try to avoid:
MAXTOR!!: (I think at my company the fail ratio is around 25%)
Aopen (mainly optical drives, the boards are OK)
PC CHIPS
ECS
EPoX
Geil memory (TERRIBLE)
can't think of any more right now
I`ve had great luck with Maxtor ,however I`ve had great luck with all my HD brands pass and present(WD,IBM,Fujitsu,Quantum).
PC Chips never tried their boards but would avoid them.
Epox (my current Epox 8KHA+ which is over 3 years old is an awesome board on stability even with 11 leaking caps,can`t blame them since virtually all brands were effected with bad caps a few years ago).
Geil memory well no comment on that due to no experience.
Now should I bother even recommending brands etc?I just meantion brands I really like and leave it at that,Epox,Soltek,Soyo,MSI.
Too be honest only brands I would avoid would be PC Chips and Biostar,not too keen on ECS but have one as a cheap backup replacement and it has been solid so far on stability.
Now you know there`s no perfect board for everyone,just good and bad boards depending on whom you ask.
The wise person will make a budget with specs he needs and make a short list of different brands/models that meets his criteria, then gather some info(like from forums) find some reviews(I always like to get a least 5 reviews on each board if possible) from the net on all the boards in question then finally pick one for himself.