I miss the old days in which asus PRO or DELUXE was all you needed to look at if you did not want a 40 eur motherboard. Do they even still do 50$/50Eur motherboards?

asturur:

I miss the old days in which asus PRO or DELUXE was all you needed to look at if you did not want a 40 eur motherboard. Do they even still do 50$/50Eur motherboards?

Well, ASUS does have some cheaper models, but most of that was pushed off to Pegatron (OEM) and ASRock (for the stuff between OEM and enthusiast). So, that is why about 12 years or so ago, ASUS started having significantly less cheaper models (as they didn't want to burn their image on cheap OEM boards that weren't nearly as reliable). I believe (not 100%) that Pegatron stock is still partly held by ASUS even if they are their own company now (if). ASRock was spun off into it's own name at first but then into it's entirely own company a few years later, becoming partly a competitor to ASUS in the process and entering some of the higher-price market too. But yes, they used to have some cheap ones, now it's mostly Gigabyte (same company as Asus now for last 10 years or so, just a name now) taking up the cheap boards since the core 2 duo days, though ASUS still has quite a few in the Asian / Middle-east markets in the 'lowest' categories of do-it-yourself builds (less here in the USA though, they mostly have boards 100$ and up here). So yes, you can find the cheaper ASUS boards, they're out there, though it might not be viable to ship them to the states or the EU, when you can just go to your local retailer and pick something off the bottom shelves for just as cheap and more than likely about as well made. They usually start at 60~65$ (about same in Euros) for the low-end chipset boards in M-ATX form-factor, with two ram slots, no heatsinks on a dirt-cheap bare-minimum VRM solution type board. That said, not everyone needs the most expensive full-featured motherboard out there. If a mid-range or entry-level board has all the features you need, then by all means, regardless of the name, save some money and go a bit cheaper (unless it's known to be a real stinker or have serious short-comings). Ex: I picked up an ASRock Phantom Gaming 4 x570 board - the cheapest (at the time) x570 board made. No RGB's built in, I forget what color it is, I run my 3700x at stock speeds with the stock fan, and it had zero issue setting my dual-rank 16gb x2 sticks (32gb) of 3000mhz cl-15 RAM up to run at their rated XMP speed without anything other than selecting XMP in BIOS. Conversely, if I was attempting serious overclocks or running the PC 24/7 in extreme conditions, I'd likely want to jump up a level or two in quality and over-engineering, especially if it was a mission-critical work-related duty machine. So for 50$, look to Pegatron, Asrock, MSI, or cheap Gigabyte models. That said I do miss the days 12~13 years ago when you were getting BIOSTAR cheapo motherboards (including identical models from Jetway) for FREE (new!) with cases ordered or for about 12$ when purchased outright open-box. I still have some of them and only one died (figures).

asturur:

I miss the old days in which asus PRO or DELUXE was all you needed to look at if you did not want a 40 eur motherboard. Do they even still do 50$/50Eur motherboards?

I miss the days where the heatpipes shapes and dimensions of the MB was the only good looking factor, good old days without RGB leds.

bobblunderton:

Well, ASUS does have some cheaper models, but most of that was pushed off to Pegatron (OEM) and ASRock (for the stuff between OEM and enthusiast). So, that is why about 12 years or so ago, ASUS started having significantly less cheaper models (as they didn't want to burn their image on cheap OEM boards that weren't nearly as reliable). I believe (not 100%) that Pegatron stock is still partly held by ASUS even if they are their own company now (if). ASRock was spun off into it's own name at first but then into it's entirely own company a few years later, becoming partly a competitor to ASUS in the process and entering some of the higher-price market too. But yes, they used to have some cheap ones, now it's mostly Gigabyte (same company as Asus now for last 10 years or so, just a name now) taking up the cheap boards since the core 2 duo days, though ASUS still has quite a few in the Asian / Middle-east markets in the 'lowest' categories of do-it-yourself builds (less here in the USA though, they mostly have boards 100$ and up here). So yes, you can find the cheaper ASUS boards, they're out there, though it might not be viable to ship them to the states or the EU, when you can just go to your local retailer and pick something off the bottom shelves for just as cheap and more than likely about as well made. They usually start at 60~65$ (about same in Euros) for the low-end chipset boards in M-ATX form-factor, with two ram slots, no heatsinks on a dirt-cheap bare-minimum VRM solution type board. That said, not everyone needs the most expensive full-featured motherboard out there. If a mid-range or entry-level board has all the features you need, then by all means, regardless of the name, save some money and go a bit cheaper (unless it's known to be a real stinker or have serious short-comings).

