Motherboard Brand Rating

[Khalil]

I am a system builder, I own my own company. My crew and I build about 100+ computers a month. I have had the chance to use most motherboard brands and I would like to rate them here according to my experience.

Blue is high quality with excellent customer support and fast RMA service.
Green is high quality with not so good Customer support and slow RMA.
Purple is Mid quality with good customer support and fast RMA service.
Black is Mid Quality with poor customer support and terrible RMA service.
Red Very Poor quality, very poor customer support with non-existing RMA service. "you are on your own"

Asus
Tyan (Server and Workstation Motherboards)
Supermicro (Server and Workstation Motherboards) Both Tyan and and Supermicro are for advanced techs with years of experience specially the mutli-socket boards.


Gigabyte
EVGA
DFI Enthusiast board for advanced users, not recommended for biggingers (info per Maxrat)

Biostar I use these for holiday specials, they are cheap but work well, they can be as much as $50 less than an Asus, if you have to buy a cheaper board this is the one I recommend.
Foxconn
Intel I use these only when a client insists on Intel branded. They are expensive and made by Foxconn.
MSI (NOTE - read post #26)

PNY http://www3.pny.com/Categories/Legac...Category_ID=46
ASRock

ECS
PCChips
Zotac
XFX
BFG (OUT OF BUSINESS, NO MORE RMA'S, IF IT BREAKS YOU EAT IT)


The following are unknown to me as I have never used them. DFI, Jetway and Tul.


Please note, this is my opinion based on building systems around thousands of these motherboards.

[glc]

3 comments:

1. I have never seen a PNY motherboard.
2. Abit is no longer in business.
3. Tyan and Supermicro are primarily server and high end workstation boards, not standard desktop boards.

I have stickied the thread, if you want the post edited after 12 hours, please contact any moderator.

[Khalil]

PNY makes a few motherboards, I ordered some on a special deal and they worked OK, won't be doing it again though.
Abit is out of business, however you can still buy the motherboards on the market. I have not bought any Abit in over a year but when they were in business they fit in the green zone with Gigabyte and Evga. I took Abit out of the list.
I would like to leave Tyan and Supermicro just in case someone does want to build a higher end machine then at least they can ask us about those boards.

[kram 2.0]

Thanks Khalil for this reference and to G for taking care of getting this stickied!

For the time being, I will keep this thread unlocked for constructive comments and suggestions as needed. As G mentioned, contact glc, me, or any moderator if you need revisions in the original post. Thanks!

kram

[jdeb]

Nice list, I didn't know about PNY either, interesting. Supermicro boards are sweet workstation boards, very high quality but memory specific.

[Masaki 7-11]

Any thoughts on Asrock? I know they are a subsidary of Asus, however my limited experience with their motherboards was that their stability and performance was not that good.

How was your experience with MSI motherboards from a quality and performance point of view? I know you've had problems with RMA and customer support. My experience with MSI motherboards has been pretty good since I started using them about 3 years ago, the performance and stability was on par with Asus and Gigabyte, however from what I understand from reviews and friend's experience a lot of their lower end motherboards are either hit or miss.

The local computer stores usually have a small selection of brands and models, so I've had to experiment with several brands to stay within budget/requirements. At my local computer store I found that Asus, Gigabyte and Intel (my experience with Intel branded motherboards has mostly been with
P series chipset workstation motherboards) to provide good bang-for-the-buck motherboards with pretty good stabiity/performance.

[tomtoon]

Apparently DFI motherboards are quite good also, never used one as they are a bit overpriced...

[MaxRat]

DFI is more into the Commercial side of things than Enthusiast side....

They may boards for things like ATMs and factory robots and things like that...

On their Enthusiast side of things they have a very high failure rate and their return rate has been above 50% at times....

they are more geared towards overclocking and getting the most MHZ out of a set up...lately they have been shadowed by teh Likes of Biostar who hold a couple of the overclocking world records on some of their boards and also Asus boards...

