Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2PT motherboard revisions

[maxd]

I'm building small PC for media and internet use and my MB choice is GA-78LMT-S2PT. There are two revisions available of this board - 3.1 and 4.0, for virtually same price. It appears that features are the same. They differ by slightly different port placement (does not concern me this time) and by different choice of components. Looks like one will feature different VRMs. I'm mostly interested in long term reliability of this MB in normal working conditions. No OC is planned.

Is it possible for You just by looking at photos to tell if build quality in rev. 4.0 has gone up, down or stayed the same?
Photos: rev 3.1, rev 4.0

[mariushm]

Re: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2PT motherboard revisions

The v4 seems like an effort to move to more surface mounted components that can be picked faster and easier by pick and place machines. Pretty much optimizing for assembly speed.
The ICs around the atx connector are also packed closer together and moved towards the right side of the board which is OK.

The VRM... I don't know if it's better or worse... it depends on the chips used. Strictly by physical aspect the chips on the 3.1 version should dissipate heat better, but the chips on v4 could be more efficient (less resistance etc) and heat less so they wouldn't need the same cooling surface.

[maxd]

Re: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2PT motherboard revisions

Thanks for the input. At least there are no apparent red flags. I ordered rev 4