opinions needed on M'board manufacturers

  • Thread starter Thread starter OSbandito
  • Start date Start date
O

OSbandito

[for AMD skt 939 or AM2]

I've got hardware specs coming out my ears but still don't have a handle
on reliability of motherboard brands. Two factors, in particular, elude me:
board stability and quality of tech-support. Asus, for example, has some
great offerings but a not so good reputation for support. I read
somewhere that
the smaller companies tend to offer better support. Any comments appreciated.



ps: no overclocking planned and I would especially like a board built
with good
filter capacitors.
 
OSbandito said:
[for AMD skt 939 or AM2]

I've got hardware specs coming out my ears but still don't have a handle
on reliability of motherboard brands. Two factors, in particular, elude
me:
board stability and quality of tech-support. Asus, for example, has some
great offerings but a not so good reputation for support. I read
somewhere that
the smaller companies tend to offer better support. Any comments
appreciated.



ps: no overclocking planned and I would especially like a board built
with good
filter capacitors.
Click to expand...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
You'll really start another unwinnable fanatic war amongst disciples of the
various board manufacturers with this post ;-)
I can give you my personal experience with DFI, Asus, Abit and Gigabyte
boards using 939/AM2 in one sentence: I had instability issues with 2 ASUS
ATX boards using 939, no problems with the others I mentioned
MATX/ATX-939/AM2, with Gigabyte edging out the others slightly in the
stability dept...my own personal experience only, and I mainly build LGA775
CoreT2 Duo/Extreme systems these days. DFI has a great online forum called
DFI Street, but I haven't been there in awhile. DFI boards tend to have
more extensive overclocking potential, but can be more difficult to get set
up properly if you don't do this sort of thing all the time. Whatever you
decide, get your board from a reputable retailer that has an excellent RMA
policy, like Newegg, for example.

Good luck,
-Russell
http://tastycomputers.com
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
You'll really start another unwinnable fanatic war amongst disciples of
the various board manufacturers with this post ;-)
I can give you my personal experience with DFI, Asus, Abit and Gigabyte
boards using 939/AM2 in one sentence: I had instability issues with 2
ASUS ATX boards using 939, no problems with the others I mentioned
MATX/ATX-939/AM2, with Gigabyte edging out the others slightly in the
stability dept...my own personal experience only, and I mainly build
LGA775 CoreT2 Duo/Extreme systems these days. DFI has a great online
forum called DFI Street, but I haven't been there in awhile. DFI boards
tend to have more extensive overclocking potential, but can be more
difficult to get set up properly if you don't do this sort of thing all
the time. Whatever you decide, get your board from a reputable retailer
that has an excellent RMA policy, like Newegg, for example.

Good luck,
-Russell
http://tastycomputers.com
Click to expand...

Oh boy, there's some misleading information there. Asus is crap, so that
much I can agree on. You forgot to mention that Gigabyte doesn't exist
anymore (see Asus). I can't recommend Newegg for major components. That is
the only vendor that sent me a used (and defective) mainboard, which was of
course advertised as brand new. I'm not the only one who has experienced
this problem with newegg.

DFI is awesome. Some other good brands are AOpen (the best quality,
PERIOD), Epox (usually find some great deals on this brand) and Biostar
(highly under-rated). Don't know about support as I've never had a problem
with any of those brands which might have required support. Of those four
brands, the only mainboard I've seen fail at all was one which was obviously
killed by a bad power supply (it was an epox board, but it was just in the
wrong place at the wrong time, ha ha). -Dave
 
Mike T. said:
Oh boy, there's some misleading information there.
Click to expand...

Misleading OPINIONS?
Asus is crap, so that much I can agree on.
Click to expand...


Utter BS, I know that you love to say that nonsence HOWEVER over 300 asus
builds and maybe ((((((MAYBE))))) 3or 4 that either gave up the ghost to
early or had problems right off.....

You forgot to mention that Gigabyte doesn't exist
Click to expand...

