I've been looking at the new i7 motherboards and reading the customer
reviews on Newegg. I was getting nervous because of all the DOA and Dead In
a Week boards. I was beginning to believe the common rants that Asus was
rushing beta boards to market. So I looked at other boards for "legacy"
processors and there is the same degree of postings for DOA and DIW - about
25%.
Many 2 and 3 egg reviews note that upgrading to the newest BIOS version
solved all their problems.
So what do you think is going on here? Is Asus quality dropping off the
cliff? Are the boards good but they are being shipped with unstable BIOS? Or
are 25% of the builders doing something wrong: no static precautions or
incompatible components or those types of goofball explanations?

TVeblen wrote:
> I've been looking at the new i7 motherboards and reading the customer
> reviews on Newegg. I was getting nervous because of all the DOA and
> Dead In a Week boards. I was beginning to believe the common rants
> that Asus was rushing beta boards to market. So I looked at other
> boards for "legacy" processors and there is the same degree of
> postings for DOA and DIW - about 25%.
> Many 2 and 3 egg reviews note that upgrading to the newest BIOS
> version solved all their problems.
> So what do you think is going on here? Is Asus quality dropping off
> the cliff? Are the boards good but they are being shipped with
> unstable BIOS? Or are 25% of the builders doing something wrong: no
> static precautions or incompatible components or those types of
> goofball explanations?
There is no way to know.
One thing that is certain is that not everybody posts a review and in
general more will complain if it's bad then if there is no problem.
Bad batches happen in any industry but 25% would show up in big red letters
in the industry rags and a recall would probably be cheaper for ASUS.
http://tinyurl.com/ak4g4u is the only thing I've come across and it's not
really about the board letting out the magic smoke.

"TVeblen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:gmhab8$jce$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I've been looking at the new i7 motherboards and reading the customer
> reviews on Newegg. I was getting nervous because of all the DOA and Dead
In
> a Week boards. I was beginning to believe the common rants that Asus was
> rushing beta boards to market. So I looked at other boards for "legacy"
> processors and there is the same degree of postings for DOA and DIW -
about
> 25%.
> Many 2 and 3 egg reviews note that upgrading to the newest BIOS version
> solved all their problems.
> So what do you think is going on here? Is Asus quality dropping off the
> cliff? Are the boards good but they are being shipped with unstable BIOS?
Or
> are 25% of the builders doing something wrong: no static precautions or
> incompatible components or those types of goofball explanations?
>
>

Asus is crap. Always has been and always will be. I don't know how they
get such a good rep. when their quality control is probably the worst among
the major brands of mainboards. If my life depended on a mainboard being
rock-solid stable, I would pray that it wasn't an Asus board. Even many
so-called experts who SHOULD know better give Asus rave reviews. Makes me
wonder if they were paid off or something. Anybody who actually works in
the IT field will tell you the same thing...avoid Asus at all costs. If
they were a car, you would call it a Yugo. -Dave

"Dave" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:gmkine$2rb$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "TVeblen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:gmhab8$jce$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> I've been looking at the new i7 motherboards and reading the customer
>> reviews on Newegg. I was getting nervous because of all the DOA and Dead
> In
>> a Week boards. I was beginning to believe the common rants that Asus was
>> rushing beta boards to market. So I looked at other boards for "legacy"
>> processors and there is the same degree of postings for DOA and DIW -
> about
>> 25%.
>> Many 2 and 3 egg reviews note that upgrading to the newest BIOS version
>> solved all their problems.
>> So what do you think is going on here? Is Asus quality dropping off the
>> cliff? Are the boards good but they are being shipped with unstable BIOS?
> Or
>> are 25% of the builders doing something wrong: no static precautions or
>> incompatible components or those types of goofball explanations?
>>
>>
>
> Asus is crap. Always has been and always will be. I don't know how they
> get such a good rep. when their quality control is probably the worst
> among
> the major brands of mainboards. If my life depended on a mainboard being
> rock-solid stable, I would pray that it wasn't an Asus board. Even many
> so-called experts who SHOULD know better give Asus rave reviews. Makes me
> wonder if they were paid off or something. Anybody who actually works in
> the IT field will tell you the same thing...avoid Asus at all costs. If
> they were a car, you would call it a Yugo. -Dave
>

One note: I saw roughly the same percentage of 1-2-3 eggs for a few of the
other manufacturers I glanced at out of curiosity. There seems to be a
built-in unhappy customer factor regardless of brand. Unlike processors
which everyone seems to like, regardless of brand. That's why I'm thinking
it is part bad quality, part human error.

Which manufacturers do you like?

"Larc" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 7 Feb 2009 13:08:44 -0500, "Dave" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> |
> | "TVeblen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> | news:gmhab8$jce$(E-Mail Removed)...
> | > I've been looking at the new i7 motherboards and reading the customer
> | > reviews on Newegg. I was getting nervous because of all the DOA and
> Dead
> | In
> | > a Week boards. I was beginning to believe the common rants that Asus
> was
> | > rushing beta boards to market. So I looked at other boards for
> "legacy"
> | > processors and there is the same degree of postings for DOA and DIW -
> | about
> | > 25%.
> | > Many 2 and 3 egg reviews note that upgrading to the newest BIOS
> version
> | > solved all their problems.
> | > So what do you think is going on here? Is Asus quality dropping off
> the
> | > cliff? Are the boards good but they are being shipped with unstable
> BIOS?
> | Or
> | > are 25% of the builders doing something wrong: no static precautions
> or
> | > incompatible components or those types of goofball explanations?
> | >
> | >
> |
> | Asus is crap. Always has been and always will be. I don't know how
> they
> | get such a good rep. when their quality control is probably the worst
> among
> | the major brands of mainboards. If my life depended on a mainboard
> being
> | rock-solid stable, I would pray that it wasn't an Asus board. Even many
> | so-called experts who SHOULD know better give Asus rave reviews. Makes
> me
> | wonder if they were paid off or something. Anybody who actually works
> in
> | the IT field will tell you the same thing...avoid Asus at all costs. If
> | they were a car, you would call it a Yugo. -Dave
>
> Don't hold back, Dave. Tell us how you really feel about Asus.
>
> Larc

