Did my motherboard come warped?

[Voshra]

Hi there, posting here to just get some 'outsider insight' vs the store I bought this from's forums since I'm concerned there might be some bias involved there.

Bought an ASUS Z97-A the other day, arrived today and its been 6 years since I last held a board so I just wanted to run by some pictures of the board for you lot to confirm its not warped like my brain thinks it is, plus a little thing I noticed and wondered if it'd be a concern. I tried to take as flat pictures as I can, camera sat on the counter so that's probably as good as it's gonna get, I don't think I got the severity that my own eyeballs are seeing though

 

[turtletrax]

Ya, that board is warped, but once in the case it will be screwed down and shouldn't make a difference. If it does have issues just do a return or exchange, or worst case an rma. I only have ever had one board have issues from warping but bought a board that was heavily benched under l2n and was buggered in more ways than one. Not sure if the warp was the issue or not.

 

[Voshra]

Ya, that board is warped, but once in the case it will be screwed down and shouldn't make a difference. If it does have issues just do a return or exchange, or worst case an rma. I only have ever had one board have issues from warping but bought a board that was heavily benched under l2n and was buggered in more ways than one. Not sure if the warp was the issue or not.

so it's not like 'send it back now' warped?
I'm not getting the 4690k for it until 26/27 and there's only a 14 day warranty on this guy (from today) so I'll only have about a week to really test it out.

 

[Dark Knight]

I would also agree that it is warped. Just look at that button in picture 6 it's slanted heavily. Note how thin that PCB is with all the layers. Older motherboards especially on LGA2011/LGA1366 used to use at least 8 pcb layers which would be somewhat resistant to warping. That looks like at least 4-6 which is not very resistant.

Depending on how inconvenient it is for you to send it back you can always check and see whether it works but it may cause some issues down the road even during installation.

 

[turtletrax]

I would say it isn't likely to be damaged, but it is possible. As long as you have time to test before your return window closes you should be fine

 

[Coach]

That amount of warpage is not going to damage the board. I would call it acceptable and almost normal.

 

[Coach]

...there's only a 14 day warranty on this guy (from today) so I'll only have about a week to really test it out.

Remember that the board should also be covered by warranty from ASUS. If anything I would make sure that the cpu socket pins are all uniform and straight. That is something that ASUS would not warranty.

 

[Voshra]

Remember that the board should also be covered by warranty from ASUS. If anything I would make sure that the cpu socket pins are all uniform and straight. That is something that ASUS would not warranty.

yes because ANYONE wants to deal with the clustercrap that is ASUS Support/RMAs, no fuggin thanks.

 

[turtletrax]

That amount of warpage is not going to damage the board. I would call it acceptable and almost normal.

Acceptable, maybe. Normal? I dont agree.

It is probably just at the very low end of what would pass QC at the factory. The rear panel button shows just how awesome the low bar is. As far as it not working properly, I would say it will be fine.

 

[AkG]

IDK but I will take Asus over a couple other so called Teir 1 motherboard mfg'ers. Be calm, be polite, be professional. Know the questions that they are going to ask and have the answers for them... and bam zero issues. YMMV but that has been my experience over the past couple decades of dealing with them.

I have noticed that many of ASUS -A boards do come warped right out of the box. Its from using fewer PCB layers. I have yet to have it cause issues once the board is installed in a case. Just take your time screwing it down and treat it like a CPU (ie use a Z pattern for installing the screws) and you should be fine. BUT as with any new rig do a 48hr burn in test before considering it 'good'.