Is brand loyalty worth it? AKA: My x58 build went poof

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Feb 18, 2014
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First off. No flames or fanboy arguments. Please be objective.

So I've been rocking a Asus P6x58D-Premium with an i7 930 @ 4ghz for the past 5-6 years and unfortunately 2 of the 3 ram channels no longer work.:mad:

I have used a whole host of different manufacturers in various builds over the past 15 years or so. Ever since the Athlon xp days, Asus has been my first pick for any personal computer that I build.

Now that my 930 build is largely useless I've been looking into getting a Haswell-E build. I asked some opinions on the Asus sabertooth x99 board and have received, at least from one community, a resounding "NO!" to anything Asus other than ROG boards.

Now don't get me wrong, the ROG stuff is nice, but not $540 nice (to me at least). I'm not an extreme overclocker. I really don't think that the Rampage is worth it for my new build. but I could be wrong

So...

Is Asus still a reputable company making quality products? Is there a better alternative to sub ROG level mobo's?
Should I just stick with my brand loyalty or should I switch to something like MSI or even EVGA?

Suggestions, hints, comments?
 
If you are willing to accept opinions about after-purchase support (ie. RMA services), many will tell you that Asus pretty much sucks donkey balls if you ever have to RMA a product. Yes some people have not had issues, but myself included there are massive horror stories on here about it.

As for quality, I can't really knock them. I have a Asus Radeon 5870 that still rocks steady. I had a Asus motherboard years ago that rocked steady as well.

Nice thing about this site is there is a Asus rep who can help with matters should they go downhill on you.
 
If you decide to buy any ASUS product, just know that you are going to buy a product with pretty much 0 warranty except from the retailer where you buy it from.
 
get the IPR, EWP, what ever they call the extended warranty at place of purchase. ASUS support/rma has always been hit and miss.
 
Brand loyalty is never worth it. On the other hand, avoiding brands that are known to have issues is usually worth it. For example, I like MSI as their support has generally been excellent, but I would never recommend an AMD MSI board from the 8xx generation or older, especially for Thuban.

In my experience, Gigabyte, MSI, and ASRock support have generally been good. Asus has been bad. I would buy the board from one of the three above that has the features that you want/need at the lowest price.
 
Nope, brand loyalty is that thing that causes you to make irrational decisions based on previous experience.

I sometimes buy ASUS products and I've never had a problem, but you should buy what makes sense for that purchase alone. I haven't had any issues with any of the MSI stuff I've bought either and they do tend to be a bit cheaper. Gigabyte I've had annoying issues with the bios when overclocking with two different generations of boards (G33M-DS2R, Z68X-UD3H-B3) but it doesn't mean that you will.
 
Hey tanks for the resonances!

I personally haven't ever had an issue with Asus support, then again I've only ever had to RMA 1 board to them that went pop after 2 weeks or so.

Anyone have any experience with the MSI X99A SLI KRAIT or MPOWER boards? Any quality issues?
I was looking at the ASrock but I'm not too big of a fan of the blue, red, or orange.
 
I think it's valuable to some degree. Especially if you're comfortable with typical board layouts, BIOS settings/UI, and support policies. I favor MSI for those reasons. It doesn't mean you should turn a blind eye to other/better options, but I usually start my search with a trusted brand and then look for a reason not to go with them. If there isn't one, it's an easy decision.
 
ASUS still makes great gear, just pray you don't have to RMA anything because their after the sale customer service has become shameful.

I used to be a big fan.
 
I think it's valuable to some degree. Especially if you're comfortable with typical board layouts, BIOS settings/UI, and support policies. I favor MSI for those reasons. It doesn't mean you should turn a blind eye to other/better options, but I usually start my search with a trusted brand and then look for a reason not to go with them. If there isn't one, it's an easy decision.

I'm usually a really loyal customer. I like rewarding a good company with a good product. But it seems that Asus may have had some issues in recent years. So on to other brands. It will be an adventure! :D
 
I usually use Gigabyte boards, but for my upcoming x99 build, I went with Asus X99-A as it has gotten a great review by [H] here, while Gigabyte's UD4 had lots of horror stories regarding it's BIOS.

