ASRock MOSFETs and Component return rates

[I.M.O.G.]

So Earthdog quoted this in another thread, which was information I had also read in another article posted somewhere I forget

What this basically says, is that ASRock has a pretty good return rate.

- ASRock 1.67% (against 1.90%)
- Gigabyte 1.77% (against 2.17%)
- MSI 2.24% (against 2.11%)
- ASUS 2.34% (against 2.66%)

In comparison to the previous period, ASRock has improved its score and keeps top spot in the rankings. Gigabyte has moved into second position at the expense of MSI while ASUS has closed the gap on MSI with a notable reduction in returns rates.

If we look more particularly at the rates observed on motherboards based on the Intel P67 or Z68 Express chipsets, we get the following numbers:

- Asrock 1.41%
- MSI 2.44%
- Gigabyte 2.47%
- ASUS 2.96%

ASRock has been the focus of taking a considerable degree of heat on their Z77 Extreme4 especially, on sites like overclock.net and in reviews like this one on XS, for a bunch of fuss about the style of mosfets used:

ASRock is using D-PAK MOSFETs under the heatsinks, D-PAKs were phased out years ago on enthusiast VRMs because of their lack of performance compared to newer low RDS(ON) packages such as PowerPAK and LF-PAK when it comes to thermals. They can cause a lot of heat as they aren?t so well suited for really fast switching power supplies such as needed for newer processors. However you can find them on a few sub $80 motherboards and the Z77 Extreme4.
What bothers me about a lot of reviewers is that they totally miss this issue, most possibly because they don?t bother popping off the heatsinks.

So is there anything to this? Claims are that the DPAK mosfets get hotter, and allegedly this means they will throttle when pushed harder - I have NOT seen any accounts of that actually having been tested, and shown to be true under actual use.

So my question, is there any real reason to be fussed about the quality of mosfets on the Z77 Extreme4, when ASRock return rates are apparently leading the pack? It seems to me like this was much ado about nothing... It is good to look at the component quality when evaluating a board, however it can go a step too far when heavy handed criticism is levied without actual testing and data of the perceived flaws. If anyone has reports or data supporting the shortcomings on the Z77 Extreme4, I'd be interested to hear more.

 

[EarthDog]

Source: http://www.behardware.com/articles/881-2/components-returns-rates-7.html

Also posted this as thread too IIRC...ahh ha! I did...

To clarify things on this dataset, it is from some large french retailer. So while its not The Gospel, its more concrete than a lot of numbers we have heard I imagine.

I havent seen it either, but saw that 'review' that guy posted here (as well as many other sites) stating that. Many, including myself thought it true, and for any 'major' overclocks (4.7Ghz+ goals), I would push people towards the $15 more Ex6 instead, just in case it had any merit.