Is it too much to ask for a new motherboard without problems?

[WoundedWallet]

I'm on the market for a new AMD board again and it seems like things are pretty bad now.

It looks like the hardware manufactures took the clue from the software people and decided to release first and fix later.

I've combed posts about most of the new boards from Abit, Asus, Epox, Gigabyte and Soyo (I won't touch MSI or ECS again), and it seems that every single one has an issue or another.

After years of trying to get the fastest system I could afford, now I'm just trying to find a system that doesn't upset me. Is it too much to ask?

Does anyone know of any new board KT400 or NF2 that has all their kinks ironed out?

So far the least problematic one seems to be a plain no-raid KD-7.

I'd hate to go without any of the new goodies, but it seems that if I want new stuff I'll have to put up with the hassle.

I wonder if this disease(beta products) will catch on other industries.

Then we will spend our whole lifes Fixing Everything All The Time (I can even see a new cable channel with that slogan.)

This way we'll all be to busy to complain about the socio-political-econmical problems of our times.

Maybe this is all a conspiracy initiated by Bill_Gates with that Windows 1.0 thing, his master plan to rule the world by chaos.

Anyway, sorry about the rant, but I'm just tired of hitting dead ends on my search for a Nirvana board. Or even a Pearl Jam one.

So if anyone knows of any other board that is known to be trouble free, please let me know.

Otherwise in a few weeks I'll be out here explaining how Bill_Gates is really behind the war in Iraq

 

[HarryAngel]

There are a lots of good right of the box mobo's around personally i like the mobos where you have to work a little bit on them to get them where you want...

 

[floccus]

I haven't had any problems with my A7N8X delux that did me any problems. The only thing that I had trouble with was that I was underclocking the CPU b/c the BIOS was set for a 100Mhz FSB instead of automatically moving up to 166. So it was a couple of days before I checked the BIOS and moved it up myself. Beyond that I haven't had any flash errors, memory problems, or anything else go bad for a month now. I've said it before, but what you see on the boards is a bunch of people griping, you're rarely gonna see posts for people who have had no problems since they don't feel they need to.

 

[tydas]

If you?re building your own computer you have to expect a little work. I have installed a dozen MB in the past 5 years and all work flawlessly, even a refurb from newegg. Granted on occasion i had to do a little research to solve a problem in the end it all worked out. I think most people here will agree that the problem is the people installing...

Also, you don't inspire me with a lot of confidence based on the way you post messages, almost as annoying as typing in CAPS!!!

 

[ajskydiver]

I bought a 2400+ and Epox 8RDA+...after 24 hours of running stock fine...I'm now running:

2.3 GHz (11x200) 1.70 v (SLK-800 and YS-Tech Variable speed fan)
2x512 Mushkin PC 3200 Blue (CL 2.5...basically optimal settings)

32 C idle...41 C load...

While I'm curious as to how high this processor will go with 1.75-1.85 v...I'm too conservative and would hate to fry a processor - plus I'd have to get authorization from my CFO for a new purchase.

No mods to the MB...not a single crash, lock-up or anything.

The only thing I'm unhappy about is the nVidia SW IDE drivers...I can't burn anything with them...and can't use EAC without them I'll figure something out - hopefully.

~AJ

 

[Vette73]

Just put together a NF7-S and had no problems, and I didn't even format the harddrive :Q


It all depends on what other parts you through at it and doing the research to make sure you have the best drivers for the OS you are running.

 

[WoundedWallet]

Thanks guys but I wasn't really asking for individual experiences, as what works for one doesn't for another.

My question was whether there is a general consensus about a certain board having its shît together. Whether there is some widely known good board that I have overlooked.

I tend to overload my systems, the one I'm using right now has all 6 PCI slots used, 8 IDe devices, 2 video cards and about 11 fans running(counting the 2 on the PS, two on each cpu and three on the video cards.)

So I'm looking for a board that doesn't add to any configurations problems.

And yes floccus, I know that people rarely post to say that everything is OK, so I look for the board that has the least amount of posts as the most trouble free one. Unfortunately the A7N8X deluxe is not one of them as I've read scores of people wishing they could exchange their 1.2 for the revision 2.0 that's not even out yet. That's a bad message for a relatively new board.