Thank GOD

anymore (see Asus). I can't recommend Newegg for major components. That is
the only vendor that sent me a used (and defective) mainboard, which was of
course advertised as brand new. I'm not the only one who has experienced
this problem with newegg.

DFI is awesome. Some other good brands are AOpen (the best quality,
PERIOD),
Click to expand...

well there is an OPINION i can agree with, Aopen is a very good MB.



Epox (usually find some great deals on this brand) and Biostar
(highly under-rated).
Click to expand...

Biostar =junk FIC =junk ECS= junk DFI = for absolute geeks Epox = take
it or leave it, IMO


Don't know about support as I've never had a problem
 
See, told you that you'll really start another unwinnable fanatic war
amongst disciples of the various board manufacturers with this post ;-)
I provided no "misleading information," just an opinion based upon my unique
personal experiences with particular boards based upon the CPU specs of the
OP.
Let's just let this thread die before it gets ugly (as always.)

FYI: Asus and Gigabyte will have merged on paper as of January 2007, but
both will continue to operate under their own separate names as before:

"Taipei, Taiwan; August 8, 2006 - GIGABYTE Technology today announced they
have entered into a joint venture with ASUSTeK Computer Inc. to produce
GIGABYTE branded motherboards and graphics cards.

In accordance with the relevant regulations according to Company Law,
Securities Law and Business Merger & Acquisition Law, a resolution of the
board of directors was passed on the 8th of August, 2006 for GIGABYTE
Technology Co., LTD (Stock Code: 2376) to transfer the relevant assets and
businesses of its own branded motherboards and VGA cards to a newly
established subsidiary. After all the necessary legal procedures and
obligations have been fulfilled, ASUSTek Computer Inc. (Stock Code: 2357)
plans to invest in this newly established GIGABYTE subsidiary to help manage
the joint venture and develop a strategic alliance with GIGABYTE. Both
parties will work together to increase operation efficiency, enhance product
quality, provide better customer service and create a higher value for
shareholders.

The capital of this joint venture will be NT$ 8,000,000,000 (eight billion
NT dollars). GIGABYTE Technology intends to hold 51% of the shares and
ASUSTek will hold 49%. This joint venture plans to commence operating in
January 2007. There will be five directors and two supervisors in this joint
venture, with GIGABYTE appointing three seats of directors and one
supervisor, and ASUSTek appointing two directors and one supervisor.

According to the Institute of Information Industry (MIC), the total value of
motherboards produced in 2005 was US$8.9 billion, a growth rate of only 2.2%
from year 2004. The total value of motherboards produced for the first half
of 2006 has fallen to US$3.67 billion in comparison to the US$3.75 billion
for the first half of 2005. In addition, the leading brand PC manufacturers
have increasingly enlarged their market share, causing the market share for
the motherboard channel to decline dramatically. In this slow developing
market environment, GIGABYTE seeks to establish an alliance with ASUSTek in
order to assist the operation efficiency of GIGABYTE's motherboard business.
Apart from increased efficiency, GIGABYTE will have greater resources to
expand their diversified business. Because of the increasingly mature nature
of the motherboard industry, this joint venture will combine the resources
of two leading motherboard manufacturers, allowing for a greater economical
impact on the market, better research and development capabilities and
elevated product quality. It is believed that this strategic alliance will
create a win-win situation for shareholders, employees and customers of both
companies."
 
Epox (usually find some great deals on this brand) and Biostar
Biostar =junk FIC =junk ECS= junk DFI = for absolute geeks Epox = take
it or leave it, IMO
Click to expand...

I've built many systems with Biostar, and they've all been fast, stable and
extremely reliable. I'd rank Biostar quality somewhere between AOpen and
Epox, meaning better than Epox but not quite up to Aopen standards. But I'd
agree with you that FIC and ECS are junk.

