Best long time support manufacturer for mainboards?


  1. Posts : 2,935
    Windows 10 Home x64
       #1

    Best long time support manufacturer for mainboards?


    Hello fellow forum users.
    A quick question. Who do you think is the mainboard manufacturer that offers more long time support for its MBs?

    As IT guy I am really fed up with ending up with a not-so-old mainboard out of support or in a "no more bioses released/beta" situation (I am looking at you Gigabyte)... or downloading the latest bios and not being able to flash it for some weird reason (I am looking at you Asus).

    So, could you recommend me some manufacturer(s)?. I am aiming mostly at DIY desktop PCs not laptops. I am most interested in their support.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 2,585
    Win 11
       #2

    I can't say "long term" but I've had Intel, Gigabyte Z77, ASUS Z77 and ASRock Z77 motherboard. The Gigabyte's (2) both developed hardware problems (device no longer working); the first one was replaced under warranty. After the second one developed problems it was replaced with an ASRock Z77 Professional Fatal1ty. I had a second desktop and it had an ASUS motherboard and it crashed. I replaced it with an ASRock Z77 board; and its still going a my daughter's in a different location.

    The ASRock Z77 Professional Fatal1ty is used for my main PC and for my recording studio operations. It is 4+ years old and still going. I bought the Fatal1ty version as it has more USB ports, which I needed, not for gaming.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 12,799
    Windows 11 Pro
       #3

    That is fairly typical of all Manufacturers. Support a board until the next chipset is released.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 2,935
    Windows 10 Home x64
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Thanks for your replies.
    @fireberd: I also have an Asrock Fatal1ty board at work (I think it's z68 gen3 or something like that). I have always heard that Asrock was low quality but I haven't had any troubles at all and it's performing well. I think it has got the Sandy Bridge chipset.
    Updated its bios once and it has been working okay so far.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 7,871
    Windows 11 Pro 64 bit
       #5

    It's not Gigabyte!
      My Computers


  6. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #6

    Number of major part manufacturers is surprisingly small and there's a lot of re-branding going on. Actual chip manufacturers are even in lower numbers.
    Unlike drivers, BIOS versions don't need and update past all the the bugs are ironed out, You could view often updates to BIOS as more of liability than an improvement and just as a proof that they can't be unreliable. Once all the features of chipset are properly enabled, no BIOS update can introduce anything new.
      My Computers


 

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