About you tydas... I don't have any confidence in you either. But not because of the way you type. But because of what you type. You seem to be an inexperienced, narrow minded person that thinks is better than everybody else. In simpler words an @$$h013. Maybe you didn't pay attention when your mom said "if you don't have anything good to say... SFU."

To the rest of you thanks for trying but I really didn't expect that such board existed. New and ironed out. But I thought it would be good to ask just in case.

WW

 

[magomago]

Well I'm not even sure what Revision of my board I have (if there is a new version and it fixes things they better release updated drivers so i can fix mine if a problem arises! If its something like integrating SATA i don't care) but i'm happy. I will admit though that my first board was DOA and that it took me about a week to get all the kinks out so this board isn't for you


I would say the ECS k7s5a pro is one of those boards that are perfect. Its bought a LOT and maybe once a month I might see one person have a problem and its solved as simple as updating drivers of some sort.

EDIT:

ECS just released a new board that is supposed to have the stability/bug-freeness of the k7s5a that costs ~60ish on newegg and its supposed to be a awsome overclocker - All i remember is that the first letter has a L

 

[WoundedWallet]

I returned an ECS k7s5a not long ago. It was overheating even outside the case.

I found out that ECS quality control is not there, some boards will come out fine and others like a brick.

I have been unlucky with it and I'm not willing to waste my time with it again.

But I was happy with the board for a few minutes, I could boot from my USB stick

Can't really trust the stuff made in China yet. Got a nice Apex DVD player, but the TV sücked.

It seems that this quality control thing is not very important for them yet.

WW

 

[Cerb]

My question was whether there is a general consensus about a certain board having its shît together. Whether there is some widely known good board that I have overlooked.

No. The more people buy, the more people complain.
You won't touch ECS? why not?
27 working K7S5As.
0 Dead.
4 needed battery replacements.
One has had all PCI slots filled on several occasions (my dad's te be precise), from SCSI and IDE controllers, sound card, multiple TV tuner cards, etc...never had a single problem. For a board that just works, I can personally only recommend my own AK35GT2 and the ECS K7S5A (rev 1, rev 3 and pro).

Reseller may matter for quality control. 25 of those 27 came fron Newegg. The other 2 from a trusted guy at a computer show. Several people on forums seem to be getting mobos off of ebay, of all things.

magomago: They have the L7S7A2 in the USA, yes! Come on, summer job, get here just a wee bit sooner!

 

[WoundedWallet]

cerb you could be right about the more people buy the more they complain. It's a commom human condition to not be happy with what you have. So I'll keep that in mind whlie reading posts. Heck, I could even show this symptom... sometimes?

But if the reseller matters for quality control, that goes smack in the midel of my rant. I got my board at Fry's and you at Newegg, why should they be any different? Unless Fry's got theirs out of ECS's trash bin(which is possible).

Can you imagine if the same appiled to TVs? Are Bestbuy's TVs are better than Fry's TVs?

My rant is towards this quality issue. I think it's about time for the manufacturers to take that as their main goal. Just because the user base is able to go around their product shortcomings is not an excuse to take advantage of our time.

I better stop here. Thanks for your input.

WW

 

[KF]

>My rant is towards this quality issue. I think it's about time for the manufacturers to take that as their main goal.

Well, the market is really depressed and the prices are low. To get a price advantage, manufacturers skimp and rush to be first out , endangering quality. The competition between nVidia and VIA has nVidia doing elaborate drivers to get an edge, so there are anomalies. You might have to revert to older drivers for nF2 if you have a problem like Aj_UF. Like you say, there are issues for a while.

On Anandtech people love EPOX and ASUS, but there are many fans of MSI too once they get their BIOSes in shape, which seems to take quite a while.

ASUS is probably the best choice for quality components, although you may consider it overpaying for the differential. ASUS charges it because they can get it.

EPOXs reputation is to get their BIOS fixes out the fastest. Their nF2 board is kind of skimpy on features.

