i've had two asus motherboards. first was a pII and now my current one. havent had any problems yet. well, i had some trouble with installing my serial ata drive.. but that was due to my ignorance in the matter. so until my motherboard goes wack-o i'll say its a good brand. could it be perhaps that they are no good at making drives, but are more adept in the motherboard department? i've never owned a cd rom frfom asus, so i cant really say.