Help me choose, please!

[TMT]

Hey!

Well, I've been in search of a new motherboard recently for a system I have. I've selected two boards within my chosen budget, in which I feel both have decent specifications for their price range.

They are:
Asus A7V8X-X
PcChips M848ALU

Now for the decision upon which one is the best to get.

I know for sure I'd feel so much safer with the Asus board, since I know their build quality is good, plus it has a crash-free BIOS.

The Asus board has the VIA KT400 chipset, and the PcChips board has the VIA KT400A chipset. Now, the PcChips board has the better chipset and is slightly cheaper, so do you think it's worth going for the lower make, and getting the slightly better chipset? Or do you think I should go for the Asus board, and in my opinion; get better stability/durability?

Please share you views on these two boards/chipsets!

Thanks!
TMT.

 

[Blind_Arrow]

do u have specific need for VIA chipset?

as in AMD 32BIT processors, nVidia has boosted the market of AMD with their Flagship n-Force Chipset, and the referenec board on Asus is A7N8X Deluxe. so rock solid and high performance, that you'll never regret buying that board.

if this doesnt interests you, then i'll recomend A7V8X-X board.

 

[Kangaroo]

Everyone uses Asus, they cost more because you get updated BIOS and drivers with apparently better support.

 

[Legion2005]

I say get the Asus... there is something quick about these boards, and I have that very same one you are talking about. I am having trouble overclocking it, but thats the only problem.

When you say it has a crash free bios.. does that mean if you screw up flashing the bios... there will be a backup?

When I first looked at my motherboard... I looked at the price. I thought hmmmm $60 there has got to be something wrong with it. I look though the specs, and didnt find a fault. Its exactly what I was looking for. Its a very stable board.

 

[Blind_Arrow]

When you say it has a crash free bios.. does that mean if you screw up flashing the bios... there will be a backup?

Only GigaByt Boards are coming with Dual-BIOS technology, should you have messed up with one, others take place meanwhile restoring one. better is to, update BIOS with Booted Mode (the GUI Mode), rather than DOS, as in DOS< it actually deletes BIOS Prior to the installation of the new, and in between if you restart, you wont have any BIOS, unlike in GUI interface, it shows up the BIOS flashed up, at he same time it updartest he BIOS quick. and this method of flashing BIOS is as well reliable as your source is coming from your hard drive, rather than Floppy in DOS mod case, where there is 50% chance of Floppy failure.

 

[BxSlipSk8718]

Yeah go with Thes asus if you must if you want a better bord though go with the gigabyte nForce 2 ultra series they have 3 the L the pro and the Pro II

 

[TMT]

Originally posted by Legion2005
When you say it has a crash free bios.. does that mean if you screw up flashing the bios... there will be a backup?

There's no backup, but whereas if you're flashing the BIOS on many other boards and it fails, the data inside the ROM can become invalid/corrupt. Having a crash-free BIOS means that even if the data contained inside the ROM is corrupt, you can still update it so that it becomes complete and working. The difference here as compared to other boards, is that if the flashing process fails on them and the data inside the ROM becomes corrupt, that's it, it's like your BIOS ROM doesn't even exist to the board anymore. You will need to contact the motherboard manufacturer and buy a replacement ROM off them to get it working again.

So, in a way, this is a great feature, since you're more-or-less gauranteed that your future updates are going to be completely safe.

Thanks for the comments everyone! My initial instinct, Asus it is!
TMT.

 

[Legion2005]

better is to, update BIOS with Booted Mode (the GUI Mode), rather than DOS

Ok, how do I update with booted mode then? I dont exactly know how that works... I am only familiar with the DOS way.

 

[OIDanTheManIO]

get an asus

 

[U-Toast]

asus are all round good board for amd, u cant go wrong with it. I would recommend it for a 32 bit proc