Is there such a thing as a bad mob manufacturer?

[RTWMooseMan]

I am in process of building my 1st system. To borrow another members quote, you guys in here have been a huge help thus far! I am down to the last component, the mobo. It seems that while one person swears that brand "X" is pathetic, another person swears up and down it is worthy of the highest praise.
I see this same thing happen in almost ALL forums regarding almost ALL components. My quandry is most pressing for the mobo issue tho because it is the one part I truly know nothing about, and rely on the rest of you 'experts' for help.
With that in mind, is there truly such a thing as a bad mobo line? Or is it more that problems arise due to end users mistakes, or a isolated instance of a bad mobo? I have narrowed the search for my chosen mobo down to either an MSI, Gigabyte, or ASUS. The reviews of the boards I am looking at have been hashed and rehashed in here as well as many other forums, so instead of "get this board" advice, could I get some input on whether or not there really is such a thing as a bad mobo line?

 

[bozo1]

Or is it more that problems arise due to end users mistakes, or a isolated instance of a bad mobo?

I think that is true in many cases. There just isn't any objective information out there to know for sure. If someone has a problem with one brand for whatever reason - user error or even a truly bad board - they often will bad mouth that brand forever.

They only semi-objective info I have is that the two big part shops in town here both have told me that they have a higher failure rate on ECS manufactured motherboards than the other brands. Then again, I've used 7 or 8 of them over the years in budget systems I've built for others and had no problems. <shrug>

 

[Vette73]

Look for a board that has the features you want and go from there. I have used just about every companies board out there and they are all about the same now, only Diff. are the features. Like sound, ether net, overclock ability, etc...

 

[455Buick]

Hi RTWMooseman,

To answer your question, No. I think there are failures with all manufactured products, but I have have had no problems with any mobo that I've used over the past four years. The choices you are talking about are good ones e.g. Asus, MSI and Gigabyte. I've used them as well. I agree with the others on this posting, look for the features you need or want and think about possible future upgrades to your system. You can't go wrong. Good luck with your decision.

Cheers,

 

[RTWMooseMan]

Graci! I appreciate the well wishes! I feel I am gonna be needing them! While sticking with one of those 3 brands, I think i will go with the one offering the most for the least $. And then put on my ceremonial ancient gamers head-dress and start plugging things in!

 

[tapir]

Like Marlin said... look for a board, not a manufacturer. Given that all your system parts are high-quality you will be able to get any motherboard to work, but if you want to make sure you get the best for you, do research on the chipset and features you want in advance, and check out different manufacturer's offerings. Often times brands like ECS get a bad rap because people try to build systems skimping out on vital components like power supplies. Brands like Gigabyte, Asus, Abit and EPoX are good bets because they tend to have overclockability and interesting or individual features, but don't hesitate to believe it when a brand such as Shuttle or Albatron produces a board that gets great reviews. I remember a year ago when Shuttle's AK31A beat out the traditional brand solutions by offering 4 DIMM slots and lots of performance tweaking for $30 less.

The best advice I have for you is to read reviews and ask around before you invest, but don't listen to fanboys.

 

[CraigRT]

there are worse manufacturers than others anyways.
from my experience boards that suck:

FIC
ECS/PCChips

 

[Dowfen]

I second the vote for PC Chips. Cheap boards, but the only one I dealt with had missing jumpers, poor manual, incorrectly set jumpers and many other problems that caused it a pain to configure.

Eric

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: Yield
there are worse manufacturers than others anyways.
from my experience boards that suck:

FIC
ECS/PCChips

just wanted to add Amptron to that list. I've personally built systems with PCChips mobos and they turned out fine, but from user feedback from experianced users I've heard bad things.

With the brands you listed, you will no have any problems. From my OWN personal experiance (which you can take with a grain of salt), I've had some pretty horrible compatability problems with the kt400 gigabyte board that is out. Both me and a friend tried building rigs out of them, and neither of us could get it to run as stabily as I'd have liked. If going the amd route, I'd highly suggest an NForce2 board, you get a lot for your money and you'll be able to upgrade to a barton in the near future

Good luck, if you have any more question, feel free to pm me!

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: stonecold3169

Originally posted by: Yield
there are worse manufacturers than others anyways.
from my experience boards that suck:

FIC
ECS/PCChips

just wanted to add Amptron to that list. I've personally built systems with PCChips mobos and they turned out fine, but from user feedback from experianced users I've heard bad things.

