory compatibility.

I use my machine for work and for play. The system has been on 24/7 aside from being shut down for hardware upgrades or while I was moving back in December. I also play games in my free time. My machine doesn't sit idle outside of me being at my day job or sleeping here and there. The rest of the time I'm beating on the thing. It gets hot in my office sometimes with so many systems going at once. I even had a bad PSU cable the other day. My cat kept bumping the wire and killing my machine. It's survived stupid shit like that without being worse for wear.

So no, I wouldn't say ASUS has had a particularly bad run. Although I found it to be a good board, the original X99 Deluxe was hit and miss for people. That seems to be largely firmware related.
 
My ASUS X99 Deluxe II is on its way to ASUS as I type this. Woke up Thursday morning and computer was powered off. Tried to restart and no luck...wouldn't post. Figured my Seasonic 1000W fried and would check it out when I got home from work.

Swapped out the Seasonic for a smaller Corsair and got the same result. Bare-boned it and no change. I'm hoping it was the M/B and not my 6900K. The CPU is also still under warranty, but I don't want to have to wait to replace that one, too.

Asus replaced my MB and I got the same indications. Contacted Intel last night and they overnighted a new i7-6900K. I'm typing this on my now whole again system.
 
The only issue I've had with my RVE is some weird USB boot issues. Some USB devices will stop my PC from loading windows. A UEFI update has resolved it for the most part except for the hub with my HOTAS and pedals. If boot hangs I can just unplug the offending hardware and the PC will just carry on, no reset necessary.
 
Asus replaced my MB and I got the same indications. Contacted Intel last night and they overnighted a new i7-6900K. I'm typing this on my now whole again system.
Intel warranties if you overclock?
 
Intel warranties if you overclock?

They ask the question when you set up the RMA. Overclocking using the motherboard's easy overclock feature isn't overclocking in my opinion. Tweaking it to get every last ounce of speed is a different story. There's really no way Intel could tell if you were overclocking anyway.
 
Intel processors could easily have their microcode or UEFI storing frequency data into undocumented NVRAM.
 
Asus replaced my MB and I got the same indications. Contacted Intel last night and they overnighted a new i7-6900K. I'm typing this on my now whole again system.

It's now been a little over 3 weeks and my system is again dead. Pretty much the same. Tried a different power supply -- no luck.

I had a brand new Seasonic Prime that wasn't even in use on the old system, so I can't say a faulty P/S caused both dead systems. I have a different Asus X99 D2 M/B RMA'd from ASUS so this also couldnn't be the cause for both dead systems. NO OVERCLOCKING whatsoever. So now the big question...motherboard or CPU? I have no way to test them -- looks like RMAs AGAIN.

I''m really getting pissed about this.

UPDATE: Received new processor from Intel...system working beautifully again...but, for how long?
 
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