Well LXi, you bumped it, I read it and here I am replying to it.
Abit memory benchmarks ARE BETTER than the MSI.
But, I've found that the overall benchmark is only slightly better thanks to this phenomenom. However, HANDS DOWN the memory benchmark is better on the Abit.
Abit quality control IS GETTING BETTER.
Barring user error, which does have a higher error margin on the Abit board than any other, RMA rates have gone from 6-8% to only 4-5%. This number is still high, but it is still better than it has been. I have had several DOAs and many dead I/O devices (no PS/2, no IDE, etc). All I can suggest to resellers is find a good source for the board that offers good warranty and support so you're not hit with paying for your RMAs after 90 days because some gray market broker won't take the board back.
The MSI does not overclock any better than the Abit, but the Abit doesn't overclock any better than the MSI. The same chip on both boards yields the same overclock.
The MSI has a very low RMA rate. The boards have been flying off the shelf and only three have come back. Two for bad FDD controllers and one was supposedly DOA (I still think that the user did something). After having sold 600 units, this puts the RMA rate at only .5%. That's 10 times better than Abit's.
The MSI is more stable. I run one personally 24/7 and have never lost an IDE device or have had a random reboot nor have I had a customer complain about any of these problems that are TYPICAL of the Abit. Once I complained about these being issues on an Abit forum and was told to shut up because these type of issues were "normal" for the Abit and should be "expected".
The MSI is more forgiving of a larger range of hardware. I've NEVER had to play this musical chairs crap with the PCI slots and have even run the MSI with every PCI slot occupied. Mind you a lot of this has to do with the fact that the ATA100 on the MSI is native and is not an add on PCI card, but I have never had a problem with devices sharing with the USB either like I have with the Abit. Currently I am using Windows ME and have the NIC, USB and AGP all on IRQ 11. I'm still typing.
This is one of the things that pisses me off about the Biostar. I LOVE the Biostar. It's a good board for little money with a low RMA rate, but if you put a Trident Blade 3D in the board, it freaks out when the drivers are installed. An SiS 6326 works, but all of your PCI slots die. An SiS 6326 PCI works, but don't put it in PCI Slot 1. The ATI Rage Magnum and Xpert 2000 lock up the PC. That's the Biostar M7VKB... Don't even get me STARTED about the freaking A7V!
The Abit is potentially a VERY GOOD BOARD, but overall, I have to put my money on the MSI K7T Pro 2A.
DO IT!
Cause jonnyGURU sez so!