I think some of the cheaper brands suffer (in reputation) due to too much
penny-pinching. For example, biostar boards tend to be cheap (monetarily
speaking), so probably most of those boards get stuffed in boxes with OTHER
cheap components. But I don't build with any component that is not
high-quality. The last two builds where I used biostar mainboards, one is
running off of a OCZ modstream and the other is running off of a Seasonic
S12. Both are rock-solid stable. I benchmarked them both against a similar
system with an Intel-branded mainboard, and the Biostar systems I built were
significantly faster. Your typical biostar mainboard is probably running
off some cheapo chinese power supply that came (free!) with a really
low-cost case, and is populated with no-name memory, etc. That's probably
much of the reason why biostar brand is so unbelievably under-rated.

My first actual experience with biostar was when I was working in an area
with extreme temperatures (hot and cold) and lots of dust. We had one
workstation in the area that was breaking down constantly, due to getting
clogged with dust, even though we cleaned them out frequently. One day I
realized that over the past few years we hadn't had any problems with the
*other* system (which was a couple years old when I got there), so I opened
it up to see what was in it. It had a biostar mainboard. It was ancient
technology, caked with gunk, and working beautifully, in daily use for 5 or
6 years. That's why my very next build was biostar. And several systems
since then I've used biostar, and I've always been pleased with the results.

On the other hand, I support systems built with asus mainboards and I
wouldn't build with asus (or gigabyte now) if you held a gun to my head.
Wherever possible, I try to replace asus with epox or biostar or . . . just
about anything. Sometimes I think I'd be better off replacing any asus
board I find with ECS. Really. -Dave
 
Mike T. said:
I've built many systems with Biostar, and they've all been fast, stable and
extremely reliable. I'd rank Biostar quality somewhere between AOpen and
Epox, meaning better than Epox but not quite up to Aopen standards. But I'd
agree with you that FIC and ECS are junk.
Click to expand...

Biostar---two words ---- bad caps

I think some of the cheaper brands suffer (in reputation) due to too much
penny-pinching. For example, biostar boards tend to be cheap (monetarily
speaking), so probably most of those boards get stuffed in boxes with OTHER
cheap components. But I don't build with any component that is not
high-quality. The last two builds where I used biostar mainboards, one is
running off of a OCZ modstream and the other is running off of a Seasonic
S12. Both are rock-solid stable. I benchmarked them both against a similar
system with an Intel-branded mainboard, and the Biostar systems I built were
significantly faster. Your typical biostar mainboard is probably running
off some cheapo chinese power supply that came (free!) with a really
low-cost case, and is populated with no-name memory, etc. That's probably
much of the reason why biostar brand is so unbelievably under-rated.

My first actual experience with biostar was when I was working in an area
with extreme temperatures (hot and cold) and lots of dust. We had one
workstation in the area that was breaking down constantly, due to getting
clogged with dust, even though we cleaned them out frequently. One day I
realized that over the past few years we hadn't had any problems with the
*other* system (which was a couple years old when I got there), so I opened
it up to see what was in it. It had a biostar mainboard. It was ancient
technology, caked with gunk, and working beautifully, in daily use for 5 or
6 years. That's why my very next build was biostar. And several systems
since then I've used biostar, and I've always been pleased with the results.

On the other hand, I support systems built with asus mainboards and I
wouldn't build with asus (or gigabyte now) if you held a gun to my head.
Wherever possible, I try to replace asus with epox or biostar or . . . just
about anything. Sometimes I think I'd be better off replacing any asus
board I find with ECS. Really. -Dave
Click to expand...


I find it hard to believe that I alone have had such great "luck' with a
single manufacturer of anything TBH.
 
Biostar---two words ---- bad caps
Click to expand...

Well that's kind of a low blow, considering that all major mainboard
manufacturers were hit with that particular problem at one time not too long
ago. -Dave
 
Ed Medlin wrote:
I have had good luck and no major problem with Asus boards. I think it
is just a "luck of the draw" type thing. I have also built with many other
manufacturers over the years without many problems. I have had a few DOA
boards, even one from Asus a few years ago (P4B). Once installed and
tested, myself and the shop I used to contract with rarely had MB problems
anyway. AMD boards may be a different matter. The shop rarely built any AMD
systems and I only built two or three for myself over the years. I don't
even know if I used Asus for those. Today I just look at all the major
brands and find one that suits my needs. I do stay away from the el-cheapo
manufacturers.

