The motherboard to car analogy project

[Mercutio]

From time to time I find it necessary to explain my distaste for a particular motherboard via analogy, usually to nontechnical people who are interested in purchasing a new PC.

The analogy I end up repeating over and over goes: "That ECS motherboard in your quote from XXXXXX, if that were a car, it'd be a Yugo. Yup, it's cheap, and it'll get the job done, but it's still a Yugo, and you know you're going to run into problems sooner or later."

It strikes me that there are enough car-absorbed people here to make a hashing out of this analogy resonably possible.

(for reference, I usually describe Biostar as "Fiat", Gigabyte as "Toyota", and Intel as "Mercedes").

 

[honold]

almost all of my company's workstations - mostly heavy cross-platform development - run on ecs k7s5a boards.

i don't think most people know what 'fiat' means, and mercedes is synonymous with cost and unreliability. ditto jaguar, etc. the owners don't care because they have the money.

 

[Tea]

Nominations sound good to me then,

Gigabyte = Toyota: absolutely. That one is spot on.

 

[e_dawg]

Toyota makes some of the most reliable, problem-free cars on the planet. If Gigabyte mobos are that good, I don't know why I've been settling for anything less. A stable, problem-free motherboard is a wonderful thing.

Here's another analogy for you:

Abit = Souped-up Honda Civic. The choice of young hotshots who think they know it all and want the ultimate in performance but can't afford what they really want. People who own these products have a strange compulsion to tinker and modify with things to the point where they will spend a surprising amount of money and time to increase performance the hard way when it could have been put towards the cost of a real board/car.

Asus = BMW. Nice features, powerful brand name, good performance generally, known for having the odd reliability problem, costs more than they're worth. The quintessential yuppie board/car.

 

[blakerwry]

i like your descriptions.

 

[Newtun]

Okay, I may be (carbon) dating myself with this, but how about a TV show, "My Motherboard, the Car".

 

[Howell]

Nominations sound good to me then,

Gigabyte = Toyota: absolutely. That one is spot on.

I think Epox would fit here too.

Where do we put Supermicro and Tyan?

 

[blakerwry]

well, we have Dodge, GM/Chevy, Ford/mercury/lincoln, Honda, Hyundai, Kia... audi... um... missing any? ... Mercedes... TVR.. Astin Martin...

 

[blakerwry]

how could I forget Mazda (we own a Miata)? and um.. Jeep...

 

[CougTek]

missing any?

Nissan (Renault), Porsche, Ferrari, Volvo (owned by Ford), Lamborghini, Land Rover (owned by who knows who), Saab (GM), Renault, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi (or Mitsubushi in some parts of Australia) ... and Lada.

 

[e_dawg]

Where do we put Supermicro and Tyan?

Tyan = Porsche. You have arrived.

Supermicro = Ferrari. Revel in redundancy.

 

[timwhit]

Where do we put Supermicro and Tyan?

Tyan = Porsche. You have arrived.

Supermicro = Ferrari. Revel in redundancy.

Except for the fact that ferarris are horribly unreliable. That one doesn't really work for me.

 

[e_dawg]

True... but what high end car is reliable? Only Japanese cars are truly reliable, but there is no high end Japanese marque. I guess Lexus is reliable and somewhat prestigious... but just isn't considered high end.

 

[time]

... Land Rover (owned by who knows who) ...

BMW. Who also now own Rolls Royce (bought from VW?).

I visualize SuperMicro more as a Cadillac.

I think Epox is more Nissan than Toyota (more adventurous, higher performance in some models).

For the life of me I can't see where Soltek fits in. Peugeot maybe?

 

[Mercutio]

Tyan = Volvo. Not as popular as the other guys. High quality, bulletproof but there's always some minor little thing that keeps it from being the best thing on the road.

If Gigabyte is Toyota (and it is, e_dawg), Epox can only be Nissan - much adventurous and slightly less reliable, but still a high-quality product.

I see Asus as a Bentley (this is from the experience of having ridden in one this weekend), It SEEMS like it should be nice, and it costs so much money that it damn well better be nice, but... there are nicer cars out there. That cost half as much. And are faster. And more comfortable. And can be serviced when they break.

 

[EdwardK]

How about Lada? Where would it fit in? :wink:

Cheers,
Edward

 

[blakerwry]

what about saturn?

 

[e_dawg]

Tyan = Volvo. Not as popular as the other guys. High quality, bulletproof but there's always some minor little thing that keeps it from being the best thing on the road.

Yes, that's definitely a better match for Tyan than my Porsche suggestion.

Merc, this project was an excellent idea. Associating boards with cars is a very efficient way of getting the point across for people who aren't familiar with particular brands. I am seriously considering Gigabyte as a top candidate for my next motherboard due to the Toyota characterization (I've always found Gigabyte to be hard to find; only Abit, Asus, and MSI are readily available from my sources).

Anybody have any suggestions for MSI?

 

[blakerwry]

Tyan = Volvo. Not as popular as the other guys. High quality, bulletproof but there's always some minor little thing that keeps it from being the best thing on the road.

Yes, that's definitely a better match for Tyan than my Porsche suggestion.

Merc, this project was an excellent idea. Associating boards with cars is a very efficient way of getting the point across for people who aren't familiar with particular brands. I am seriously considering Gigabyte as a top candidate for my next motherboard due to the Toyota characterization (I've always found Gigabyte to be hard to find; only Abit, Asus, and MSI are readily available from my sources).

Anybody have any suggestions for MSI?

maybe Ford... They make a lot of decent cars, but every once in a while you just get a lemon.

 

[Tea]

MSI = Ford. Yes, absolotely. Good call, Blake.

 

[zx]

what about saturn?

Is there a motherboard maker that calls you on your birthday?

