Earlier this month Tom’s Hardware reported on Gigabyte’s claim about Asus’s energy efficiently features being a blatant lie to consumers. Since then, the two giants have had a very public and on-going spat. However, Asus is now taking this battle into the next round by slinging a lawsuit against Gigabyte and reporting them to the Fair Trade Commission of Taiwan (opens in new tab). Asus claims its rival, “Gigabyte, without a full understanding of ASUS’ engineering design and methods, has made false accusations against ASUS motherboards’ EPU features.”
Asus also detailed Gigabyte’s use of misleading photographs of blown capacitors in presentations that led the audiences to believe the product was from Asus to support allegations of sub-par component quality from Asus. However, Asus claims the photographs were taken from a graphics card that is manufactured by a completely different vendor. Asus described its rival’s actions as indecent and “outside the realm of decent competition.”
“While it is common to have competition among companies, the use of the above mentioned methods are defamatory and condemnable. ASUS deeply resents Gigabyte’s action(s)…ASUS takes pride in its innovations, which are measured against the highest standards in the industry at all stages of operation - from project development, engineering, manufacturing to service. Through a combination of the best quality-controlled components and processes, ASUS delivers state-of-the art technology breakthroughs to meet customers’ needs. Every breakthrough is the result of huge R&D engineering efforts.”
As of last week Gigabyte stood by its allegations and was eagerly waiting for Asus to provide more details about the company’s EPU performance. Asus has now launched an official website (opens in new tab) regarding EPU engineering data on its motherboards. While the new site does provide more in depth information regarding the company’s EPU, it does not however provide any detailed performance or testing data. It’s a slight disappointment in the fact that a lot of users were hoping to see some empirical evidence that would disprove Gigabyte’s claims.
Its ironic that just less than two years ago Asus and Gigabyte were holding each other’s hand in a joint venture to manufacture components. It just goes to show the intense competitive market that these two giants are in now. No details of compensation were mentioned, but more information should unfold as this drama is far from over.