Need help choosing X99 motherboard (frustrated)

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MikeSp

Weaksauce
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Jan 31, 2008
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I have spent several dozen hours reading professional reviews, numbers of eggs or stars from vendors, forum threads, and reading anecdotal narratives, many of which express problems with the allegedly better motherboards from the 4 largest manufacturers.

Expecting that another build using the Asus Deluxe was to be a given as in my past builds AND from allegedly professional reviews, I already have a new Phantek case, H105 water cooling, Evo 840 Pro 256 SSD for Win8.1 and programs, SanDisk 960 GB SSD for first data drive, G.Skill 2800 4 channel memory, GTX 980 and OEM Win8.1 ready to install and then read all of the problems with the Asus Deluxe.

Reviews from reputable sites/forums generally give good to glowing reviews (often with their highest recommendation) of all of the middle to higher ended mobos from all four of the main manufacturers. Numbers of eggs/stars and anecdotal narratives from actual users giving those eggs/stars tell a generally far different story from the professional reviews.

What is a person to do in making a wise decision in buying a middle to upper end mobo that is the most likely to be working, with at least a mild OC, and be DEPENDABLE and DURABLE since I mean for my computer to last 5 years using it for some gaming but mostly with Photoshop and Capture One (digital darkroom) as well as ripping Blu-rays for my own home theater use? :confused:

Thoughts/Opinions/Recommendations for such a mobo much appreciated -- THANKS
 
Go with the Deluxe, man. All mother boards can have problems, it's their nature, being large and complicated and full of different parts. Assuming you don't get a dud, which you can exchange for a new one (assuming newegg or similar), you'll likely be fine. I find the recent bios's have fixed all my problems with the deluxe, and my system is sitting pretty, doing my every bidding. I think you'll be happy with it, if you plan to use it more than playing around in the bios.
 
I went for the ASUS X99 Pro myself. I found a good deal for $278.99, and didn't need the extra features of the Deluxe.

Keep in mind the vast majority of people don't have serious issues, no matter which manufacturer it is.
 
Its a valid question for sure. Devil22 makes a good point that all of the boards seem to be struggling with teething problems, and that X99 in general may be having post launch blues. With the Deluxe, its been a MASSIVE seller, because Haswell-E is enthusiast, and enthusiasts want the best - which is what the Deluxe is. That means more people, more reviews, more coverage of when it goes wrong and more out in the wild that will actually GO wrong.

I had a Deluxe fail in the first week of turning on, and yes there are many others struggling too. There are many that are fine, and maybe it is true that the Deluxe's failure rate is higher than in the past (I am guessing, but maybe if a normal failure rate is 5%, maybe the Deluxe has a 10 or 15% rate, I am guessing at those numbers though). This of course mean lots that are fine.

Its worth noting that most of the problems stem from overclocking. Most people who buy the Deluxe will do so to overclock, but if you do not wish to, then go for a different board or be safe in the knowledge you are probably less likely to experience problems on it.

I bought another Deluxe to replace my faulty one (after refund) simply because I could not find another mobo with comparable feature set that WASN'T reporting similar problems. So its taking a risk on X99. If you want a more reliable option, go Z97 and one of the Haswell K's. AFAIK ASUS Z97 boards were pretty bullet proof.

But yeah - apart from Phoronix (exploding MSI X99-S SLI) and Legit Reviews (exploding X99 Deluxe), it sounds like most of the review sites got good samples.
 
As the OP, after reading reviews on this and numerous other forums plus checking to see what mobos were being used in the top end custom builds by the botique computer companies, I decided to go ahead and order the X99 Asus Deluxe, warts and all, figuring that as was pointed out, all X99's are having teething problems and hoping that my rather simple build should not involve any of the more esoteric problems that appeared in some of the more complex/advanced builds. This X99 board has everything that I could want now and in the forseeable future. Thanks for those that took time to make comments in this little thread.
 
Expect minimal support from Asus should something go wrong down the line. When buying Asus, buy with the mindset that you have no warranty.
 
MikeSp said:
As the OP, after reading reviews on this and numerous other forums plus checking to see what mobos were being used in the top end custom builds by the botique computer companies, I decided to go ahead and order the X99 Asus Deluxe, warts and all, figuring that as was pointed out, all X99's are having teething problems and hoping that my rather simple build should not involve any of the more esoteric problems that appeared in some of the more complex/advanced builds. This X99 board has everything that I could want now and in the forseeable future. Thanks for those that took time to make comments in this little thread.
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Remember newegg does not cover for bent pins in the cpu socket on arrival, i got burned once.
 
Personally I bought through Amazon first, but be aware that buying through an Amazon seller you have (questionably) less days to return if faulty. Buy from Amazon direct or go to someone outside Amazon who offers 28 day returns (if you are in the UK this should be standard anyway). That way if the board is faulty you dont need to worry about warranties. Most of the faults tend to appear fairly rapidly especially if you overclock. After refund I went with SCAN UK as they offer "installation insurance" and confirmed the 28 day returns window. Amazon were harder to pin down and contradicted themselves on a number of occasions, mainly because you never deal with the same person twice. An outside seller you are maybe more likely to get the same person.

ASUS support is patchy. In the US you have Raja and Praz who come to these and other forums and who will help you out. In the EU, the situation is not quite so good as you are reliant purely on email contact with ASUS, which is not the best by any means. TOP TIP: Summarise your problem in one sentence - a long email will probably not get read properly and then there will be another 48 hours whilst you wait for their follow up.

At least in the UK you cannot call anyone at ASUS when it comes to components. From what I have seen they do honour their warranties
 
Xgunnas said:
Remember newegg does not cover for bent pins in the cpu socket on arrival, i got burned once.
Click to expand...

Amazon for as many components as possible - NEVER had an issue with them, delivery is certain and I am notified by text and email :D
 
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