Favorite Mainboard company?

[BFG10K]

Soltek fans - don't forget to go back and vote. So far I'm the only one that has done so.

 

[Den]

Abit is a good value and usually good at overclocking.
Asus is a bit on the expensive side, but very good. And the premimum for their boards is usually in the $20 to $50 range, and that is really nothing compared to the overall price of the system. If your MB is not good, your system will not be good either...

 

[Darien]

I love my Epox 8k7a -- most stablest mobo I've ever used.

Good experiences with Abit as well -- gotta love how high you can o/c, as well as system stability. Generally, their mobos are a tweaker's dream.

Intel is damn stable...

Asus is pretty good in ocing, stability and performance, but I'm not willing to shell out that much for an Asus mobo.

 

[MortaniuS]

ive made hundreds of computers, here my run down

msi: good at first, but break down after a year and have weird bugs
asus: Most of the time pretty good, few bugs
ECS: sucked until the k7s5a came out, every board after that i have used are pretty good, using a p4s5a now and its flawless.
shuttle: they suck, i hate working with them, they always find a way to screw up
epox: only done bout 10, i love the features and they seem prety stable
abit: Good, but gernally take a lil loving to get going sumtimes, nice tho
gigabyte: the board eithe ris really good or really sucks for various reasons
soyo: they sucked back before the dragons, now they are pretty decent, few bad boards

 

[Ardy]

Could you please add "PC Chips" to the list for me?

 

[Jayczar]

I have tried most of the others and always go back to
Abit but I would join the masses in Asus as my 2nd choice.

 

[MortaniuS]

Pc Chips = ECS

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Asus has always been rock solid for my builds but Epox has been perfect for me as well so I will take either without reservation over other boards I've used.

 

[Alex]

epox. nuff said!

 

[jiffylube1024]

ASUS all the way. Quality over Price.

 

[SupermanCK]

1st: Asus
2nd: Abit
3rd: Tyan
of course that's the only 3 company i had used...they all seem to be good...Abit have great overclocking options...Asus is up there too...just always seems to miss a few options here and there...but the stability is great...Tyan just normal...

 

[deadcell]

MSI. I probably have the worst horror story ever. When building my first system I was really excited and FORGOT to put the risers under the mobo. AFter everything was in powered it up and nothing. Figured out what it was, took mobo out and put risers in. I was sure it was fried but lo and behold, it worked perfectly. Still does . As for soyo's, I'm on my third Dragon +. First one just up and died after a month for no apparent reason. Returned it and got one with bad agp slot. This current one has been excellent for about 4 months now.

 

[WayneS]

Never had a problem with my Abit boards.

 

[eplebnista]

Soltek

 

[AkumaBao]

Even with a few minor bugs with new ALI chipset, and Linux, I still have to vote for Iwill. ASUS is good, but for some reason I don't feel like spending that much on a board unless it is a dual-processor mobo. I think my second would have to be Soyo though.

 

[Wolfsraider]

asus for me as they always work. others don't seem to me to last or have the stability ive come to expect from asus

my humble .02 cents worth

 

[Mikki]

Asus.

P2B-LS still going strong, love my P4B533-E also!

 

[bozo1]

Well, having used a number over the years, here's my take. Many people seem to think what they have is the best even though they may have never used any other brand, but I don't believe that reasoning. Very few of these boards were overclocked, I'm just commenting on problems/stability or lack of on the ones I've used:

I've never had any problems with my Asus or Abit boards and I've owned or built systems with at least a dozen of each one. The one Gigabyte board I had was flakey. (Not dissing them, these things happen.) My one Epox board worked fine until I stepped on it. :frown: One dual Tyan board, no problems. Two MSI boards, no problems. Used a number of ECS/pcChips boards in systems I built for others (they were on a tight budget) and they worked fine if they weren't DOA. (which happened 4-5 times) Few Shuttle boards with no problems. 7 or 8 Supermicro boards years ago, no complaints there.

 

[CraigRT]

Where is Soltek? That's my vote. They make cheap and very stable motherboards and their software bundles are actually useful.

Soltek rules
my SL75DRV4 is running like a champ. I love it.

my favorites are MSI and Soltek.
my SL75DRV4 and my MSI K7T Turbo Limited Edition have to be the most stable boards I have ever owned. far nicer than the overpriced overrated Asus. Just my experiences! I had a P3B-F and a CUSL2-C and I so far prefer any of the other brands I have owned, over Asus because of my experiences with those boards. Gigabyte is my runner up.

 

[GroundedSailor]

Another vote for MSI.

All the MSI boards I've used have been rock stable without any problems. Have had varied experiences with other manufacturers. Going to pick up the KT3 this week.

 

[KennyH]

One word: Asus. I have prolly had 15 Asus boards in the past three years and never had a single one fail on me. I bought a few dead ones from the FS/FT forum and RMA is always painless.

You Epox guys, ever had to deal with the RMA process?? Try that once and you won't buy another..... :|

 

[Jayllo]

Supermicro!!! They make more dual processor variants than the rest of the motherboard manufacturers. Their stuff is rock solid but they seem to have some bias against AMD (No Amd dual boards from them yet).

 

[SuperSix]

Originally posted by: Jayllo
Supermicro!!! They make more dual processor variants than the rest of the motherboard manufacturers. Their stuff is rock solid but they seem to have some bias against AMD (No Amd dual boards from them yet).

They make NO AMD-compatible boards, since the Socket7 series. (smart move, IMHO) The are definately not an enthusiasts board, but the are right next to Intel in regards to stability. I hear they have 1-2 Intel engineers on staff to work out issues on motherboards before they go to the public. If I needed a server board, and INtel didn't have what I wanted, I would get a Supermicro.

 

[nemo160]

i vote epox
fast, stable and a ton of tweaking options, their boards usually tend to be at or near the top in roundups
they also tend to have 6 pci slots and avoid excessive amounts of onboard stuff i don't want
plus the dual 7 seg leds are nice for troubleshooting..beats counting beeps anyway

 

[DragonWizard]

I had to vote for ASUS even though I like ABIT just as much. I firmley believe you should not try to be cheap when it comes to motherboards. Companies like Supermicro and Tyan want to be like ASUS so I was told by representatives at a convention in Boston. Companies like Intel make only basic, though reliable motherboards with no O/C. ECS (PC Chips, Amptron) is touch and go with their products with very poor QA. I have had no problems with 100's of ASUS boards and so far no problems with the ABIT boards i am purchasing.