MBReview's "Ultimate Motherboard"
Stephen Cooper, May 1st, 2006

     If you’re one to keep tabs on the motherboard reviews that are posted here, you’ll surely know that I take aesthetics to be an important factor on high-end products. Sure, Joe and Jane Schmoe don’t need, nor care about whether or not their motherboard is eye catching. Odds are, if it works, they’ll be happy. On the other hand, it takes far more to please a consumer who can end up laying down upwards of $200 - S250 for a new motherboard with all the latest bells and whistles. Aesthetics are an important factor in everything, from advertisements, to your vehicle, to your home. It’s something that few people ever bother to sit down and think about, but it’s more than just color.

     Let me start by illustrating my point here. Let’s say you’re in the market for a new motherboard, you’ve been waiting for months now for that processor you want to drop down to an affordable price, or for the latest round of graphics cards to hit the market. It’s time to upgrade. Now, say it comes time to purchase the motherboard, and you’re looking to go for the best of the best. If you had the choice between an elegant motherboard featuring a black or blue PCB with matching components, or an ugly brown motherboard, which would you pick (equal performance)? It’s no different than buying a car, other than the fact it’s substantially cheaper.

     The trend that I’ve seen as of late is a continual slow progression back to the days of blander PCB’s. ABIT, for example, was never one to venture too deeply into the world of colored PCB’s, rather they have always pushed their performance related technologies. I’m sure many of you can remember back to the days when ABIT was shipping boards sporting black and blue PCB’s. Now, virtually their entire line has gone back to a more standard orange - brown color. With the recent changes, it’s possible that this might change, so we’ll have to wait and see. Others, such as MSI or ASUS, have chosen to stick with certain PCB colors for their premium products only. ASUS, for example, extensively utilizes black PCB’s.

     If you’re still not on the bandwagon in believing that aesthetics alone can help buoy a product, let’s take DFI’s well known LAN PARTY series into account. Before the launch of the LAN PARTY series, let’s face it, if you used a DFI motherboard you were using either an OEM system, or you were one of their many other OEM related customers. DFI offer an enthusiast motherboard? You had to be kidding. Then, the LAN PARTY series hit the shelves and blew up. One of the main things they did was simply catering to the high-end crowd by offering gorgeous color coordination, and ultra-violet light reactance to their motherboards. DFI went from “DFI, who the…?” to becoming a consumer favorite brand in an amazingly short period of time. The market needs something like this again, something to push the edge of what’s expected.