Brand avoidance?

yeah, it's not the exactly described problem of "sata port performance degradation after three years", but number of people with issues relating to Asus + SSD drives, and now the chipset recall relating to SATA problems... it all sounds fishy to me

either way, first time I've ever had a problem with a motherboard, and it was Asus, so avoid them imo
 
I now intentionally avoid MSI. They typically have the cheapest boards and I couldn't help but buy them due to the typical $20+ savings compared to asus/gigabyte/etc. Though they've always given me poor overclocking results and random stability issues. This is partly my fault as I always bought the cheapest MSI boards and never the good/expensive ones (which I assume work better).

I built 100's of severs using asus motherboards back in the pentium1-2 days and had great luck with them, but with the recent DOA issues I've been reading about, I decided to go with gigabyte/asrock for my next build. I really wanted gigabyte, but went with asrock simply because gigabyte didn't offer the fancy new gui interface in their bios.
 
Not an avoid at all cost but, I have to really think hard about buying an ASUS board. Every ASUS board I've ever owned has been quirky and hard to configure. I have always been able to get then to run and they are stable afterward but, it take just way to much effort to get them that way. The kicker is I've never had the same problem with Asrock.
 
Met-AL said:
I have a ASROCK S939 DUAL board that used the ULI 1395 chipset. The board had an actual real 8x AGP slot and a PCI-E 16x slot. Still running strong today after 5yrs.
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I have to chime in for ASRock as well, I always steered clear of these board and went with asus because they were a more well known product, but now that i have a couple years under my belt with asus, id have to say that all of the 'little things' ive experienced with them has made me kind if dissapointed.

Now, given i havnt used this new board from asrock that long (extreme 6 p67) so i cant really give a reliability report on it, but i must say the layout (with the exception of one pci e x1 port) is fantastic!, very high quality, nice looking board. I liked the ability to use 775/1366/1155 coolers on the same board without extra brackets.

The UEFI they went with is extremely basic, its basically just the old bios screen with new colors and mouse support, not like the ASUS uefi thats a little more interactive and automated in certain parts. but nonetheless does the job, and it looks nice.

startup time is quicker than my old asus board, but I would say that has more to do with the old marvell controllers being slow/poorly implemented on the old board.

built the computer in about an hour with no issues at all, everything was detected, OC'd to 4.5 (2500k) with just a multi change, although i havnt tried for anything higher yet.

overall, probably the most satisfied with this purchase than any other board ive used.
 
I've had good luck with Abit, Asrock, Gigabyte. I think that people tend to buy what they have known. If Abit were still around, i would have continued with them.

If I had to pick some to avoid, I would say ECS, Jetway, and Zotac
 
It depends.

Intel boards first. Due to reliability and easy of support/RMA.

ASUS/Gigabyte (before ABIT's death it was ABIT/ASUS) boards after that if there are additional features desired, or overclocking desired.

By the time I exhaust those options usually found something ot fit my needs and have never needed to branch out further.
 
I admit that I had been buying Asus because they have pretty heatsinks, but their quality sucks so I avoid them.
 
Good experiences with: Gigabyte, MSI, ASRock, BIOSTAR
Neutral experiences with: ASUS, ECS, Foxconn
Bad experiences with: ABIT, DFI

What tier board you are buying makes a big difference in what brand to choose; also makes a difference if you buy when boards are first released or after they've been manufactured for a good number of months (3/6 new boards I have purchased had some issue and have been RMA'ed). Only 1 board that used an established chipset/bios ever had problems... just keep that in mind.
 
I usually stick with Gigabyte. I've owned several Asus boards in the past and none of them lived longer than 4 years. My old Gigabyte 865PE and Intel D945 boards are still running fine.
 
I've owned Asus boards almost exlusively for the last 10 years, going from intel to intel to amd to amd to amd to intel and i must say, its been a DOWNWARD SLIDE, the boards have been getting worse and worse, support following suite. My next board will either be a EVGA or a Gigabyte, both brands have been impressing me the last few years
 
Wow, I thinking about all the different boards I've had. I cant really say I've had a bad experience with any of them although I haven't tried them all either. Ive done Asus, ABIT, DFI, Gigabyte and they usually all been good.



