On Fri, 21 Dec 2018 17:02:18 -0500, Flasherly
wrote:

On Fri, 21 Dec 2018 14:12:34 -0600, Char Jackson
wrote:

Bottom line, it needs to work properly. Anything less isn't good
enough. The good news, I guess, is that no one is pointing fingers at
the RAM or any peripherals.

-
I'd want to have swapped in another MB, an ASUS proper (or Gigabyte
for a quarter to half the price).

Same here, but short of buying such an item, how can it happen? Then I'd
have an extra motherboard forevermore. As for the price, ASRock, Asus,
and Gigabyte are all in the same range of about $160 to $270, so cost
savings wouldn't be a reason to go to another brand.

ASRock tech saying to you it's an Intel issue ... come on.

What else should they say? The first time I talked with ASRock tech
support, they almost immediately suggested that I RMA the board. Fair
enough, that's what I did, partly because I think the board is the most
likely point of failure and partly because they agreed with that
assessment.

The second time I spoke with them, they again immediately suggested that
I RMA the board, but when I told them this is the second board with the
exact same issue, they said the next most likely culprit is the CPU.
That's where I am now.

There may be an issue, that it also may not
be only limited to ASRock, among half-a-dozen possible board brands,
could be only as much conjecture over establishing stability in the
latest and upper-end of CPU product offerings. Intel, however, I'd
give, at least to bet my money on, the benefit for rigid
implementation of design within standards.

Does Intel know what they're doing? Sure. Do people report getting bad
Intel CPUs? Absolutely. I can't rule out the CPU just because it says
Intel on the box.

I think I'm substituting on the basis of most likely failure.
Motherboard first, then CPU. If the next CPU behaves the same, I start
from scratch with ASRock, I guess, or I pester Newegg to let me try
something else.

The CPU works and no differently than the first is my bet.

You may well be right. I've considered the possibility myself.