Oy Vey! What to do! (long rant)

[mickeddie]

Like so many people I am waiting for more of the p965 mobo's to come out. With so many mfg's people use this forum as a medium to get advice from people who have used, worked with, or are familiar with the various boards. I for one also google the various boards for reviews, but again I look here to ask more questions as I am not too familiar with the technical details in the reviews.

Now the challange comes when I narrow my search down to the few top board mfg's (right now I am considering Abit, Gigabyte, and Asus). Some people love specific boards, some have had challanges and stay away from them. For instance the p965 Abit board...someone in this forum loves Abit and in his opinion it is better than Gigabyte or Asus. Someone else had 3 Abit boards fry and would not touch them with a 10 foot pole (maybe a 6 ft Hungarian, though )

Anyway, what are we to do when so many people recommend so many different boards (or any other pieces of hardware for that matter). Even the reviews on Newegg are conflicting. Even if a product has 4.5 stars when you read the negative reviews there are DOAs and other issues that make me think "what if that happens to me?" I know I am not going to find a product that EVERYONE favors, so what tools do you use in your decision to buy a mobo?

 

[chewbenator]

Well first figure out which mobo fits your uses. For instance, many of the new boards coming out have limited pci slots due to PCI-E, if you have a lot of peripherals then you might have to get a different board. But, in the end I would just take advantage of Newegg's RMA process, it's fast and easy. So, if you do end up making the wrong choice you can always return it.

Also, some boards are made for overclocking and such, so I would just read all you can and make a decision.

ps. newegg reviews shouldn't be trusted.

 

[mickeddie]

I don't have a lot of peripherals...a sound card, network and firewire cards (which I guess I won't need with the new boards having them on-board) and a modem which I can give my cats as a new toy, or a door stop.

All I want is a good quality board for under $200.

Other than that my main inquiry is to the general quality of the mfg. Like my example of Abit. I was not specific for any particular model but just based on the company I got one rave review and one "stay away from it".

 

[sluzbenik]

Prices don't make much sense to me yet...Asus P5W-DH Deluxe and P5B Deluxe are the same price, but the P5B doesn't have as many PATA ports (I certainly have a lot of PATA storage) or the built-in RAID driver (Ez-Backup) so you don't need to buy a floppy just to install SATA drivers during OS installation.

The Gigabyte GA-965P-DQ6 can't hold a candle at this price to either of those Asus boards based on features.

Basically it is not too hard - more than two PCI16 slots, you will pay > $200. If you give up on Crossfire or SLI it looks like things are much better.

Personally I am tempted to get the P5W-DH Deluxe just to eliminate the floppy. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. 2006 and we still need a floppy to install an OS? C'mon.

 

[Jinx13]

Pretty much all the mfg's you mention are going to be fairly close in quality. Some prefer one brand over another and its that way for everything. It's like the age old argument over Chevy, Ford, and Dodge. Find a board in your price range with all the features you want. If you end up with one of the few bad boards RMA and get a different one, you have several more companies to choose from, don't buy from the original company again.

I for one got a bad board from abit(the ax8 I think it was), bought it for the third PATA port and it turned out to be junk. My problems were probly more to do with the chipset but I doubt I will buy another Abit board anytime soon.

The moral to my long rant, form you own opinion of the mfg's. As someone else said, Newegg is great on RMA's, make use of it if you need to.