What is the lifespan of a gaming PC motherboard?

[rezig824]

i have motherboard asus tuf gaming b550-plus

 

[80-watt Hamster]

If it doesn't suffer a failure within the first few months, it's very likely to survive for a decade or more unless subjected to damage or abuse.

 

[kiddagoat]

I have sandy bridge boards and CPUs that still work. I don’t use them daily, but it is nice to have for testing purposes.

 

[DaemonForce]

The hardware can vary but it really depends on the game/gamer.
If it's built and purposed to deal with all kinds of DX11 games and earlier, it can probably last forever.
If the gamer is the type to AZN punch their monitor after getting sniped in CS2, probably lasts a week.

 

[freeagent]

The oldest board that I have is 17 years old and the last time I powered it up it ran mint. Next runner up is 13 years old.. then I moved to AM4 haha

 

[Outback Bronze]

If it doesn't suffer a failure within the first few months, it's very likely to survive for a decade or more unless subjected to damage or abuse.

Its really pot luck to a certain extent. Had an Asus X58 P6T Deluxe (daily) die in the arse after about 3 years, just after warranty expired

I'd say it's how well the mobo has been built and keeping heat and voltages to their minimum values can play a big part.

Help keep it cool, and it should go the distance. Technically, the number of hours of use should also be taken into consideration.

 

[Dr. Dro]

GA-G41MT-S2P (rev. 1.3) Overview | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ultimate platform fo...

www.gigabyte.com

Have this on my "server". It's been on almost nonstop (i'd say 99% uptime) since 2011.

 

[Toss]

I hate ASUS mobo because lots of BLOATWARE

 

[Toothless]

I hate ASUS mobo because lots of BLOATWARE

You can avoid all of that.. simply don't install it.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I hate ASUS mobo because lots of BLOATWARE

That's silly. ASUS motherboards have no bloatware. If anything, their BIOS support is way ahead of most of the competition.

 

[Toothless]

That's silly. ASUS motherboards have no bloatware. If anything, their BIOS support is way ahead of most of the competition.

They're probably talking about Armoury Crate.

 

[Dr. Dro]

They're probably talking about Armoury Crate.

I know. But that's not "bloatware", and pretty much all manufacturers have that nowadays. MSI, Gigabyte, AsRock, all of them have a feature in the UEFI to prompt the download of their "command center" application upon Windows' first boot.

 

[lexluthermiester]

If it doesn't suffer a failure within the first few months, it's very likely to survive for a decade or more unless subjected to damage or abuse.

This. Motherboard are generally design to last a decade or more.

 

[stahlhart]

I have builds with an Abit TX-5 (purchased new in 1998) and Asus P3B-F (same, in 2000) that are in storage and only brought out on occasion, but still going strong.

 

[papas12]

@stahlhart
Absolutely!

My personal opinion is that a motherboard can last decades if it is not subjected to overheating, electric shocks, improper handling, physical damage for some reason or other harmful conditions such as a ton of dust in the PC case (read overheating again) or it is not a low-quality build. I bought my oldest motherboard in year 2004 (an ABIT NF7 v2.0) and it still works just fine. I have another one that I got in year 2006 second hand (a Gigabyte GA-7VT600L v1.0) and it too works just fine. In fact I played games on it yesterday for a few hours to remember the good old times (Unreal Tournament 99 GOTY anyone?) and if I have some spare time today I will fire it up again. So, yeah, it can last decades, trust me on this one.

 

[stahlhart]

@stahlhart
Absolutely!

My personal opinion is that a motherboard can last decades if it is not subjected to overheating, electric shocks, improper handling, physical damage for some reason or other harmful conditions such as a ton of dust in the PC case (read overheating again) or it is not a low-quality build. I bought my oldest motherboard in year 2004 (an ABIT NF7 v2.0) and it still works just fine. I have another one that I got in year 2006 second hand (a Gigabyte GA-7VT600L v1.0) and it too works just fine. In fact I played games on it yesterday for a few hours to remember the good old times (Unreal Tournament 99 GOTY anyone?) and if I have some spare time today I will fire it up again. So, yeah, it can last decades, trust me on this one.

It's a laugh riot to see posts on Reddit where someone posts a photo and wears it like a badge of honor that their Maxwell or Pascal card got taken out behind the barn and shot from years and years of hard gaming usage. It crapped out because they didn't take proper care of it.

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

Solid capacitors have really been a big plus for the longevity of motherboards.

 

[Dorek]

Not sure ive tossed out some 20+ year old mobos into the trash.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

As long as it can until it doesnt.

The only board I've had die on me due to age was a Asus P9X79 Pro.

There came a point where it would no longer run stable and most times would BSOD on boot.

Unfortunately replacement boards were still in excess of £280 and it wasn't worth the money replacing it when a good Z370 board at that time could be had for under £200

 

[Zazigalka]

+10y

 

[_roman_]

i have motherboard asus tuf gaming b550-plus

I saw dead HP microtower and dead HP small factor mainboards in around 4 years / 2.5 years.
One was fully soldered like a notebook.
the other one I pulled out the cpu which worked in another mainboard. that mainboard has no visual damage. I know a bit about electronics. Nothing to repair. I knew where the box was used and mostly the box was used in idle for filling out easy spreadsheets for ages. I had similar boxes with teh same mainbaord, processor and ram configuration also running at that time which survived.

ASUS Tuf = ASUS Prime are the cheap asus mainboard series. You see it also how fast these get the uefi updates in comparison with other mainboards.

--

I was not in the mood for a gamble and sold my hole am4 setup MSI B550 mainboard after two years of use and "end of warranty" in 2023. It was not worth it to risk 110€ on the second hand market when the board has cost me 160€.

The current am5 mainboard reaches the two year period in may 2025. I have to keep that as there are no decend am5 mainboards available.

 

[Calmmo]

I've never had one outright fail by itself, but I've also never had one that doesn't start having problems given a few yrs of use. Things like bad sata ports, nic going bad, dead fan connectors and the list goes on..

 

[freeagent]

I hate ASUS mobo because lots of BLOATWARE

I love (top end) Asus motherboards. You can run the system anyway you want, and they stand the test of time.

 

[Fokker]

There's no guarantees since CPUs generally outlast the motherboards, but I've had boards in systems that I've hung onto for over 10 years. I have ones that are around 9 years old right now and I have one gaming laptop (not an ATX, etc. obviously) that is over 12 years old and still works.

 

[ShrimpBrime]

It depends on what kind of capacitors are used on the main board.

Most solid caps have a MTBF of 100,000 hours, which is 10 years of use.