I think I made a mistake in singling out Asus for this post. I had just
finished reading their reviews and fired it off without completely thinking
it through. I should have asked "Are a lot of motherboards bad or are people
just screwing them up?" Maybe I'll repost.

I used to think Asus were the best and for many years they gave me and my
company flawless performance. I am now, not so sure. A couple of years ago
we replaced a whole load of PCs with new Athlon64 based PCs with Asus
motherboards. In the last few months we have had nearly half of them die.

Its a great pity that ABit have stopped making motherboards as they started
to make a really good range just before they pulled out of the market. I
use an ABit IP35Pro which has been solid since day one, overclocks like
stink and does everything I ask of it.

Rarius

>
> One note: I saw roughly the same percentage of 1-2-3 eggs for a few of the
> other manufacturers I glanced at out of curiosity. There seems to be a
> built-in unhappy customer factor regardless of brand. Unlike processors
> which everyone seems to like, regardless of brand. That's why I'm thinking
> it is part bad quality, part human error.
>
> Which manufacturers do you like?

In order, AOpen (doesn't make motherboards anymore), Epox (doesn't make
motherboards anymore, I don't think), DFI (still make good stuff,
thankfully), Biostar (HIGHLY under-rated, and MUCH better quality than
Asus!) and Gigabyte (almost as good as Biostar). Yeah, I know Gigabyte was
Asus for a while. Which is why I was avoiding Gigabyte during that time...I
was afraid the quality would go to crap because of being associated with
Asus. -Dave

> What brand do YOU suggest?

Depends on what you are building.

Intel CPU:
Intel or Gigabyte or Biostar mainboard

AMD CPU:
DFI or Gigabyte or Biostar mainboard

AOpen was always my first choice, while they still made mainboards. They
were the best quality, PERIOD, at any cost. And usually not too expensive.
Biostar is highly under-rated and MUCH better quality than Asus. So Biostar
is a good bargain choice. You end up with something that actually has a
chance to last several years and don't spend a lot of money on it. Good
deal! But for Intel CPUs, it is tough to beat the quality of an Intel
mainboard. They aren't too exciting, but they just plain work. DFI is
great quality. Same with Gigabyte.

Just about anything though is better than Asus. I'd even recommend ECS
before Asus. At least ECS pops out some good stuff every once in a while,
while Asus is predictably garbage. -Dave

On Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:42:39 +0000, GMAN rearranged some electrons to say:

> In article <gmkine$2rb$(E-Mail Removed)>, "Dave"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>"TVeblen" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:gmhab8$jce$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> I've been looking at the new i7 motherboards and reading the customer
>>> reviews on Newegg. I was getting nervous because of all the DOA and
>>> Dead
>>In
>>> a Week boards. I was beginning to believe the common rants that Asus
>>> was rushing beta boards to market. So I looked at other boards for
>>> "legacy" processors and there is the same degree of postings for DOA
>>> and DIW -
>>about
>>> 25%.
>>> Many 2 and 3 egg reviews note that upgrading to the newest BIOS
>>> version solved all their problems.
>>> So what do you think is going on here? Is Asus quality dropping off
>>> the cliff? Are the boards good but they are being shipped with
>>> unstable BIOS?
>>Or
>>> are 25% of the builders doing something wrong: no static precautions
>>> or incompatible components or those types of goofball explanations?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>Asus is crap. Always has been and always will be. I don't know how
>>they get such a good rep. when their quality control is probably the
>>worst among the major brands of mainboards. If my life depended on a
>>mainboard being rock-solid stable, I would pray that it wasn't an Asus
>>board. Even many so-called experts who SHOULD know better give Asus
>>rave reviews. Makes me wonder if they were paid off or something.
>>Anybody who actually works in the IT field will tell you the same
>>thing...avoid Asus at all costs. If they were a car, you would call it
>>a Yugo. -Dave
>>
>>
> What brand do YOU suggest?

You can't go wrong with Intel.

david wrote:

>> What brand do YOU suggest?
>
> You can't go wrong with Intel.

Except that Intel doesn't make the boards. They
are contract manufactured. One year, Asus might
make them, another year, Foxconn. What distinguishes
the designs, is the BIOS, and that probably isn't
part of the contract. The BIOS remains the
responsibility of Intel. With a contract manufacturer,
you can insist on any level of test you want, such as
48 hour burn-in or whatever - it just costs money.
Or, you can insert a penalty clause, such that
there is a penalty for each field return, or whatever.
Quality on demand... it's negotiable.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/22

"Until last month, Intel motherboards were manufactured
by ASUS and, according to Intel, 15 million Intel
motherboards were manufactured in 2003 and the goal
for 2004 is the production of 17 million boards. Intel
broke its contract with ASUS and will start manufacturing
its boards with another company, called Wistron"

HTH,
Paul