I think Asus do make great boards even in this relatively "budget segment", but you should definitely consider other brands too. Pick out the boards that fit your budget, read several reviews (I tend to trust [H] more though) ensure that they are all working great without any major issues. If after all these comparisons, and you still find 2-3 boards that could all serve your needs with great feedback by reviews/user experiences, then I guess it's fine to go with the brand you prefer. The important thing is to ensure you're not losing out on something better if you chose to stick to the brand you prefer.
 
hey also

have you tried reseating the CPU? the memory on X58 was prone to socket issues
 
hey also

have you tried reseating the CPU? the memory on X58 was prone to socket issues

Yep. No dice. I've been looking to see if I can find any documentation to what the pin lay out on lga1366 is to see if there is any dmg to the chip or socket for the pins that correspond to the ram but I haven't had any luck.

EDIT: I found a simple pinout here

I'm going to check the CPU and socket again tonight but I'm prepared to order new cpu/mobo/ram when it doens't pan out.
 
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I wouldn't have any problems going with a Sabertooth at this point. Not a release board, so they've had a chance to work out any issues. If I were buying one right now, that's what I'd get.
 
Never.

I always read reviews etc etc about any product, why would you not? Brand loyalty makes no sense, I use to do nothing but ASUS mobos, but went with Gigabyte on my last build, the only time I might be somewhat loyal is for support, like back in the day on EVGA GPUs, had one fail, I had changed the cooler on it, and was doing heavy OCing, anywhere else, if they found out about even changing the TIM, they would not give you a RMA, I told EVGA about what had been done, and their only reply was "be sure the stock cooler is reattached to the card before sending it in".

But even in cases like that, if I were to research a card, and the one from EVGA were to have really bad rating, why would I bother? Even if support was good. You have to weigh all aspects, performance, features, support and price, never buy a brand because something from them worked in the past.

Should also note, I always had good luck with ASUS (never had to use support, but from what I hear its REALLY bad), including the one from my last build, it just so happened that the gigabyte board hit all the features I was looking for, had great reviews and was able to get a killer deal on it at the local MC.
 
Never.

I always read reviews etc etc about any product, why would you not? Brand loyalty makes no sense, I use to do nothing but ASUS mobos, but went with Gigabyte on my last build, the only time I might be somewhat loyal is for support, like back in the day on EVGA GPUs, had one fail, I had changed the cooler on it, and was doing heavy OCing, anywhere else, if they found out about even changing the TIM, they would not give you a RMA, I told EVGA about what had been done, and their only reply was "be sure the stock cooler is reattached to the card before sending it in".

But even in cases like that, if I were to research a card, and the one from EVGA were to have really bad rating, why would I bother? Even if support was good. You have to weigh all aspects, performance, features, support and price, never buy a brand because something from them worked in the past.

Should also note, I always had good luck with ASUS (never had to use support, but from what I hear its REALLY bad), including the one from my last build, it just so happened that the gigabyte board hit all the features I was looking for, had great reviews and was able to get a killer deal on it at the local MC.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not talking about buying something on blind faith. Always do your research to see if there are known issues with said products. However, the majority of the time there are relatively small differences between competing products. There is a required level of usability/compatibility that will act as the cost of entry to the market, especially when talking about motherboards/ram/videocard (brand, not amd vs nvidia). When a handful of products all offer the same performance within a 10% margin and with comparable reliability, how do you choose? Price alone? Customer support? History (brand loyalty)? Reading the tea leaves? Trial by combat?

For example, every review site I go to basically has the same reviews for each x99 board. Overclocks fine, UEIF is easy to use. Temps are good. Benchmarks are all within the same rough margin. ect.. ect..

I was just looking for opinions.

Anyway. I'm thinking I might try out a MSI board. I've never had one before and unless I find a review that says stay away it could be cool.Who knows.
 
Don't misunderstand. I'm not talking about buying something on blind faith. Always do your research to see if there are known issues with said products. However, the majority of the time there are relatively small differences between competing products. There is a required level of usability/compatibility that will act as the cost of entry to the market, especially when talking about motherboards/ram/videocard (brand, not amd vs nvidia). When a handful of products all offer the same performance within a 10% margin and with comparable reliability, how do you choose? Price alone? Customer support? History (brand loyalty)? Reading the tea leaves? Trial by combat?

For example, every review site I go to basically has the same reviews for each x99 board. Overclocks fine, UEIF is easy to use. Temps are good. Benchmarks are all within the same rough margin. ect.. ect..

I was just looking for opinions.

