[cyborgjoe]

I'm looking to replace the motherboard in my Dell Dimension 4550 desktop system. I'd
like to retain the IDE CD and DVD drives, so I've selected the Asus P7P55-M and the
Biostar TH55B HD boards. I wasn't able to find objective enough reviews to make a good choice between the two. In general I'd like to know which of the two manufacturers offer the higher quality and support for their motherboards? Thanks...Joe

[coastie65]

Hi, of the two, ASUS would offer a better quality Motherboard.

[LiveBrianD]

In general, it seems like:
EVGA is really good, and ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI are also pretty good. Biostar, Asrock, ECS, etc are junk.

[Rommel]

cyborgjoe, on 30 September 2011 - 09:57 AM, said:

I'm looking to replace the motherboard in my Dell Dimension 4550 desktop system. I'd
like to retain the IDE CD and DVD drives, so I've selected the Asus P7P55-M and the
Biostar TH55B HD boards. I wasn't able to find objective enough reviews to make a good choice between the two. In general I'd like to know which of the two manufacturers offer the higher quality and support for their motherboards? Thanks...Joe

Hi Joe,


My first choice in motherboards, Asus.

[coastie65]

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2011 - 02:47 PM, said:

In general, it seems like:
EVGA is really good, and ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI are also pretty good. Biostar, Asrock, ECS, etc are junk.

ASrock is a spinoff of ASUS. Initially it was to capture some of the prebuilt market, but has started distributing in the open market. The are located in Taiwan as is Foxxcon.

[LiveBrianD]

coastie65, on 30 September 2011 - 06:05 PM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 30 September 2011 - 02:47 PM, said:

In general, it seems like:
EVGA is really good, and ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI are also pretty good. Biostar, Asrock, ECS, etc are junk.

ASrock is a spinoff of ASUS. Initially it was to capture some of the prebuilt market, but has started distributing in the open market. The are located in Taiwan as is Foxxcon.

Let's see:
ASUS - main enthusiast brand
ASrock - cheap enthusiast brand spinoff
Pegatron - ASUS OEM division (HP machines now use Pegatron brand boards rather than asus ones)

I doubt asrock is all that good, but biostar is likely worse. At least asrock is related to asus.

[waldojim]

Personal preference is EVGA. But if your choices are between Asus and Biostar, get the Asus. Biostar has crap for a bios. Well worth it to grab a quality board. Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte are all top-tier manufacturers. MSI makes great budget boards. Anything else... no thanks.

[LiveBrianD]

I find it a bit odd that BIOstar - that sounds like bios - and yet their bios is crap... Anyhow, although cheap motherboards aren't as bad as cheap PSUs (which often can't provide the rated output and can blow up on you), they're still not that bad.

[cyborgjoe]

LiveBrianD, on 01 October 2011 - 04:38 PM, said:

I find it a bit odd that BIOstar - that sounds like bios - and yet their bios is crap... Anyhow, although cheap motherboards aren't as bad as cheap PSUs (which often can't provide the rated output and can blow up on you), they're still not that bad.

[cyborgjoe]

Well now you've given me more choices. I emailed a motherboard repair person in WI and he recommended Biostar over Asus,(Greg Cain Hy-Tech PC) - so who's telling the truth??? I know EVGA makes good video cards, but I didn't even know they made motherboards.

[LiveBrianD]

cyborgjoe, on 03 October 2011 - 11:57 AM, said:

Well now you've given me more choices. I emailed a motherboard repair person in WI and he recommended Biostar over Asus,(Greg Cain Hy-Tech PC) - so who's telling the truth??? I know EVGA makes good video cards, but I didn't even know they made motherboards.

Trust me - there's a reason why brands like Biostar are cheap, and ones like EVGA and ASUS are more expensive.

[cyborgjoe]

LiveBrianD, on 03 October 2011 - 02:26 PM, said:

cyborgjoe, on 03 October 2011 - 11:57 AM, said:

Well now you've given me more choices. I emailed a motherboard repair person in WI and he recommended Biostar over Asus,(Greg Cain Hy-Tech PC) - so who's telling the truth??? I know EVGA makes good video cards, but I didn't even know they made motherboards.

