would you own this ASUS MOBO?

[natb1]

Originally posted by mrwilhelm
Different architectures, so it's comparing apples and oranges. It's confusing, but essentually the Athlon XP does more instructions per clock cycle than the P4, so the two are usually compared in regards to performance rather than raw clock speed.

I think I know what your driving at...OK.

Im gonna start "affordable", and If that dont work, Ill send it back for "Higher End".

Thanks for the support...Im Out.

Ill share my newegg.com experience as well

[FredThompson]

I've been building my own systems since the 25 mHz 386 days. Here's what I've learned: Sometimes the cheapest is the most expensive, just like anything else.

Can't tell you the number of 2nd-tier or lower mobos I've used. DFI, Azza, you name it. Sometimes there's a jewel but usually they're 99.9% good. Thing is, if it isn't 100% proper, something will bite you eventually. Either it's the odd driver or the almost-the-same-as interface or whatever.

Currently, I'll only uses Asus boards. Why? Well, they're the most reliable I've tried and they consistently do very well in all the tests. (I've not used ABit which also places quite well, just mentioning that to be fair.)

If you're time is worth anything at all, you're better off buying a tool that you know will perform. Sure, you could buy a smaller brand and "save" $20 or so then you'll more than pay for it in time trying to make the thing work. Right now, I've got an Azza board whose USB controller isn't 100% compatible. It worked with Win98 but not with Win2K. Was the board a bargain? No, I had to buy another USB controller card to make it work. Some bargain.

My latest toy is the A7N8X Deluxe. This thing is incredible. You'll find it on Pricewatch for around $140 or so plus s/h. It's $165 at my favorite local retailer. All it needs is memory, a cpu, and video. Everything else you'll probably want is built-in.

Now, I COULD have bought a board with fewer things built-in and used the PCI cards from before. However, this board allowed me to pull 4 PCI cards (FireWire, Sound, USB2, LAN) which is really quite nice. The drivers are one-stop shopping at Asus' site and there's no question they will work. That's just wonderful.

Over the past 15 years, I've upgraded my computers at least once a year and have a HUGE pile of screws and jumpers to proove it. What I've learned is comptuers are the same as everything else, TANSTAAFL and you get what you pay for.

Oh, one last plug, the Thermalright SLK-800 and an 80mm Vantec stealth fan makes for a near whisper-quiet CPU cooler. Very nice. You only get one set of ears and fixing them (if it's even possible) costs a heck of a lot more than a few extra $ for premium cooling. Same with your eyes, an extra $50-$100 for a good monitor is a lot cheaper than a lifetime of glasses or eye surgery.

[mrwilhelm]

While you can certainly use a manufacturer's track record and reputation as a guideline, you would be doing yourself a major injustice by just automatically assuming that everything "Company A" makes is going to be a winner, or that everything "Company B" churns out is going to be a dog. It just doesn't work that way. Both Asus and Abit have cranked out their fair share of lemons over the last few years. Believe me, I know. And while I can't immediately think of any examples off hand, I'm sure that companies like Jet or PC Chips have managed to release a gem or two in that same time frame.

That's why I tend to look at individual models and not manufacturers. Of course this philosophy requires much more effort since it means pouring over tons of reviews and benchmark data as opposed to simply pigeonholing an entire company's product line as either good or bad.

Because the technology landscape is in a constant state of flux I think it would be downright foolish to remain blindly loyal to a particular manufacturer to the exclusion of all others.

Of course that all just my opinion, so take it for what it's worth...

[FredThompson]

Methinks you didn't read what I typed.

I didn't say everything Asus (or any other manufacturer) makes is the best. I said I'll only buy Asus now. Those are two very different things.

The Asus boards I've had, P5A, A7V133, A7A266, AV8NX all had very good reviews. I do check sites like Tom's Hard OCP, etc. Personally, I usually wait about 6 months after something has hit the market so there's time for lemons to surface.

You get what you pay for. A "name" board isn't necessarily more expensive just because of the name, it can frequently mean a greater chance of reliable performance. That's how they got to be a "name".

Once a company has a good reputation and has proven itself over time, they're probably going to stay that way.

MSI isn't "bad", they're just don't have the same track record as Asus and nowhere near the market share. VIA's Eden looks like something to watch for non-gaming entertainment uses but it's not a workstation. Abit will probably (I hope) get better after they recover from the pirated capacitor thing.

One thing to consider about Asus is they give a nearly-unlimited exchange support for dead boards. You pay the shipping to them and they send you a tested replacement. Elitegroup (I have a couple of BookPCs, really nice but dated now) makes cheaper boards but the tech support is lousy, that's a generous term.

I'll check a couple reviews at reputable sites and that's about it. If you're really checking "tons" of review, you're doing it as a form of recreation. There are plenty of good, reliable review sites and once you've learned where they are, you should be able to research a mobo very quickly. If you're fairly new to researching these things or a student, maybe it makes sense to put more time into it. If not, your time is probably worth far more than any "savings" you'll get from overly extensive research. Unless, as I said earlier, it's something you're doing for recreation.