Anyway. I'm thinking I might try out a MSI board. I've never had one before and unless I find a review that says stay away it could be cool.Who knows.

Then it would be price, if it is within a small range, it would be support, if the same, then availability, if the same then, which ever I liked the look of better probably.
 
outside of my personal reasons for not using Nvidia I see no purpose in brand loyalty overall.

Things I find useful in buying hardware

1. NEVER buy first release hardware, wait a few months to see if there are issues
2. I like great stuff on a budget so I buy near the end of a hardware cycle

Boards that I have used
Abit (are they even around anymore?) BH6, AT8, few Nforce boards, all flawless
Gigabyte G33 and currently B85
Foxconn G45
ECS (one failed) G33
Intel Desktop Boards based upon G33
 
The short answer is NO. I started my builds back when AMD was King of the CPU Gamer. The FX-53 (2003) I used ASUS boards until I had a problem with one and moved to Gigabyte. Never had issue with Gigabyte, but then went back to the ASUS Sabertooth Z77, which was a bust. Next 5 builds, 1 for myself and 4 for friends were all MSI Motherboards and never had a single issue. Now for my latest build I really wanted the Tri-Band WiFI integrated and 3.1 USB just for future proofing, so I went with the ASUS X99 Deluxe 3.1 USB. This board is a little buggy at times, but Stable 99.9% of the time, so I am happy with it.
 
I buy whatever works the best at the price I want to pay, although I have had a rough time with multiple Asus products getting RMA'd I have also had very good experiences with their stuff when it works.

I went with the MSI X99A SLI Plus for my Haswell-E build, it was only $199 at microcenter when I got it and I have been very pleased with it, clocked my 5820k to 4.5ghz with 2400mhz RAM with zero effort, have not had a single crash or instability. I don't need all the fancy stuff, my only requirement was an Intel LAN port instead of that Killer crap and this has it. I wish the SLI Krait was out when I got it because it has slightly better VRM's though.
 
Brand loyalty is a blind following. A person should always consider the pros and cons of each product and manufacturer. I think what everyone should do is go by their past experiences and current conditions of the said brand/model.

I personally will never buy another Gigabyte product after horrible support of their z77 boards. Their boards wouldnt accept a newly released R290/x back when they first came out. It wouldnt fire up at all. Basically it was their driver support/BIOS drivers. Z77 was relatively fresh back then.

Asus has always been good to me, no matter what people say online. I go based on my own experience. I have owned 6-7 different Asus boards and not a single one gave me issues other than being picky with memory (Sabertooth series)
 
get the IPR, EWP, what ever they call the extended warranty at place of purchase. ASUS support/rma has always been hit and miss.
I can say brand loyalty is not worth it. Asus is a great example as pointed out by this quote. I've been fairly loyal to Asus since the P4 days. They were the leader for so long and I think that allowed them to get a little lazy regarding their warranty process.

I've read online horror stories about the Asus RMA warranty facilities. Asking about the conditions was actually something I had submitted to the "Asks Asus" event that was supposed to happen last year on this site, but that never ended up being canceled or something. I'm guessing that they decided focusing more on the bottom line and having very strict quotas on failed boards, rather than good customer service, is more important.

I can say that the Asus handled the Intel 6 series SATA corruption issue really well. That was a simple return but I'm guessing Asus corporate handled that rather than their outsourced warranty facilities.

I'm switching from Asus to GA for my next system.
 
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I can say brand loyalty is not worth it. Asus is a great example as pointed out by this quote. I've been fairly loyal to Asus since the P4 days. They were the leader for so long and I think that allowed them to get a little lazy regarding their warranty process.

I've read online horror stories about the Asus RMA warranty facilities. Asking about the conditions was actually something I had submitted to the "Asks Asus" event that was supposed to happen last year on this site, but that never ended up being canceled or something. I'm guessing that they decided focusing more on the bottom line and having very strict quotas on failed boards, rather than good customer service, is more important.

I can say that the Asus handled the Intel 6 series SATA corruption issue really well. That was a simple return but I'm guessing Asus corporate handled that rather than their outsourced warranty facilities.

I'm switching from Asus to GA for my next system.

gigabyte is the only brand that I have never had an issue with.
 
Thanks for all the great responses guys. Really been helpful.

So I think I'm going to give MSI a try however I'm stuck on what one to get. Has anyone had any issues from either the Krait or the Mpower?

