easy question - motherboard brands

[lesch2k]

i am going to get a new motherboard - how should i choose a brand?

what brands or boards are better.

i am going to get between a P4 2.4-2.8 w/ 800MHz FSB and HT technology.

how much of a difference is there between the 865 and 875 chip sets.

one more thing, are there going to be any noticeable price drops in the next few weeks or months that you might know about.

thanks

 

[Jeff7]

Personal preference: Epox. I've used the 8KTA3 (KT133A chipset), 8KHA+ (KT266A), then 8RDA+ (nForce2). Awhile back, I had gotten an MVP-3C or something like that; it was a socket 7 board with a VIA MVP-3 chipset I believe. That wasn't the best performer, but VIA's chipsets kind of sucked at that time (and I probably could not care less about what some of you have to say about VIA's chipsets now either).
I had some bad luck with Abit's KT7 - got 2 boards in a row from 2 different vendors, that had bad IDE controllers. That cost me a lot of data - files were emptied of their contents. I finally got ones that worked though (warranty RMA) and they did a good job then.
My mom's PC has an FIC motherboard - not a lot to tweak, but the thing works fine. I also tried an Asus P5A (ALi chipset) and it was good, except that it wouldn't support the K6-3+ processor I wanted to put in it.
So there's my experience, preference, and a bit of motherboard history.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

My personal experience is anything but MSI, others will have different experiences

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
My personal experience is anything but MSI, others will have different experiences

For myself I'll never buy another MSI motherboard, they just aren't "performance" boards. But for my wife's computer, I'd buy another MSI board easy. Her K7T266 Pro2-RU has been running with ultimate stability for 1.5years now, on the same install of WindowsXP no less! That's a new record for our computers.

For a performance motherboard for a performance oriented person I'd recommend Abit first then Epox. They are both reknown for overclockability and speed.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Wish MSI had the same reliability factor for me, it's the only brand of board I ever had to replace for customers and my family due to failure I can't say it's the only one I've had to replace for myself because I've killed Epox, Shuttle, and Abit, due to overclocking I surmise, since there was no evidence of blown or leaking capacitors as there was with the MSI's.

 

[wicktron]

I'm an Abit man myself.

 

[squidman]

What are u talking about??! MSI boards got the error counter, the built in atomic clock, 10 ATA33 connectors, a tape recorder, a geiger counter, and all ohter necessary features we so hardly need! On the downside, the board is sooooo small, that it will need to cases welded together to house it.

 

[yodayoda]

here are my preferences. i have personal experience with all of these brands:

Abit: my personal favorite. the OCers favorite--my KT7A pushed my duron 600 to 1 GHz and i will not forget it =) well built, good 3 phase power, tend to be pricey

Asus: well built boards. tend to be pricey and sometimes have quirky features, but overall a great pick when you want good stability and some decent overclocking. their Asrock division is trying to make discount boards to compete against ECS.

ECS: best bang for the buck. cheap boards and generally stable as long as running in spec. can have some quirks in stability, but if you know what you are doing, they are darlings. not a board for a first-time builder--the infamous K7S5A can be a heartache for many.

MSI: i despise them. tend to rush to market without fixing bugs. generally not 3 phase power. flashy boards with poor performance. they are a very big OEM maker for HP, Dell and other builders, but they do not make good enthusiast boards.

Epox: good stuff here. OC friendly, their port 80 display is a godsend for POST problems. good performance, good 3 phase power design. highly recommended with Asus and Abit.

Soyo: a pretender like MSI. in general, they make flashy boards that are buggy with less than top-of-the-line performance. tend to be pricey too. stay away from them.

Gigabyte: good stuff here. dual BIOS is something that more mobo co.s should use. stable, well built, good innovation. a good choice.

Shuttle: had one shuttle board fail, but all of my SSF comps run great. well-built, not particularly OC rich but they are OC friendly. their SSFs are the best in the biz though.

Via: all of my Eden systems run great. stable, small, and pricey. i have not tried any of their VPSD boards though, but i would assume they are good build quality too.

Intel: no personal knowledge, but well renowned for their stability, but not their overclocking or speed. i have yet to hear a negative comment about stability so i have no doubts here.

there are other companies, like Biostar, Albatron, Supermicro, Tyan, etc. i do not have any personal knowledge of these companies, so i don't want to say anything. my picks for boards are Abit, Epox, Asus, Gigabyte in that order.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Abit #1 in my book. Then Asus grasping #2

Abit makes solid boards with great bfeatures and great overclocking, but at a much lower pricepoint than some others from Asus, Gigabyte etc.

Abit is the best IMO...loved my IS7 until it died and I love my P4P800 which is an asus

 

[oldfart]

I wont pass up an opportunity to voice my distaste for MSI. :disgust:

 

[jaeger66]

This question is really rather pointless. Nearly every company has put out great boards, awful boards, and so-so boards. You could ask 10 people what they think of Brand X and get 10 different answers.

And that is not even taking into account the zealots who will doggedly defend a company or doggedly bash one regardless of facts or evidence.

What you need to do is look at the boards that have features you want and then ask about the specific board or read reviews on it.