Top-a-the-Line motherboard recommendations

I know it may be a loaded question but what would be a recommendation for a good/best, top-of-the-line motherboard for a Desktop p/c.
Don't do gaming - not interested in lights and other do-dads.
Do regular Word, Excel, Financial Software, VPN to work computers, maybe image tweaking, browsing.
Looking for something that has good amount of connection option with on-board video & audio to start.
Upscale sata and USB.
Intel or amd doesn't matter.
Have sata ssd's and hhd's to attach.
Not overly concerned with cost - can make own value judgments.

Any ideas/recommendations?

Thanks.
G. Salisbury
Long Valley, NJ

For as long as I can remember, ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte are the top three.

Steve,

Thank you for the ASUS ... etc. references - sorry for the delay.

Would you have reason to be able to point me towards a specific?

I'm on a circa March, 2009 HP Pavilion and it has always well suited my needs, and basically still does, but this past week or so it has started BSOD'ing.

I have pretty much eliminated everything on the quote software side and am left with unclear hardware issues. Using various tools no cpu, memory or disk faults have been identified so I am looking at the prospect of assembling a new box.

If forced into going new I want to go up the food-chain as far as I can reasonably go to get another 10+ years - that's why I'm looking for some pointers.

Thanks.
Geo.

I built a couple dozen pc's way back when..when I thought it was fun...Then I went back to buying Dells.

But when I did build I had a site I visited that built different levels of pc's and then reviewed them.... I'd take their list... study it - and start reading and comparing parts. One mobo might have better stats on the built in video but have less slots.... or only two slots for ram.. There are all sorts of trade offs and decisions that have to be made... Now a days, the thought of picking out a case would drive me to drink.

Dell - you unbox it - plug it in and off you go. No fuss no muss. Your mileage may vary:cool:

I rounded this up and forgot to post it.... You can do like I used to do and get ideas from a very reliable source.

Best PC Builds for Gaming, Streaming and Productivity
https://www.tomshardware.com/best-pi...-builds-gaming

ASRock’s Flagship Z690 Aqua OC Motherboard Joins The Thousand-Dollar Club, Costs $1399 US

Quote:

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... With that said, ASRock's Aqua series features the lowest price of all flagship water-block-equipped motherboards. Competitors such as the ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme Glacial and Gigabyte Z690 AORUS Xtreme Waterforce cost $1999.99 & $1899.99 US, respectively. ...

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Steve,

Thanks for this - it's sort of what I was looking for to get myself going.
Posting from my 'backup' laptop - p/c BSOD'ed in my face while VPN'ed to work Grrr.

Yes, trying to wade thru motherboard options and add-ons will make your head spin and eyes cross; and I, too, way way back when, thought fooling with the hardware was fun but quickly abandoned that as why bother.

I'm considering a "build" now because I have a good case, HHD's & SSD's and a good monitor so all I really need is the platform (MB/CPU/Fan & maybe a PS - that's what I'm thinking anyway).

I'll have to dwell upon your link and see where it takes me.
Thanks.
Geo.

Hey Doc - do you frame that and hang it on a wall? Or do you build a pc with it?

I am so out of touch and or would never spend that kind of money... But it is super cool looking.

Whoa!
A Grand Plus - Way out of my league.
I'm thinking I'm looking at the $100 - $400/$500 range for a MB/CPU/FAN/PS set with some wiggle room.
I'm staying on the commercial/productivity side<g>
G.

Yea right guys? Ridiculous.

Just to close the loop on my OP ...
I "settled?" on a Gigabyte B560 DS3H AC and an Intel Core i3-10100F LGA1200 (whatever that all means<g>) with 32G of RAM.
Now all I have to do is disassemble the old and assemble all into the new case.
Not really looking forward to that frustration
Oh well.
Thx for the pointers.
Ge.

No problem. Best of luck with the rebuild, and let us know how it turns out? ...

I will definietly try to post back with the outcome.
Probably will be a bit of time lapse ...
crampt quarters,need to dig up a work bench/table
MB came w/o Drive CD & IO shield (box was open) - have to track those down somehow.

Caledl Amazon (who knows where everything really came from) and they wound-up comping the MB and said I can keep it so that's bonus.
Can use those returned $$ on some accessoryies - maybe a USB 3.0 Hub or some such - we'll see.

"film sometime after eleven"
G.

Continuing with the re-assembly ...

Perhaps I'm a bit naive but is there a really compelling reason to use a cpu fan other than the one that comes with the cpu itself?
When I bought my MB I also ordered up a CPU, RAM and, without thinking about it, a Fan.
The CPU (Intel i3-10100F/LGA1200) came with a Fan that (I have to assume) is/must be adequate to Intel's needs.

Is the separate Fan (Noctua NH-U12S Redux) really that necessary?

I don't do gaming or anything of that ilk - just straight-forward at home business stuff.
Any guidance?
Thanks.
Geo. Salisbury

The one that comes with the CPU is designed for normal computer use.

If want to push it beyond that though, recommend getting something that can keep the CPU from throttling down and/or overheating damage.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SpywareDr

ASRock’s Flagship Z690 Aqua OC Motherboard Joins The Thousand-Dollar Club, Costs $1399 US

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in mid 2018(June) both finally were affected by capacitor plague. Inferior Capacitors built in which will die or get ill before promised life-end. at around 5000hrs instead of 10000. I examined these 2004 and later MOBOs(have multiple copies) really to the ground. Only found out what was the reason a bit later. after 3 weeks i could reactivate both pcs. both were working outside cases. there is a looong Mono-thread by me. Defective PSU or something like that. to follow and understand it will need a lot of time and nerves.
I am now on two ultrabooks by Acer. windows 10. There were other problems which could also be read here. or in german and english Acer-forum.
I will not go back to desktop. maybe reactivate and upgrade an Asus Z87C(older i7) 16/256/2.
Hope a new capacitor plague will not come back. manufacturers have certainly learnt their lessons. NB : there is a Capacitor Plague-Forum.
There is a company or multiples? offering a laptop-system which is easily upgradable.

NB: I am now working-temporarily to check how good win10s is going-on a slow celeron 4/64 Acer Spin 1-111. Was only 350 chf. external 27" used. Second is i7 16/1TB Acer Swift 5. What happened with it-can be read also here. and in german and english Acer-Forum. Yes Swift 5 is working but only with external Keyboard(very dangerous) and also only with external Screen. one must have a rugged Netbook. also if stationary.

Finally returning to this to (FWIW) close the loop on my MB/CPU etc. adventure.
I got my P/C back up and working and, even, upgraded to W11.

Who said if you read (and comprehend<g>) the manuals you'll save a lot of time, $$ and aggravation.

I ended up with the Gigabyte B560M DS3H AC MB, an Intel i5-11400F (stock fan), 64Gb of Memory, a 1Tb M2, and the prior 2 SSD's and 2 HHD's.

The M2 has W11, an SSD has W11 and a HHD has W10 (the other SSD & HHD are data backups).
I haven't been able to boot from the W10 HHD yet but I hope to eventually figure that out.

Anyway, that's ere I ended up.
Thx.
Geo.

Cool. Nice setup.