ASUS Motherboards - Quality or Goofballs?

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?


All of the above, probably.

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" wrote in message
...
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

On Sat, 7 Feb 2009 13:08:44 -0500, "Dave" wrote:

|
| "TVeblen" wrote in message
| ...
| 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

"Dave" wrote in message
...

"TVeblen" wrote in message
...
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" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 7 Feb 2009 13:08:44 -0500, "Dave" wrote:

|
| "TVeblen" wrote in message
| ...
| 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.

In article , "Dave" wrote:

"TVeblen" wrote in message
...
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?

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