I'm sick of Abit... please recommend me a new board.

[Salahuddin]

I'm so extremely frustrated with ABit. I had an Abit AN8 32X for just one year and one of the PCIe ports stopped working way back in September 2007. I tried to get an RMA through Abit, but they just took my money for the RMA cross-ship and never returned my emails or phone calls for over a month. I ended up buying a new Socket 939 board, got PayPal to reverse payment, and contacted the Better Business Bureau to try and get them to get me a refund of the board.

In November, Abit finally contacted me and said they couldn't refund my board and they apologize for not shipping me a replacement as the AN8 32X was discontinued and they did not have any in stock. They offered to replace my board for any of my choice. I figured this might be a good opportunity to build a new PC, so I asked for either the IX38 Quad GT, which they didn't have, or the IP35 Pro, which they also didn't have, but had an ETA for it in January. The informed me the would give me a brand new board with all the accessories and they would even pay for shipping of my AN8 32X back to them.

Great I thought, and in December, I bought all the parts for a new PC aside for the motherboard. January comes around and again I am unable to contact anyone at Abit. After repeated attempts to contact them, I get an email that my RMA is on its way in mid early February. I end up getting a board with in a few days, but lo and behold, NO accessories! At this time, I really didn't take a close look at the board as I couldn't install it without at least the backplate, so I just left it in the box.

So within a week I get someone on the phone and they promised to ship me out the accessories. I sent 2 emails and spoke to 2 people on the phone detailing EACH AND EVERY accessory so they don't miss any. Last Thursday I got an INCOMPLETE set of accessories and a bent up backplate. However, I was able to bend it back and install it, so I figured at least I could install the motherboard and FINALLY setup my PC after almost 6 months.

This weekend I was all set to go, and to my frustration when I took the motherboard out of the box, I noticed 2 bent pins in the LGA Socket! Not only that, there was thermal paste all over the socket AND the motherboard. It was like someone dipped their fingers in paste and decided to work on the board! I was able to pop the pins back into place with a small screw driver, but one still doesn't look 100%. As for the paste, I took some alcohol and a cloth lens cleaner and did my best to clean it up, but honestly the mess is beyond salvation.

So much for getting a new board as promised. And to be honest, even if I got a used one that wasn't smeared in thermal paste and had straight pins, I wouldn't complain. The board may still work, but I am meticulous about keeping my stuff in good condition, and I just can't accept having these defiled piece of hardware in my system. Not to mention that I'm sure thermal paste isn't good to have everywhere since most them are conductive.

I'm so sick of Abit now, I'm just going to go out and buy a new board. I'm not going to wait another four months for a replacement. Sorry for the rant, but I just had to vent some of this frustration.

In any case, I now have an Intel E6750, 2GB of DDR2 RAM and an 8800GT waiting for a motherboard. I'm not planning on SLI, so I'm thinking of a board with an Intel chipset that can give me some overclocking headroom for my CPU. Can someone give me some good suggestions? I'm thinking of going with ASUS, but really anything but an Abit sounds good right about now.

[jdrom17]

Go for ASUS or Gigabyte. Either the Intel P35 or X38, depends how much coin you have.

I'd never buy Abit myself, and clearly they don't seem to be a good company to deal with either.

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R or ASUS P5K should do you nicely.

[Salahuddin]

Yeah, I'm so done with Abit. I thought they starting making some good boards and I decided to give them a show of support especially with all the financial trouble they have been in. But now I know why they were in the hole to start with.

Anyways, I've been doing some research. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't see much benefit for going IX38 over P35 right now unless you want crossfire. If that is the case, I'll save the cash and go P35. I was shopping at NCIX.com and I see the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L which looks decent, but it lacks RAID support. Don't see the DS3R there. They also have the ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP and ASUS P5K for $149 and $129 respectively. The former with WIFI looks pretty good.

