ASUS vs Gigabyte?

[LebronJames23]

I am currently on the lookout for Motherboards bearing the P45 - 'EAGLELAKE' chipset, as i am contemplating between this two motherboard manufacturers though MSI was once in my list. I am currently comparing an ASUS P5Q premium with a GIGABYTE EP45-DS3/R, which might fulfill it's role as a more work-centric motherboard with a dash of reliability?

 

[-VK-]

It's probably biased of me to say, but personally I'd take the ASUS.

Any forum / review you care to read says the same thing too....

 

[LebronJames23]

Market Penetration

Hi i have seen GIGABYTE'S EP45-DS3R garnered CeBIT 2008 motherboard of the year award. As gigabyte uses Phoenix Bios, while ASUS AMI the rest of the head-to-head comparisons comes down to it's usage by the user - gaming or working? From a neutral stand-point which would be more friendly on the pocket yet not compromising on the features? Hope you could enlighten me on this matter thank you.

 

[Pat123]

Ive used 3 gigabyte boards, all of which have been solid and reliable. I currently have a P35-DS4.

Ide reccomend a gigabyte with it being cheaper, but i have heard good things about a couple of the asus boards.

 

[Diablo13]

I have just got the Gigabyte P45- DS4 and am very happy with it. Incorporates a lot of features previously found on the top end Asus boards like onboard CMOS reset switch diagnostic LED's and some very scary overclocking features and the Intel Bearlake chipset. I had a few Asus boards but went off them a bit recently because I had a couple of faulty boards (Asus Maximus Formula) and I don't like the position of the SATA connections on the edge of the board. My water pump sits at the front of the case so it can be awkward to plug the cables in and it's a Thermaltake Armor, so not a small case.

The price is very good for all the features when compared with a similar Asus board as well. Personally I don't think you can go wrong with Gigabyte.

 

[Rastalovich]

Think Gigabyte have gained more respect since the 35 chipset. ASUS have been respected for a while (me being the exception, but u can`t deny the popularity).

 

[PV5150]

The only real thing I dislike about Gigabyte boards is their unsightly theme. Blue PCB is fine, but all the colours of the rainbow as well just doesn't look good. As far as performance and reliability is concerned they can certainly make a decent board. Gigabyte were the first to include all-solid capacitors and better chokes; the rest have now followed suite.

 

[Diablo13]

@ Rastalovich

Can I be nosy and ask why you didn't respect Asus boards? Did you have some bad experiences with them? I had a few Asus boards as I was told some time ago that Abit and Asus were the dogs danglies, but I think many manufacturers have overtaken them in some respects. Asus in particular seem to be swamping the market at the moment with new boards,possibly at the expense of quality.

I had a P35 DH deluxe for a long time and it was and still is a good board, but only after firmware upgrades and in the beginning there was a bios update every second week before they got it right for newer chips and faster memory. At the time I started to get a bit pi$$ed of with them because it seemed like they had put out the board too soon, without properly testing it, so customers bought a £160 board, just to be guinea pigs?

I welcome comments on your experiences.

 

[Rastalovich]

Purely personal, and not something which I can really come to a forum as amunition to sway people not to buy them.

Mainly for me; I don`t like the bios; I don`t like the mobo software/utils; don`t like their support.

Have to be fair tho, I am an ABit fanboi, but clouds are hovvering over them for me too.

If I had a crazy-silly offer for an ASUS mobo, I`d still get it. It`d have to be crazy-silly tho.

 

[Diablo13]

Fair comment. I am not a fanboy of any flavour and it was not my intention to sway anyone either way. I used to like Asus but a couple of recent experiences put me off and I decided to try Gigabyte because their features, rep and prices impressed me. I don't regret it yet.

I was just looking to compare notes, as you mysteriously hinted that you were not impressed.

 

[Acid90]

I have a Gigabyte board and its good minus 2 problems, my overclocks don't seem to stick to well and the colour scheme.

I'd choose Asus.

 

[GavX]

I have both ASUS and Gigabyte, both work well (though I have alot of issues with ASUS, though it was more the power supplies hatered towards them) but I love ASUS for overclocking, but Gigabyte for value, so IMHO it boils down to that, for pure overclocking performance etc, ASUS I believe take the edge, for value Gigabyte