With the brands you listed, you will no have any problems. From my OWN personal experiance (which you can take with a grain of salt), I've had some pretty horrible compatability problems with the kt400 gigabyte board that is out. Both me and a friend tried building rigs out of them, and neither of us could get it to run as stabily as I'd have liked. If going the amd route, I'd highly suggest an NForce2 board, you get a lot for your money and you'll be able to upgrade to a barton in the near future

Good luck, if you have any more question, feel free to pm me!

Good advice man!
thinking of going NForce2 eventually myself..
I think the KT333 and KT266A are great DDR chipsets though.. excellent stability and seem to have great compatibility too. sucks about your experiences with the Gigabyte board, but you're not the first/only one with problems with it!! (I almost bought it too.. ) good thing I didn't!!!

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: Yield

Originally posted by: stonecold3169

Originally posted by: Yield
there are worse manufacturers than others anyways.
from my experience boards that suck:

FIC
ECS/PCChips

just wanted to add Amptron to that list. I've personally built systems with PCChips mobos and they turned out fine, but from user feedback from experianced users I've heard bad things.

With the brands you listed, you will no have any problems. From my OWN personal experiance (which you can take with a grain of salt), I've had some pretty horrible compatability problems with the kt400 gigabyte board that is out. Both me and a friend tried building rigs out of them, and neither of us could get it to run as stabily as I'd have liked. If going the amd route, I'd highly suggest an NForce2 board, you get a lot for your money and you'll be able to upgrade to a barton in the near future

Good luck, if you have any more question, feel free to pm me!

Good advice man!
thinking of going NForce2 eventually myself..
I think the KT333 and KT266A are great DDR chipsets though.. excellent stability and seem to have great compatibility too. sucks about your experiences with the Gigabyte board, but you're not the first/only one with problems with it!! (I almost bought it too.. ) good thing I didn't!!!

And it's possible we got a bad batch of them too (we got them the week they came out, so that is very possible). Also, I recommend that kt333 all the way, in fact as of tommorow it will be what I'm running (Soyo Dragon Ultra Platinum 333). It's a proven solution, runs effectively the same speed as the kt400, and is cheaper.

 

[RTWMooseMan]

Well, I got the Gigabyte 7VAX KT400 and it installed easy as hell! Well, (keeping in mind that I have never built a PC before, and my previous PC tech expereince consisted of installing RAM) it went much easier than I expected! After hitting near panic mode when the cables on my case didnt match up to the mobo's guide, I calmed down and used what little common sense I have to get everything installed and by 3:30AM I had finished the 2K installation. Posted on the 1st time. As for stability, that remains to be seen, and I have not yet gamed. Nor have I done any benchmarking. I will update tomorrow! Off to stress this biatch!

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: stonecold3169

Originally posted by: Yield

Originally posted by: stonecold3169

Originally posted by: Yield
there are worse manufacturers than others anyways.
from my experience boards that suck:

FIC
ECS/PCChips

just wanted to add Amptron to that list. I've personally built systems with PCChips mobos and they turned out fine, but from user feedback from experianced users I've heard bad things.

With the brands you listed, you will no have any problems. From my OWN personal experiance (which you can take with a grain of salt), I've had some pretty horrible compatability problems with the kt400 gigabyte board that is out. Both me and a friend tried building rigs out of them, and neither of us could get it to run as stabily as I'd have liked. If going the amd route, I'd highly suggest an NForce2 board, you get a lot for your money and you'll be able to upgrade to a barton in the near future

Good luck, if you have any more question, feel free to pm me!

Good advice man!
thinking of going NForce2 eventually myself..
I think the KT333 and KT266A are great DDR chipsets though.. excellent stability and seem to have great compatibility too. sucks about your experiences with the Gigabyte board, but you're not the first/only one with problems with it!! (I almost bought it too.. ) good thing I didn't!!!

And it's possible we got a bad batch of them too (we got them the week they came out, so that is very possible). Also, I recommend that kt333 all the way, in fact as of tommorow it will be what I'm running (Soyo Dragon Ultra Platinum 333). It's a proven solution, runs effectively the same speed as the kt400, and is cheaper.