I used to use DFI for personal use and I would NEVER recommend one to a user with little to no overclocking experience...

another board maker is BFG....

they make mid range board and offer superb customer service...they are ranked #1 or close to it....on RMAs there are no questions and they pay shipping both ways...this goes for ALL their products....

Sapphire is another board vendor....notice I said vendor not maker...most of their boards are re-badged boards and they have the worst support ever....They currently offer NO direct warranty replacement for fixing...everything MUST go through the reseller so you are bound by the resellers terms as well....

Now from a plain customers point of view Abit when they were in business had outstanding service...I have only bought a few boards from them but the 2 I did need to RMA was very fast...RMA service was handled at teh Abit forums and the RMA was within a week for me on both occasions...

I even RMA'd a board after they closed and it was within a week...Abit X38 QuadGT

Now Asus for me has had slow service....Emails and phone calls go un-answered for weeks and 1 RMA took over a month...so I guess it matters which side of the scope you are on....the customer or the vendor...?

I pretty much agree with teh rest of them....

I think the chart is pretty thorough and a great addition to the forums...now may be we could do the same for other components like Ram, Video cards and Hard drives....?

[Khalil]

Thanks Max, everything BFG makes is excellent and they have exceptional customer support. I have never used any of their boards or Sapphires.

[MaxRat]

I have used BFG boards and I have even bought a couple used board knowingly they were bad and BFG fixed them no questions asked....

Most of their products carry a lifetime warranty...unless noted and beings they are out of Illinois I get next day service...I try to use them when ever I can especially for video cards...

the nice thing is they pay shipping on defective merchandise both ways...

You call to set up the RMA process and then they email you wit the RMA information....when you print it out it also prints the shipping lable all filled out for you...just box it up and affix the shipping label and mail...

their boards were/are just budget/vanilla boards but I had no issues with them at all....

[glc]

Zotac and Sapphire boards and video cards are made by PC Partner, which is PC Chips. Asrock is made by ECS for Asus. XFX is owned by ECS/PC Chips. See a trend here, folks?

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by glc Zotac and Sapphire boards and video cards are made by PC Partner, which is PC Chips. Asrock is made by ECS for Asus. XFX is owned by ECS/PC Chips. See a trend here, folks?

They are just spreading the love with different brand names

[MaxRat]

I know Sapphire boards are but I thought Sapphire made their own cards as they are ATI's largest partner channel and they are the largest maker of non-reference ATI cards...

their products are highly touted as the best its just that their warranty stinks....

[chuck4456]

ABIT would be in the BLUE if they were still around because of the AW9 series and the IP35 PRO. Unfortunately ABIT was too far in the hole when they tried to make a come back. It just wasn't meant to be.
DFI is OK once you figure out how to do the GTL and fine tuning tweaks - but that is time consuming and you need some degree of patience. In the case of using some CPUs, DFI actually offers too many tweaks. Most CPUs (still) just need the basic voltage settings for overclocking unless you are just dead bent on squeezing that last 1/10mhz of it! The BIOS sub menus pretty much just take up space. Don't do RAID on a DFI.
I wore out a BIOSTAR TPOWER I45 in 6 weeks. Literally. OC records were set with that board but I can guarantee you that the I45s those records were set upon are fried and recycled today. Watch out if you OC a Quad on one. Those mosfets will melt right thru the board.
My understanding is that SAPPHIRE makes all of the boards for all of the video cards - have that in a file somewhere - older article. Things do change though.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by chuck4456 unless you are just dead bent on squeezing that last 1/10mhz of it! I wore out a biostar tpower i45 in 6 weeks. Literally. Oc records were set with that board

lol

[alfie2]

you get what you paid for.

I am working in the OEM sector...making mainly computer hardwares for IBM, SUN, HP,...
believe me when I say different brands made by the same OEM are NEVER equal in quality.
each brand has it own department and quality-control/production team, so even though a given motherboard is made by the same manufacturer, it WILL VARY greatly in quality because of workmanship and different parts...so on.