Ed
Click to expand...

Thanks, E. The web reviewers seem to like Asus but I've heard a lot of
complaints about the Asus approach to tech support.
 
RussellS said:
OSbandito said:
[for AMD skt 939 or AM2]

I've got hardware specs coming out my ears but still don't have a handle
on reliability of motherboard brands. Two factors, in particular, elude
me:
board stability and quality of tech-support. Asus, for example, has some
great offerings but a not so good reputation for support. I read
somewhere that
the smaller companies tend to offer better support. Any comments
appreciated.



ps: no overclocking planned and I would especially like a board built
with good
filter capacitors.
Click to expand...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
You'll really start another unwinnable fanatic war amongst disciples of the
various board manufacturers with this post ;-)
I can give you my personal experience with DFI, Asus, Abit and Gigabyte
boards using 939/AM2 in one sentence: I had instability issues with 2 ASUS
ATX boards using 939, no problems with the others I mentioned
MATX/ATX-939/AM2, with Gigabyte edging out the others slightly in the
stability dept...my own personal experience only, and I mainly build LGA775
CoreT2 Duo/Extreme systems these days. DFI has a great online forum called
DFI Street, but I haven't been there in awhile. DFI boards tend to have
more extensive overclocking potential, but can be more difficult to get set
up properly if you don't do this sort of thing all the time. Whatever you
decide, get your board from a reputable retailer that has an excellent RMA
policy, like Newegg, for example.

Good luck,
-Russell
http://tastycomputers.com
Click to expand...

Hey Russell, Thanks for your thoughtful reply. No wars!!! I think all
the board manuf's are providing a great service by both keeping up with
tech advances and offering these boards for amazing prices. I've been
running a Mac for years and I can only imagine what it would cost me to
buy Mac components separately.
 
Mike T. said:
Oh boy, there's some misleading information there. Asus is crap, so that
much I can agree on. You forgot to mention that Gigabyte doesn't exist
anymore (see Asus). I can't recommend Newegg for major components. That is
the only vendor that sent me a used (and defective) mainboard, which was of
course advertised as brand new. I'm not the only one who has experienced
this problem with newegg.

DFI is awesome. Some other good brands are AOpen (the best quality,
PERIOD), Epox (usually find some great deals on this brand) and Biostar
(highly under-rated). Don't know about support as I've never had a problem
with any of those brands which might have required support. Of those four
brands, the only mainboard I've seen fail at all was one which was obviously
killed by a bad power supply (it was an epox board, but it was just in the
wrong place at the wrong time, ha ha). -Dave
Click to expand...

Dave, Thanks for the info. I see that Russell's company is presently
selling some fine systems with Gigabyte mb's so I'm not clear on your
thought that Gigabyte is defunct. Great info on your experiences with
the var brands. Thx!!
 
Mike T. said:
Well that's kind of a low blow, considering that all major mainboard
manufacturers were hit with that particular problem at one time not too long
ago. -Dave
Click to expand...
Not one asus or Aopen board that I used experienced a bad cap related to the
plague. and MANY others did, AMOF that little excapade cost many thier
buisneses and damgaed mine back in the day. No sir, burn me, your gone too
many others to chose from.
 
Mike T. said:
I've built many systems with Biostar, and they've all been fast, stable and
extremely reliable. I'd rank Biostar quality somewhere between AOpen and
Epox, meaning better than Epox but not quite up to Aopen standards. But I'd
agree with you that FIC and ECS are junk.

