what is the best quality motherboard?

[fernsx]

hi!

my soyo motherboard is kind of dying, so i'm thinking about replacing it

can you recommend me, the best quality around there?
thanks

[tazdevl]

Kind of tough to recommend anything since you haven't told us what kind of a CPU is going in it.

Everyone has an opinion on who makes the best motherboard.

I'm going to toss in some info based on my professional experience. I worked in supply chain management for one of the larger PC OEMs, the Top 2 Tier 1 (best ) manufacturers are Asus and Tyan. That is a FACT.

On a personal level, I've had very good luck with Asus and Abit.

MSI, Epox and Abit are Tier 2.

Soyo, Gigabyte and host of others are Tier3 or worse.

The higher the Tier, the greater the probability you're going to have problems... meaning a board from a Tier 1 is better than a board from a Tier 3.

[CDRecorder]

I have been happy with my Abit KT7A; it's a good board.

[wicked1]

If you are going to go with AMD definately get a nForce2 based motherboard as they are very quick and overclock well.Out of all the motherboards that I have played with that are nforce2 the MSI and DFI motherboard brands are very nice.DFI overclocks unbelievably well.I have a Barton 2500+ running at 2520 watercooled on it.The MSI couldnt do that and thats why I replaced it.It stopped at around 2300 but it also wasnt a nforce2 400 chipset it was just a plain nforce2.Anyway they both have about every feature under the sun onboard.

[fernsx]

thank you guys!

i think i'm want to try intel.

I've seen lots of asus in pc stores.
So i'm gonna check the prices.

until then i hope my soyo still alive.!

How about the best asus motherboard for an intel p3?

[Han]

For P3 the best is ASUS TUSL2-C.

[TheWizard]

Asus good, Abit good, Intel also good. I've always liked Intel; you can't go wrong with a board made by the same company as the processor you are using.

[Turkeyscore.com]

I don't like MSI. I do like Aopen. I would buy Aopen or Asus. I have an Epox, and I am satisfied, but not sure if they are still good. The one i have is about 2 years old. 1.2 GHZ Athlon Max, so yeah, it's kindof an older model

[CDRecorder]

Why don't you like MSI? I have been thinking about possibly buying an MSI board, so I would like to hear what you think.

[NeilPeart]

Asus has always been my favorite mobo manufacturer; I've never had any problems with any of the dozens of boards I've bought. Asus has always produced the most consistently stable, fastest and feature-rich boards out there. Abit, MSI, Gigabyte, Tyan, Epox and Supermicro are also very good. There are always gonna be folks that experience problems with a certain mobo, but one should not hold a permanent grudge against the manufacturer because of some isolated incidents (usually user errors). Asus has never steered me wrong.

[TheWizard]

NeilPeart speaks the truth. Just like you'll find users with various experiences with different CD-RW drives, so too will you find people with various experiences with different motherboards.

[pkd7423]

I just bought the ABIT IC7-G. I was seriously looking at an Intel board, but THIS board offers Firewire, more USB, 5.1 sound built in, AND gigabit LAN built in too.

For the price I don't think you can beat it. I didn't have to buy 2 other PCI cards.

[CDRecorder]

Sounds nice! I'll be interested to hear what you think of this motherboard when you get it!

[Turkeyscore.com]

Why don't you like MSI? I have been thinking about possibly buying an MSI board, so I would like to hear what you think.

I dont like that you have to have an extra icon in the taskbar (next to the clock) in order to use the built in sound. Though that is a small complaint, it bugs me...

I just bought the ABIT IC7-G. I was seriously looking at an Intel board, but THIS board offers Firewire, more USB, 5.1 sound built in, AND gigabit LAN built in too.

For the price I don't think you can beat it. I didn't have to buy 2 other PCI cards.

That is something else that is nice. Aopen does that too. Check out this motherboard. http://www.aopen.com/products/mb/AX4SPEMax.htm Newegg sells it for $145. It has SATA on board, Gigabit LAN, Firewire, USB 2, RAID 1 and 0, and the 5.1 sound. And all kinds of fun overclocking features with safety features to help avoid frying of devices...

