Gigabyte has quietly changed the name of a motherboard after criticism that the manufacturer sold significant revisions of boards under the same name. The manufacturer does not want to respond substantively to the criticism and it is unclear whether the company has adjusted its revision policy.
Gigabyte’s revision 3.0 of motherboard GA-B85M-HD3 is suddenly being sold under the name GA-B85M-HD3-A revision 1.0, Hardware.info noted. The name change comes after extensive criticism of the revision policy: the manufacturer provided new versions of motherboards with significantly less functionality, but with exactly the same product codes, making it difficult for consumers and online stores to distinguish them. This was the case with the B85M-HD3, among others, and revision 2.0 also offered less performance than 1.0, Hardware.info showed earlier.
It is unclear whether Gigabyte has changed the name of the motherboard in question in response to the criticism and whether the manufacturer is improving its entire revision policy. The manufacturer does not want to respond substantively to the criticism, although the company does say that the differences in revisions are clearly indicated on its own site. However, online shops and price comparison sites would never have been told that boards had received various revisions and information had to be adjusted. Also in the Pricewatch the different revisions are not specified because of the identical product and EAN code.
The recent revisions of motherboards, of which the company publishes an RSS list, would involve minor changes, so it is still unclear to what extent the company has adapted its working method. It is clear that Gigabyte continues to make new revisions, and the consumer will therefore have to keep checking whether the version he has in mind has been negatively adjusted compared to previous revisions.