okay...
i'll go first
i know Asus boards are "quirky"
but i've only gotten one that was ever worth
a darn... and that was a socket A board.
got 2 now....and ...well i better stop now
or i'll get banned for inappropiate language.

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I use to only go with Asus or Abit. In my mind Abit hasn't mad a board I would even consider in years. At the moment I wouldn't use a free asus board since I had problems with the last one I got from them. I use to really hate gigabyte board as every one I came across was total rubbish. They have cleaned up their act & I'm using several gigabyte boards now.

So I guess it really just comes & goes.

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[

yeah Gigabyte is pretty good right now...
i've used a few AsRocks fairly well too.

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Abit is out of business, which is unfortunate because I liked their stuff -- my quad-Pheonom is on an AX78, which I guess is one of the last boards they made. Also, remember the legendary BP6 board -- dual Celerons and overclockable as hell, back when consumer-grade dual-socket boards were unheard of.

I just put together a system with an MSI board, and I was blown away by all the features and neat things they rolled into that board. It's an overclocker's paradise.

Least liked, though ... hmm, I don't guess I can think of a brand which stands out as making crap boards. I've had outstanding boards and lemon boards from most of the big manufacturers: Abit, Asus, MSI, Tyan, Gigabyte ...

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Tyan...
i've had two of their boards...
liked both of them...
but too expensive for the price/benefit ratio...

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Tyan...
i've had two of their boards...
liked both of them...
but too expensive for the price/benefit ratio...

I think Tyan lost the edge to the overclocker brands (Gigabyte, MSI) years ago, but it used to be that if you wanted a true workstation-class board without actually buying a premade workstation, Tyan was your only choice. In a case like that, though, money usually wasn't an object -- you were looking for maximum performance.

I haven't had a Tyan board in years, but one of the best I had was in my SGI ZX10 (a rebadged Intergraph). Rock-solid.

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Worst brand motherboard? Probably PC Chips. Never had good luck with Abit either. Have chosen to stay away from MSI and DFI. Gigabyte used to be good, now they just add a bunch of useless features and overcharge like everyone else.

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My criteria is different, so my answers won't be the same as most.

More and more, I'm buying "industrial" boards, and sticking to boards that will be available for several years. I'm tired of finding a good consumer board and having it disappear from the market in six months.

Those are more expensive.

I don't like Asus. The A7N8X was good, and they were well regarded, so they started releasing new boards with "A7N8X-something" and some of those were stunningly bad.

I've had very good boards from EPoX, but it's hard to find anyone who carries their stuff. I have two systems right now from their "IPoX" industrial line that are great, and I'd buy more but they're P4's, and suitable CPUs are hard to find (and they run hot).

I also like MSI.

When possible, I do my burn-ins with a 10% overclock, and then put the machine back to "stock" before it goes into service.

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Biggest problem I've had has been with EVGA. Run EVGA graphics cards, they're great, but had problems with both motherboards I've owned by them. I happen to like Asus, but I'm still only socket 775, so maybe the 1156 and 1366 versions aren't as great?

-Dave

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No one has mentioned Intel boards...

Any good?

No one has mentioned Intel boards...

Any good?

I've never had a problem with an Intel board. The just lack features that you get on boards form other manufactures though.

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SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours
Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[

No one has mentioned Intel boards...

Any good?

Most are quite good. You just won't see them reviewed often because they're generally not for overclockers, and don't have a lot of fancy add-ons that come bundled with "enthusiast" boards.

... and this forum is loaded with "enthusiasts" that generally won't like a vanilla motherboard that just works, but can't be pushed beyond the CPU or Memory manufacturer's specs.

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Worst brand motherboard? Probably PC Chips. Never had good luck with Abit either. Have chosen to stay away from MSI and DFI. Gigabyte used to be good, now they just add a bunch of useless features and overcharge like everyone else.

OMG pcChips NOTT try ECS. talk about wholesale garbage. I've had bad luck to no end with their cards. Heres how bad they are. I'll buy the Mobo/CPU combo at Fry's, which is usually cheaper than buying the CPU alone, install the mobo/cpu, and when it won't run right I go buy a Gigabyte, MSI, or Asus board of my liking.

Most ECS boards have voltage errors out of the box. making their lifespan incredibly short

I have a PcChips mobo running my 754 AMD 3200+ No company of any repute makes that board anymore so PcChips fits the bill. nothing special but it runs

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

Don't really care for Foxconn but love Asus, all my machines are Asus and never had a bad board.

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Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
And no good credit hound!

