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Why is it hard to find motherboards with good ratings on Amazon?

Okjoek
By Okjoek
in CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory
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Posted

Like I typed in "AM4 mATX" and saw a bunch of boards with terrible reviews so I tried clicking the little "4 stars and up" search option filter and the filter litterally removed all AM4 mATX boards. There's nothing there.

 

Ignoring the filter I continued to search until I found something that fit the build theme I was going for:

https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-AB350M-PRO4-MicroATX-Motherboard/dp/B06X9LN3QK/ref=sr_1_12?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1521472691&sr=1-12&keywords=ASRock+AM4+motherboard

In the pictures it appears to have all the features I want and it looks gorgeous.

Spoiler

91YebJvxHFL._SL1500_.jpg

And then I get to the reviews and 1 star reviews outweighed everything else full of people complaining about freezes and crashes after a month or two of ownership. I mean it's not a cheap board either.

 

I mean I don't use Amazon user reviews as a law of purchase, but I do take them into consideration. Is this a problem with the mATX form factor? Would I have better luck with ATX boards? Is it an Amazon problem with them getting a lot of bad boards VS other E-markets? I haven't honestly looked. Maybe I should find more professional reviewers than Amazon users?

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Posted

Look up details and reviews elsewhere. Buy on Amazon after.

Probably gaming or helping technophobes with tech...

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There's nothing wrong with the form factor. That wouldn't make sense. If mATX has issues, then I'm surprised my mITX board isn't breaking every hour.

 

If it were me, I'd look elsewhere for user reviews, or not filter them by a particular score. A lot of negative reviews tend to be noise because people will complain about anything and not fully explain it. So it doesn't provide any useful info as to why they don't like it and how that affects you.

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3 minutes ago, Okjoek said:

Maybe I should find more professional reviewers than Amazon users?

there's your answer.

 

just because people have their PC freeze after a while doesn;t mean the board is bad. :P it just means their PC building skills are. 

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Check the dates as well. Ryzen had a lot of compatibility issues back when it's first launched and the Asrock Pro 4 is one of the first batch of released motherboards. Not so much today

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Reviews don't really mean much on various sites. There are many times where Newegg, Amazon or B&H had varying reviews where one site  has 3 stars and another a perfect 5/5.

 

The trick is to focus on the negative reviews and determine for yourself if they are legitimate bad reviews or from people as tech savvy as a potato.

 

 

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You have to actually read the reviews not just look at the rating, and know how to troubleshoot PC issues yourself to be able to decipher common folk reviews. Last board I bought I read through and found a few complaints about chipset heatsink temps but it was the only board that had the right I/O, features, and price point I was looking for but I knew what to expect and planned out a fix in advance thanks to those very few that actually knew how to properly explain their qualms.

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9 minutes ago, RollinLower said:

there's your answer.

 

just because people have their PC freeze after a while doesn;t mean the board is bad. :P it just means their PC building skills are. 

To be fair, newegg boards of that board reported the same thing. I believe it was a BIOS issue though and had nothing to do with the quality of the board fortunately.

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17 minutes ago, Okjoek said:

I mean I don't use Amazon user reviews as a law of purchase, but I do take them into consideration. Is this a problem with the mATX form factor?

No it's just a garbage motherboard.

 

There are some genuinely well built SFF (and SFF like) motherboards out there.

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People generally dont share good experiences. People will scream their heads off when displeased, but cant be bothered to say something good.

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I agree with @asand1

Your average consumer who buy from NewEgg / Amazon won't necessarily give a review/feedback if everything works.

They would definitely voice out if something is wrong.

 

I remember some guy on NewEgg was complaining about his AMD Phenom II X4 CPU dying ~2 months later.

Upgraded to a Phenom II X6...THAT died a few months in too.

Why? because he was using some crazy Core Voltage...like 1.7V or something for his overclock.

Yeah not kidding, any CPU will die with that much voltage..

Better yet, his 'Tech Level' is supposedly 5/5.

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