OMG that looks like SUCH a nice board! :Q

I just got an EPoX 4PEA+ and a P4 1.8. seems to run happy not far below 3GHz. (had some trouble with the setup but it seems to be OK now)

I almost bought an EPoX 8K5A3+, but now I might try an NForce2 board.

 

[Rubberbband]

Also look out for board revisions. If you buy the latest greatest you become part of the R & D team. Manufacturers put out boards but they aren't tested with all the different components availible. So they do run into issues that are resolved on the second or third batch of boards. I run a Rev 2.0 Gigabyte 7VRXP and have had zero problems with it. However if you look it up online the rev 1.0 boards could not (would not) run GF4 video cards. They had to be RMA'ed to Gigabyte and became rev 1.1 boards once fixed.

 

[Hamburgerpimp]

I'm an ASUS fanboy now. I would stay away from FIC, IWill and Abit. FIC, because they suck all around. And IWill and Abit for their lack of support.

 

[AnandtechViolator]

Originally posted by: Hamburgerpimp
I'm an ASUS fanboy now. I would stay away from FIC, IWill and Abit. FIC, because they suck all around. And IWill and Abit for their lack of support.

ditto

 

[RTWMooseMan]

with the exception of a problem getting the mobo to recognize and play nicely with my audigy gamer sound card, this board is doing great! Not any issues with any of the programs, gamnes, etc yet. and the only hardware issue appears to be the sound card. And I am certain that is more my fault than that of the board. I just need to figure out what Im doing wrong. Or more likely, how to make what I am doing appear right to this board.
As easy as this has been, I cannot imagine I will ever be feeding the coffers of a manufactured PC company again!

 

[Jwyatt]

NEWEGG REFURBISHED MB LISTINGS
might have to copy and past the link http://www.newegg.com/app/manufactory.asp?catalog=280&Type=Refurbish


Here is a good way to find which MB manufacturer makes the best, and most reliable MB. Look at the individual listings. See how many certain manufacturers have in the refurb department. The one with the most has the most returns(generally speaking), and visa versa.

This is something i noticed a few weeks ago when trying to find a replacement. Im fed up with MSI! I have went through more MSI boards this year than i can count! I build PCs and have moved to ASUS boards only. Im sick and tired of RMAing these friggin MSI boards!

 

[RTWMooseMan]

jwyatt, that was a great suggestion, TY! While not inclusive, it does provide some objective data to help with making an informed decision! Being as that one does tend to believe one's own data, my next build will be with an ASUS or MSI board, the Gigabyte I bought is running without incident, and has done everything I have asked of it without flinch (except for the sound card issue, which ultimately was my fault, I needed to install a set of drivers which I had ignored!) I am really wondering if the issues people have with varying manufacturers isn't based on isolated incidents and end user error. Maybe I am wrong, I will see how the next build turns out.
The OC'ing for this Gigabyte board is very friendly tho! I have yet to actually keep any OCing I have done and test it, but the interface is easy to understand and allows for 1 mhz adjustments. I want to play a little more before I blow this baby up!

 

[TourGuide]

RTW,

I usually talk to the people who build boxes for sale locally to figure out what is running the most stable. They would actually contradict Jwyatt and say that MSI boards have been relatively trouble free. They install hundreds of boards and since switching to MSI 3 months ago, they have had exactly 2 bad boards out of the box, and exactly 0 that have died in operation. Now, out of all those boxes and boards that says somthing to me.

Eveyone has different experiences, but I am 2-0 on MSI boards and the box I am typing this on right now is running a KT3 Ultra2 nice and trouble free. Just my two cents.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Hamburgerpimp
I'm an ASUS fanboy now. I would stay away from FIC, IWill and Abit. FIC, because they suck all around. And IWill and Abit for their lack of support.

Asus is overrated.. they make good products.. but it's not the only brand people should consider when wanting a stable reliable computer.
some of the new Iwill and Abit products are getting good reviews, i don't think their products are crap. I do however dislike FIC alot!

 

[RanDum72]

Asus is overrated.. they make good products.. but it's not the only brand people should consider when wanting a stable reliable computer.

Overrated? Maybe, buts one of the few companies that offer 3-year warranties on their motherboards (Intel is another one). Of course there are other brands that are just as stable but after one year, you are on your own.