i've had a couple of motherboards die on me.
Me, too. I had a PC Chips P3 board (I can't remember who bought them out, but they have a new name) and an Intel P4 board both die.
The P3 board's BIOS chip became corrupt and it would not take a flash. Doubt that was power related. On the Intel board the north bridge went south, which could have been power related, but I have a bigger power supply (650W Antec) than Intel recommended.
They were both under warranty, though. Both companies sent upgraded replacements. Intel sent me a new board pre-loaded with an upgraded processor and 512MB of RAM, if I sent them the old processor, first. I thought that was pretty damn cool.
I agree, though. In general power supply inadequacies take down all kinds of electronic equipment.