gigabyte motherboard processor support limited to 6 - 8 months!

[ironman]

Recently been advised that Gigabyte processor support for their motherboards is officially limited to under 12 months. If you buy a Gigabyte motherboard do not expect it to support any processors after 6-8 months! If you have any doubts just look at the infamous, though much lauded GA965P DQ6 Rev 1. On sale in 2007 it does not support virtually any available Core 2 Duo processors and only a couple of quads!
Apparently Gigabyte are of the opinion that selling new motherboards is now like the fashion business - just make it look good for a couple of months.
Please share your thoughts in this thread on the 2 important issues raised here -under 12 months motherboard processor support, and boutique boards. Why have a warranty period beyond 12 months if you can'y easily buy a cpu for your board after that? Why pay more than a 150 bucks for a board thats non-upgradable to a new processor? Perhaps the Gigabyte rep would like to share his thoughts on this business plan? Perhaps noone cares that their board is now defunct in under 12 months. Please share your thoughts on this issue -it's interesting . Thanks

[Johnny123]

Re: gigabyte motherboard processor support limited to 6 - 8 months!

Have a look at all the other brands.

[ironman]

Re: gigabyte motherboard processor support limited to 6 - 8 months!

Hi Johnny123,

Not sure what you meant - did you mean

1. All major motherboard manufacturers now don't attempt to provide designs that cater for cpu/processor development over 12 months away? or

2. Just buy another companies motherboard and don't share this knowledge - that I have gained from Gigabyte - with other Gigabyte users?

Thanks for expressing your thoughts - whichever was the case.

[PrairieDawg]

Re: gigabyte motherboard processor support limited to 6 - 8 months!

Designing boards that would be garanteed to support future processors not yet released is darned near impossible. Board makers do often mention support for specific processors not yet released if they have been given all the specs but even that sometimes causes major problems if even the slightest change is made in final fabrication. Board manufacturers are not usuallly CPU manufacturers as well so why would they be expected to know exactly what AMD/Intel have up their sleeve?

[chriskwarren]

Re: gigabyte motherboard processor support limited to 6 - 8 months!

The only problem I would have with this would be if Gigabyte dropped support for CPUs on a particular line (ie. P35) while all other manufacturers kept going.

Another example would be Gigabyte pledging support on the website/packaging (ie. 45nm support) and then not providing it. This is similar to the 680i boards where Gigabyte got the shaft when Intel changed the specs of the 45nm cpus on nVidia, and then the board makers like Gigabyte were left with the mess.

I am assuming that you have some examples of this? You have some links to support your argument? (comparing Gigabyte support to other companies with the same chipset line?) I would do this research myself but you seem pretty strongly about this and must have done this already.

[Johnny123]

Re: gigabyte motherboard processor support limited to 6 - 8 months!

It's hard for any manufacturer to design a future proof motherboard, and especially now with LGA1366 sockets coming out in Q4 2008.

[ironman]

Re: gigabyte motherboard processor support limited to 6 - 8 months!

Thanks for the comments, and I' d like to correct a number of the points made attempting to mitigate the impact of the information I've recently received from Gigabyte.

1. This new shortened motherboard lifespan is not just related to 'future proofing' nor completely new socket launch's by Gigabyte. It is not even related to warranty because warranties are no longer held to apply to usability by Gigabyte, but only functionality. If it works with only one processor at one setting that's good enough.

2. Motherboard manufacturers are given a great deal of information by Intel/AMD in advance because without working boards you can't sell chips. Most manufacturers get the cpu voltage requirements right most of the time in their design. Problems do occur in manufacturing and build quality, but the voltage control design is the responsibility of the manufacturer to meet the cpu specs. If on rare occassions these specs are substantially changed late on why should a manufacturer bring to market a board that won't really work properly, advertise it as working, and then refuse to correct their error?

3. The example I am providing here was listed at the outset -the flagship GA965P DQ6 Rev 1. Socket 775 Core 2 Duo, which does not support virtually any Core 2 Duo processor available just over 1 year on. Gigabyte advertised this flagship board for this processor range and knew of the 45nm production plan well in advance. Rev 1 does not overclock properly or support any 7 or 8000 Core 2 Duo cpu's. Rev2 of this same board included a major revision to the control of the CPU voltage which enables this version to be overclocked better and to run a few 8... Core 2's by 'overclocking' when they were released. Revision 3.3 of the same board featured further major changes to its CPU voltage control which enabled official support for some 7.. and now unoffically some 8.. Core 2 Duo's.

Most 775 socket manufacturers did not produce any flagship board in 2006/7 that I know of with such a major cpu voltage design flaw that prevented any major cpu upgrade at a reasonable cost. If they did please post them here for comparison because I would like to know who they were as well.

This thread is all about sharing information and opinion about what motherboard manufacturers are now supplying to their customers - in this case expensive boards that have in reality a lifespan of only the cpu that they were purchased with. Is that right? Is that what Gigabyte customers want or expect today? No ability to upgrade their cpu to another in the same range, for an existing socket design, within the boards warranty period? Please post your thoughts here because this component is the heart of the computer industry, and these marketing changes - necessitating 12 -18 month complete rebuilds, learning time and substantially increased expenditure will have a massive effect on how the whole industry will perform in the very near future.