MB Features - Any standouts?

[bononos]

MB manufacturers are offering features which promise reliability, 'solidity', power saving green type tech eg. solid caps and advanced VRM designs. So are such features now as implemented pretty much standard or do some manufacturers have a real edge over their competitors?

A short rundown of some of the features:-
MSI - Super Ferrite Chokes, Active Phase Switching (claims better than Asus EPU or Gigabyte DES), Driver Mosfet (better than 4phase)
Biostar - Solid caps, 5phase pwr design, Dura Max tech (IR direct mosfet, improved ferrite choke, Jap solid caps)
Asus - Digi+VRM, TPU+EPU dynamic pwr saving, ferrite chokes, 100% Jap caps
Gigabyte - DES (pwr saving), dynamic 6 gear pwr phase switching, Ultra Durable 3 (Jap solid caps, lower RDS mosfet, 2x copper pcb)

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/10014/msi_claims_that_aps_is_better_than_epu_and_des/index.html

Also I remembered coming across a mb advertising less emf - some green shield thing - anyone remember which mb/manufacturer it was?

 

[Zap]

IMO it is all pure marketing BS. I mean srsly, what makes lower RDS better than higher RDS? Something is Ultra Durable, compared to what? Normal Durable? Are 5 phases really better than 4? Are "phases" really equivalent enough on motherboards that you can compare direct numbers? When we are told endless acronyms like DES, EPU, TPU, RDS, APS, UPS, LOL, are we even told why they are "better?"

And seriously, the one that bothers me the most is Gigabyte. Why is 2oz copper better? What is it better than? Why are they using the same 2oz of copper for a small graphics card as well as for a big motherboard - shouldn't the motherboard get more? How much are other manufacturers using? Are they sure it is 2oz and not 2.1oz? 1.9oz?

 

[Taft12]

Another vote for marketing BS here.

Even the number of phases (which is really the only differentiator between models once you get up to about the $150 range) really makes no difference unless you're want to muck with uber-overclocking with water-cooling or liquid nitrogen.