Is anandtech getting cherry picked MSI boards?

[TourGuide]

There are definately some QC issues going on with the MSI products right now. There have been numerous people who've reported problems with this board, let me add my story.

I ordered this board new. It arrived in a box that was in good condition so I was expecting a trouble free install. All my other MSI products have been great.

I never got through so much as an XP install. I kept getting random file read errors and XPs intaller would quit on me every time. The board posted fine and went into the BIOS where I changed settings and such, but read/write off the IDE channels was screwed. Probably a borked IDE controller, but makes me nervous about #2 coming down the pipe. Newegg insists I return for the exact same board. If it wasn't for that, I'd probably be making an alternate selection.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed until the new one arrives.

 

[amdguy]

i have no problem with this board either

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: amdguy
i have no problem with this board either

:thumbsup: Lots don't. I was just relaying my experiance and noting differeneces in the anandtech shot vs. retial newegg version, it's a different layout. Could be a bad batch, just a bad board, could even be operator error but this is undoubtably the worst mobo I've ever used. Maybe I'm just spoiled with ASUS and ABIT since that's all I usually purchase.

 

[oldfart]

Originally posted by: Zebo
but this is undoubtably the worst mobo I've ever used.

I've said the same thing every time I've used an MSI board. I've never kept one, and dont waste my time with them any more.

 

[Zebo]

Couple Questions for those of you with the skt754 "K8N Neo Platinum" (MS-7030) Scientific method way.

What color are the four large caps behind mosfet HS? Are you an overlcoker. Do you have any voltage regulation problems? Are you problem free? If not, what sort's problems?

I genuinly beleive anadtechs highend editors choice clocker sample and some are rock solid, initial ones made with highend componets, but I also think once they got the press they wanted they cut costs thus reliability and usability.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

I don't think those 4 caps have anything to do with people's overclocking abilities, or the board's reliability for that matter. But if MSI really sends AT cherry picked boards then why did they have problems with the K8T Neo2?

 

[imported_texan]

Look, all I'm saying is this thread seems a bit ridiculous. Green caps instead of black... have any of you ever worked for a manufacturing company? I do, and I'll tell you that during inital product rollout, it's not uncommon to run into some supply shortages and have to revert to alternate supplier sources for some common components in order to keep up with demand. Or perhaps these are just early run design changes, as parts with this many components making them up are sure to incorporate on the supply line due to cost saving measures or the aforementioned supply problem (or other quality control/warranty issues). Or perhaps Anandtech just tested and photograpged a prototype board, since their review articles tend to come out weeks or more ahead of the real commercial release of the products they test (again, not uncommon in any manufacturing business). But the real question: has anyone traced a problem they've had with this board to a component change... or are your problems just the kind of thing you might expect from the first board produced anywhere in the world using a brand new chipset for the socket released?

I'll say it again: I'm having zero problems with my MSI board. I've overclocked my system to 2.6 ghz (vs. 2.2ghz standard) without problems, and it just seems to me that not every MSI board is the hunk of junk some people here report them to be. Perhaps a single user with a single component problem doesn't extrapolate to a basic manufacturing flaw, or that the board make is somehow just out to screw everyone purchasing their product.

Draw what you will from this thread, but know that many people who have purchased MSI boards are 100% satisfied with their performance to date.

Zebo- Any evidence that the board you received wasn't just one bad example in a bunch of good ones? How many boards exactly have you tried before jumping to conclusions?

 

[Bar81]

Originally posted by: texan

Draw what you will from this thread, but know that many people who have purchased MSI boards are 100% satisfied with their performance to date.

And many people are not. What's your point? That some people like their MSI boards? No one said that every MSI is crap, it's just that MSI has a LOT more problems than other boards. Take a look anywhere on the internet re the board you have and you'll see loads of problems. Just because you and some others have boards that work fine doesn't mean there's no problem, there is. The Neo Platinum has an unacceptable number of user complaints. It's obvious Anandtech is either the luckiest website on the planet or they're getting cherry picked boards. Whether the components on the review board are different than the retail boards or MSI just pretests the board to make sure it's the best of the batch is open to debate. That there are serious and numerous issues is not.