ABIT has a high value, high feature nF2 board, and the best manufacturer RMA if you happen to get a dud. I think they have the best layout for backplate connectors, with the fewest extra plates that will take up PCI positions.

I have to say that all the mobos I ever bought have had loads of problems reported on the forums, and almost without exception none of them happened to me. That's probably normal. ( I usually have problems that NO ONE ELSE HAS EVER SEEN.)

 

[Cerb]

WoundedWallet, I agree about quality. It is generally thought that sometimes instead of taking a bad shipment off the market, the company may be letting them go at lower prices to lesser resellers. This thinking crops up generally because people seem to either have a bad apple and not complain (when you get one back that works, you don't go b!tching), or get multiple bad ones from the same place in a relatively short period of time.
However, even when it isn't the cheapest, I try to buy all but monitors at Newegg, because I have yet to be let down, and the people I know who have been have only good experiences w/ Newegg's RMA process.

 

[Ketchup]

I have bought quite a few motherboards in the past two years, and not one of them has been bad. You have to consider the fact that a lot of the problems with different PC parts in general have a lot to do with human error. Case in point: you hardly ever see a good hardware review site (that knows what they are doing) get a "dud" or a board that goes bad, but you see it in the forums pretty often. Just something for you to think about before you pass off new hardware as junk.

 

[Zepper]

WW et al.,
. I just upgraded a system with an MSI KM2M Combo L and it works great - only one flaw - BIOS doesn't display fan speeds, all read 0, while their PC Alert utility shows the rpms just fine. I know it's not a high end board, but very reliable. See the customer reviews on newegg, the user reviews on SysOpt and elsewhere.
. Also Tyan has recently put out a KT400 based mobo, the Trinity S2495AN/ANRS. The ANRS version has Serial ATA and RAID as well as the LAN and USB 2.0 of the base model. As Tyan is primarily a mfr of server and workstation mobos, I have always had good luck with them, but they don't seem to get nearly as much press as they deserve.
. The Tyan KT-400 is the only mobo I know of with this chipset that specifically supports ECC and Registered DDR modules even though support for those is built into the VIA chipset for all mfrs to use (none of the other top end chipsets for AMD CPUs (SiS, nvidia) support ECC or Reg at all) - that would make the Tyan the ONLY top end mobo I would consider. ProVantage has them at the best prices, also at YesMicro - both have good reseller ratings. And both use distributor drop-ship from the closest warehouse so ground shipping is a fast and cheap option. I don't know why newegg doesn't carry the Trinity units. Oh yeah, the performance of all 3 top chipsets (nv-2, sis 746, via kt400) is within 5% or less on real-world benchmarks.
. Another to consider would be the AOpen brand. Generally highly reliable mobos in my experience - that don't get a lot of press either.
.bh.

 

[WoundedWallet]

ketchup79, another thing to keep in mind is that "good hardware review site (that knows what they are doing)" don't buy their product off the shelf like the rest of us peons.

Instead they receive a pre-tested piece from the manufactrers themselves. And even then you will still find some stuff that doesn't work as announced. I won't look for any links, but there are plenty of examples around.

I understand that people complain about stupid stuff, but not everything that people complain about is stupid. Case in point was the bad capacitors that created all sorts of problems to "stupid" users.

Zepper, I'm not joking... but my current board which I'm dying to replace is a S2460 from Tyan. One of the original problems, which I don't even care anymore because there is a workaround now, is that I could only see the temperatures from within the BIOS, and even then I had to press a key to see the temperature change. Very similar to your MSI.

But the main problem is voltage related. While I've been lucky in not having the PS connector fried like many others, I simply cannot reboot the system. I have to shut down and let it sit for a few minutes before attemting to boot. It gets very annoying when you're working on something and get a bsod or when trying to update the system.

I tend to think that the S2460 was probably the worst board Tyan ever made so chance are that I wouldn't have problems with other boards. But my email/phone relationship with Tyan ever since I realized that it wasn't a stupid user problem, stops me from getting involved with them again, at least for a good while.

Regarding Aopen, I haven't looked much into it either, so I'll expand my research to them. Thanks

WW