I'm a newbie looking to build my first computer. But I have to tell ya... I'm a bit worried looking at all of these mixed reviews. It doesn't seem to matter who the manufacturer is.. just about every motherboard that I've looked at seems to have a high amount of 1 star reviews to go along with a high amount of 5 star reviews.
Granted, I've been looking at higher-end boards like the EVGA X79 Dark IvyBridge and the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme. But I'm worried that I'm gonna drop $300 or $400 on a board and it's either going to shit the bed in a few months or give me issues out of the box.
Why are there so many mixed reviews on motherboards? Is it because people start running into issues when they start to overclock and do advanced stuff?
No line of products is free from malfunctioning. It could be user error, it might be dropped in transit. Any number of reasons why something might fail to work.
While some products have known issues, higher-end motherboards have better components and a better design, generally.
You should choose components based on their aesthetic, the features that you need, budget. Because someone had a bad unit, doesn't mean that you can't buy with confidence.
You'll often hear about the worst incidents, but it doesn't really express an inherent problem with any single motherboard. If I have a bad product, I turn into a little keyboard warrior! I never bother to write reviews with the positive experiences that I have.
Cheaper motherboards might have a shitty power design, or a lack of heatsinks. Your preferred motherboards shouldn't have inherent design flaws.
I think the biggest thing to look at really is the warranty policy for the mobo. I've been through 3 asus mobos of a specific type, all of which have the same issues, and they refuse to do a model change. I'm personally wishing I bought an EVGA mobo based on their stellar warranty.