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Thread ID: 31589	2003-03-26 09:37:00	Buying Suggestions	heni72847 (1166)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
131052	2003-03-27 08:52:00	it can be a number of factors, including quality of components used (i dont know if any of you are aware of abit's past habit of using cheap capacitors which had a tendency to leak or even explode), featureset, aftersales support, and asus boards do have a reputation for being well balanced between stability and performance. as with everything you get what you pay for, and with asus you are usually buying into stability, performance and long term reliability on a scale that many other mobo manufacturers fail to touch. I've owned quite a few mobo brands over the years and asus products have consistently been the ones that stick around.. all my server gear is asus based now ECS should be good, as they are basically the low-cost arm of Asus. another brand i can recommend is MSI - excellent bang for the buck and usually featurepacked. my last mobo was an MSI and I didnt have any problem with it.	whetu (237)
131053	2003-03-27 09:06:00	tweak'e has it right... I'd avoid chaintech - I run a PC sales business, and I tested a couple of different chaintech boards (the much-hyped Apogee among them), which ran OK in the tests - not fantastic boards, but they are good value. However, when I started selling them, I had four boards returned in a little over a month. Asus would probably be your best bet for a quality motherboard. There are of course many other motherboard manufacturers who can supply you an excellent product - Soltek are my recommendation, but if money is no object, then you've no reason not to buy Asus. By my record, Asus and Soltek are equally reliable and powerful, but Asus is better known, and has been making the best boards for longer. Gigabyte also have some fantastic boards if you're looking for a P4 system. Serial ATA RAID, AGP 8X, Dual Channel DDR, and support for HT are common among their top boards, and Gigabyte can definately be relied upon. My advice - Soltek for Athlon, Gigabyte for P4, and if you're not worried about cost, then Asus for both. :) Erin	Erin Salmon (626)
131054	2003-03-27 09:37:00	Hi heni All aboard for my 1c worth. I basically agree with those above re Asus. I have 1 Asus based machine and 1 Soltek based machine both socket A. And have had no problems with either. The Asus board is at the budget end of their scale with onboard grfx (nforce), lan and sound, agp and 3 pci slots. Easy as to set up and hasn't missed a beat in the relatively short time its been running. The Soltek was a mid range buy (only sound onboard) but similarly hasn't missed a beat unlike some of the dodgy product I've owned. Just makes life so much easier with a good solid base to start from. Cheers Murray P	Murray P (44)
131055	2003-03-27 10:01:00	thanx gota keep these tips in my head when i'm buying my new computer bit late for my friend though he'd already bought it lets just hope it won't cause too much problem...	heni72847 (1166)
131056	2003-03-27 10:59:00	While you chaps are at it,could you give opinion of my unit? thanks lads. SiSoftware Sandra Computer System Manufacturer : VIA Technologies, Inc. Model : VT8366-8233 Unique ID : FFFFFFFF-FFFFFFFF-FFFFFFFF-FFFFFFFF System Mainboard Manufacturer : DFI MP Support : No Model : AD70-SC BIOS ID : 02/08/2002-VT8366-8233-6A6LVD4EC-00 System Chipset : VIA KT266/A,KT333 Chipset System Memory Controller Location : Mainboard Error Correction Capability : None Number of Memory Slots : 3 Maximum Installable Memory : 768MB Bank0/1 - A0 : DIMM 256MB Bank2/3 - A1 : DIMM 256MB Bank4/5 - A2 : Empty System Chipset Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT8366/A,VT8367 Apollo KT266/A,KT333 CPU to PCI Bridge Bus(es) : ISA AGP PCI USB SMBus/i2c Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 133MHz (266MHz data rate) Max FSB Speed / Max Memory Speed : 2x 133MHz / 2x 133MHz In Order Queue Depth : 4 req(s) Chipset Hub Interface Type : V-Link Width : 8-bit Full Duplex : Yes Multiplier : 1x Speed : 4x 66MHz (264MHz data rate) Down / Up In Order Queue Depth : 9 / 9 req(s) Logical/Chipset Memory Banks Bank 0 Setting : 128MB DDR-SDRAM 8-1-1-1R 4-1-1-1W 2.5-3-3CL 2CMD Bank 1 Setting : 128MB DDR-SDRAM 8-1-1-1R 4-1-1-1W 2.5-3-3CL 2CMD Bank 2 Setting : 128MB DDR-SDRAM 8-1-1-1R 4-1-1-1W 2.5-3-3CL 2CMD Bank 3 Setting : 128MB DDR-SDRAM 8-1-1-1R 4-1-1-1W 2.5-3-3CL 2CMD Bank Interleave : 4-way Speed : 2x 133MHz (266MHz data rate) Multiplier : 1/1x Power Down Mode : No Fixed Hole Present : No Memory Module(s) Memory Module 1 : 256MB 16x(16Mx8) DDR-SDRAM PC2100U-2533-750 (CL2.5 upto 133MHz) (CL2 upto 100MHz) Memory Module 2 : 256MB 16x(16Mx8) DDR-SDRAM PC2100U-2533-750 (CL2.5 upto 133MHz) (CL2 upto 100MHz) Environment Monitor 1 Model : Winbond W83697HF ISA Version : 6.00 Mainboard Specific Support : No Temperature Sensor(s) Board Temperature : 31.0°C / 87.8°F CPU Temperature : 50.0°C / 122.0°F Cooling Device(s) Auto Fan Speed Control : No CPU Fan Speed : 4963rpm Voltage Sensor(s) CPU Core Voltage : 1.76V +3.3V Voltage : 3.28V +5V Voltage : 4.92V +12V Voltage : 12.89V -12V Voltage : -12.53V -5V Voltage : -5.40V Standby Voltage : 4.95V Battery Voltage : 3.30V AGP Bus Version : 2.00 Speed : 66MHz Current Data Transfer Rate : 4x 66MHz (264MHz data rate) Side Band Enabled : No Side Band Support : Yes Fast-Writes Enabled : No Aperture Size : 128MB PCI Bus(es) Version : 2.10 No Bridges : 1 PCI Bus 0 : PCI (33MHz) Multiplier : 1/4x LPC Hub Controller 1 Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT8233A PCI to ISA Bridge ACPI PM Enabled : Yes Random Number Generator Enabled : No Multiplier : 1/4x Speed : 8MHz DMA Multiplier : 1/2x DMA Speed : 4MHz USB Controller 1 Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (All VIA Chipsets) Version : 1.10 UHCI Interface : Yes Channels : 2 Speed : 48MHz Legacy Emulation Enabled : No USB Controller 2 Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT8233A USB Controller Version : 1.10 UHCI Interface : Yes Channels : 2 Speed : 48MHz Legacy Emulation Enabled : No USB Controller 3 Model : VIA Technologies Inc VT8233A USB Controller Version : 1.10 UHCI Interface : Yes Channels : 2 Speed : 48MHz Legacy Emulation Enabled : No System SMBus Controller 1 Model : VIA VT823x SMBus Speed : 16kHz Expansion Slot(s) PCI0 (1h) : PCI 32-bit 5V PME FullLength Available (VIA Technologies Inc VT8366/A,VT8367 Apollo KT266/A,KT333 PCI to AGP Bridge) PCI1 (2h) : PCI 32-bit 5V PME FullLength InUse PCI2 (3h) : PCI 32-bit 5V PME FullLength InUse PCI3 (4h) : PCI 32-bit 5V PME FullLength Available AGP (8h) : AGP 32-bit 5V FullLength Available (CardExpert Technology GeForce2 MX/MX 400 [NV11]) Port Connector(s) PRIMARY IDE : None - ATA / None SECONDARY IDE : None - ATA / None FDD : 8251 FIFO Compatible - Floppy / None COM1 : Serial Port 16450 Compatible - 9 Pin Dual Inline / DB-9 pin male COM2 : Serial Port 16450 Compatible - 9 Pin Dual Inline / DB-9 pin male LPT1 : Parallel Port ECP/EPP - DB25 pin female / DB25 pin female Keyboard : Keyboard Port - PS/2 / PS/2 PS/2 Mouse : Mouse Port - PS/2 / PS/2 USB : USB - None / None Performance Tips Notice 224 : SMBIOS/DMI information may be inaccurate. Tip 2511 : Some memory slots are free so the memory can be easily upgraded. Warning 2545 : Large memory modules should be Registered/Buffered. Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.	Thomas (1820)
131057	2003-03-27 11:00:00	>i dont know if any of you are aware of abit's past habit of using cheap capacitors which had a tendency to leak or even explode i hope your not refering to the recent leaky capacitor problem which has plagued a few manafactures of different products. >ECS should be good, as they are basically the low-cost arm of Asus i thought someone here mentioned that asrock is the budget arm of asus. ECS also make the budget range of abit. not to sure on other manafactures as deals come and go. its hard to say what factory the boards are made in and by who. ASUS are well known for there speed and amount of tweaks and updates. they are definitely not known for being stable. if you want rock solid stability then INTEL are the best. asus are known for there tweaking and over tweaking (causeing compatibility problems) their systems, however if you want the fastest............B-) :^O	tweak'e (174)
131058	2003-03-27 11:09:00	DFI are known for their good middle of the road motherboards. the later ones have been comeing out with more overclocking features.	tweak'e (174)
131059	2003-03-27 11:12:00	> > i dont know if any of you are aware of abit's past > habit of using cheap capacitors which had a tendency > to leak or even explode > > i hope your not refering to the recent leaky > capacitor problem which has plagued a few > manafactures of different products. why would you hope that? its what i mean, abit got most of the attention over it though as they traditionally have a good name	whetu (237)
131060	2003-03-27 11:21:00	> > > i dont know if any of you are aware of abit's > past > > habit of using cheap capacitors which had a > tendency > > to leak or even explode > > > > i hope your not refering to the recent leaky > > capacitor problem which has plagued a few > > manafactures of different products. > > why would you hope that? its what i mean, abit got > most of the attention over it though as they > traditionally have a good name so what if they got the most flak over it. it could have been asus or any other good manafacture that got caught out with faulty parts. it was basicly out of their control. how they fix the problem is what seperates the good manafactures from the bad. if i remeber correctly asus made a mobo which (with origanel bios) used to KILL certain WD hardrives. mmmmmmm......pc's are so much fun ;-)	tweak'e (174)
131061	2003-03-27 11:27:00	FYI 1 if you already have the motherborad ( because you ran si-soft ) then why ask us/the fourm? because you are running it and you will know if its good or bad - for you personally - how can we judge? A7N8x the motherboard that is STILL voted top board ( although I'd like to see pcworld.co.nz give its view on motherboard? ) by many websites. :-)	minos#2 (318)
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