hello jacobstone
althought im not a user of gigabyte motherboards, i think this is a good brand. i remember back in the days of the pentium 4 and athlons, there were quite a lot of reports of motherboards with bloated and leaking capacitors. these problems definitely fried motherboards and other parts in the cpu.. during those times, Gigabyte motherboards were tested and shown to have the best built of circuits and had "solid capacitors". Gigabyte then branded their boxes with "solid capacitors" descriptions.
im sure that by now all of the motherboard manufacturers have double checked their capacitors and circuits.
my suggestion is that you pick a motherboard that has the features that you need. then look for the brand with the longest warranty or nearest service center.
the motherboard models that indicate over-clocking capabilities should be a level higher in terms of durability with regards to the normal consumer level boards. choosing overclocking capable motherboards might be a bit more expensive.
a bit off-topic but true:
a good ventilation and regular cleaning of the cpu innards should prolong the cpu life.
using a surge protector (and/or) UPS also helps protect your cpu from possible power fluctutations
then also a good power supply that has more than enough watts that your computer uses is also responsible for keeping your cpu powered up
also a good and well ventilated cpu case -- that goes without saying again that you pretty much have to keep the cpu clean inside and out haha
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my last two motherboards are ECS branded boards. theyre cheap, have all the features that i need, and simply works. ive not had any leaking/bloated capacitor problems with ECS.
3 computers ago, ive had an ASUS board, it wore out on me new years eve! when i checked a capacitor was leaking and so i suspect that was the cause of the problem.
in the office we have about 40 desktops. they are all ASUS brand motherboards. no problems with any of them. we have at least 10 very old "CELERON" cpus! they are also on very old asus motherboards. still working fine and no problems
i guess sometimes its a bit of luck with finding a good board, and the usual maintenance of cleaning, cooling, and a good power system that works