I usually do a lot of research and read alot of user reviews of boards before I pull the trigger.
 
smokin9 said:
Wow, I thinking about all the different boards I've had. I cant really say I've had a bad experience with any of them although I haven't tried them all either. Ive done Asus, ABIT, DFI, Gigabyte and they usually all been good.



I usually do a lot of research and read alot of user reviews of boards before I pull the trigger.
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I deffinitely agree about reading the reviews and research of the boards before i buy, just somehow the Asus boards have normally come out on top (atleast what i bought when i bought for what i bought) performance wise (mind you sometimes arbitrary points in a synthetic benchmark) After all these years tho i can tell you i wish i went for the more reliable boards that were a few points under the leader, rather than the performance leader that seem to somehow attain it by cutting corners when quality is concerned. It wasnt always like this, Asus use to mean both quality and performance, now its generally performance, for quality Gigabyte in my mind has takin Asus's crown in that regard
 
Before I get started here, let me be the devil's advocate and say that brand doesn't matter very much anymore for the most part. Motherboards have come a very, very long way since the Celeron 300A OC'ing days.

I would never buy an Abit board again, ever, after their capacitor issues during the AXP and S478 days. There was a class action lawsuit regarding this. I don't care if they came back tomorrow and it got 57 gold awards from the [H]. 3 bad boards, the RMA'd boards all had the same issue, RMA'd one a third time, same thing. I had one Gigabyte AXP board and one S478 board which both kept churning through the whole thing.

I did have an Abit BP6 that I loved.

For an enthusiast board, I look at Gigabyte, ASUS and MSI. I tend to lean towards Gigabyte, although avoiding ASUS this time was an easy decision with all the issues with P67 boards.

I would not steer someone away from ASRock if they were set on one anymore. They no longer just make niche and entry level products, they make true enthusiast products.

Gigabyte was the most stable and reliable in the past for me. You know, the days when the brand you bought actually mattered. They have always held that image in my eyes and I will continue to purchase their boards unless I get screwed over like I did with Abit.

Another thing that would make me look away from Gigabyte would be depending on how they handle the P67 ordeal.
 
tokey43074 said:
I usually avoid ASUS at all cost after buying 5 doa boards from them. I prefer gigabyte since I have 0 issues with them in 10 years. My opinion is changing about ASUS with my new board. I received a P8P67 as a birthday gift and have been impressed by it. Its well built and it works.

I wouldnt have spent my own money on it but I am glad I have it. I may buy from them in the future. We will see how long this one lasts.
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No offense bro but do you realise the chances of getting 5 DOA boards? Were they sending you refubs or the same mainboard back? Thats crazy!
 
Brand loyalty or avoidance as the OP puts in is IMHO based on overall value and personal experience. For example, many years ago I purchased a Nissan Pathfinder. This thing was more than likely built in the deep depths of hell because it left me stranded so many times (including on a date) and I must have spent at least two grand rebuilding the transmission and other failures. Granted I bought it used but dear lord it was a nightmare. I ended up selling it and the guy who bought it totaled it. He was ok but I actually felt a sense of relief because that cursed mode of transportation would no longer be on the road.

Anyway, to this very day if I see a Nissan Pathfinder I will sneer in disgust. LOL I have issues.

Well as far as Mainboards, I have had nothing but a pleseant experience with ASUS boards. ABIT and XFX products are my Nissan pathfinder.
 
fdiaz78 said:
Brand loyalty or avoidance as the OP puts in is IMHO based on overall value and personal experience. For example, many years ago I purchased a Nissan Pathfinder. This thing was more than likely built in the deep depths of hell because it left me stranded so many times (including on a date) and I must have spent at least two grand rebuilding the transmission and other failures. Granted I bought it used but dear lord it was a nightmare. I ended up selling it and the guy who bought it totaled it. He was ok but I actually felt a sense of relief because that cursed mode of transportation would no longer be on the road.

Anyway, to this very day if I see a Nissan Pathfinder I will sneer in disgust. LOL I have issues.

Well as far as Mainboards, I have had nothing but a pleseant experience with ASUS boards. ABIT and XFX products are my Nissan pathfinder.
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Lol. :D

For me, I haven't really had too many "bad" experiences with the limited array of motherboards that I have worked with. I had an old ASUS A7V266-E that died on me, twice. Never had an issue with getting a replacement though. I also had to get a new BIOS chip for my ABIT IP35-E after a failed flash.