[treemana]

My last three motherboards have been I-Will. I've had no problems with them. (Although, I'm not sure what tier I-Will is considered to be.) Since I've had no problems with them, my next motherboard will probably be an I-Will as well.

I once had a problem with a SOYO, returned it and went with an I-Will. (It may have been an isolated incidence though.)

[Dartman]

My MSI has been a rock for me, the most stable board I have ever used.
The Asus I was using was great till I got a better video card then it became a BSOD factory, wouldn't work at 133 clock anymore, overheated, had memory problems so I got this MSI KT3 ulta ARU and have been loving it.
I've had Abit boards and they were very nice and way ahead of everyone at the time with the soft set cpu and memory things.
I don't have a speaker Icon in my start bar I disabled it and everything still works fine. you need a driver for most sound cards to work so what's the difference. If you don't like it disable it completely and use a different sound card.
Everyone of these folks have made some killer Boards and some bad ones. Asus has it's share of issues with some of the older ones, so does Abit. I was told this was the most stable board out at the time I bought it and stability for me is better then all out speed anymore.

[Stoner]

How is MSI a tier 2 mobo company when they make the most mobo in the world? It has a mobo for nearly every chipset on the market for both Intel and AMD CPUs. Abit and Epox are OCer mobos and while they have really good performance (when working), they have more problems than most. With that said, I've never had a problem w/ my MSI mobos, from KT266 to the current nForce2 Ultra400 chipset. Had an Abit KT133 mobo a few years back, had some problems w/ that one, but it's really VIA's fault I guess, or so hardcore Abit fans claimed. Had an Asus PII mobo before that. Real stable, but pricey.

[CDRecorder]

I have an Abit board with a KT133A chipset (KT7A), and it has worked well for me.

[fernsx]

i change my mind i'm thinking about buying and ASUS motherboard, for an AMD processor
So i saw that the DURON was one of the cheapest.

Maybe if i get some money in the future i could get a faster Processor like ATHLON. But i don't know what's the fastest that mobo can support.

So whic ASUS for a DURON processor?

[CDRecorder]

I think that any Athlon motherboard should support Duron, but I'm not 100% sure.

[Stoner]

Do yourself a favor and got to the mobo manufacturer's webpage and check out the product spec sheet. And OMG, nobody buys Duron processor unless they want to waste money. Duron is cheap for a reason, it's slow. Go w/ a Barton 2500+ and a nForce2 mobo for now, and you don't have to worry about upgrading till 2005.

[fernsx]

Do yourself a favor and got to the mobo manufacturer's webpage and check out the product spec sheet. And OMG, nobody buys Duron processor unless they want to waste money. Duron is cheap for a reason, it's slow. Go w/ a Barton 2500+ and a nForce2 mobo for now, and you don't have to worry about upgrading till 2005.

Well i'l check asus.com, but i just want to know any recomendation for an specific model, that supports that kind of processor.

And by te way, the speed of 850 MHZ that a DURON offers me, is enough for me
thanks

[vio_man]

If I were you I wouldn't buy a Duron. If you want a cheap processor buy a low end Athlon or even an Intel Celeron, never a Duron. I have a Duron but I bought it when AMD was producing them and in that time they had a very good price/performance ratio. Now it's a waste of money to buy such a processor. Take my advise. For 100€ you can buy a Barton 2500+ which is a great buy IMHO.

[dodecahedron]

I have a Duron but I bought it when AMD was producing them and in that time they had a very good price/performance ratio. Now it's a waste of money to buy such a processor.

isn't AMD producing them still ?

[Dartman]

As far as I know they still make Durons, just not too many people buying them when you can get a XP full blown Athlon for dirt cheap for lesser speeds.
My Sister is still using a Duron 600 and a original fic socket a main board and it works just fine for her with XP pro and 256 meg of ram. We built it when the Duron was the best bang for buck of the crippled cpu's and she says she doesn't want anything faster yet either.