 

[imported_texan]

Originally posted by: Bar81

Originally posted by: texan

Draw what you will from this thread, but know that many people who have purchased MSI boards are 100% satisfied with their performance to date.

And many people are not. What's your point? That some people like their MSI boards? No one said that every MSI is crap, it's just that MSI has a LOT more problems than other boards. Take a look anywhere on the internet re the board you have and you'll see loads of problems. Just because you and some others have boards that work fine doesn't mean there's no problem, there is. The Neo Platinum has an unacceptable number of user complaints. It's obvious Anandtech is either the luckiest website on the planet or they're getting cherry picked boards. Whether the components on the review board are different than the retail boards or MSI just pretests the board to make sure it's the best of the batch is open to debate. That there are serious and numerous issues is not.

My point is: draw what you will from this thread (as I already stated).
I'd like to somehow quantify the notion that MSI is having a "lot" more problems than any other board manufacturer, but you're not giving me enough to go on. I post regurlarly at the MSI HQ forums, and while I see plenty of complaints, most are centered around users not understanding the known issues with these brand news mobos and their newly developed chipsets (about 1/3 of the problem threads I've seen have been dealt with in BIOS updates alone). I suspect the rest are due to defective units, which again... is not uncommon in brand new products using what is truly unproven technology (i.e. Nforce 3 250).

MSI is the second largest board manufacturer in the world. Of course they test the boards they send out for review, any company that doesn't is run by idiots. If you owned a large manufacturing facility and were sending out test units for evaluation, would you simply pull a few random examples of the just ramping up production line? NO. You'd damn well make sure the units sent out are the best your company can offer, just like everyone else is doing.

Please, and again, someone provide me with the "serious and numerous" issues these boards seem to be plagued with... and it'd be nice if your experience wasn't limited to one RMA'd component. Every part of the board I have seems to work perfectly, including the extra USB ports and other nonsense included onboard. I'm perfectly willing to hear honest complaints out and would like to learn something in the process, but I'd like to be able to chalk them up directly to MSI's incompetence and not chipset growing pains or single unit fault issues.

 

[Zebo]

Texan one. however I could show you several posts of similar problems people been having with this board. I could point you to class action suits MSI has form both OEM's and consumers for thier crap caps. I could show you MSI boards on fire or just after a fire. Point is I'm not making these statements in a vaccuum. MSI has problems and I was bit by one.

Excuse me for having problems with your beloved MSI and sharing my exeriance. I'm sure your 939 board is perfect maybe I should have bought that one instead of a 754 board which this threads about.

 

[imported_texan]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Texan one. however I could show you several posts of similar problems people been having with this board. I could point you to class action suits MSI has form both OEM's and consumers for thier crap caps. I could show you MSI boards on fire or just after a fire. Point is I'm not making these statements in a vaccuum. MSI has problems and I was bit by one.

Excuse me for having problems with your beloved MSI and sharing my exeriance. I'm sure your 939 board is perfect maybe I should have bought that one instead of a 754 board which this threads about.

Jesus, thin skin much?

As I've stated twice before, I'd LOVE to see what you guys are talking about. Do you think I see myself as some sort of computer guru trying to tell you all how things really are? This is the FIRST computer I've ever built from the ground up, and I'm simply sharing my experiences and overall knowledge here with everyone else. All I've asked is that people share more than just stories with their one bad board if they're going to badmouth the manufacturer, and thus far I've heard nothing but how you "could" show me all these things. Please do, because I want to learn as much about this stuff as possible... hence the reason I signed up at these forums in the first place.

Personally I'm all about seeing what DFI comes out with in the coming months concerning Nforce3 and socket 939, I'd love to find out what board manufacturers make the best stuff and why. So could everyone PLEASE stop talking about what they could show all the readers of this thread and just do it already?

