Rate your favorite mainboard manufacturer!

[Bat25]

Thats' it. Self explanitory - Rate it. Give a brief anecdote, or reason as to why - experiences and such, good or bad :) -

*If your brand is not listed you may list it in your response...ei: PC Chips, DFI, Mach Speed, QDI, Austek (AsRock), etc...

[bassman]

I always bought MSI for their good price/quality relation; only one of them died on a friend of mine, after about 3 years of intense gaming and a 40º summer

[Bat25]

Yeah, they do get alot of OEM too. Good boards.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Abit and Epox, good solid quality boards with excellent overclocking

--Jakk:t

[Bat25]

Yeah, your right. The 8RDA+ was fantastic. Got way up there on the FSB without active cooling on the Northbridge.

[Rob R.]

------>MSI<-------

:cool:

[genesound]

I voted for Asus, but honestly, I really don't have an overwhelming allegiance to a mobo manufacturer. Most have made outstanding models as well as lemons. I think it's more to the specific models than the makers. :rolleyes:

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Asus, Abit, Epox, MSI are all the brands to look at

ECS and Gigabyte and Jetway are not, unless your on a budget or something

--Jakk:t

[killer_teddy]

MSI 'cos I own one and I've built loads with zero problems. Also what
bassman said about their good price/quality relation. They clock well... or at least mine does! Just a shame it doesn't know what temp it's at.

:t

[drew00149]

I voted MSI, but I woulda voted leadtek should it have been there.

[BuildItYourself]

I have three letters for you:


MSI !

great boards. No offense but ECS is a piece of junk

[Someone Stupid]

EPoX, great boards and great service.

[Magua]

I like Asus myself, but the Abit is probably great too.

How is the new Epox board working out?

[Someone Stupid]

You mean the old one with the good stepping? :) It's a warhorse, that is all I can say - 2.5ghz on a 2500 and running happily. Only gets pissy due to the facy that it's taken it's fair share of hits which I would have thought would have killed it by now, but it still is able to push 400 FSB with no problems - just can't go much over that now, before I was hitting 422 rock solid stable and 436 fairly stable (sandra would crash it overnight). Though when running that high, the AC goes out and the ambient temps climb into the upper 90's and the comp is on for however many hours before it crashed, I'm not surprised I lost some mem speed, but was surprised it rebooted and with a drop in speed it was alive and kicking even with heat, a couple stupid static hits, and an overworked PSU for a short while until that got replaced. A 300 watter doesn't go far when pushing 2.1 volts vcore. Just a real warhorse of a board, and a fast one at that.

As for second in line, I'd have to go with Abit, as the NF7-S V2 is an excellent OC board. Asus I've kinda gotten sceptical of after their Deluxe "problems" they had. While the fix wasn't hard, it just wasn't something one should have had to deal with for a board of that price IMO.

[ukulele]

ECS because they are made by PCCHIPS. :p

[lptech]

Bat25-

I vote for Gigabyte motherboards eventhough they are not popular for overclockers they are very reliable and stable running! We've used them in the many systems which we've built for clients (individuals, businesses and corporations included) and have yet to hear any complaints regarding their performance.

My second choice would be Shuttle brand mobos. Third choice would be the Epox brand. In that order! I've used all 3 brands of mobos without any issues at all.

LPTECH

[ComPooTer]

1 more vote for the Asus

i have only used asus, compaq, hp, and emachine motherboards, so the asus clearly wins for me :)

[ROMO56]

I would have to say at this point in my life it would have to be ECS, I have had one for two years now with no problems,I just built my daughter a new computer with a ASUS board, so I would say that's my second choice.


ROMO56:t

[Dreamwalker]

add mine to Abit, while I also like Asus...Abit has continually added to quality and design of current motherboards. Noone goes out on a limb like they do.

[Terminator]

Close between ASUS and ABIT but I go for ASUS. Never had any problems with them.

