Price =/= Performance

[slasher0161]

Alrighty I realize this may turn sour but I just saw this and thought this is a very interesting point for discussion, so I do preface this with asking everyone to be civil so we can have a discussion without the mods having to jump in and stop the party.

***TTL review of the maximus VI Extreme***

Now to the point, this is one of the first times I personally have seen a reviewer outright be disappointed in a flagship board to the point of openly admitting they will likely not be getting anything further from that company for a while. Does anyone else believe that this might finally be the piece needed to make people realize (Especially with 1150 boards) that for the average end user a flagship board is not necessary and really not providing much more (useful at least) over the more moderately priced boards?

[This name sucks]

Shame on anyone who sees a bigger price tag and assumes it better as a result.

[slasher0161]

It tends to happen a bloody lot though which is quite sad and more so annoying when they will dispute those who try to inform them otherwise.

[chazus]

I'm under the impression that with most products, of any kind, that have a large range of prices and performances, the 'best' price/performance is usually right around the 25th percentile. With computers, it's an odd thing. There isn't a large range of prices/performances for things like... ram, or hard drives, or cd drives. It really can only be applied to motherboards (where 'performance' is more 'quality' and 'reliability') and GPUs, where it's a straight performance index. CPU's are weird because there's usually only 3 to pick from. Budget with upgrade in mind, budget, and top end. The price difference is so small that it's hard to give a rate.

Not only that, but it may be possible that manufacturers are getting 'comfortable' with buyers. Name brands sell. Maybe they simply think they can get away with normal products with 'performance' names.

[yurano]

When has an increase in price ever increased the overclock capability of a motherboard.

With top end motherboards like Maximus Extreme 6, the buyer is paying for the features (sound radar, overclock remote), not the performance.

The only misstep I see is that ASUS didn't QC Maximus Extreme 6 enough to make sure the OC performance of the ME6 was on par with other boards.

[Faithh]

When has an increase in price ever increased the overclock capability of a motherboard.

With top end motherboards like Maximus Extreme 6, the buyer is paying for the features (sound radar, overclock remote), not the performance.

The only misstep I see is that ASUS didn't QC Maximus Extreme 6 enough to make sure the OC performance of the ME6 was on par with other boards.

The Formula has the sound radar, I think. LN2 overclocking is oldschool/dumb & boring, nobody does it anymore. The Formula offers a hybrid vrm heatsink which is way more effective than all the overclock features on the Extreme board.. Atm I can't even manage to prevent the CPU downclocking at 4.8GHz with 1.375V on my RIVE without disabling the vrm overheat protection and if you have plans for a H220 that hybrid vrm heatsink would have been lovely in my case. Hopefully the rampage V formula gets the same armor & heatsink as the new max formula, then I'll switch my RIVE for it.

[BicycleMafioso]

There is still reasons to pick the higher end boards.
Functions and looks.

[DeltrusDisc]

There is still reasons to pick the higher end boards.
Functions and looks.

Except this board really does not have them. =/

[tielknight]

Except this board really does not have them. =/

To each their own. One may think it looks like a piece of crap while another may think it is the most awesome board ever. At least that applies to the looks department.

[DeltrusDisc]

To each their own. One may think it looks like a piece of crap while another may think it is the most awesome board ever. At least that applies to the looks department.

Truth, but features-wise, not really. That... thing, they're packaging with these boards, is honestly just a stupid gimmick.

[Milkshake86]

I'm under the impression that with most products, of any kind, that have a large range of prices and performances, the 'best' price/performance is usually right around the 25th percentile. With computers, it's an odd thing. There isn't a large range of prices/performances for things like... ram, or hard drives, or cd drives. It really can only be applied to motherboards (where 'performance' is more 'quality' and 'reliability') and GPUs, where it's a straight performance index. CPU's are weird because there's usually only 3 to pick from. Budget with upgrade in mind, budget, and top end. The price difference is so small that it's hard to give a rate.

Not only that, but it may be possible that manufacturers are getting 'comfortable' with buyers. Name brands sell. Maybe they simply think they can get away with normal products with 'performance' names.

however a lot of performance areas are just becoming baseline expected performance and as that happens you start to lean on what makes it look faster. I mean in a serious world even the most performance minded enthusiast will drop extra dollars on the better looking part.

[DeltrusDisc]

however a lot of performance areas are just becoming baseline expected performance and as that happens you start to lean on what makes it look faster. I mean in a serious world even the most performance minded enthusiast will drop extra dollars on the better looking part.

Frankly I'd say MSI with their Gaming series and Gigabyte with their UD4H, I think it is, whichever the red and black one they made, both look phenomenally better than Asus'. Then, if you want more red, ASRock's Fatal1ty motherboard.

ASUS isn't special - at all. Least, not anymore.

[yurano]

Truth, but features-wise, not really. That... thing, they're packaging with these boards, is honestly just a stupid gimmick.

Gimmicks move products. There has to be a feature that makes the buyer think: "I really want that, even if I have to pay a little more".

Fractal's Define R4 sells exceptionally well because of its "silence" gimmick which isn't actually all that effective, especially when it comes with noisy Silent R2 case fans. The foam can bring a quiet rig under the noise floor, but not significantly reduce the noise output from a jet engine; silence is better accomplished with fan controllers and fans with better acoustics. The Define R4's foam makes it sell like hotcakes despite several glaring weaknesses: ugly front face (door isn't the prettiest either), gimpy fan controller knob, heavy case, and noisy stock fans.

ASUS isn't special - at all. Least, not anymore.

FanXpert/Thermal Radar begs to differ.

Not sure if this is a ASUS only feature, but ASUS boards also auto configure RAM overclocks (timings).

[Deleted]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. People who happen to like the look of it will buy it regardless of the fact a $100 cheaper motherboard will offer them almost the same performance. I do not have anything good to say about Asus motherboards but that is just my personal experience with them here in the UK that makes me bitter towards them, And i accept that others feel the same about my go to brand (Gigabyte). They have very good marketing and will still sell a good amount of those.

[Saphyron]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. People who happen to like the look of it will buy it regardless of the fact a $100 cheaper motherboard will offer them almost the same performance. I do not have anything good to say about Asus motherboards but that is just my personal experience with them here in the UK that makes me bitter towards them, And i accept that others feel the same about my go to brand (Gigabyte). They have very good marketing and will still sell a good amount of those.

Actually according to the link. its 247,16$ less for a card that is better in any way. I would personally never pay 247,16$ for looks.

Also I agree that gigabyte is better XD

[Cyanotical]

while i wouldn't expect to get more "performance" per say out of a RoG series board over say a Mpower or OC series board, in general though, they do have a decent amount of quality, you run into issues as to what is performance, is it pure overclocking capability? or does it include things like stability and build quality? or even features, 99% of the people buying a RoG Extreme board will never use most of its features, and for most clueless people those features are just a check box for deciding between boards, even personally with the RIVE, i don't use the OC Key ever, i've used the voltage checkpoint leads once, but that doesn't mean i feel ripped off (im not happy with it, but thats for unrelated reasons)

however, i do think the title is a little misleading, and has the subtle implication of justification for those who feel the need to defend their purchases of lower price items to others