mobo makers reputation

[mushroom3]

what would the ranks be between asus, gigabyte, dfi?
please give your thoughts

 

[bamacre]

I think it depends on what you want out of a motherboard.

Stability and support? Intel

Overclocking? Not Intel.

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: bamacre
I think it depends on what you want out of a motherboard.

Stability and support? Intel

Overclocking? Not Intel.

:thumbsup:
Intel is very reputable, but it's not for enthusiasts.

As for other brands...I think it's a question of personal preference, like question of religion, it's same as asking "What hard drive brand is best"?

Take any particular brand - ASUS, MSI, Biostar, whatever - with each brand you will find many people with positive and many with negative experiences.

EDIT: If you read AT's 25-page review on motherboards, in conclusion it says that for C2D mobos specifically all mobos they tested were excellent.

 

[will889]

It's not a question of brand anymore per-say but of specific models of any given brand and the stability and flexibility of the bios/s that are released.

 

[Captante]

(1) Asus - Although they have dropped a few notchs in quality since they outsourced production to mainland China they are still overall the best motherboard maker.

(2) MSI - I have heard some complaints about Microstar MB's over the years but my experience has been overwhelmingly positive & I put them only slightly behind Asus.

(3) Gigabyte - In my opinion a virtual tie with Microstar (if not for their garish color-schemes!) with slightly better overclocking features.

(4) DFI - Best overclocking boards, a title they took from Abit ... some models have serious compatability problems & overall build quality is a bit behind the top 3 companies.

(5) Abit - Suffered from serious quality problems & nearly went under as a result, but they are now on the comback trail with some great new models and stability seems to be improving.


Intel of course makes the best & most stable boards based on their own chipsets, however I don't count them as a MB maker.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Captante

Intel of course makes the best & most stable boards based on their own chipsets, however I don't count them as a MB maker.

:laugh: Aww, but for people who need rock-solid systems, well, they consider them a MB maker.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Captante

Intel of course makes the best & most stable boards based on their own chipsets, however I don't count them as a MB maker.

:laugh: Aww, but for people who need rock-solid systems, well, they consider them a MB maker.

Perhaps I should have said I don't consider it fair to compare them to companies that use every available chipset when all they build with is their own products... also its not like Intel actually make the motherboards, as I recall many were/are made by Foxconn & Asus among others.

 

[Blain]

Intel, Tyan, Supermicro, Asus, Gigabyte, AOpen.
IWill, Epox and Abit stumbled.
DFI, AsRock, Biostar, ECS and Foxconn coming on.
Soyo, MSI, Albatron, PC Chips... take em or leave em.

 

[imported_flounder]

Asus has the crappiest website you will ever encounter. You can't download drivers with firefox; their USA server is always busy and the Global one goes at like 10 kps.
Other than that they do make solid boards

 

[Zepper]

I've had great experience with Asus, MicroStar, Gigabyte. Tyan and Iwill have good reps in the server mobo area and occasionally offer mass-market mobos. Asus' "economy" mobo division, Asrock, gives you a lot for your dollar. The two Abit mobos I've owned were fine as well.

PC CHips and ECS (the same company) are the only ones I've actually had parts explode on.

.bh.

 

[humanure]

Intel for stability and support. I've used asus, abit, gigabyte and msi boards and have been happy with all of them.

 

[Imyourzero]

Originally posted by: flounder
Asus has the crappiest website you will ever encounter. You can't download drivers with firefox; their USA server is always busy and the Global one goes at like 10 kps.
Other than that they do make solid boards

I don't know about it being the crappiest website ever, but I agree 100% with you about downloading drivers. In the past few months I've gone there to download drivers for my Asus notebook and two Asus motherboards. While I was able to download the files using Firefox, I always had to get them using the Global link (and yeah, it was slow). I don't think I managed to get a single file from the USA server.

It's too bad that Abit has slipped, as several years ago they were regarded very highly by enthusiasts. Asus is definitely a solid brand, and I loved the two DFI boards that I had as well. I've never owned an MSI board, but back in the days of the Athlon Thunderbirds I had a Soyo which at the time was a nice board. I don't even know if they're still in the game now though; it's been forever since I've seen a review of a Soyo board or heard anyone here mention them.

 

[ManBearPig]

dfi

 

[thescreensavers]

I use MSI and Gigabyte there both good none of em have faild on me yet. Very Happy

 

[Zepper]

I think Soyo got bought up by PC Chips or some such bottom-feeder...

.bh.

 

[swankypimp]

I'm the former head tech and current web designer for a national computer reseller. (We aren't huge, but 300 - 400 orders a day isn't too shabby in this market.) We almost exclusively use MSI and Biostar mainboards in our systems and barebone kits, and very rarely have RMAs even though we offer a one year warranty on them. For the price, they make very solid, stable boards. We flirted with ECS and PC Chips years back, and quickly found out that the RMA shipping costs ate away any extra profit that could be made from using them.

ASUS' high end boards are phenomenal, but lately they've been making lower end boards for the value markey (like the one I'm using now). How do you know it's a value board? You can get them for $50 - $75 instead of the $150+ you'll spend on the SLI/Crossfire, capacitor-less, fanless heatpipe awesomeness on their high end models. In terms of build quality, it's more like what you'd see in an ASRock or Biostar board, and lacks some of the enthusiast features like RAM:FSB ratio and voltage control. All in all it's not bad if you don't plan on overclocking much, and it saves you money you can spend on more RAM or a better CPU.