T

:t

[Billforce]

Originally posted by ukulele
ECS because they are made by PCCHIPS. :p

PC Chips, ECS, Amptron, Alton and a couple others are all built in the same factory. I am an Amptron dealer in South America. Convenient though for flashing the bios...they are all the same.:p

[zybch]

MSI of course. I also like some of the more expensive Gigabyte boards (you get what you pay for) especially the nForce2 ones
that just ignore any multiplier lock so you don't need to unlock your CPU to overclock after you've run out of options with changing the FSB.

How is it that although a couple of brands have had no votes, they still have a bar next to them?

0 means just that, Zero, nothing, zip, bugger all. Whats the go with their little bar being there at all?

MSI

[zybch]

Nothing to do with the actual hardware, but ASUS has the most restrained temp/voltage/rpm monitoring software.
Most of the others are just plain UGLY especially the Gigabyte one, it looks like its been designed by a 3 year old whos just skipped a week of ritalin.

[Gallapond]

Abit and Asus are prone to nasty quirks. Gigabyte is good for what it is, but they are NOT on par with Abit or Asus for enthusiasts. Asus and Abit are SORELY overrated. Aopen made outstanding *ntel boards, but their Athlon boards have been disappointing (to me) from day one. Soyo is usually decent, among the better of the Via boards. Epox is generally very good, but also prone to quirks. Chaintech makes decent ones, also.
** added: Shuttle and Soltek both make exellent econo boards.
I have to say that the absolute best mobo I've EVER had or worked with (10 years) is an Albatron. I took a chance and bought a KX18D ProII NF2 board and have few gripes with it. One of the NF2 "unknown device" pains and the not-uncommon DIMM/AGP space issue are all that come immediately to mind.
KX18D w/ 2500+ (AQZFA stepping) 1.75v 220x10.5 (2.31G). Nothing else messed with. STOCK HS w/ larger fan, 3 case fans. 3 year old 300W Antec PSU.... there's more in it, but the current speed says at least -something- for the motherboard. Well, the Mushkin doesn't exactly **cough** hurt..............
But, in all fairness... When it comes to the top-end boards, Asus, Albatron, Abit, MSI... it's just as much a question of personal preference as anything. Same w/ RAM and video cards...

I pencil in Albatron and vote for their board.

Gallapond, Bearer of the SaltShaker

[Someone Stupid]

Abit was creative in marketting with that tube design, stupid idea, but it gets sales.

As for Gigabyte, eugh. I'd rank them above Soyo, that is all I have to say on the matter.

[BipolarBill]

Asus asks for too much money for the same quality that MSI offers. I like Abit and MSI for their balance of quality and price.

Honorable mention to Epox, Albatron and Shuttle.

[crossedup]

I dont see it listed but ive got a pair of IWILL kk400 boards and they both have never been a bit of trouble.

Got my xp 2200 running at 2029 mhz on one so far with FSB bumps only (plus a touch a vcore ). Nothing huge but something for nothing.

Ive got an old super socket 7 AOPEN board with an AMD k6-2 500 that has some sort of BIOS problem ( probably just dead battery ) and wont keep any settings but it takes whatever i throw at it. Works good for swapping in and out HD's for ghosting so i havent tried to fix it.

Got a Gigabyte board in the boys computer ive been real impressed with as well.

[ComPooTer]

yeah i agree Asus is pretty much overpriced, but good stuff tho

id like to try MSI or an A-Bit sometime in my life

[bob05]

I like ASUS, but I really don't hold an allegience to any board maker. I think PC Chips and other cheap ones are fine for what they are intended for. But when people (like gamers) try and use those boards, they may get some problems. Really as long as the board supports the hardware I have, I really don't care who makes it. :t

[ComPooTer]

as long as the motherboard can support good overclocking and can run stable then thats all i need

[Someone Stupid]

I'd have to say Asus makes quality boards, but the price is unreasonable, that is the only thing that keeps me from them. If I can get a board with the same features, quality, performance, and customer service for cheaper, then Asus is either making more than they need to off the boards, or they don't know how to run the business side of the company.

[ComPooTer]

i think Asus is very popular so the extra money your paying for is really just for the name "Asus"

[Torlok2002]

REcently bought a higher-end Aopen board. (AX4SPE Max)


Very good, nice set of features that also included many cables and extra software. Has a nice way of monitoring temps and fan speeds in realtime and offers setting for adjusting fan speeds to certain temps.

