Now I know not to trust anything unbranded\generic, but considering I can't find a branded lga1155 socket mobo on eBay for less than $100 I can't help but ask people's opinions as I've found lots of generic ones around the $60 mark.
I would like to pair it with a GTX 1050ti for gaming, guessing MOBOs have to be pretty solid build to handle it all which makes my questioning all the more important.
fire hazard
It's inside a metal box presumably, not sure why you think that's a fire hazard.
Track layout is quite an artform.
No it isn't.
What's your preferred method of reversing a 256 bit bus with lowest differential skew on a 6+ layer?
It's inside a metal box presumably, not sure why you think that's a fire hazard.
Which is why you never see cars catch on fire…
Motherboard is not a component to cheap out on. Think of the money you can save with a generic mobo VS the monetary value of all the components you hook up to the shitty mobo, it's no contest. Get a mobo from a real manufacturer.
This x 100. Don’t cheap out on mobos. You will get no end of problems and a no name brand has no interest in offering support or fixing bad firmware/crashes/etc.
I don't know why certain boards are so expensive. It's a very old socket.
Haha, exactly my thoughts. That's why I put the question forth as $120 (cheapest I found - located in Australia though, probably should have mentioned that as their were cheaper used branded ones from China, but with a 4 to however long shipping time and they don't say the exact state it's in, just vaguely like could be rusted or dented.) just seems a lot for; actually, how old are the 2 and 3 Gen Intel CPUs now?
They're no cheaper than when they were released!
old boards get expensive because they're not making them any more and people like you with old cpus want boards that work with them
on another tack, why are older cpus like 1156/55s cheap? its because cpus rarely go bust but boards do so you'll always have a surplus of old cpus but not old boards
If it makes you feel better, I have a AB350M Pro 4 motherboard, which is an absolute cracker of a mobo, and ending up paying around $110 for it. (Mind you, it's an AMD board)
I have a GTX 1070 and haven't had an issue yet.
You're going to be connecting HUNDREDS of dollars worth of components to the MOBO, including power delivery for most of those components, and you want to save, what, $50, on it?
Christ, that's the very definition of penny-wise but pound-foolish.
Haha that's a brilliant line at the end, definitely remember that one. Also, you got to remember that why I've asked here is to determine whether it is a pound wise or foolish decision here. And sadly, no bargain to be had here.
Asus used to make a big deal about even the country of manufacture of the capacitors. I wouldn't risk the fire hazard or CPU damage of a cheap socket or electrical damage. It's quite likely the contacts are inferior, too. Definitely look for gold contacts in the photo.
The PCBs in motherboards are multilayer, so the generic will likely have fewer layers and longer/less equal tracks, so overclocking would probably be affected. Track layout is quite an artform.