Good motherboard brands?

[dparm]

So I apologize in advance if this is a really broad question, but what are the better motherboard brands to go for? Asus seems to be the 30 lb. gorilla, and actually makes all of the HP OEM motherboards. Their support/downloads site sucks royally though.

These are all the big players in the motherboard world that I could think of. I included Intel simply because they do sell their own reference series boards.

Asus
DFI
Gigabyte
MSI
A-bit
eVGA
XFX
Foxconn
Intel (reference)
Biostar
ECS


Any personal experiences you've had, especially the bad ones, are appreciated.

[dparm]

I should add that I'm basically looking for a board with the following features:

LGA775/Socket T
1333MHz FSB support (for newer Core 2 Duo/Quad, future 45nm Penryn)
dual PCI-E x16 (for SLI down the road)
Intel P35/ICH9 chipset, but 965/975 acceptable too
DDR2 800MHz support
around $100


Nothing too crazy...if it had something like eSATA that'd be cool but it's fine without it.

The three I am considering:

ECS P35T-A ($99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135059

MSI P35 Neo2-FR ($99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130098

ECS NF650i-SLIT-A ($75)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135047

[dcv]

I've heard and read a lot of bad things about ECS boards - never tried them myself (only ever done builds with MSI and Foxconn boards).

Since no manufacturer is 100% great, your best bet would probably be to find a handful of boards with the specs you want from probably the top five brands on your above list (since those brands are pretty much top-of-the-heap), then start reading reviews of said boards and see which ones come out on top - a good resource is http://www.mbreview.com/ if you're looking for reviews.

If you're not planning on overclocking and have the extra cash to spend, then you may as well go with Intel reference boards - stability is more or less guaranteed with first-party solutions.

//My $0.02

[dparm]

Good link, Dane.

From what I read, manufacturers are pretty hit or miss. There are some absolutely phenomenal MSI boards, but there are some absolutely lousy ones too. Best thing to do is just research your potential board pretty heavily.


I'm in no rush -- if one goes on sale or has a nice rebate I'll spring, but for now I'm just slowly acquiring parts:

500W Cooler Master power supply = $9.99 after rebate
DDR2-800 Patriot Extreme 4-4-4-12 2GB RAM = $30 after rebate

[jharriso]

I've always relied on MSI and ASUS mainboards. Foxconn makes good boards too, they're (one of?) the OEMs for Mac Pros, etc.
And yes, researching the board you consider is the way to go. You see the same variation between different models of mainboards that you do between, say, Dell's consumer line and the business line.

[dparm]

Thanks for the input, Josh. I think it says a lot that HP and Apple use ASUS and Foxconn as big suppliers/builders.

[dcv]

There isn't a motherboard made AFAIK that doesn't have a Foxconn part on it somewhere - an IDE connector or something at least. Single biggest supplier of random parts for other OEMs they is!

[Unregistered]

Hi there. I didn't read one thing about Intel mobos i the thread..?? In my experience they are fantastic. I've never had a problem with any of the Intel mobos before and I've used quite a few. I had a SATA-related problem with an Asus motherboard once before - The Intels were out of stock and I was forced to buy the Asus - I vowed never to do that again.

Any thoughts?

[dparm]

I dislike Intel-made boards due to the absolutely lousy support. It's like they make the stuff and then they forget about you.

[dparm]

Can anyone comment on the chipset differences? I'm debating between Intel P35 and nVidia nForce 650i.

The nForce seems to be a bit faster than the Intel 965/975-series, but the P35 is Intel's newest offering and is quite powerful too.

I don't need bleeding edge performance....trying to keep my mobo price around $100 if possible.

[Unregistered]

They're both good chipsets, though you can never go wrong with an Intel chipset. Also, most P35 boards accept both DDR2 and DDR3, though I can't imagine DDR3 will catch on before you'll be replacing the motherboard again.

Really, it comes down to features/$$.

[mcbrides]

Good link, Dane.

From what I read, manufacturers are pretty hit or miss. There are some absolutely phenomenal MSI boards, but there are some absolutely lousy ones too. Best thing to do is just research your potential board pretty heavily.



I would have to greatly agree with that. I've had problems with mutliple brands and then awesome experiences from the same brands. Just as you said it's best to study the individual motherboard.