- Nov 20, 2009
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Three years ago I bought my first non-Abit motherboard. I had great success with Abit after a bad first time experience with Asus. When I have success with a manufacturer, I tend to try them again.
But like Asus, I have to wonder if my first time experience with Gigabyte may be a sign, or just an exception. When I first built this particular PC I went with the 1st Generation Core i3 processor (LGA 1156) and a GA-H55-USB3 (Rev. 1).
From the start I should have known something was amiss with this new build as the damn thing wouldn't even power own successfully (cycle through pre-POST) unless I connected the 4-pin power adapter even though Gigabyte said this was only needed when using Intel's Extreme Edition processor--far from my low-ball i3, eh?
Moving beyond that I completed the build and handed the PC over to the wife as it was for her. I discovered six months into it that she was having to periodically power cycle the PC because it would lock up. I learned how to run W7 memory test and discovered the expensive RAM at the time (4x2GB for $330) had two bad modules.
I yanked the two bad sticks and the system became stable. About 8 months past and the pair of HDDs using the on-board RAID mirror had a drive fail. Really, WDC? I yanked that drive and replaced it with another. But the instability issues seemed to creep back in and finally I had enough and bought the wife an iMac and haven't had much of a problem since.
But a few months ago I decided I needed to step off my aging XP PC and I put the W7 PC back into use. Dear lord its been hell. I frequently get BSOD with the accompanying minidumps, which Blue Screen View reports one of three chronic OS related issues.
Yet those BSOD issues are also being trumped by ever increasing application issues such as my inability to update the MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) application, and I'm not talking about the definition file.
I have since replaced all RAM, HDD's, broken the RAID into standalone disks, PSU, installed a standalone older video card (to stop using the i3 video--thinking maybe it was in part an issue), but the resulting mess has yielded a worse experience issue since my Asus days (c. 1996-7).
So, I am started fresh. Not going to be re-using anything. Fuck it. But now I need to venture into the unknown. Do I trust Gigabyte again, and if I do should I make sure it is a Rev.2 board? Do I re-trust Asus? Try someone new?
And the hassle of reinstalling W7, Office, CS5/LR5, etc. just makes my cringe. I'm getting too old for this shit (not really, just too lazy).
But like Asus, I have to wonder if my first time experience with Gigabyte may be a sign, or just an exception. When I first built this particular PC I went with the 1st Generation Core i3 processor (LGA 1156) and a GA-H55-USB3 (Rev. 1).
From the start I should have known something was amiss with this new build as the damn thing wouldn't even power own successfully (cycle through pre-POST) unless I connected the 4-pin power adapter even though Gigabyte said this was only needed when using Intel's Extreme Edition processor--far from my low-ball i3, eh?
Moving beyond that I completed the build and handed the PC over to the wife as it was for her. I discovered six months into it that she was having to periodically power cycle the PC because it would lock up. I learned how to run W7 memory test and discovered the expensive RAM at the time (4x2GB for $330) had two bad modules.
I yanked the two bad sticks and the system became stable. About 8 months past and the pair of HDDs using the on-board RAID mirror had a drive fail. Really, WDC? I yanked that drive and replaced it with another. But the instability issues seemed to creep back in and finally I had enough and bought the wife an iMac and haven't had much of a problem since.
But a few months ago I decided I needed to step off my aging XP PC and I put the W7 PC back into use. Dear lord its been hell. I frequently get BSOD with the accompanying minidumps, which Blue Screen View reports one of three chronic OS related issues.
Yet those BSOD issues are also being trumped by ever increasing application issues such as my inability to update the MSE (Microsoft Security Essentials) application, and I'm not talking about the definition file.
I have since replaced all RAM, HDD's, broken the RAID into standalone disks, PSU, installed a standalone older video card (to stop using the i3 video--thinking maybe it was in part an issue), but the resulting mess has yielded a worse experience issue since my Asus days (c. 1996-7).
So, I am started fresh. Not going to be re-using anything. Fuck it. But now I need to venture into the unknown. Do I trust Gigabyte again, and if I do should I make sure it is a Rev.2 board? Do I re-trust Asus? Try someone new?
And the hassle of reinstalling W7, Office, CS5/LR5, etc. just makes my cringe. I'm getting too old for this shit (not really, just too lazy).