I think some of the cheaper brands suffer (in reputation) due to too much
penny-pinching. For example, biostar boards tend to be cheap (monetarily
speaking), so probably most of those boards get stuffed in boxes with OTHER
cheap components. But I don't build with any component that is not
high-quality. The last two builds where I used biostar mainboards, one is
running off of a OCZ modstream and the other is running off of a Seasonic
S12. Both are rock-solid stable. I benchmarked them both against a similar
system with an Intel-branded mainboard, and the Biostar systems I built were
significantly faster. Your typical biostar mainboard is probably running
off some cheapo chinese power supply that came (free!) with a really
low-cost case, and is populated with no-name memory, etc. That's probably
much of the reason why biostar brand is so unbelievably under-rated.

My first actual experience with biostar was when I was working in an area
with extreme temperatures (hot and cold) and lots of dust. We had one
workstation in the area that was breaking down constantly, due to getting
clogged with dust, even though we cleaned them out frequently. One day I
realized that over the past few years we hadn't had any problems with the
*other* system (which was a couple years old when I got there), so I opened
it up to see what was in it. It had a biostar mainboard. It was ancient
technology, caked with gunk, and working beautifully, in daily use for 5 or
6 years. That's why my very next build was biostar. And several systems
since then I've used biostar, and I've always been pleased with the results.

On the other hand, I support systems built with asus mainboards and I
wouldn't build with asus (or gigabyte now) if you held a gun to my head.
Wherever possible, I try to replace asus with epox or biostar or . . . just
about anything. Sometimes I think I'd be better off replacing any asus
board I find with ECS. Really. -Dave
Click to expand...

wow, some great detail there. I have a high regard for the serious
responders in this ng. differences in opinion are okay. Hats off to all!
 
Not one asus or Aopen board that I used experienced a bad cap related to
the
plague.
Click to expand...

Funny. The first I heard of the problem, I'd read that there was a whole
rash of Asus boards going tits-up because of it. Not long after that, I saw
my first bad cap board also, and of course it was Asus.

You can't criticize any mainboard manufacturer for bad caps, though. The
mainboard manufacturers were as much a victim as any end user. -Dave
 
Dave, Thanks for the info. I see that Russell's company is presently
selling some fine systems with Gigabyte mb's so I'm not clear on your
thought that Gigabyte is defunct. Great info on your experiences with
the var brands. Thx!!
Click to expand...

Hey, I used to have a positive opinion of gigabyte mainboards, also. At
least, they never gave me any headaches. So it's not surprising to hear
someone else likes them. I've had soooooooooooooooooooooooo many problems
with asus however, that I will deliberately avoid anything remotely related
to asus. So, no more gigabyte/asus. -Dave
 
Dave responded:
Funny. The first I heard of the problem, I'd read that there was a whole
rash of Asus boards going tits-up because of it. Not long after that, I saw
my first bad cap board also, and of course it was Asus.

You can't criticize any mainboard manufacturer for bad caps, though. The
mainboard manufacturers were as much a victim as any end user. -Dave
Click to expand...

I don't know if you guys have tried the high-temp rated electrolytics
from Mouser and some other parts outfits. The better caps are visibly
better-made than the usual and they are pretty cheap bought in qty. of
10 or more. I use these things for all repairs now.. stereos, whatever.
 
Thanks for the facts!

Joe
RussellS said:
See, told you that you'll really start another unwinnable fanatic war
amongst disciples of the various board manufacturers with this post ;-)
I provided no "misleading information," just an opinion based upon my unique
personal experiences with particular boards based upon the CPU specs of the
OP.
Let's just let this thread die before it gets ugly (as always.)

FYI: Asus and Gigabyte will have merged on paper as of January 2007, but
both will continue to operate under their own separate names as before:

"Taipei, Taiwan; August 8, 2006 - GIGABYTE Technology today announced they
have entered into a joint venture with ASUSTeK Computer Inc. to produce
GIGABYTE branded motherboards and graphics cards.

