ASrock

[vcarpio2]

Originally posted by: Bernardg
Anandtech is a very strong supporter of ASrock. Other sites claim that ASrock products are made by Elite (ECS) that is a poor supplier.

I really like the product but am worried about having quality and support problems.

Any comments?

Thanks in advance
Bernardg

Fun facts from wikipedia:

ASUS:
- 2009 Revenue = US$ 22.9 billion
- provides components for iPod
- gained fame in the 90s when ASUS built a 486 motherboard that worked from 486 spec documents only when Intel's own 486 motherboard didn't work
- more than a third of PCs sold has ASUS motherboard
- parent company of ASRock

ECS:
- fourth largest motherboard manufacturer after ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI
- second to ASUS in shipments in 2005

I bought an ASRock motherbord (P4I45D) in 2003 then 2 years later upgraded and boxed my P4I45D. Just early this month, I built another PC using my old P4I45D and it still works flawlessly. So I can't say enough about the great quality of the ASRock board.

My only complaint with the P4I45D was the limited BIOS options for overclocking -- there is no option to increase CPU voltage.

EDIT: Will I consider buying an ASRock again? Yes -- if it has the features I want.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: vcarpio2
ECS:
- fourth largest motherboard manufacturer after ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI
- second to ASUS in shipments in 2005

Second to ASUS in shipments = the 2nd largest motherboard manufacturer. Gigabyte and MSI are way behind ECS.

 

[vcarpio2]

Originally posted by: tcsenter

Originally posted by: vcarpio2
ECS:
- fourth largest motherboard manufacturer after ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI
- second to ASUS in shipments in 2005

Second to ASUS in shipments = the 2nd largest motherboard manufacturer. Gigabyte and MSI are way behind ECS.

Yes. I, too, was initially stymied about considering ECS during a recent build because their mobos are so cheap in price. After reading more about ECS I did consider an ECS but in the end went with an Asus because it had the optical out I needed. The receiver I'm hooking it up to only had a spare optical in. Also, I've built 2 Asus-based rigs before and have been happy with performance, documentations, and the little touches (decals, q-connector, etc.) they add in the box compared with other mobo brands. So if price difference is little or none, I'd go with Asus.

It still blows my mind to think that Asus from that little island country in the Pacific made 23 billion dollars in revenue last year and yet most Americans probably have never heard of Asus...

 

[tcsenter]

Oh, I've said it a few times before, ASUS has a very savvy marketing department and it is definitely the leader in great retail presentation. And you pay for it, ASUS consistently has the highest average sale price (ASP) of any Taiwanese mobo maker, and not by a small margin.