I do wish companies would just trash the boards they get back, recycle the copper and all that, and send brand new non-refurbished models back from RMA.

I'm sure with enough time, I'll figure out which manufacturers I truly detest. But, until then, I'll buy whatever fits in my budget and offers the features or stability I want at the time.
 
lol :D

something like this i guess
ECS, Amptron , pc-chips , Dell, Aleinware, HP, gate way, brand "X" , ibm ,intel , acer , compac
 
i don't think anyone can make a truly objective judgement on best / worst brand of motherboard. in most cases, a person's experience only spans a couple of boards (as best) per generation of chipset / processor. unless the person works in a IT dept for the last 10yrs and has upgraded wholes floors of workstation PCs many times.

based on my personal subjective experience building my own PCs cira just before PII days, i've only had a few boards actually die on me;

-1 gigabyte board, original intel pentium cpu.
my fault. the boards back then had the AT power cable split into 2 plugs. the power cable was supposed to plugged in with the ground (black) wires in the middle. i connected with grounds on outside on plug. board blew on me. (around that time cable connectors began coming out with unidirectional plugs. one of the best computer advances ever, especially for butter-fingers idiots like me)

1 msi board, for a amd thunderbird cpu
again my fault. scratched some of the traces on pcb, back of board near cpu socket. was able to fix with a HD pencil, though wasn't 100% stable.

1 abit board, for amd socket 939
not my fault, board refused to post. had to junk board.

i'll have to agree, asus boards can sometimes be a little flaky. my current x38 MB (in sig) had a promising NB & SB WC cooling system that in practice was rubbish. had to remove (major pain in the arse). 1st dual channels are borked, had to use 2nd channel. can't use the 1st PCIe x16 slot b/c RAM has high heatsinks. besides all these issues the board is still working pretty well (touch wood) for the last 3 1/2 to 4 yrs which is something considering the amount of punishment it's endured.

i guess with motherboards you really get what you pay for. with every new system i build, i spend a larger proportion of my budget on the MB. after all the MB is the backbone of a PC. having to pull one out due to failure is a major pain in the arse. better to spend the money upfront for something decent.
 
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I used to avoid gigabyte I had a board back in the K6-2 days and it would create incredible lag with a vodoo 3 3000. It was some flaw after that I did not touch them again until my p35 board. I am mean if you make something bad I ban you for a very long time. I wish all consumers were like this then companies would be more careful about what they release and how they service customers.

Since then I have not had any motherboards with problems. I have had Asus, MSI, Abit, gigabyte. Also as far as brands there is very little cost savings going down brands so I do not even bother with the really low end companies like foxconn and ecs.
 
Personaly I avoid Intel boards like the plauge. I have had 13 of them die(4doa) including one that actualy caught fire. In the past ECS has been poor in my book but my wife's current PC has one of the boards that frys gave away with a processor purchase(12 less to buy combo than just the proc) thats been running strong for the past two years.

Personaly I'm an ASUS fanboy but most of the machines I have built are running on their corp stable line which of around 90 machines I have built I have only had 1 come back needing a mainboard. (Knocking on wood here.. ha ha)

After 5 years working in a Dell IT environment for one of the big Vegas Strip Casino groups, if it came out of any of the Foxconn facilities I'll get that auto-sneer that fdiaz talks about with pathfinders... egads!
 
i dont touch the following

dfi
biostar
jetway
foxconn.
ecs

msi was on the list but i think they are making a better product now then before.
 
txmale4969 said:
i dont touch the following

dfi
biostar
jetway
foxconn.
ecs

msi was on the list but i think they are making a better product now then before.
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Doesn't Foxconn make most boards??

But I agree, no ECS! Trying my first MSI build, you we'll see...
 
I have an ECS Black Series board and its 100% rock solid, never had an issue with it. I'd avoid Foxconn and Jetway.
 
Foxconn lol, good luck avoiding them.

from wiki
Clients

Foxconn makes consumer electronics for a number of famous-name companies. The following is an incomplete list.