[larry1135]

Looks like BFG is out of the motherboard business.

[jdeb]

what about AOpen? I know they are mini itx boards these days.

[glc]

Haven't used an AOpen board in years, but they were okay.

[glc]

Just received word from Khalil that he has started using MSI motherboards again and hasn't had a dud in 2 months.

[Khalil]

Yes, I asked Freak to move MSI up to green, we had a 2 year old board come back failed, I called them I got an RMA while I was on the phone, I shipped it and in less than a week they sent me a replacement. MSI have stepped up to the plate I am glad I am using them however I am reluctant to put them in the blue section becasue of previous bad experience. I will update in 6-9 months again, if they stay solid we can move them to the blue.

When the AM3+ motherboards come out in a few days that will be a big indicator on quality control, I will be buying Asus, MSI and Biostar... I have always had good luck with Biostar I just don't care for some of their design layouts.

[glc]

You sure you want MSI in the Green? I think Purple is more descriptive.

[Khalil]

Yes you are right purple it is!

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Khalil Yes, I asked Freak to move MSI up to green, we had a 2 year old board come back failed, I called them I got an RMA while I was on the phone, I shipped it and in less than a week they sent me a replacement. MSI have stepped up to the plate I am glad I am using them however I am reluctant to put them in the blue section becasue of previous bad experience. I will update in 6-9 months again, if they stay solid we can move them to the blue. When the AM3+ motherboards come out in a few days that will be a big indicator on quality control, I will be buying Asus, MSI and Biostar... I have always had good luck with Biostar I just don't care for some of their design layouts.

That is good to know (RMA), it was like pulling teeth before with them. I am always looking for alternatives for budget builds.

[glc]

MSI moved to Purple.

[Khalil]

You should be aware of this when buying an MSI motherboard.
Today I called in to RMA a high end gaming board that failed, 790FX-GD70, they charged me 35 dollars because it is on it's 3rd year of warranty, the motherboard is 25 months old. This, would NEVER happen with Asus!
So with shipping I am out $45 on an item that is supposed to have a 3 year warranty!!!!

[XenaWP]

That's interesting. I had USB issues with my Asus P5K PRO practically from the start (May 2008), and contacted them in Jan. 1010. Then I found some annoying workarounds, including not using the front USB ports. Finally the USB went out last month (Aug. 2011). With a 3-yr warranty, May 2011 was 3 years. August 2011 was 3 years + 3 months, and that was not the initial contact. I provided documentation of the previous contact and problems, and they informed me that I could send them $120 to "repair" my board.

I told them there was somewhere else I'd be sending $120.

Every manufacturer that I have dealt with (any industry) have covered items that break that close to the close of the warranty. Granted this is an isolated incident, but when it's you, it's 100% bad support.

[Katreat]

Originally Posted by Khalil ...Today I called in to RMA a high end gaming board that failed, 790FX-GD70, they charged me 35 dollars because it is on it's 3rd year of warranty....

Pro-rating wear items is common, but I never would have considered a MB a wear item. I think you have good cause to be mad.

Originally Posted by XenaWP Every manufacturer that I have dealt with (any industry) have covered items that break that close to the close of the warranty. Granted this is an isolated incident, but when it's you, it's 100% bad support.

I think you have been lucky. From my experiance, the date of the warrenty is set in stone. The only time I have been covered for anything after the time limit is when the manufacturer actually made a repair that failed or did not resolve the problem.

Kat

[David M]

Maybe the FTC needs to get involved with manufacturers who prorate the warranty? This is a very deceptive practice. It probably needs to be made illegal or it needs to be made very clear with the consumer when a warranty is prorated. Burying this fact in the small type is not good enough.

[glc]

MSI's website is absolutely terrible about warranty disclosure. It's a joke. However, the last time I had a MSI video card go bad, it was almost but not quite 3 years old and the online RMA was quick, painless, and free.