Page 3: Asus
Asus
<b>
About:
</b>
Asus is probably the best know motherboard manufacturer around. They have a history of reliability, stability and performance all in one. They've been making boards for quite a long time, and are one of the few survivors from the socket 7 days. Asus has a large product line up, and tend to produce boards for most chips, but they do avoid anything that could be troublesome, as they seem to value their reputation. They are a large company, making video cards, cd drives, and even notebooks, there is little they don't make.
<b>
Website:
</b>
http://www.asus.com/index.asp
http://usa.asus.com/index.asp
<b>Performance:</b>
Asus boards tend to perform among the top few boards released for any particular chipset. They are not always the #1 guys, but they are usually quite close. This generally signifies, to me, that the board was made right, and not just copied of the reference designs.
Rating: 9/10
<b>
Stability:
</b>
You are hard pressed to find a board that is more stable then Asus, they simply do it right. Occasionally a board is designed which is more stable than Asus, but I have never seen one that doesn't sacrifice a massive amount of performance to gain that stability edge (FIC AD11 is an example). They undoubtedly have the best stability / performance of any board there is.
Rating: 10/10
<b>
Overclocking:
</b>
Over the last few years, Asus has went from a moderate overclocking board, to one of the best. It isn't abnormal to see them in the top 2 or 3 for overclocking, Abit and Epox generally pull ahead of them in this department. These boards tend not to be designed to overclock, but they do offer complete voltage controls, and adjustments for multipliers, etc. Rarely does Asus take the initiative to add more overclocking potential to their boards.
Rating: 8/10
<b>
Price:
</b>
If Asus had any bad points, this is it. I don't think they are any board manufacturers that are as costly as Asus. The closest competitor would be Abit, they are often a little cheaper though. I firmly believe in "You get what you pay for" and with Asus, it is true. They make fast, stable, reliable boards there are few companies that match them, and its generally worth the no hassle installation and issues for a few extra dollars. Its hard to put a price tag on their boards, since few have all the options on them that Asus carries.
Rating: 5/10
<b>
Features:
</b>
Asus boards are often feature rich. Boards always come with Asus's software package for temperature monitoring, and internet updates for bios flashing. Many also come with a software package for anti-virus, but it really depends on the model. RAID is becoming a standard on Asus boards, as well as a good quality on board sound system. A network card is considered optional, something which hopefully will change in future boards. Unfortunately they don't always include the most USB headers, or the best RAID chips possible.
Rating: 9/10
<b>
History:
</b>
Of all the Asus boards sold, there really isn't anything bad outstanding about any of them. Most of the boards don't die prematurely. Rarely do their boards have any outstanding issues either. Since the presocket7 days, Asus has made their boards quite similar to the way they do now, if history tells you much about a company, you can pretty much trust these boards without reading a online review.
Rating: 10/10
<b>
Support:</b>
Their website has a lot of support information. From driver updates, to bios downloads. You can even grab beta bioses, which is a huge plus. There are many boards sold and they have a huge user base for support as well. E-mail support I've always heard mixed reviews, many claim there is no response, but the only time I needed it, it was great.
Rating: 8/10
<b>
Products worth mentioning</b>
Asus has made many outstanding products in the past few years. From the widely used and loved P5A for the socket 7s, to the TUSL2-C and the newer A7V 266-E. There are many boards that people remember from Asus, and its difficult to list them all.
Rating: 9/10
Overall Rating: 8.5/10 If you want a good board, its a guarantee. You will get solid performance, and low hassles, although you may end up paying a little more.
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