Manufacturers to avoid ?

[jjyiz28]

Originally posted by: Buz2b
Ok, let?s take stock of this ?opinion poll? instigated by BiggityB:

So far, in the esteemed opinion of the AT users we have identified the following MB?s and mfr's as ones to avoid:

ABIT
ASUS
BIOSTAR
ECS
Epox
Geil
Gigabyte
Maxtor
MSI
PC chips
Soyo

I think that covers just about all of them (and I may have missed a couple). There are a few left yet but if you wait a bit longer, you will probably get the rest of the ?big guys? listed. Now, can you see the futility of this type of post. As stated earlier, the best bet would be to narrow things down to a few boards and then ask for opinions and comparisons of those. The premise of the start of this post was misguided and flawed. Not trying to crap on this but unless you can be more specific, you will not gain any real insight into the question.
Do yourself a favor BiggityB and narrow down your list to 2 or 3 boards that seem to fit your needs. At least then you can get some actual comparisons and discussion about features and flaws. You might even get a suggestion or two that would better fit your needs. Just a suggestion, of course. I wish you luck!
:beer:

so far all these has been identified, but the MAJORITY sofar has been

pcchips
ecs
biostar

 

[Fuzznuts]

well personally i have used a couple of ecs k7s5a boards my linux server is currently running with one and has had 0 problems. it has a current uptime of 18 days and before that was around the 180day mark. I took it down to install a new hd and upgrade from RH9 to Fedora Core 1. the box runs seti 24/7 on a 1700+ along with samba, bind, http, ftp and a few other services shorewall QoS etc. i have yet to see it crash or chuck a wobbler of any kind

maybe im a lucky one but my preivous ecs k7 is stil running in my bros computer and has been for around 18mths with no problems.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I agree with Buz, you can find users who are anti any company, if you're an experienced system builder then stick with the companies you have had the best price/performance/reliability from. If you are a neophyte DIY'er then extensively research in the forums here and elsewhere to help you establish which boards users are extolling the virtues of most. For instance, in the sktA arena you'll notice a large number of members :heart: the Abit NF7-S 2.0 so you can be assured it's a good choice.

Occassionally taking a chance on a company you know little about pay good dividends as well, I did so with Soltek almost a year ago and I've found them to be among the best boards I've ever used :beer: Anywho, since we are bashing the companies we have been burned by I'll join in!:evil: For myself it's MSI, they cost me time, money, and mucho headaches with the K7T Pro2/Pro2-A series and those imfamous leaking capacitors. I was about to cave in and give them another shot when old fart posted that having been disgusted with MSI as well he was giving 1 of their P4 boards a chance, it wasn't long before he was posting of his disgust with it and that now he was swearing them off for good. That sobered me up fast, and you needn't post of our excellent results with MSI as I'm certain they have given you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside, but some users and companies are not meant for each other and MSI and I are yin&yang

 

[Acanthus]

I have had nothing but problems with ECS boards... I was so frustrated with one once that i ran into the street like a madman and smashed it in the road, then repeatedly ran it over with my car.

 

[DJMiX]

Another vote on ECS, Work well for 6 months then died and took my cpu with it also.

 

[pspada]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
I have had nothing but problems with ECS boards... I was so frustrated with one once that i ran into the street like a madman and smashed it in the road, then repeatedly ran it over with my car.

But did it work better afterwards?

 

[CraigRT]

yeah the only major problems i've ever had with a motherboard brand has been with ECS. and i've built on MANY brands. (only other one i had fail was EpoX)

used:

Soltek
Asus
Abit
MSI
Epox
Gigabyte
Albatron
Soyo
Tyan
DFI

 

[Mem]

(only other one i had fail was EpoX)

My MSI died after 4 years but it was an excellent board on stability while it lasted,I know a lot of guys that have had Asus,Abit,Gigabyte boards etc die on them,doesn`t mean that model is poor on stability or performance(you always get at least one bad apple ).I also had one stick of Crucial ram go faulty after 3 years but I`ll still use their ram because I know it`s excellent.Bottom line is any brand/ model can go faulty,it happens while some of us are lucky and don`t get this problem.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Mem

(only other one i had fail was EpoX)

My MSI died after 4 years but it was an excellent board on stability while it lasted,I know a lot of guys that have had Asus,Abit,Gigabyte boards etc die on them,doesn`t mean that model is poor on stability or performance(you always get at least one bad apple ).I also had one stick of Crucial ram go faulty after 3 years but I`ll still use their ram because I know it`s excellent.Bottom line is any brand/ model can go faulty,it happens while some of us are lucky and don`t get this problem.