I do agree with you about the Antec cases. I've got two here right now. Quite nice. That's another lesson, isn't it? Buy the $30 case and cut the snot out of your hands or bend the cover trying to get it back on. Same thing with power supplies, buy a cheapie and it won't scale. False economy.

256M is fine for most people, no question. If you're going to do A/V, better up that. Oh, don't know about whatever board natb1 bought but it would be a great idea to use one strip of 256M instead of smaller ones. That leaves at least one slot open for expansion down the road without pulling what's in there.

[Rojacks]

One board that seem to be near unmentioned are the Genuine intel motherboards, I find them simpy the best and cheaper than ASUS, I used to be a huge ASUS fan and always used ASUS in my own PC (486 days and early Pentium ~ 10 years ago now!) but found that as ASUS became more well known the prices asked became excessive, A few points need to be considered if you use a Genuine Intel Motherboard, Forget about overclocking but that is counted with an outstanding 3 year warranty and a level of stability that I cannot believe.

If you do buy an Intel board avoid the whitebox and get a retail boxed one, No one should be selling whitebox/oem boards to endusers but they seem to bend the rules a bit.

[FredThompson]

That's true, Intel boards are about as stable as you can get.

You're also required to use their CPUs which are more expensive, though.

How's their tech support for mobos and individuals?

[Rojacks]

Intel still do forward replacment for faulty boards which is good.

I have found the tech support excellent, But Asus and Gigabyte are pretty good.

At the end of the day when I sum up the real cost of a system a few dollars extra on a CPU and motherboard don't factor in. A techs time quickly erodes any small saving at inital purchase.

I wished AMD produced a boxed CPU / Boxed AMD motherboard combo - I would then look at them as an alternative and possible try them on my more adventurous customers.

[factory81]

Asus = #1.
Best overall board, have seen the least problems, the least returns, and the least bugs in there boards.

[FredThompson]

OK, thought I'd post these links for review. This is my latest setup:

Asus A7N8X Deluxe: http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/asus_a7n8x/

Quote:

What is particularly impressive about the nForce2 and, by extension, the A7N8X Deluxe are the general performance and the fact how the memory is handled. Single DIMMs, dual or triple configurations, nothing really threw the board off except for running the 1GB DIMMs. Also as we showed in the earlier review, the nForce2 has almost no competition when it comes to performance meaning that the signs are set for a giant leap also in market share.

One of the aspects we have not covered yet is the quality of the integrated Soundstorm. It is hard to describe it in a few sentences, so let's just say that it is pretty overwhelming.

What about the A7N8X? There is a lot of things we can say, most of all, the A7N8X Deluxe is probably the best Socket A board we have reviewed so far, despite the non-working multiplier adjustments. But maybe that can still be fixed.

ThermalRight SLK-800 heatsink (I used a Vantec Stealth 80mm fan):

http://www.lostcircuits.com/advice/slk800/

Quote:

The only HSF combo we have seen so far that performs better in terms of temperature control is the Swiftech MCX462 with an 80 cfm fan but that one also blows out your eardrums. Bottom line is that the SLK-800 is a piece of art with respect to its esthetics, design and performance likewise and deserves nothing less than an editor's choice, a very rare thing around here.

Sometimes you get what you pay for. Not that these are the absolute best there is and ever will be. There are a number of great options.

[FredThompson]

OK, thought I'd post these links for review. This is my latest setup:

Asus A7N8X Deluxe: http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/asus_a7n8x/

Quote:

What is particularly impressive about the nForce2 and, by extension, the A7N8X Deluxe are the general performance and the fact how the memory is handled. Single DIMMs, dual or triple configurations, nothing really threw the board off except for running the 1GB DIMMs. Also as we showed in the earlier review, the nForce2 has almost no competition when it comes to performance meaning that the signs are set for a giant leap also in market share.

One of the aspects we have not covered yet is the quality of the integrated Soundstorm. It is hard to describe it in a few sentences, so let's just say that it is pretty overwhelming.

What about the A7N8X? There is a lot of things we can say, most of all, the A7N8X Deluxe is probably the best Socket A board we have reviewed so far, despite the non-working multiplier adjustments. But maybe that can still be fixed.

ThermalRight SLK-800 heatsink (I used a Vantec Stealth 80mm fan):

http://www.lostcircuits.com/advice/slk800/

Quote:

The only HSF combo we have seen so far that performs better in terms of temperature control is the Swiftech MCX462 with an 80 cfm fan but that one also blows out your eardrums. Bottom line is that the SLK-800 is a piece of art with respect to its esthetics, design and performance likewise and deserves nothing less than an editor's choice, a very rare thing around here.

Sometimes you get what you pay for. Not that these are the absolute best there is and ever will be. There are a number of great options.

[Radical Dreamer]

I have a new celeron and its the same FSB as my P4, the only dif is the cache, it has 128 to the P4 512

Originally posted by mrwilhelm
The current Celerons are essentially castrated P4's (reduced FSB and L2 cache). They're a good option for the average user who would probably never notice the difference, but considering the 3D gaming and CAD stuff you plan on doing I think you're still much better off with an Athlon XP or P4.