Quality Names in MOBOs

**natb1** · December 20th, 2002, 09:49 PM

I bought a Shuttle Spacewalker MoBo for T-Bird (Ai61) a while back because it was "on sale". I have since come to the conclusion that its poor. I keep ketting low level lock ups on 2 different HDs running different OS (XP and 98SE). I have eliminated almost all hardware. It gets bad, then I mess with it, and it gets better for a while. I think the slot connectors or RAM connectors, or CPU connectors are poor.

Question:

Based on your experience, what are the three most reputable name brands in MoBos? AMD or Intel.

I ran 3 different ASUS Mobos without problems (all Intel).

Im going to buy another MoBo combo as soon as the Christmas season is over.

I was considering Soyo, FIC, or Asus. Avoiding Shuttle, XFX, and PCchips.

**kato2274** · December 20th, 2002, 09:57 PM

Originally posted by natb1
I bought a Shuttle Spacewalker MoBo for T-Bird (Ai61) a while back because it was "on sale". I have since come to the conclusion that its poor. I keep ketting low level lock ups on 2 different HDs running different OS (XP and 98SE). I have eliminated almost all hardware. It gets bad, then I mess with it, and it gets better for a while. I think the slot connectors or RAM connectors, or CPU connectors are poor.

Question:

Based on your experience, what are the three most reputable name brands in MoBos? AMD or Intel.

I ran 3 different ASUS Mobos without problems (all Intel).

Im going to buy another MoBo combo as soon as the Christmas season is over.

I was considering Soyo, FIC, or Asus. Avoiding Shuttle, XFX, and PCchips.

FIC can be a touchy proposition sometimes, often times they make good stuff, sometimes it's crap.

gigabyte, MSI, and EPOX make nice stable boards. Abit systems once you tweak the crap out of them run well, but I'm pretty much at my last straw with them. I shouldn't have to search for 4 hours and change all kinds of CMOS settings to get a stable system.

on the lower end, ECS has been making better stuff lately. I've built several AMD systems with ECS boards in the recent past that were nice and stable.

recently I've been reading a lot of good stuff about shuttle especially with their mini-pc barebones stuff but if you've had bad experience with them then definately go another direction.

**Platypus** · December 21st, 2002, 05:59 AM

I used EPOX boards some time ago, I found them OK but my supplier steered away from them, not such good value he found.

Since then I've gone with Soyo or Gigabyte, lately all Gigabyte, they've been good.

The people I build for are looking for decent quality on a budget, so I've not used ASUS, pretty much everyone says they're good.

If you're determined to steer clear of PC-Chips, remember ECS is part of the PC-Chips group, but as kato said they've been working on putting out some decent stuff by most reports.

**Guysdrinkingbeer** · December 21st, 2002, 09:29 AM

My choices for the top 3 mobos for both AMD and Intel are Asus, MSI, and Soyo. DFI boards are a close forth. I like DFI, but they are hard to find at times.

Had too many problems with Gigabyte in the past, but they show promise.

Steer well clear of ECS and FIC. Too many problems to come back into my favor anytime soon.

**meatwad** · December 21st, 2002, 09:32 AM

A-Bit does need to be tweaked in some cases to run properly, no doubt about that. But when they run good, they run good. ASUS is also good and I've had a lot of success with Tyan.

The rest I've found to be great sometimes and lousy other times.

The only 100% never buy absolute piece of trash I can warn you to avoid is PC Chips.

**Stalemate** · December 21st, 2002, 10:51 AM

Another proponent of Asus, MSI and Soyo here.

Asus - Performance at any cost.
MSI - Best price/performance ratio out there.
Soyo - For the tweaker and overclocker in all of us.

I've also had a QDI board a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (166MMX), but I can't vouch for their present performance as entre-level boards.

**Archangel42069** · December 21st, 2002, 03:41 PM

Asus, Gigabyte, Tyan, Soltek, Soyo...in no particular order.