I hear ya, I'll just choose to stay away from EpoX, it was my first experience, and hopefully my last

 

[will889]

Originally posted by: pspada

Originally posted by: Acanthus
I have had nothing but problems with ECS boards... I was so frustrated with one once that i ran into the street like a madman and smashed it in the road, then repeatedly ran it over with my car.

But did it work better afterwards?

LMAO LOL.

You know, you can go to any different tech site and get different ideas on what board is best to build with, on one popular site I went around with a moderator because he was convinced that FIC was absolutely no good. I finally got him to see the light that FIC simply had not had many enthusiast boards, but they were very ,very stable and reliable just like DFI was before they came out with the Lan Party - before that they were not known as anything more than mostly OEM. This mod slammed MSI and FIC both as no good, and I was suprised because of his 15,000+ posts. I expained to him that I had had the same thing happen to me with Asus that happened to him with MSI (5 bad mobos out of about 15) and that that times bad mobos arrive off the assembly line before defects are caught by QC. On a different site MSI is "hailed" as the king, as is Asus and Abit usually. When I get dead mobos which is very rare - I just RMA and get replacements, and almost always all is fine ofter that. The patience of the builder to understand that no mobo manufacturer is perfect, and that if you build in volume that you "will" have bad mobos is a given, and yes...cheaper brands occasionally fail more often, but not always. Asus and Abit, nd MSI tend to be the best because of the forethought that is integrated into the mobos for the enthusiast in mind, including having alot of bios updates to release "fixes" that might be avoided by other manufacturers. So you might be more futureproof if nothing else with Abit, Asus, and MSI, Gigabyte, however also having more bios updates can actually create "more" problems at times. I have sees bios updates address a problem that actually created another set of problems, causing users to roll back.

So to me, it's ok to use off brand mobos as long as you are very experienced and have researched the product. I usually go by the actual mainboard rather than the brand anymore thses days. Brand loyalty is not the same as before because of all of the performance models out now, and..the complications that can ensue with building with them. So if I see a Gigabyte board that runs like a top, I'll order that one over an MSI or Asus out of brand loyalty anyday. Nowdays it seems to be best to go with whatever mainboard that serves your needs best and not just the "best name brand". Things I look for are.

1. Stability
2. Features
3. Expandability
4. Bios updates
5. Tech support If I order in bulk (ie; can I get RMA easily if need be - if I buy single board at a time I usually don't worry about it and go through newegg or whereever I bought it from).
6. Features I don't need that can be ruled out.

 

[nick1985]

i had trouble with kt400 MSI's

stay away from PC-chips and other cheapo boards....

i find that asus boards are the best. im also fond of shuttle. i have had 6 succesful builds with the A7N8X, and 2 with the An35n ultra.
the biggest lesson that ive learned with motherboards is that you get what you pay for.

 

[Bonesdad]

Over a dozen ECS K7S5A installations...ZERO (the big 0) problems on any of them. 4 of those installs are nearing 3 years

Had excellent luck with Biostar too.

In fact, I can only think of one board that was ever a problem for me (out of about 50??) it was a Shuttle. I still use Shuttle as well.

MOST motherboard problems are from mistakes or accident during install. I am NOT saying people who think ECS is junk are n00bs...I'm sure there are bad boards out there from ANY manufacturer. I am saying that accidents happen, even if we are careful.


EDIT: but you are right...this is a dumb question to ask...an invitation to flame...

 

[BlvdKing]

I used to love my ECS K7S5A/Duron 1.2 G combo. Then one day it died and killed the CPU as well. Three of the caps arounds the CPU bloated and leaked. Needless to say I upgraded my keychain from an older K75 550 to a Duron 1200.

