How Do You Know What Is A Good Motherboard And Power Supply

when building a computer or buying parts what do you know what is good motherboard and power supply.

How cheap can you go? I have seen motherboards cost under $50 and others above $600

How do you know what is good motherboard and what is a bad motherboard? Are $40 power supplies okay? Some one said to me cheap motherboards and cheap power supplies do not last long.

And said cheap power supplies when they die or get a power surge normally take the motherboard when it dies. Is that true?

 

It's a crap shoot but generally, if you buy entry level components, you get entry level service.

To learn what is good or bad, read the reviews. But don't pay too much attention to "user reviews" unless many report the exact same problem. Note many users will down rate a product because it was the wrong color, FedEx delivered it to the wrong house, the box looked like it fell off the UPS truck, or the Post Office delivered it a day late, or the user himself didn't read the description and it was not what he really wanted.

Stick with brand names. But I would still avoid the cheapest models.

As for power supplies, everything inside your computer case depends on good, clean, stable power. So don't cheap out with a budget supply. I recommend getting at least an 80 PLUS Certified "Bronze" but "Gold" would be better.

Any PSU can take out the motherboard if it fails catastrophically. Fortunately, that is rare but still a higher end supply will likely have better fault protection features.

 

So how cheap can you normally go?

No less than $200 on a motherboard or no less than $300 on a motherboard or it will not last long.

Are those $100 motherboards or less any good or are they all garbage? And you be lucky if it last 3 to 4 years.

The same with power supplies? Those $50 power supplies or $100 power supplies are all garbage and will not last long. You be lucky if it last 4 years.

What normally is proper price range.

How cheap can you go before it is garbage.

 

This is all a bunch of nonsense. For starters the first sentence doesn't even make sense. Is it $200 or $300?

And I have used many under $100 motherboards in many builds and they are still going strong 5, 6, 7 years and longer. More money does NOT suggest longer life. What more money gets you is better performance and more features. But for those who need to surf the net, do email, update Facebook, or write an occasional Word document, to suggest a $300 or even $200 motherboard is needed is just plain silly.

And while I am a strong proponent of using a quality power supply, there are many $100 supplies that fall into that category.

 

Digerati has hit the main point, here... advising you on what a "good motherboard" would all depend on what you'll be using the system for, mainly. I'd venture a guess and say gaming... in which case, something like the MSI x470 Gaming Plus can be a beast depending on the rest of your hardware, and it's priced at $139 on NewEgg.

As far as the power supply goes, again... this is dependent on the rest of the parts you plan to install on your system. The CPU, video card (GPU), hard drives... everything has to be taken into account to calculate the total wattage it will all use, and then suggestions can be made based off your system's actual power needs.