**Outcoded** · December 21st, 2002, 05:00 PM

Asus or Tyan

**Jeff the Brit** · December 21st, 2002, 08:15 PM

Asus and MSI for most of my builds. Gigabyte, Soltek and Iwill have been good for me as well.
ECS have done some very decent budget boards, but since their takeover by the PCChips evil empire, some ECS badged mobos are actually PCChips relabelled. Conversely, some PCChips boards are now actually rebadged ECS designs ... how's that for confusing?
PCChips also sell their rubbish under many other names to catch the unwary punter ... avoid Matsonic, Amptron, Elpina, Eurone, FuguTech and I have a sneaking suspicion that all the Albatron boards I see flooding the market here in England are more PCChips in disguise (not sure on that one yet). Jetway are worth steering clear of too.
Another hot tip: avoid cheapo generic RAM, treat yourself to decent branded stuff, Crucial, Kingston, Cube, Micron, Samsung. Corsair and other fav US brands aren't readily available here. It may cost a little more, but will amply repay you in the form of better stability.

**JungleMan1** · December 21st, 2002, 08:27 PM

I've owned 3 Epox boards and liked them all.

Also take a look at MSI, Abit, Soyo, Gigabyte, and Soltek for quality stuff.

Asus is good too but they are way overpriced.

**Ruslan** · December 21st, 2002, 09:26 PM

Originally posted by natb1
I bought a Shuttle Spacewalker MoBo for T-Bird (Ai61) a while back because it was "on sale". I have since come to the conclusion that its poor. I keep ketting low level lock ups on 2 different HDs running different OS (XP and 98SE). I have eliminated almost all hardware. It gets bad, then I mess with it, and it gets better for a while. I think the slot connectors or RAM connectors, or CPU connectors are poor.

From what you said, I would suspect bad memory, but not motherboard... By the way, Spacewalker motherboards aren't the best ones, but nevertheless, having good enough reputation...at least, I have good luck with them...

Every manufacturer has own good and bad models...
So,it would be better to discuss, which particular model is good...

There is no point to say "this motherboard is bad ... (yeah, just because PSU blown and killed it)"...

**natb1** · December 22nd, 2002, 12:02 AM

Originally posted by Ruslan
From what you said, I would suspect bad memory, but not motherboard... By the way, Spacewalker motherboards aren't the best ones, but nevertheless, having good enough reputation...at least, I have good luck with them...

Every manufacturer has own good and bad models...
So,it would be better to discuss, which particular model is good...

There is no point to say "this motherboard is bad ... (yeah, just because PSU blown and killed it)"...

Actually, it may be RAM sockets, but its not the RAM...I used 3 different DIMMs which were all new.

I agree that manufacturers have good and bad....Shuttle probably does make good boards.

I have decided, based on all input, I WILL NOT spend extra money for an ASUS...I prefer a good value, and feel more confident now about other brands.

THANKS PEOPLE!

**JungleMan1** · December 22nd, 2002, 12:28 AM

Originally posted by natb1
Actually, it may be RAM sockets, but its not the RAM...I used 3 different DIMMs which were all new.

I agree that manufacturers have good and bad....Shuttle probably does make good boards.

I have decided, based on all input, I WILL NOT spend extra money for an ASUS...I prefer a good value, and feel more confident now about other brands.

THANKS PEOPLE!

Shuttle has some really nice bang for the buck boards; not the fastest things out there, but they work and they work well, they even overclock a little.

There is no reason to spend a premium on an Asus. It offers nothing any other board doesn't except a high price tag.

**constructor** · December 22nd, 2002, 02:43 AM

Originally posted by natb1
.

Question:

Based on your experience, what are the three most reputable name brands in MoBos? AMD or Intel.

This is the type of question where you will get a different answer depending on who you ask.

Asus and Soltek have produced consistently good boards
Solteks are generally cheaper but have less onboard
I also tend to stick to AMD and VIAchipsets.
Issues like ease of installation and fan fitting may be important. Also the question of bios updates and tech support..

After xmas some of the new KT400 boards with nvidia chipsets will be appearing. May be worth a look.