Trust me - there's a reason why brands like Biostar are cheap, and ones like EVGA and ASUS are more expensive.

[cyborgjoe]

cyborgjoe, on 04 October 2011 - 10:36 AM, said:

LiveBrianD, on 03 October 2011 - 02:26 PM, said:

cyborgjoe, on 03 October 2011 - 11:57 AM, said:

Well now you've given me more choices. I emailed a motherboard repair person in WI and he recommended Biostar over Asus,(Greg Cain Hy-Tech PC) - so who's telling the truth??? I know EVGA makes good video cards, but I didn't even know they made motherboards.

Trust me - there's a reason why brands like Biostar are cheap, and ones like EVGA and ASUS are more expensive.

[cyborgjoe]

Thanks for the advise Brian. I visited tigerdirect's web site and reviewed EVGA's motherboards, but it seems most of them don't provide an IDE header. I'd like to retain the IDE CD and DVD drives on the system.

[LiveBrianD]

cyborgjoe, on 04 October 2011 - 10:43 AM, said:

Thanks for the advise Brian. I visited tigerdirect's web site and reviewed EVGA's motherboards, but it seems most of them don't provide an IDE header. I'd like to retain the IDE CD and DVD drives on the system.

You can typically get an adapter for that (SATA to IDE or something like that). Just remember that you MUST set the ide drive's jumper to MASTER for it to work.

[cyborgjoe]

Yes I guess that's the best thing to do, given that the IDE standard is now obsolete.
I found adapter cards on both cyberguys and tigerdirect's websites. Thanks again...Joe

[coastie65]

cyborgjoe, on 03 October 2011 - 11:57 AM, said:

Well now you've given me more choices. I emailed a motherboard repair person in WI and he recommended Biostar over Asus,(Greg Cain Hy-Tech PC) - so who's telling the truth??? I know EVGA makes good video cards, but I didn't even know they made motherboards.

Hey Joe, I don't know why he would recommend Biostar over ASUS. One thing that sets Motherboards apart ( it goes for PSUs too ) is that some tend to use cheaper capacitors as well as other components, which isn't good. One thing with electronics, you generally get what you pay for.

[cyborgjoe]

Greg Cain from Hy-Tech PC basically said that since Asus manufactures so many motherboards that they don't have to put too much quality into them because they rely on volume to generate profits. He also mentioned that they don't care about customer service issues. His motives may be selfish...He may want to repair more Biostar mother
boards. Anyway I found a Gigabyte motherboard - LGA1155 socket, for $90 which looks like it will suit my needs. It has onboard video, both VGA and DVI ports, dual BIOS,
RAID support, onboard audio, HDMI port, and a few other goodies. Let me know what you think about Gigabyte. Thanks...Joe

[Rommel]

cyborgjoe, on 11 October 2011 - 07:04 AM, said:

Greg Cain from Hy-Tech PC basically said that since Asus manufactures so many motherboards that they don't have to put too much quality into them because they rely on volume to generate profits. He also mentioned that they don't care about customer service issues. His motives may be selfish...He may want to repair more Biostar mother
boards. Anyway I found a Gigabyte motherboard - LGA1155 socket, for $90 which looks like it will suit my needs. It has onboard video, both VGA and DVI ports, dual BIOS,
RAID support, onboard audio, HDMI port, and a few other goodies. Let me know what you think about Gigabyte. Thanks...Joe

Hi,

There are gigabyte users here so hopefully they'll reply concerning that board.

As far as Asus is concerned, Greg is wrong.
If not all, some asus boards carry a certificate of quality and results of the tests placed on the board before it was packaged.
Not to say some don't fail too soon. ALL manufactures have a fail rate after their products are sold.
But as coastie said, your quality established board makers use superior parts and you can buy from them knowing your chance of failure is less than other makers.

Not trying to talk you out of the board you are asking about, just commenting on Greg's information he gave you.
I've used many Asus boards for builds and have never been disappointed and my last build is on an MSI board.
Guys here have had satisfaction with Gigabyte boards as well.

[waldojim]

I had a gigabyte board that I did some testing on, for the most part it was solid. Their smaller boards are not anything to write home about, but will do well for most people.