AOpen Motherboards

[Clocker]

I'm considering buying this motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=13-137-036

$82 shipped seems like a good price for an NForce2 Ultra (400). I've never (knowingly) using AOpen products. Is their stuff any good?

Thanks,
C

 

[Handruin]

In roughly 98-99 I purchased the AX6BC BX chipset MB from AOpen and I had absolutly no problems with it. The board is still running today.

I don't know about their most recent boards, but the board I mentioned had some good praise when I purchased it.

 

[Mercutio]

Aopen is much like Gigabyte or DFI or FIC - their products are not flashy, not useless-feature-packaged and not terribly expensive. AOpen is a reseller product. Not marketed to hobbyists (much) nor to budget buyers. Solid and basically middle of the road.

AOpen is part of Acer. The amazing thing is, Aopen stuff is a HELL of a better than anything I ever saw with an Acer brand name.

I'm always relieved to open a locally-made beige box and find AOpen rather than ECS, PC Chips or Abit.

 

[honold]

Aopen is much like Gigabyte or DFI or FIC - their products are not flashy, not useless-feature-packaged and not terribly expensive.

http://www.myaopen.com/aopaxtubddpc.html

 

[Groltz]

Here we go again.

 

[Mercutio]

I hadn't forgotten about that one. Every manufacturer gets to make a mistake now and then.

Notice they haven't done anything else with it, since.

 

[Bozo]

My main system is still running a AOpen AX6BC Pro that I bought in 1998(?). I've pretty much abused it trying different hardware, software, BIOS settings and operating systems. It's never given me any problems.

Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[Prof.Wizard]

I hadn't forgotten about that one. Every manufacturer gets to make a mistake now and then.

Actually that was a technical marvel, Merc-man, a study of ingenuity, a triumph of analog over digital!
But I won't continue on this one...

 

[Mercutio]

Don't start with it again, scooter.

 

[zx]

Aopen is much like Gigabyte or DFI or FIC - their products are not flashy, not useless-feature-packaged and not terribly expensive.

Gigabyte boards are becoming more and more flashy, with loads of more or less usefull features. It may not affect their quality, but generally, the more you put on the board, the more it may malfunction. Like the DPS they now have (weird slot thingy)...

However, many of my recent experiences with gigabyte were trouble-free. I think the biggest problems with boards are the users. Abit boards may not be that bad if there were less "computer enthusiasts" (read : overclocking) buying them. The same could be said with nForce2 boards. If there were more "computer enthusiasts" buying Gigabyte boards, maybe their reliability record will go down...

 

[Mercutio]

I'd say that right up until the most recent set - these nforce2 and Canterwood boards, Gigabyte was fairly mainstream. Certainly nothing like overclocker boards from Soyo or Abit.

Abit is just... not good IMO. I tried to use Abit boards in mainstream builds for a couple of years. I replaced a LOT of Abit boards. Lots of bad caps. Lots of problems with DIMM slots.

 

[Tea]

An excellent point, Sherif Behna. Maybe we could extend the same logic to accident rates, 4-wheel drive vehicles and their owners?

 

[Prof.Wizard]

Abit is just... not good IMO. I tried to use Abit boards in mainstream builds for a couple of years. I replaced a LOT of Abit boards. Lots of bad caps. Lots of problems with DIMM slots.

Experience while I was playing around for a couple of years in VIA Arena forums tells me that, at least for VIA-based mobos, Abit gives speed whores above everything else. And I know many other dudes in my immediate enviroment who have been able to o/c them successfully to high ratios. Are you aware of these brand abilities?

I still, however, admire ASUS for all-around quality, performance and s/w bundle.

 

[zx]

An excellent point, Sherif Behna. Maybe we could extend the same logic to accident rates, 4-wheel drive vehicles and their owners?

Hehe, maybe...

Merc, if I judge with my single experience with abit, i would agree with you. I had many problems with the board although i never overclocked. However, some of the problems with abit's may be a result of overclocking or a bad manipulation on the board itself.

 

[Mercutio]

Almost everyone bumps PCI to 34MHz. I wonder if Abit doesn't bump it to 35 or 36 to maintain its status as a "performance" brand.

 

[The JoJo]

I used to build machines with Abit motherboards a few years back, and experienced nothing but problems. Yes, there were some good ones, but in general I had a lot more problems getting/keeping machines with Abit mb's in the working compared to something like Asus.

I still feel the same as Merc, Abit is not so good in my opinion.

The speed "freaks" may like them (abit), but they also RMA a lot of boards (the picture I got from cruising on some forums).

 

[honold]

i've been abit-only in my home systems for as long as i can remember

running a th7-ii now with a p4 1.8a overclocked to 2.4, and i'm replacing it with an ic7 and a p4 2.4c overclocked to 3.4

 

[Prof.Wizard]

i've been abit-only in my home systems for as long as i can remember

My bro too. Never had problems either.
(But I stick with ASUS.)

 

[timwhit]

i've been abit-only in my home systems for as long as i can remember

My bro too. Never had problems either.
(But I stick with ASUS.)

I used Abit boards for awhile. But, they just have too many compatibilty problems with different PCI cards. I now use Asus and have had only good luck with their boards.

 

[honold]

i've always been frustrated by asus in a specific area where abit excels: signifigant bios upgrades on ancient motherboards

case in point: asus p2b and acpi issues

abit constantly updates bios on very dated boards to ensure they have support for later cpus. the only abit board i've owned that had issues was a bp6 that didn't supply a solid 3.3v to the agp slot when it had a geforce1 ddr in it

 

[time]

Gigabyte is also very good with BIOS for old motherboards.