 

[imported_texan]

BTW, if I came off sounding as though I didn't want to hear any bad experiences you people have had with MSI boards, I apologize. All I'm looking for here is something a bit more substantial so I can learn something from this thread other than that some people haven't had problems, and some have.

 

[MikeO]

Originally posted by: texan

Originally posted by: Zebo
Texan one. however I could show you several posts of similar problems people been having with this board. I could point you to class action suits MSI has form both OEM's and consumers for thier crap caps. I could show you MSI boards on fire or just after a fire. Point is I'm not making these statements in a vaccuum. MSI has problems and I was bit by one.

Excuse me for having problems with your beloved MSI and sharing my exeriance. I'm sure your 939 board is perfect maybe I should have bought that one instead of a 754 board which this threads about.

Jesus, thin skin much?

As I've stated twice before, I'd LOVE to see what you guys are talking about. Do you think I see myself as some sort of computer guru trying to tell you all how things really are? This is the FIRST computer I've ever built from the ground up, and I'm simply sharing my experiences and overall knowledge here with everyone else. All I've asked is that people share more than just stories with their one bad board if they're going to badmouth the manufacturer, and thus far I've heard nothing but how you "could" show me all these things. Please do, because I want to learn as much about this stuff as possible... hence the reason I signed up at these forums in the first place.

Personally I'm all about seeing what DFI comes out with in the coming months concerning Nforce3 and socket 939, I'd love to find out what board manufacturers make the best stuff and why. So could everyone PLEASE stop talking about what they could show all the readers of this thread and just do it already?

Go here to learn about motherboards. Link goes to MSI forum.

 

[dacull]

|I'd like to hear the "many many" faults listing of this board, because other than the temp issue (which
|seems to have been resolved with bios 1.2) my computer has given me absolutely no problems
|whatsoever.

Well it seems like a large percentage of boards out there can't run with PS2 Keyboards or mice, many people can't get Raid 0 up and running (not through lack of trying), the temp issues you say are fixed in 1.2 actually are not fixed properly yet (check the forum), there are many reports of people with non functioning PCI slots (ive read atleast 10 reports of this on various forums) the nvidia chipset doesnt work so well with 6800's (turn on agpfastwrite and see) - yes thats nvidias fault - again check the forums. I know of one guy who has RMA'd *3* times now and has not had a working board yet, and he is a very experienced builder. Sometimes new boards come with problems, but just the amount of noise I have heard about this board tells that something is wrong (we are having this conversation about it right now for example). I can only give you hearsay without some statistics. I suggest you talk to a retailer and see if they have had more than the usual returns on this particular mobo, I would suggest to you that they have.

I'm sure the boards that are sent to Anand/Toms etc are fully quality checked before being sent out, i wonder if they ones sent out to joe bloggs are as fully checked.. Im not bitching against MSI, and of course they wouldn't send an untested board for review , I just think they should test them properly before sending out to the customer also - my time is costly and I dont want to be building and debuilding machines all the time. Factoring out the newbie builder percentage of failures you have to admit this board has alot of problems. Thats what I meant by my board isnt the same as the ones tested. congratulations texan on getting one of the few problem free k8n neo2s on the market

Regards..

 

[DAPUNISHER]

texan,

Your stance is very understandable after reading your posts in this thread When I first began to DIY it, I too had nothing but love for my hardware, since like yourself, I had a great first build experience. What you need to understand though, is that some of us have built 100's of white boxes and trends emerge. MSI has been the least reliable brand of mainboard I've ever based client builds on, including ECS.

Now, this is not to say all MSI boards are junk, or that they intentionally switch to using lower quality components than the boards they send to reviewers to increase profits margins as some allege. What it does indicate is that here in this thread alone, there are a number of members with far more builds under their belt than yourself who rate MSI mainboards very poorly based on, in some cases, extensive personal experience with them.

