[RESOLVED] Aopen Motherboards How Reliable?

[NorthStar]

Anyone have experience with the newer Aopen boards? I know they have a 3 year warranty on them now. I was just wondering how the compare to ASUS, Intel and Tyan in quality etc.

[xsrvx]

They do not compare with Asus or Intel but they could compare with Tyan. I personally have seen nothing but trouble with Tyan and Aopen boards but it could be because of the VIA chipset and may not be related to motherboard manufacturer.

IMHO

[EvilCabbage]

Im using an Aopen AK33 in my PC at the moment, with an Athlon 700. Pretty happy with it, beyond the onboard sound issues. Drivers can be a pain in the a$$ to get going sometimes (via chipsets... cheap..) But i havent had any major gripes with them.

[Snommis69]

I am a big Aopen fan. I just put together two systems with the Aopen AK73PRO and they rock! In fact, I even run my K6-2/500 on an Aopen AX59PRO, and it is steady as a rock. I have never had a problem with Aopen. I would say they are on par with Asus, for sure. (That will most likely ruffle some A7V feathers, but it is true, IMHO. And the benches will bear it out. Check Tom's.)

DFI and PCCHIPS, that's another story...

[dougkluth]

My partner in crime on the job, uses nothing but Aopen. His latest is a Ax34pro and he loves it. Running it with a PIII 1 GHZ. and never has a problem. He'll even swear that it's better than Asus. He's pushing it in my opinion, but I guess it's what you want and what works for you.

[jbar1]

Aopen are the boards you love to hate and hate to love.Good architecture, low quality chipset

[sigel]

Actually, I had the same feelings until I built a P3/1ghz system for a customer, with PC266 DDR and the Aopen AX37 Plus, using 2 7200rpm IDE drives in a stripset, this system just kicked a$$

[Larommi]

My opinion Aopen makes the best budget parts. If you have to go cheap I have always liked Aopen. Beware of the driver disks though. They had chernobyl on the driver disk for one of their SS7 boards and I don't trust them. (once bitten...twice shy)

[Slipstream]

I've used Aopen boards alot and overall find them very good. Only one I ever had problems with was one of the flip-chip boards didn't support the correct multiplier for some celerons(this has likely been fixed with bios update) and I had to fiddle with the bios settings considerably to get Windows to load. Asus boards are probably a little better(certainly for Intel cpu's),but Aopen's are near the top. I'm also using ax59 pro with Amd K6-2 500 with Windows 2000 (only drawback win2000 doesn't support the usb controller but I don't use it) and it has never crashed so I very reluctant to upgrade .

[Steph3dfx]

Me too i have an AK33 mobo , with Duron 700 ,Voodoo 5 and Acer HX-45 case. No problem except crackling noise from my SB live when i do recording from line in ( problem related to the Via/Live combo)
I play lots of games , some burning and some sound/record editing (i use a SB128 for that ), everything is rock solid . This is my third Mobo in a row from Acer and and i'm pleased with their product .

I also have a friend with an AK73 pro/T-bird 1000 combo and it rocks !!!!

Bye......

[John Foster]

I using nothing but AOpen boards in our system builds. Very reliable, well put together, and more importantly, well documented.

[NorthStar]

Thanks for the info guys I believe I may give them a try in some lower end builds.

[rootbeer_god]

aopen products are great, untill they die!!!
every aopen product i've ever had the displeasure of owning has $hit itself within 6 months!

[Slipstream]

Originally posted by rootbeer_god:
aopen products are great, untill they die!!!
every aopen product i've ever had the displeasure of owning has $hit itself within 6 months!

Are we talking motherboards here? I've built about 100 systems with Aopen boards and have yet too have any of the motherboards fail and I was only dissatisfied with one of the mx3w models (don't remember which one) due to previously mentioned problems.

[bfrau]

Personally I like Tyan MB's, never had a problem with them (I'm not a gamer). I used to use Asus boards, but after the fiasco I had with their P3B-F boards, I refuse to use them anymore.