Which Motherboards?

[SteveC]

Hi all,

I help out in a local computer shop, and we're having a few problems with our mainboards for the PCs we build. Up until recently we;ve been using TMC for a long time and have had a less than 1 in 100 failure rate from them. However, TMC have just been bought out by someone (can't remember who) and their build quality has disappeared.

So, We've been through PCChips (many moons ago! NEVER AGAIN!), Gigabyte (1 in 5 failure rate) and a few others. We're on Soltek at the moment (not that bad boards, but a few funnies we're not too keen on). So, what boards should we choose? Abit? Asus? MSI? Others? We've often bought Abits for performance machines and by customer request, but they're not cheap. We want reliability first, then performance.

(Socket 370, Socket 468 (? AMD one) and socket 7)

Thanks for your time!

------------------
Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[ayoub_ibrahim]

I'll second Marwyn on Asus boards!never had a problem with them.

[Guru]

ASUS! (Maybe Tyan)

------------------
Join the MURC SETI team! | SETI @ MURC

[HedsSpaz]

I agree, ASUS has somewhat of a cult like following, and for good reason.

However, I would also say that MSI is rapidly building a deservedly respectable name for themselves.

I'd shy away from EPoX if you can help it.

BTW, It think the one you're looking for is Socket 462, or simply Socket A.

Ian

[Thundrchez]

I think that Asus is going a bit nutso lately. They are sticking a nasty AMR slot on their mobos these days. That alone would not be too nasty, except that they are forcing an IRQ to be assigned to it, AND they have some PCI slots which are impossible to assign an IRQ to. Additionally, Asus is deliberately corrupting the cmos settings after a flash bios upgrade in order to force you to do a "load default settings" or "load optimal settings". I consider these unacceptable.

Abit kicks butt. I really like them, and I don't have any complaints about them.

[Ovi]

Hi Steve
I have a recommendation- Acorp. Their motherboards are not very expensive and their build quality is quite good too!I have that brand in my system!
Cheers
Ovi

[Taz]

A few more suggestions :-

Super Micro (Intel only i think )
MSI
Chaintech

All are available through Distribution in the UK.

[Brian R.]

I have, up to this point, only bought ABIT MBs (4). A BX6-2, a BE6 and two BE6-2s. I use them for overclocking. Of the 4, two (BX6-2 and BE6-2) have failed within 6 months of purchase and one of the BE6-2s is brand new (no running time). This is 2 failures out of 3 for experienced boards.

Never again. I only purchased the newest BE6-2 to minimize work in replacing the BE6-2 that failed.

I may be hard on the MBs owing to overclocking(?), but I buy only high quality components to attach to them including excellent PSs.

I recommend against buying ABIT.

For stability and compatibility I recommend Intel.

[This message has been edited by Brian R. (edited 25 September 2000).]

[Nuno]

I too have mixed feelings about Abit. Their overclocking gadgets sure are tempting, but I´ll have trouble to forget my BX6 dying on me and taking with her my celery 300A and a friend´s PIII...

[Marwyn]

I recomend ASUS, but is litle bit expensive. Maybe Soyo bords is good for Ya.

[Jammrock]

Alternate chipset ASUS! Cheap, stable and compatible. Can't ask for much more. Just make sure you get the chipset drivers correctly installed. I think you can get an ASUS ME-99 from wholesale for $75, and they are rock solid (uses the SiS chipset for Intel chips).

Jammrock

------------------
Athlon 650, Biostar board, 128 MB PC133 (Crucial), G400 32 MB DH, SB Live! w/ Digital I/O, 10/100 NIC, lots of case fans, etc...

[WayneHu]

ASUS!

The difference is quite obvious when we install 4~5 PCI master controllers...

The flexibility of ASUS's BIOS is quite well to arrange appropreiate IRQ and MEM space to each PCI device.

Most vendors stop updating those off-line MB's BIOS. But ASUS often updates MB's BIOS, even the offline model's, to deal with some new components which needs some specific startup settings and resources.

It reminds me that ASUS even ever updated their 486 MB's BIOS to resolve Y2K problem.


------------------
PIII-550E@733/1.65v, P3B-F, G400DH/32MB@140/186

[RAB]

Most of the local shops here in Atlanta use Amptron and DFI for their "cheap" boards. I have a 1995 vintage DFI that is still in service as a Server on my Win NT test network. DFI also posted bios upgrades for it until 1998. Local shops show a DFI/SS7/ ATX/UDMA66 board for just US$78.

RAB

[Holerith]

We have used Asus, Tyan, SuperMicro, Acer, Abit and Intel at one time or another. We have had the best success with Tyan, Asus and Intel.

My personal preference is Tyan.


------------------
Dean
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
PDP-11, Dec-writer & ZD-11 Terminal Unit, RSTS-OS

[DuRaNgO]

I have used MANY Abit boards and have been happy in whole, however the only boards that I've NEVER had failures on are.........

SOYO

They make a wide range of boards as well, ie: "cheap" and very high end, I just finished my fifth system with the Soyo 7vca and these boys are fast and easy to setup

VIA has come a long way
jim


------------------
P3-700e @ 1052! Check it here!
Abit BE6-2
TwinMos 128mb pc-133
G400 32mb DH
Maxtor 15.3gb 7,200rpm
SB Live!
Winblows 98se & DX7
and 384k DSL!