Your request for proof has been addressed through the content of the posts. Your insistance on pics or other more concrete evidence than user feedback could be interpreted as being an accusation of our integrity, or lack there of. I know you are asking simply out of a desire to further your knowledge base on the topic, but that data is already available if you stop being defensive *my observation of your behavior only* and re-read what Zebo and others have posted. They have described precisely the areas in which they have found the boards lacking, and base these opinions on comparative experience with other brands of mainboards.

Obviously others besides yourself have excellent experiences with MSI. Consequently, one can only rely on personal experience and play what they feel are the best percentages. For myself, Zebo, oldfart, and some others, MSI is low percentage and simply not worth the risk given our experiences with their products vs other brands. It's really that simple, and your testimonial on MSI's behalf is as useful to members who need help with the purchasing decision as ours so thanks for adding it

 

[caivoma]

texan sounds like a msi employee
/me run away from flame

 

[orangat]

Anandtech did have problems with an MSI board its 939 roundup article -
"We feel similarly about the MSI K8T Neo2-FIR, which was somewhat a surprise as the socket 754 K8T Neo was a favorite. Our concern is based on the fact that we went through 3 K8T Neo2 boards before we got one that really worked. That may just be coincidence, but it raises concern about the quality assurance of this particular product. "

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: orangat
Anandtech did have problems with an MSI board its 939 roundup article -
"We feel similarly about the MSI K8T Neo2-FIR, which was somewhat a surprise as the socket 754 K8T Neo was a favorite. Our concern is based on the fact that we went through 3 K8T Neo2 boards before we got one that really worked. That may just be coincidence, but it raises concern about the quality assurance of this particular product. "

That answers the original cherry picked question Obviously it took a couple tries just to get a fully functional board up and running for review, so definitely not cherry picked, just good and fast when you find one that survived shoddy QC

 

[Subhuman25]

Gee, don't we all have 3 months plus extra time to spare to order and RMA at least 3 boards,maybe more,to finaly find one that works?
Who cares that by the time you find one technology might have made the board you finally got running obsolete.
Who cares about running a computer that you can be confident about?
Who cares if said motherboard only works with a very limited choise of memory.
Doesn't everyone upgrade their motherboard when they upgrade their memory?

<read with a dash of sarcasm>

 

[dacull]

Well - I have to agree with you all.. quality is the most important aspect to me, I will never ever purchase an MSI board again or recommend one. They need to learn that sending out faulty boards is just not a way to treat the customer.. I just wish Í had have read the forums properly before buying this board, instead of trusting reviews - never again...

on the whole it seems 90% of people on this thread are anti-MSI and 10% for, that speaks volumes that people are spending their time here to warn people off MSI..

As subhuman says, i dont have the time to wait three months sending back 3 boards, and de-pasting my cpu three times, and rebuilding 3 times, i want something testing,and i'm willling to pay for that..

The question is - Which manufacturer is the best for quality??

 

[Bar81]

Asus and ASRock. The Asus K8N-E Deluxe is what you want.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: orangat
Anandtech did have problems with an MSI board its 939 roundup article -
"We feel similarly about the MSI K8T Neo2-FIR, which was somewhat a surprise as the socket 754 K8T Neo was a favorite. Our concern is based on the fact that we went through 3 K8T Neo2 boards before we got one that really worked. That may just be coincidence, but it raises concern about the quality assurance of this particular product. "

And it even got the "editors choice" in that round-up as in the 754 one...what-evar.:thumbsdown: :roll:

 

[Bar81]

Seriously, AT mobo reviews are such a joke.

 

[slpaulson]

It's an MSI...
It seems like they've really had some quality control issues lately.

<--- had two MSI boards die in two years.

 

[ChineseDemocracyGNR]

I would say the MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R is one of the best "1st gen" mobos for Athlon 64. It has a 5/5 rating on newegg after 101 votes, which "speaks volumes" for the quality of this MSI product.

As for ASUS/ASRock boards, you have to avoid anything from ASUS that ends with an -X and has a VIA chipset. The A7V8X-X specially and the A7V600-X are plagued with problems.