In accordance with the relevant regulations according to Company Law,
Securities Law and Business Merger & Acquisition Law, a resolution of the
board of directors was passed on the 8th of August, 2006 for GIGABYTE
Technology Co., LTD (Stock Code: 2376) to transfer the relevant assets and
businesses of its own branded motherboards and VGA cards to a newly
established subsidiary. After all the necessary legal procedures and
obligations have been fulfilled, ASUSTek Computer Inc. (Stock Code: 2357)
plans to invest in this newly established GIGABYTE subsidiary to help manage
the joint venture and develop a strategic alliance with GIGABYTE. Both
parties will work together to increase operation efficiency, enhance product
quality, provide better customer service and create a higher value for
shareholders.

The capital of this joint venture will be NT$ 8,000,000,000 (eight billion
NT dollars). GIGABYTE Technology intends to hold 51% of the shares and
ASUSTek will hold 49%. This joint venture plans to commence operating in
January 2007. There will be five directors and two supervisors in this joint
venture, with GIGABYTE appointing three seats of directors and one
supervisor, and ASUSTek appointing two directors and one supervisor.

According to the Institute of Information Industry (MIC), the total value of
motherboards produced in 2005 was US$8.9 billion, a growth rate of only 2.2%
from year 2004. The total value of motherboards produced for the first half
of 2006 has fallen to US$3.67 billion in comparison to the US$3.75 billion
for the first half of 2005. In addition, the leading brand PC manufacturers
have increasingly enlarged their market share, causing the market share for
the motherboard channel to decline dramatically. In this slow developing
market environment, GIGABYTE seeks to establish an alliance with ASUSTek in
order to assist the operation efficiency of GIGABYTE's motherboard business.
Apart from increased efficiency, GIGABYTE will have greater resources to
expand their diversified business. Because of the increasingly mature nature
of the motherboard industry, this joint venture will combine the resources
of two leading motherboard manufacturers, allowing for a greater economical
impact on the market, better research and development capabilities and
elevated product quality. It is believed that this strategic alliance will
create a win-win situation for shareholders, employees and customers of both
companies."
Click to expand...
 
I don't know if you guys have tried the high-temp rated electrolytics
from Mouser and some other parts outfits. The better caps are visibly
better-made than the usual and they are pretty cheap bought in qty. of
10 or more. I use these things for all repairs now.. stereos, whatever.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip
 
Dave said:
Hey, I used to have a positive opinion of gigabyte mainboards, also. At
least, they never gave me any headaches. So it's not surprising to hear
someone else likes them. I've had soooooooooooooooooooooooo many problems
with asus however, that I will deliberately avoid anything remotely
related to asus. So, no more gigabyte/asus. -Dave
Click to expand...
I have had good luck and no major problem with Asus boards. I think it
is just a "luck of the draw" type thing. I have also built with many other
manufacturers over the years without many problems. I have had a few DOA
boards, even one from Asus a few years ago (P4B). Once installed and
tested, myself and the shop I used to contract with rarely had MB problems
anyway. AMD boards may be a different matter. The shop rarely built any AMD
systems and I only built two or three for myself over the years. I don't
even know if I used Asus for those. Today I just look at all the major
brands and find one that suits my needs. I do stay away from the el-cheapo
manufacturers.

Ed
 
Ed Medlin said:
I have had good luck and no major problem with Asus boards. I
think it is just a "luck of the draw" type thing.
Click to expand...

Or "you get what you pay for" (with exceptions).
I have also built with many other
manufacturers over the years without many problems. I have had a
few DOA boards, even one from Asus a few years ago (P4B). Once
installed and tested, myself and the shop I used to contract with
rarely had MB problems anyway. AMD boards may be a different
matter.
Click to expand...

I have had many different brands and the only problems I've ever
noticed is the built-in sound on my last Microstar International
(MSI) board seems to have lost one of the channels and using the
built in LAN port caused a malfunction. They've all worked.
Today I just look at all the major brands and find one that suits
my needs. I do stay away from the el-cheapo manufacturers.
Click to expand...

That's the way to do it.
 
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