[jdrom17]

Your in Canada? If so, use www.shopbot.ca to price match on NCIX. Save you some money :thumb:

Main reason I got the X38 was because it supports PCIe 2.0 so it's a bit more future proof to me. Plus I can run Crossfire if need be (though I doubt it).

I guess NCIX doesn't have the DS3R in stock (thus you can't see it), though if you don't need RAID, the DS3L is a solid board.

[Salahuddin]

Yes I love Shopbot, but thanks for the advice.

So, does the P35 not support PCIe 2.0 at all? I've been reading some conflicting information. I also would like RAID.

And how is your ASUS Maximus Formula regarding heat. I read the P35 chipsets run much cooler than X38.

Addendum: I figured out my answer to the P35 question. I guess me question to follow this is when do you think graphics cards will actually push the PCIe 1.1. bus? Doesn't seem like the next generation of video cards will come close to saturating it.

Addendum 2: Jdrom is this the Gigabyte motherboard you were referring to? I checked their site and they have like 20 P35 motherboards! The naming got pretty confusing.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=27874&vpn=GA%2DEP35%2DDS3R&manufacture=Gigabyte#CustomerReviews

[jdrom17]

Yeah the P35 was rumored to support PCIe 2.0 but it seems that it does not. Not sure if cards will need it, but I plan to keep my Maximus for a while. Next CPU going it in should be a Q9450, which I hope will last me a year or so...

On my Maximus Formula, I removed the heatpipe contraption and put on MX-2 but I scratched the heatsink on the NB to shyt, but my temps are as follows:
NB: 35C
SB: 32C
Those are at idle basically.

The board you linked isn't the one, but it looks rather interesting. Seems to have some extra power management features and appears to support 1600FSB by overclocking and 1200MHz RAM by overclocking. Not say that a P5K wouldn't easily do this either, but at least its semi-guaranteed by Gigabyte.

I was thinking of the GA-P35-DS3R, which seems to be identical to that one linked, just without the extra power management stuff.

Oh, NCIX forums say:
The EP35 just means it's the new revision (2.1) and has the new DES (Dynamic Enery Saver) feature and a higher rated FSB and RAM (1600fsb/1200ram). It has replaced the regular P35-DS3R. That explains it nicely.

[AKHandyman]

Look into the DFI LT X38 Lanparty ... if you want to have some fun ... but it's not for the faint hearted ... if you don't have some knowledge with DFI's BIOSes, then this may not be the board you want ... but I just saw that the 'Egg has 'em for $20 less than what I paid for mine back in Dec ... oh, and check out who wrote the last customer review for this board right HERE (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136042) :D

[Salahuddin]

DFI makes good boards, but as you suggested, I think ASUS makes a BIOS more geared towards my level. I used to have a DFI NF4 LanParty, and although it was easily manageable, it had a lot of options and most people on DFI-Street don't even know about.

So both of you have suggested an X38 board... hmm. Decisions decisions. Does the X38 have any benefit over the P35 OTHER than PCIe 2.0 and Crossfire bandwidth?

[Qbical]

HAHA YEAAAAA told u guys that ABIT sucks but no one listens to me lol
sorry to hear about your board homie, i have a dead board sitting here because the BIOS crapped and they wont send me a new chip.
never buy ABIT AGAIN

I like the P5K deluxe i have, it is budget and i get great OC's. i really want a X38 but i have NO intentions on pulling mobos anytime soon :)
i also liked my EVGA 680i although it did die after a year, the RMA process was really smooth though.
hope that helps

[JoshKorn12]

I've owned 5 Abit motherboards. I have yet to have an issue with any of them. :teeth:

[Salahuddin]

The problem isn't necessarily with Abit boards itself, but with Abit's customer service. IF YOU HAD a problem with one of them, you'd never get it RMAd, or if you did, it wouldn't be in a reasonable amount of time.

I don't just use my PC for gaming, I need it for work as well, and waiting 6 months for a replacement is unacceptable, and to screw it up on top of that... I mean how hard is it to send a replacement with no bent pins in the socket?