No problems yet, have yet to test the overclocking abilities (although it does offer 1 mhz stepping on the FSB and CPU)

reliability still yet to be tested, but i am very impressed with it so far.

[Bat25]

MSI and Asus in a dead heat! ;)

[cyber_gubat]

for me GIGABYTE, ASUS, EPOX and MSI....

[ichorid]

id vote chaintech if it was there, they make some fantastic mobos, but often overly costly.

as it is, i voted epox cos i have the 8rda+, but only v1.1 :(

[ichorid]

well i would vote but its closed?

[BipolarBill]

It's opened again. :t

[CuriousBuilder]

ECS since it is my first and only build. I have no complaints.

[zybch]

I guess there are always exceptions to the rules.

[comp_nut]

asus


asus k7m amd slot A motherboard

had for many yrs and no problems,change the cpu
and gave to sister







:t

[megaspazz]

Gigabyte has been fine for me. Stable, decent
features without the cost of some Asus, Soyo,
and Chaintech boards. :p :D

[Yoshi]

ASUS for me, abit is good but I like ASUS better, MSI fell a little short, soltek bites, ECS I would never touch, and the only thing Gigabyte has over all the others is that ithe headqaurters is 45min away from me:p :p :p

[megaspazz]

"the only thing Gigabyte has over all the
others is that the headquarters is 45min away from me!"

-cool. so when is my room ready? :)

(megaspazz= Gigabyte lover :r ) :t

[causticVapor]

Asus boards have died on me in the past, and the company's technical support flat-out stinks. Still, they are quality boards of reputable manufacture, even though overpriced. P3B-F is an example. TUA266- ****

My friends and I have quite a few epox boards for many different platforms; they range from OK to excellent. 3PTA - OK; 8KHA+ - very good; 8K5A3+ - good; 8K9A2+ - good; 8RDA+ - excellent

The ECS board in one of my friend's systems has been going strong for several years, though not without its quirks. I must admit the manufacturing quality is not as high as that of the others, but it still works. K7VZA - OK

MSI - While they have a spotty reputation here, one colleague of mine is very pleased with his KT2 combo L. Seems to hold up to a heavily overclocked Palomino quite well, apparently

The others I cannot comment on, because I have not had any experience with them. :p

[bgs]

Albatron KXII Pro or DFI LanParty NFII Ultra B.

I see neither DFI or Albatron made the poll, so once again I go
and pour salt into the cake mix instead of sugar..Forgive me,
I'm old and set in me ways. However these two mobo's work
pretty fair.

[scottluebke2003]

Jakk,
I noticed your comment on Gigabyte motherboards and I am curious why you dont care for them. I am currently using a Gigabyte board with the KT400 chipset. I have put well over a thousand hours on it over the last year and it performs excellent. I always recommend Gigabyte, although I am aware that there are many awesome boards avaiable right now. Is there a reason you dont care for Gigabyte?

[chaser_22]

Have always used either MSI or Epox.
They both offer a lot of features with good performance.

Next to these boards I only ever once bought a Fic mobo and it really sucked, don't know wheter they've cleaned up their act, but I'll stick with Epox.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Gigabyte just seem really middle of the road to me, there have been several big critics here at sysopt of the build quality of Gigabyte boards in the past and there do seem to be a fairly large proportion of porblems with it, though i myself havent really got first hand experience of this.

Gigabyte boards are undoubtledly better than the low end likes of ECS or PC-Chips boards, but IMO they lack the cutting endge with their boards to elevate them into the premier league end with the likes of Epox, Abit, Asus and to a lesser extent MSI and given the fact theyre nto quite in this premier division their pricing is pretty bad, shall i pay 100 Quid for Gigabytes flagship NF2 offering or 90 quid for the Asus A7n8x Deluxe which (along with the Nf7S-v2.0) is arguably the best Nf2 based board out there. Out of the two i knwo where my money eould go ;)

--Jakk:t

[Bat25]

MSI edging Abit - interesting.