Choosing between Asus, Gigabyte, and ASRocks

[jsmith24]

Hi guys,

I've not upgraded in a while, so bear with my lack of confidence here. I want to upgrade to an AMD Athlon 64, socket 939. Between all the boards out there, I've come across three and I'd like input. I was going to go with the Asus board, but so many posts advise against it and have made me gun-shy.

Thanks in advance!

Gigabyte
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128307

ASRocks
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081

Asus
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131541

 

[iss]

Persoannly I would take the ASUS board anyday. I have used Gigabyte boards and they are generally good boards. but their quality tends to be spotty at times.

 

[nork]

In my opinion the Asus and the Gigabyte are far superior to the Asrock in the quality of the boards themselves, but i think if you check the respective websites you will find that the Asus and Gigabyte offer more and better software programs that, for instance, help with bios and things like that.
Really, Asus and Gigabyte are far superior to Asrock.

As for the "spotty" remark about Gigabyte, first, iss, dont take it personal.
I honestly do believe that if you stick around long enough you will hear others say the same about Asus and even a lot more about Asrock, lol.
Matter of fact, i have heard comments on that particular Asus mobo as well.

All that said, if i wanted the Asrock i would go for it anyway. My reasoning. Well, i heard and still hear people run pc chips down. Well, i have had lots of experience with pc chips and i find the boards are fine. Pc chips own ECS and another mobo name or 2 as well, i wouldnt even be surprised if pc chips owned Asrock cuz i think they do. Anyway, i happen to like ECS boards.

But the thing is, it really depends on what i want and the price. If i can get a better mobo for the same price as an Asrock, i would go for the better one. But if i am looking at cost i might just go for the Asrock.

jsmith24, you need to be part of the process as well, in the end its your choice.
My choice would be the Gigabyte, i feel the Gigabyte and the Asus are more reliable overall, kinda better boards or at least a better name than Asrock.
And i would go with the Gigabyte over the Asus but only because of the problems with that particular chipset on the Asus boards.

 

[iss]

As for the "spotty" remark about Gigabyte, first, iss, dont take it personal.
I honestly do believe that if you stick around long enough you will hear others say the same about Asus and even a lot more about Asrock, lol.

I dont take anything personal on internet forums. everyone has a right to express their own opinon, even when they are clearly delusional, as in stating a liking for PC Chips and ECS boards.........hehe :haha:

All joking aside, my opinon on gigabyte is based on having owned several gigabyte boards and having helped out in my friends computer repair shop for several years. I saw alot more defective gigabyte boards than Asus. in this particular case the gigabyte board may be a better choice I havnt heard anythign about the particular model of Asus mobo in question.

 

[nork]

iss, you are hilarious!
You are so right about my weird liking for pc chips and ECS boards. And i have a sneaky suspicion that Asrock is also pc chips too, lol.
I dont think they are in the same league as Gigabyte and Asus but i like them, wouldnt hesitate to buy one. Maybe i have just been lucky. What i really think is that pc chips makes a heck of a lot of mobos, a lot of oems and a lot of retail, a real ton of them. I am pretty sure that pc chips makes the most mobos. As a result i think that their mobos are better than we give them credit, and its only because there are so many out there that we are gonna hear some bad once in a while. But only a theory of mine, lol.

But i love my MSI NEO!

 

[fish4specs]

These boards fit specs I was also looking for: (AGP, AMD 939, ATX, PCI, PC3200). I have GA-K8U-939 and have been happy with it. Easy setup and seems to be pretty stable. Includes EasyTune5 (very easy automatic overclocking, I've played with it a little but OC isn't really an interest). Now, however, I am looking at a video editing card (Canopus Edius NX). Card requirement I am concerned with is: "One free PCI 64-bit or 32-bit/66MHz slot (rev. 2.2)" GA-K8U-939 manual diagram lists pci clock at 33Mhz. Does anyone know if either the ASUS or ASRocks has PCI 64-bit or 32-bit/66MHz slots or if any other motherboard meets all these requirents. I have found that most Mobo manufacturers don't list pci clock speed on their site or in their manuals. Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks
specs-n-reds

----
GA-K8U-939
AMD Athlon 64 3200+
2 Gig PC3200
NVidia GeForce FX 5200

 

[nickslick74]

I built a computer for my brother using the ASUS A8V mobo and it has worked fine for the 18 months he has had it. Their documentation isn't the greatest (who's is!) and if you are going to install SATA hard drives be sure to make a SATA driver disk for your Windows insall.

Just as a FYI: I did some checking and it appears that ASRock is a subsidiary of ASUS.

 

[wolfram]

Just as a FYI: I did some checking and it appears that ASRock is a subsidiary of ASUS.

Yes, Asrock is the "budget" division of ASUS. Normally "budget" means low quality motherboards (I had a big problem with Asrocks), so I don`t recommend them.

And even some ASUS boards have their own problems. Of course, that depends on a specific model.

 

[nork]

nickslick74, i checked around as well, and it seems you are likely correct.
There are some people saying its former Asus techs that formed their own company, but offered no real proof of that.
Either way, i stand corrected. Not the first time lol.
I think i led myself into that conclusion in two ways. Seems to me i heard that somewhere on a forum and then i deduced that the Asrock boards were more low-end and so i put them into the same category as pc chips and ECS. Now that should get a laugh outta iss!!
Pc chips and ECS are more low-end boards but i feel that if the price is right and you get all the things you wanted, i would still go for that board. I have friends with pc chips and ECS boards and i do the work for them, upgrades and such, and their boards are fine.

fish4specs, i would have to do the same checking as you would have to do to find the answer you are looking for, but i had the impression that at least the first two pci slots were 32-bit/66MHz. Not sure on the rev2.2. However, again, please dont take my word on this, i am only going by memory and you can see my memory is failing, i got the Asrock\Asus connection wrong!
Only way is to keep checking at the mobo mfgrs website, their manuals, check the faq sections toos, even email the mfgr, that might get you the info you need. Seems to me this questions has come up before with video cards and thats why i think that most modern mobos have you covered, at least the first few pci slots anyway. But, again, dont take my word for it.

wolfram, i wasnt ignoring what you said, you posted while i was typing.
Again, i stand corrected on the Asrock matter. You can be sure i wont forget, lol.

 

[wolfram]

wolfram, i wasnt ignoring what you said, you posted while i was typing.
Again, i stand corrected on the Asrock matter. You can be sure i wont forget, lol.

No problem there! I don`t feel ignored, I think! :suspiciou

 

[Tedster]

Try MSI. I have had two - both were good boards. In fact, I'm still using one of them.