An Asus P8C WS motherboard bought in 2012 seems to have broken down for good.

If I find the same model, and buy it, would it last less than the previous one, because sitting on a warehouse shelf for years causes some components to get closer to expiry?

You can search in the internet for an mainboard which fits for the used processor.

Ulysses,

From the feedback on Newgg.com and Amazon.com, I would be inclined to buy a board with far more positive customer reviews.
The majority of ratings were 1 star on Newegg.

Example:

Would rather keep the LG1155 compatible cpu and super quiet cooler and the 4 ram sticks that make 32 GB of ram. Which severely limits choices. If I buy just any of the few mobos that meet the above specs, does the time from the date of manufacture to the date of purchase matter?

Ulysses,

If I were in your position I would be looking at something like this Supermicro server mobo:

http://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-DDR.../dp/B0090YPCTQ

This is a brand-new item, sealed in its protective antistatic wrapping, so I doubt if its age will cause you any problems.

I know that Li-ion batteries will degrade over time as soon as they're out of the factory.
With cpu and mobo it seems they will degrade due to the electricity running through the cables.http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1697939
However, a mobo sitting on a warehouse shelf is not being used.

So I'd say the new boxed unused mobo should be exactly the same as the model you bought years ago.
However, with Moore's law, a new mobo compatible with your cooler and memory sticks should be even better. The connectors on the mobo may be better and the sound card, network card etc may also be better.

Edit: If there are few mobos which meet your specs, and they are all also old, then I don't think sitting on a warehouse shelf should be a problem. IMO.

1 members found this post helpful.

MTBF means it has to be running. There isn't a shelf life like you'd find in pancake mix.

The problem with any upgrade is they usually make you buy more than one component.

Why did this board fail so soon would be more important.

1 members found this post helpful.

Will probably buy a new mobo then. What brands are considered somewhat longer lasting? I'm prepared to pay more, this failure has been very wasteful of my time.

Ulysses,

As mentioned above, Supermicro has a good rep:

http://www.amazon.com/Supermicro-DDR.../dp/B0090YPCTQ

Just discovered this one does not have DVI video output, neither HDMI. Can't use it with a large display therefore, noise would be too much with VGA (I know because my laptop has this problem when connected to that display).

Any other reputable ones?

if you know what that part that holds the CPU is called because they keep renaming them you can use that as a key word along with motherboard I just typed in my CPU type fround intel link to see what it is called.

You needn't worry so much about the parts getting old as the motherboard itself becoming obsolete. I'm wondering if the old mobo has DDR2 ram slots or DDR3, for example. Or maybe the old one still has USB2 whereas USB3 is now available. And then there's SATA vs SATA3 vs Thunderbolt or whatever. At a certain point the older technologies (e.g., DDR2 RAM) become more expensive than the more recent tech because they are harder to find because manufacturers stop making them.