New
#1
Need Recommendation for AMD Motherboard
Gosh, I hate to ask such a Newbie Question.
For many years now I have purchased ASUS AMD motherboards. My two Crosshair boards, which I have been using for quite awhile, are bulletproof.
I recently purchased an ASUS M5A97 EVO Motherboard, which worked fine during the initial setup in another case. After moving the board to a much larger HAF case, all of my DDR-3 RAM (2 sets of 16 GB Corsair) which worked before no longer works. Without sounding like a "smarty pants", I tried all the obvious stuff with MemTest, change of PSU cables, testing each stick of RAM at a time - everything.
Now I don't buy junk, and I don't overclock or game. I use my boards for business and they can't go down. Always use vinyl gloves and static straps during installs.
I am hoping you can tell me which board will suffice as a replacement for this one that I must RMA.
Please:
1) No discussion of NAS
2) No discussion of RAID
3) No suggestions that Gigabyte might be the best choice. I have had nothing but bad experiences with that immoral company. (Check out the UD-3 and UD-5 threads on OCN.)
As my Daddy used to say, "if you're gonna tell me a lie, at least tell me a good one".
And GB doesn't even lie well.
What I need is:
1) Lots of on-board 6 Gbs. SATA ports
2) Front panel USB connector
3) Just running an AMD Quad Core on this one (With Noctua NH-D14)
4) Corsair RAM XMS-3 and Corsair Vengeance - each 16 GB (4 X 4 and 2 X eight)
Still looking at ASUS:
1) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131851
2) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131969
If you feel that I can get by with a much cheaper motherboard, even one that is not an ASUS, please have at me. My ego is plenty durable, and I am not afraid of being proven wrong. I just need reliability without overclocking and gaming.
Oh, one question for my edification: What's the difference in quality between a $100.00 board and a $200.00 board? In all the reviews I have read, they all get both praise and criticism, such that the board you get seems to depend on the luck of the draw.
Thanks guys! :)