Please, a quick consensus : which is better brand for a low-end Duron rig : ECS or PC CHIPS Motherboard?

[austonia]

Need to buy something low-end, which would YOU suggest from personal experience? Thanks!!

 

[Rand]

PCChips has a poor history and not many people like them but for a really cheap board I find they work decent.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

ECS is the cream of the crap! Don't buy one. I used to support Powerspec computers and back then most of the machines had ECS motherboards. Their DOA rating is retardedly high. On one series of boards, out of 200 sent out 57 were DOA.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

pc-chips bought ecs last year, now they're same company.
go with ecs, it should be built with higher quality but higher price too.

 

[glenn1]

C: None of the above. Both those choices are cr@p. I wouldn't even put a pc-chips board in something i would build for my ex-wife. Go to the FS/FT forums and see if you can find a well-kept but used MSI or other board for cheap. You'll be much happier you did.

 

[erub]

save the $20 or $30 that your going to say and get a smaller HDD, slower CDROM, slower CPU. Get an Asus or MSI. You'll be happy you did. Maybe Gigabyte if your tryin to save a little cash.

 

[SpongeBob]

They are one and the same, both crap. Really, for an extra $20 bucks you can get a decent mobo, if you don't you will kick yourself later.

 

[Vyle]

Actually, in reviews, the ECS K7VZA has outperformed better, more expensive brands. It's been given high marks for stability. But there are no overclocking features whatsoever. ECS K7VZA Reviewed However, you can pick up good boards for cheap these days. I just built a Duron 700 system with the Epox 8KTA+ board that I picked up for $85 shipped!

See also..Another Review

 

[Heretik]

.....or check out flea-bay for a new/used MSI K7T-Pro. I saw them going for around $50-$70

 

[austonia]

well my MSI Pro2A is a piece of Junk, so i don't personally want to go with MSI again after this fiasco. What about BIOSTAR or MATSONIC? good cheapness?

 

[austonia]

i think i found a good deal, which is just a little more than the cheapy boards anyway. I found the Epox 8KTA+ at Newegg for $83 + $7 shipping. not gonna get much cheaper i guess! thanks!

 

[gtd2000]

It's weird the Epox boards are more expensive than Abits here in Hong Kong
I'm also looking for a cheap socket A but the difference in cost is so minimal you might as well get a good name board.

 

[gtd2000]

It's US$123 for my KT7A (non-RAID) here (fantastic board so far)
or
It's US$157 for an 8KTA3!

I can get an 8KTA+ for US$113 but the Kt7 is only US$105 - I'd prefer the extra Abit overclocking options for US$8 less