* Apple Inc. (United States) [19][7]
* Amazon.com (United States)
* Cisco (United States)
* Hewlett-Packard (United States) [20]
* Dell (United States)
* Nintendo (Japan)
* Nokia (Finland) [19]
* Microsoft (United States)
* Sony (Japan)
* Sony Ericsson (Japan/Sweden) [21]
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Ive always ran Asus and never had any issues but im using Gigabyte for the first time with my current i7 build (a little over a year now) and so far it's been rock solid.
 
That's a funny question and the answers that follow are even funnier :)

Avoiding board manufacturers for one reason or another if you ask 100 people this question you will probably hear every manufacture represented for one reason or another. In my 14 years of building system as a profession I have found that the RMA and tech support process is as an important as the product itself that you are buying. Believe it or not but MSI and ECS have the best RMA/tech support bar none for the VAR/OEM market. Do not know how they do for the home builder but you have to take into account that when you are dealing with a manufacture direct the average turn around time on RMA's is 6 weeks. These guys are simply not setup to deal with the American public in a retail fashion.

Over the years there have been several boards by certain manufactures that I would avoid because they really were not ready for the market.

With Asus it is my practice to never buy the first release of any new chipset/board, ever. There low end boards are solid though.
ECS do not expect much from them in the way of extra features but usually a solid low budget offering.
Biostar they cut corners like crazy, never use them.
MSI, I only use there mid to upper end boards and have had great sucsess with them (fewer than 5% return rate).
DFI, who they hell are they I haven't touched one of there boards since 98. Socket 7 board I think
Asrock, ahh Asus's lower end brand they make a solid board.
Intel boards? Only when I have a coupon from Intel do I use there boards, direct cross shipped replacement is a very valuable tool for any builder, not having to wait 6 weeks for a replacement board that you then have to get back into the market helps alot. They have there issues but I have not had a lot of failures from Intel.
Foxconn there decent, nothing to write home about.
Jetway, yeah right they make most of the boards for the large OEM's like Dell and HP, stay far far away.
Gigabyte, they ahve set themselves up the best to deal with the public. Years ago when they first introduced the dual BIOS function it was a nightmare, not to mention they were the ones who had the most mosfet cap failures of all the manufactures. Have not used them much since but I hear good things about them. They have done a lot of work to untarnish there image.
 
Having built over 20 systems I have only had to RMA two mobo's. One was Gigabyte the other was AsRock. I've since bought other Gigabyte mobos with no issue but I avoid AsRock.
 
I have had three boards just go bad on me, two of them were EVGA 680i boards and the other was a DFI 750 sli. The two EVGA board did the exact same thing, they would just power cycle all day long for no reason. I changed everything but the board on both of them and it did the same thing.

I have had two other board myself and they have been MSI with zero problems. I had to send the one out for RMA because I had an ethernet cable rip the pins out of the nic. I RMA'd it no problems there and back in two weeks.
 
I really like my Abit IP35pro, the company was dropping their MB line but the engineers put out18 bios revisions to the board and I have had a 5 years stable board overclocking the whole time, even found enthusiasts adding SB chipset firmware to the bios's. I hope I can find a P67 board like this. Does anyone know if the Abit engineers really went to Biostar?
 
I have had an nvidia based older one from ASUS it was a rebranded asus board but from HP, based on the 6150 igp, worked ok but was locked tighter then a nun.

Other 2 boards I have had and one in use right now is a p5k(vanilla) and now P5Q-E

P5K didnt like to clock all that high, not much I could do to stabilize it above the 3.8 some mark on my E8400. My P5Q-E on the other hand runs like a champ, I have been able to get it o the 500FSB and now running at 4100MHz on my E8400 EO stepping with ~1.3v to the cpu.

In my case I didnt like the so called EPU thingy that asus supplies, and am not fond of thier not keeping up with updates to thier older motherboards/gpu(smartdoctor voltage tweak doesnt work at all with my "voltage tweak" asus 6870) and sounds cards.

So I will say I am not fond of ASUS regard to thier driver updates, nor the speed of their website, but I can say thier warranty support is top notch, never had an issue there, and this board is absolutely fantastic and stable if you know what you are doing at least a little.
 
I have used asrock, biostar and gigabyte all without issue. not sure what i will use for dozer or 2011, wait and see what each one looks/performs like in the wild.
 
MSI, after the fiasco with most of the MSI boards blowing from Thuban, i wont touch one
 
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