I want a perfect motherboard and I don't want to pay for it.
I want an NF7-S for LGA775. Why does such a beast not exist?
I have no idea what goes into engineering or building a motherboard, so this is as much a question as a rant.
Coming from a DFI NF4 Ultra-D, I've been very disappointed with my current Gigabyte P965-DS3. The DS3 is/was a pretty solid board for its price, but it doesn't feel as invincible as either my Ultra-D or NF7-S. Now I know it's not in the same realm as those the NF7-S or the Ultra-D but it cost the same as I paid for those boards back in the day.
I seem to recall that Intel boards have always tended to be more expensive than AMD boards. Is this simply a paranoid delusion? If not, why are they more expensive?
I thought I could get away without spending a lot on a motherboard and still get the performance I desired. I think I was wrong.
Allow me tell you about what I look for in an ideal motherboard. I want something fast--above all--but also stable. I want something that I can beat the crap out of and that will keep going without whining at me or cursing my future children. I like my motherboards to be overbuilt and bulletproof. I don't mind adding a heatsink or replacing some thermal paste here and there, but I want a solid board. I also like to have pretty much absolute control over everything (even if I don't change every option in the BIOS). My aims can be summed up with three words: speed, stability, control.
I've been looking at a lot of forum posts and reviews of motherboards lately. I can't find something as I've described to replace my DS3 which won't cost at least $250 (and even that's still a bit of a compromise). It seems to me that computers have gotten more expensive than they used to be. (What do we pay for high-end video cards and CPUs these days?)
Now, dear XtremeSystems community, I must prevail upon your collective wisdom: To continue in the manner to which I have been accustomed, what do I need to do?