Worst brand motherboard? Probably PC Chips. Never had good luck with Abit either. Have chosen to stay away from MSI and DFI. Gigabyte used to be good, now they just add a bunch of useless features and overcharge like everyone else.

OMG pcChips NOTT try ECS. talk about wholesale garbage. I've had bad luck to no end with their cards. Heres how bad they are. I'll buy the Mobo/CPU combo at Fry's, which is usually cheaper than buying the CPU alone, install the mobo/cpu, and when it won't run right I go buy a Gigabyte, MSI, or Asus board of my liking.

Most ECS boards have voltage errors out of the box. making their lifespan incredibly short

I have a PcChips mobo running my 754 AMD 3200+ No company of any repute makes that board anymore so PcChips fits the bill. nothing special but it runs

PCChips, Ugh, I could tell Ya horror stories that could curdle Yer blood and fry Yer brain with nightmares, But I won't. :D I've also had problems with Gigabyte here and there too.

I have two Asus motherboards, both work fine and overclock like a dream, I've no problems with MSI or DFI in the past, My Auxiliary TV uses an MSI made motherboard in the HP PC though(can't turn off the built in ATi video even when a card is in a pci or a pci-e slot, So It remains a TV instead, Otherwise the HP is fine).

I don't have any experience with Foxconn or ECS though...

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Savoir-Faire is everywhere!
The T1 Trust, T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, America's First HST

I've had two Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboards crap out on my in the past 2 years
and like a fool I keep buying them. I heard they were suppose to be among the best, but you can't prove it by me. I do not overclock. I do run an XP2800 Thoroughbred on them. I don't think any of the new boards hold up like the old Slot 1 boards did. I have a friend that runs a PcChips 830M with a XP2400 24/7 for close to 7 years now. I have an Asus A8NSLI-Deluxe pushing an AMD FX-57 right now for 2 or 3 years 24\7 and it's holding up so you never know. Keep 'em clean and keep 'em cool and stay out of the case as much as possible. Good luck out there.

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I've had two Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboards crap out on my in the past 2 years
and like a fool I keep buying them. I heard they were suppose to be among the best, but you can't prove it by me. I do not overclock. I do run an XP2800 Thoroughbred on them. I don't think any of the new boards hold up like the old Slot 1 boards did. I have a friend that runs a PcChips 830M with a XP2400 24/7 for close to 7 years now. I have an Asus A8NSLI-Deluxe pushing an AMD FX-57 right now for 2 or 3 years 24\7 and it's holding up so you never know. Keep 'em clean and keep 'em cool and stay out of the case as much as possible. Good luck out there.

Actually I have one left running a 3000 Barton (bequested to Daughter and not running Seti). What I found is the AMD's cook off the voltage regulators on the board (running Seti). My AMD X2 6000 has already cooked the voltage regulators on a gigabyte board (running Seti). There is some stress that could decrease the life expentancy. In My case the life span of the motherboards is about 3 years.

So over the last five years I have had 3 DOA Asus MB's (2 A8N's and one M2n). It is tough when you buy locally what you thought should work and then a couple hours later, you haul it back. In the case of A8N, I hauled the whole frame down along with the box. I have known the dealer for over a decade and we threw it on the bench. No it would not power up. We swapped video cards RAM and other things and it was still dead. He grabbed another A8N off the shelf, we pulled my RAM and CPU and plugged it in (his hands). It was DEAD. So as he scratched his head... He grabbed a Gigabyte board, and swapped the original parts (Athlon 64 3200) and it started.

WE both surmised that Asus had a small problem and he had two Vender RMA's. I have been mostly using Gigabyte since that time.

In all fairness, my last (first) Opti 175 is running on an A8N and is still alive (over 4 years now, created 4 Nov 2005) running Seti/Boinc Projects and is my home server.

Regards

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Please consider a Donation to the Seti Project.

Running the following boards atm....3x Asus, 3x Gigabyte, 2x EQS, 1x Abit & 1x ECS. So far no problems with any of them. Did try Foxconn in the past but had nothing but trouble with them.

The ECS board is a KN1 SLI Extreme (Skt 939) which has been running 27 months continuous(asides from maintaintenace)

In the past have had to rma Asus, Gigabyte & Foxconn.

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I have 5 ASUS P6T's. Never had a problem with them.

I managed to kill 2 ASUS KFSN4's (AMD Opteron chips). Won't touch them again.

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BOINC blog

PCChips....
ah the mainstay of my early farmlet...
five PCChips boards loaded with 4 Durons and 1 2400xp.
i think they would still work..they are in a box here somewhere.

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