 

[Tannin]

Nope. But I have a consumables supplier that does. At last I used to, till I told them that it was pissing me off and took my business elsewhere.

"'Red Hill, good morning, this is Tony"

"Is that Mr Anthony Wilson?"

"Speaking."

"Happy birthday Mr Wilson."

"Thankyou."

"Now, about our fax paper ...."

"Thanks for calling, bye."

 

[blakerwry]

what about saturn?

Is there a motherboard maker that calls you on your birthday?

Did you guys know gillette was sending out free Mach3 razors to people on their 18th birthday? ...not sure if they're still doing it, but I got mine. I don't use it because the refill blades are too expensive for my tastes, so I stick to my TrackII style razor.

 

[Mercutio]

I was going to suggest AOpen for Ford. Utterly, utterly vanilla products. A lot of resellers in my area use AOpen as a step up from ECS or PC Chips. I'm happy to see them, if only because I know that I COULD be seeing ECS in the same place.

Soyo = Dodge. Something that looks sporty and may in fact be faster than most of the cars around it, but mostly it's just a showy outside for something that's really fairly pedestrian.

Shuttle = VW. Volkswagon cars tend to be smaller, less expensive vehicles that don't have much in the way of extras. Looking at present-day Shuttle, I see small-footprint and fairly vanilla products that don't cost much but somehow manage to rise above the "budget" moniker.

 

[Mercutio]

SuperMicro = Land Rover. It'll get you where you're going. Maybe not in style.

 

[blakerwry]

I was going to suggest AOpen for Ford. Utterly, utterly vanilla products. A lot of resellers in my area use AOpen as a step up from ECS or PC Chips. I'm happy to see them, if only because I know that I COULD be seeing ECS in the same place.

Soyo = Dodge. Something that looks sporty and may in fact be faster than most of the cars around it, but mostly it's just a showy outside for something that's really fairly pedestrian.

Shuttle = VW. Volkswagon cars tend to be smaller, less expensive vehicles that don't have much in the way of extras. Looking at present-day Shuttle, I see small-footprint and fairly vanilla products that don't cost much but somehow manage to rise above the "budget" moniker.

I've thought of VW (in the last 5 years I've been driving) as well built, nice designs, and a high quality product, if not a little expensive (but still less expensive than the other German cars).

 

[Mercutio]

Amy used to pay for my Mach IIIs. She said they were worth it... Someone bought me an expensive electric not too long ago, so I feel obligated to used it, but when I'm done I'll go back to my Mach III.

VW is certainly the cheapest of the German firms, and historically, my statements hold. Well-built and designed products that are a bit expensive? Saab? Audi? Both seem a little bit high on the food chain if that's the direction you're going.

 

[blakerwry]

Amy used to pay for my Mach IIIs. She said they were worth it... Someone bought me an expensive electric not too long ago, so I feel obligated to used it, but when I'm done I'll go back to my Mach III.

VW is certainly the cheapest of the German firms, and historically, my statements hold. Well-built and designed products that are a bit expensive? Saab? Audi? Both seem a little bit high on the food chain if that's the direction you're going.

I'll probably stick to Toyota or goto Honda for my next vehicle... For my next motherboard I was considering Soltek, Asus, Epox. Since you guys mentioned gigabyte as being a toyota I shall look into their offerings.

 

[Mercutio]

If AOpen is Ford, DFI = Chevy.

Chaintech = Kia. Don't think I'll get much argument for that one.

WTF is a Lada?

 

[Howell]

If AOpen is Ford, DFI = Chevy.

Chaintech = Kia. Don't think I'll get much argument for that one.

WTF is a Lada?

It's a russian econobox I think.

 

[time]

If AOpen is Ford, DFI = Chevy.

Don't you mean FIC?

 

[honold]

vw is probably going to introduce the polo to us markets because their cars cost too much now and they don't really have a budget entry.

the most stripped of stripped weakling 110hp golfs still starts at 16k. who buys those? slow and costly. i think a strong majority of vw buyers are in the 20k+ range.

 

[mubs]

I've always wondered about the "e pox" name. Yeah, they're not a Western country, but still.

 

[EdwardK]

If AOpen is Ford, DFI = Chevy.

Chaintech = Kia. Don't think I'll get much argument for that one.

WTF is a Lada?

It's a russian econobox I think.

Econobox is an understatement :lol: It is the butt of all jokes on cars - once they were practically giving it away here because they are such s*&@boxes. :mrgrn:

 

[Handruin]

Is a Lada worse than a Yugo?

 

[Mercutio]

If AOpen is Ford, DFI = Chevy.

Don't you mean FIC?

DFI = Diamond Flower International. Haven't heard of them?

 

[Mercutio]

Econobox is an understatement :lol: It is the butt of all jokes on cars - once they were practically giving it away here because they are such s*&@boxes. :mrgrn:

Sounds like we found our PC Chips!

 

[time]

I've not only heard of DFI, I used their boards. In general, they were very good, with the sort of extra features that Asus used to pride themselves on.

My argument was that FIC was more appropriate for the mass market of General Motors.

 

[Mercutio]

Seems we know two different companies. The DFI boards I'm familiar with are as vanilla as all get-out. Average price (a bit more proud than FIC or Shuttle at any rate), stable but far from perfect, almost always spot-on reference boards (except maybe for a header layout that makes me want to get out the stranglin' gloves).

Motherboard makers we haven't mentioned:
TekRam
Soltek
XFX
Albatron (are we SURE they aren't PC Chips?)
Matsonic (ditto)
Future Power
Iwill
LeadTek

 

[blakerwry]

what about Via and intel themselves? Dont forget Lite-On, Daiwoo, or Sapphire for the odd board or two that these companies have made.