Which of these 4 Socket A MOBOs is best?

[Audiolizard]

Which is best, and are there any that should be avoided?

SHUTTLE AK31-A
chipset: VIA KT266A with VT8233 south bridge

GIGABYTE 7VRX
chipset: VIA KT333 with 8233A(CE) south bridge

MSI KT3 ULTRA 2
chipset: VIA KT333 with VT8235 south bridge

SOYO SY-KT333 DRAGON Lite
chipset: VIA KT333 with 8233A south bridge

Any opinions at all would be helpful.

 

[newbiepcuser]

I've used Gigabyte, and the MSI board. There is new revision (v2.0) of the Gigabyte board that supposely solved a lot of quirks. I didn't care too much for it, it runs stable though. I was using revision 1.0 though. I read somewhere on the board that a customer service rep from Newegg.com told a customer they get a lot returns on the Gigabyte KT333 line. I honestly prefer the MSI KT333 line over the Gigabyte board.

My favorite of the KT333 line which isn't in your choice is the Asus one. Rock solid for me. They are pricey though. Cheapest non-raid verison is 118 at googlegear.

Haven't heard much on the Soyo or Shuttle board myself.

good luck.

 

[Audiolizard]

Yeah, I know Asus and Epox are supposed to be the best, but this is a budget system, and I'm limited to the choices I've listed. I'm leaning toward the MSI board, but I'm really curious about the SOYO. The MSI didn't perform well in the Tom's Hardware roundup, and the SOYO had consistantly better performance and also has a higher retail price. They all would cost the same ot me except the Shuttle, which would be cheaper. I also read a slightly negative review of the MSI that said it wasn't fast, not very good for OCing, and had an inconvenient power connector location. But all of the newegg reviews seem to be positive. Another issue is that only the GIGABYTE and MSI boards support USB 2.0, but I don't know how important that will be to me. I'm more concerned with performance and reliability, I guess. The GIGABYTE board is supposed to be one of the fastest, but there also seems to be reliabilty issues. So I'm really stuck until I can get more info, and I've read everything there is to read about these MOBOs on the web. There's hardly any info about the SOYO Dragon Lite.

So which one is the best?