I also though about the ASRock Fatali1ty or OC formula but I'm not a fan of the colors. (I know, lame reason)
 
I have been using a X99 Krait since it came out and (knock wood) have really enjoyed it. Running 5820K at 4.5gHz 24/7 and RAM at 2666mHz without issue. I have put MSI boards in several systems and the one time I had to call support (they had a recall on a board) it went well. Good luck with your build.
 
Never buy first release hardware is a rule that is not always true. Some manufacturers are cutting costs on second runs by using fewer or cheaper components. Also on the intel side the first runs are binned less and overclock better.
 
Nope, brand loyalty is that thing that causes you to make irrational decisions based on previous experience.

I sometimes buy ASUS products and I've never had a problem, but you should buy what makes sense for that purchase alone. I haven't had any issues with any of the MSI stuff I've bought either and they do tend to be a bit cheaper. Gigabyte I've had annoying issues with the bios when overclocking with two different generations of boards (G33M-DS2R, Z68X-UD3H-B3) but it doesn't mean that you will.

My current PC which is getting replaced within a few days is running a Gigabyte motherboard (X58-UD5) and it sucked. I've never been able to get rid of the clicking in the audio and the USB support was horrible. I tried countless drivers before finding one that at least allowed them to work.

I used an Asus X99-pro (I need wifi for my desktop and my old wireless adapter is PCI 1.0 :( ) and an Asus GTX 970 for this new build. I hope I won't have issues after assembling the new computer.
 
Thanks for all the great responses guys. Really been helpful.

So I think I'm going to give MSI a try however I'm stuck on what one to get. Has anyone had any issues from either the Krait or the Mpower?

I also though about the ASRock Fatali1ty or OC formula but I'm not a fan of the colors. (I know, lame reason)

I have the Krait and have been more than happy with it. It was dirt cheap ($75 at Microcenter), overclocks well, has good fan control settings, supports SLI, has an M.2 slot, and doesn't have too many blinking lights issues fitting my components. Plus, I like the MSI Bios and look/feel.
 
Going by the price in OP, I'm assuming this is going to be an X99 build?

I have the Krait and have been more than happy with it. It was dirt cheap ($75 at Microcenter), overclocks well, has good fan control settings, supports SLI, has an M.2 slot, and doesn't have too many blinking lights issues fitting my components. Plus, I like the MSI Bios and look/feel.
I agree with this guy. The Krait Edition has a lot of good features at a low price point. The X99 version starts around $220 US. If I were to start another build right now this would be the board I would get (except in my case I would be doing a Z97S build). The white and black color scheme is also very classy, in my opinion, swimming through a sea of black/red.
 
I used to be ASUS only. I'll spare the life story and answer your question: No, it generally doesn't pay to be brand loyal. My past few motherboards have been ABIT, evga, gigabyte, and now MSI. Find features you like, check some reviews to make sure there's no obvious problems, and forget about the name :)
 
Not really because all the tier 1 have studs and duds.

Check reviews and then what your budget is and hopefully you pick a winner.

I built a handful back in the day with Abit and they were rock solid, I have since only
used Gigabyte and so far they have all been good as well.
 
I find myself buying Asrock motherboards lately, mostly because of price but also because they haven't delivered the suck yet. I think everyone has a brand they will not buy, probably whatever they got burned with when manufacturers were using cheap capacitors.

I just retired my old desktop system that had an ASUS P5N-E SLI motherboard. That thing had been running pretty much 24/7 for eight years. Build quality was apparently excellent, but the design was meh, because it couldn't power 4 memory dimms at the same time.

MSI is the brand I won't buy, because that's the mobo that died after a couple years. At least until Asrock, ASUS, or Gigabyte burn me, then I might consider it again.
 
Pricepoint vs functionality is the only smart way to do things.


Well, to do ANY thing really. Especially high turnover electronic items.
 
I'll be loyal to a brand if they paid me. Other than that, I usually go with the best price/performance/review during the time of build.
 
Brand loyalty only exists until I get the same performance for the same price.
 
My relatives seem to have the opposite of brand loyalty and rather have brands that they stay away from which I feel is really unfair because it is usually based on 1-2 experiences.
 
I love my ASUS X99-Pro. My previous board was an ASUS Z97 board, which was great as well.


On an unrelated note, I still miss my old Abit KT7A-RAID. ::weep::
 
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