 

[Trader05]

might as well start a poll

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Trader05
might as well start a poll

haha
give the man a prize

 

[iwearnosox]

Anything with a SiS chipset. :Q

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: iwearnosox
Anything with a SiS chipset. :Q

not always, the SiS 745 on the ECS boards aside from being on a crappy brand mobo, was a decent chipset.. had it's problems, but nothing worse than VIA IMO... meh, i wouldnt buy SiS either, but they have at least improved

 

[BG4533]

While slow, unlike most others, my ECS K7S5A has been very stable and has had no real issues. I have had big issues with both MSI and Soyo. Neither of which I could get tech support or an RMA from by phone or email. The boards are both nailed to my wall now.

I have been very happy with Asus and Abit. My Asus A7N8X Deluxe just died and I applied for an RMA online, took about 4 days, but they did issue the RMA. We will see how it works out in the end.

I will never purchase IBM HDs anymore either.

 

[INemtsev]

ECS boards are okay, and stable but their performance BLOWS!!!!and bios options are like on an elevator......in other words barely any options...

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: BG4533
While slow, unlike most others, my ECS K7S5A has been very stable and has had no real issues. I have had big issues with both MSI and Soyo. Neither of which I could get tech support or an RMA from by phone or email. The boards are both nailed to my wall now.

I have been very happy with Asus and Abit. My Asus A7N8X Deluxe just died and I applied for an RMA online, took about 4 days, but they did issue the RMA. We will see how it works out in the end.

I will never purchase IBM HDs anymore either.

you know man.... i have heard so much about soyo and MSI being trouble.. never really had problems with Soyo.. I had an SY-6BA+IV mobo (most people remember that one) it was just great ! and I also had an MSI K7T Turbo-R L.E. board which is still running at work with a 1.33 Athlon in it.... never had a problem with either of them.

I wonder if I am just lucky? although the K7T for one got great reviews, and is a lot more reliable than the regular K7T's from what I hear.
I probably just bought one of the better MSI boards. but still... most of them I've built on I've never heard complaints (MSIs)

meh.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: wicktron
ECS, just say no.
Extremely Crappy Sh*t & Extremely Cheap Sh*t

What is your opinion of Shuttle mainboards?

 

[Camion]

Nobody mentioned one particular large manufacturer of mainboards to avoid, so they must be good. So I guess I'll go out and get me one -- Intel.

 

[mdcrab]

What is your opinion of Shuttle mainboards?

IMHO nobody has mentioned Shuttle because they make motherboards that should not be avoided.
Although they lack some of the high end features, they are a very good value for the money.
I have used several different models w/o having any problems.

mdcrab

 

[tcsenter]

IMHO nobody has mentioned Shuttle because they make motherboards that should not be avoided. Although they lack some of the high end features, they are a very good value for the money.

Just wondering how some ECS bashers rated Shuttle compared with ECS or PC Chips.

They might want to look at side-by-side image comparisons of the following mainboards:

PC Chips M922LU V5.0
ECS P4VXASD2+ V5.0
Shuttle's AV41P

This is not the only example. There are many others.

 

[Buz2b]

Originally posted by: Camion
Nobody mentioned one particular large manufacturer of mainboards to avoid, so they must be good. So I guess I'll go out and get me one -- Intel.

That's because Insmell doesn't give you any reason to complain; as long as you don't want to overclock, that is. Good stable boards with (usually) decent features. Not necessarily top of the line though. However, if you want to do any sort of serious overclocking, you're SOL with Insmel (uhh, that means you can't). Their 875 chipset boards are pretty nice I understand though.

As to the ECS bashers, it's old hat. You opt to save some bucks and buy a budget MB then raise hell when something goes wrong. Problem is that in a vast majority of cases it is user related problems. That goes for all boards; not just ECS. For some reason, when it happens with a budget board the b%ching and moaning gets louder. Go figure. I've built probably 15 or so with ECS and have yet to have a problem I couldn't resolve. Yeah, I prefer ASUS but have no problem with ECS at all. As I have said more than once though, this thread, although it attracts repsonses (Most emotional), serves to solve nothing. It's all about opinions and we all know that just like (fill in the blank here), we all have one.