Originally ASRock was "spun-off" as a subsidiary of Asus in 2002. Asus "spun-off" Pegatron into it's own company in 2007. Now ASRock is just a brand owned by Pegatron, having been in 2010. Pegatron produces budget and some mainstream motherboards sold under the Asus brand, as well as ASRock branded products. Pegatron also produces OEM motherboards under the Asus, ASRock and Pegatron branding. Asus and Pegatron/ASRock are independent companies. Prior to the "spin-off", Pegatron was a division of Asus that produced OEM, budget and (some) mainstream motherboards..... The only thing that's changed, is that Pegatron is not part of Asus since 2010.... I can't find anything that says Asus and Gigabyte are the same company. They entered into a joint venture around 2006, that Gigabyte had majority stake in, but the same factories were still manufacturing Gigabyte branded products. Joint Venture, Merger and Buyout are completely different things.... Only a merger or buyout results in 2 companies becoming the same, which doesn't appear to be the case with Asus and Gigabyte. Asus and Gigabyte are still independent companies, apparently sharing manufacturing capabilities and capacity.... https://www.tweaktown.com/articles/934/gigabyte_and_asus_join_forces_our_questions_answered/index2.html

asturur:

I miss the old days in which asus PRO or DELUXE was all you needed to look at if you did not want a 40 eur motherboard. Do they even still do 50$/50Eur motherboards?

Not really.... Boards sold that cheap are generally either SI boards, remaining stock of EOL/discontinued boards or used boards. What used to be the $50/50EU price range....is now the $65-80 price range. As features are added to boards, the price tends to increase. Expect to see prices go up a lot more when the new ATX12VO power spec is implemented....

sykozis:

I can't find anything that says Asus and Gigabyte are the same company. They entered into a joint venture around 2006, that Gigabyte had majority stake in, but the same factories were still manufacturing Gigabyte branded products.

They definitely AREN'T!

They all look good but, I would buy the Asrock one. 🙂

ManofGod:

They all look good but, I would buy the Asrock one. 🙂

To have tested all brand, MSI and Asrock are definitively the board to go, in this time

Alessio1989:

I miss the days where the heatpipes shapes and dimensions of the MB was the only good looking factor, good old days without RGB leds.

A lot of us do. I have zero issue having a beige computer with green PCB's lining the interior if it does what I need it to do, and doesn't make a heck of a lot of noise in the process. I have 0 use for anything that does not make the computer do it's job faster or more efficiently. All that money people throw into RGB this and bling-bling that, and fancy colors etc, to make it puke rainbows... they could have a faster/better PC without it all. It's other people's prerogative what they do with their money though. Thankfully, Tyan / Supermicro / Asrock (product line called 'rack' for workstation / server) / Gigabyte professional line (workstation/server) / Pegatron / Biostar and a number of other lesser-loved or lesser-known names still make green PCB's. Though for SOME reason (which I don't like), Supermicro as-of last summer, didn't have much anything for the AM4 socket at all. I was a bit steamed over that one. I wrote them a letter about it but I haven't heard back. I just want a boring basic-looking but powerful box that does what I need it to do, and gets it done TODAY when I need it (content creation!), without cooking me alive in here or blowing the reference material across my desk.

sykozis:

Originally ASRock was "spun-off" as a subsidiary of Asus in 2002. Asus "spun-off" Pegatron into it's own company in 2007. Now ASRock is just a brand owned by Pegatron, having been in 2010. Pegatron produces budget and some mainstream motherboards sold under the Asus brand, as well as ASRock branded products. Pegatron also produces OEM motherboards under the Asus, ASRock and Pegatron branding. Asus and Pegatron/ASRock are independent companies. Prior to the "spin-off", Pegatron was a division of Asus that produced OEM, budget and (some) mainstream motherboards..... The only thing that's changed, is that Pegatron is not part of Asus since 2010.... I can't find anything that says Asus and Gigabyte are the same company. They entered into a joint venture around 2006, that Gigabyte had majority stake in, but the same factories were still manufacturing Gigabyte branded products. Joint Venture, Merger and Buyout are completely different things.... Only a merger or buyout results in 2 companies becoming the same, which doesn't appear to be the case with Asus and Gigabyte. Asus and Gigabyte are still independent companies, apparently sharing manufacturing capabilities and capacity....ATX12VO power spec is implemented....

Yes, I understand all of that, but it had been quite some time since I had read into it. I've been into PC hardware for over 25 years now so I was around when all that was going down (almost 40 here). Thank-you for clarifying some of the finer details though. It's still too much to wrap head around most days with all the muscle-relaxers and nerve-pain pills I have to take though. It doesn't do deep-thought and understanding any favors, for sure.