Anyways, I'm leaning towards the ASUS P5K-E/Wifi. Seems to feature everything you need in a more expensive P35 motherboard (the P5K Premium and Deluxe offer only small additions like an extra Gigabit LAN, one extra voltage option in the BIOS, and a few more accessories) and its currently on sale for under $150.

The only thing holding me back is that the X38 supports PCIe 2.0. But, if I've learned anything in this industry, is its almost never smart to buy technology for the future (like I bought my Abit board to support dual 16x/16x SLI pathways as opposed to the traditional 8x/8x, which was a complete waste). After much reading, the problem with getting the X38 for PCIe 2.0 is that by the time a graphics card exceeds the PCIe 1.1 bandwidth and actually needs PCIe 2.0, the CPU will be the bottleneck. And X38 is LGA775, so it won't likely support Nehalem CPUs coming out at the end of the year. The fastest chip you can put in the X38 is a Penryn or Yorkfield, which if the E8400 is any indication, will be only marginally faster than the Conroe and Kentsfield. I can't imagine the fastest overclocked Yorkfield Quad Core CPU not bottlenecking a video card that actually can take advantage of the PCIe 2.0 bus. So, likely by the time you need PCIe 2.0, the X38 chipset will be obsolete anyways.

I think I read somewhere that the 8800 GTX is the only card that has surpassed the bandwidth of the old AGP bus, and only marginally at that. Not sure how accurate that info was though.

[AKHandyman]

Early on in my computer building career, I used Abit almost exclusively (DFI was relatively unknown at the time) ... however, when I kept having a problem with the KT7A-RAID board, in particular with the capacitors going bad ... I switched to DFI for good!

The only good thing that ever came from having that KT7A-RAID board was that a number of people got together and filed a class-action lawsuit against ABIT and I was able to get my KT7A board replaced with a brand new NF7-S2 board ... this was like just two years ago ... I still have a pic of the old ABIT board that had the bulging capacitors ... http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/5932/abitkt7araidboardvw0.th.jpg (http://img218.imageshack.us/my.php?image=abitkt7araidboardvw0.jpg)They were like pretty easy to work with back then ... I sent in the old board and within like a month or so ... I got a brand new NF7 board ... I still have it with my AMD Barton core +3200 on it ... that baby OC real well back in the day ... but I never will go back to ABIT ... as much as what I've heard about their RMA processes and this story ... yikes! :scared:

[BAM!]

i just recently got the Asus P5E X38 board. i can't say i fully endorse it.

at least it's not worth the $239 you end up paying for. i think someone should try out the Gigabyte DS4 X38 board, it's what i was debate on getting between that one and P5E, but i ended up getting the P5E which didn't end up blowing my mind consider the $239 i spent on it. for that price i was expecting at least a foot massage or some table dance.

[Salahuddin]

Thanks for all your help guys.

I ended up putting in an order for the ASUS P5K-E/Wifi for $149.99. I was strongly debating between that and the Gigabyte EP35-DS3R which I could have got for $126.99. Don't know if I made the right choice, but the ASUS sells over 10:1 compared to the Gigabyte, so I know its more tried and tested. Plus, I thought the Wifi might be convenient feature to have.

I'm just going to try to sell off the ABit to someone who doesn't mind some extra thermal grease on their board. I talked to ABit the other day and clearly depicted my frustration with them. To their credit I think they were actually going to see if they could refund my board. Of course, they never called back when they said they would to verify this. I've even debating getting them to replace this for a IX38 Quad GT and then trying to sell that. I'm just wondering how much it will depreciate in value over the expected 6mo turn around time ;)

[-=CrAnSwIcK=-]

i've been looking at Abit's AMD 770 board, which got some praise on xtremesystems, and also supports crossfire...since i bought my HD 3850, i've been thinking about tri-core phenom and crossfire...but if the B3 revision brings lower clocked quads to the table, like 1.8ghz in AMD fashion, i may have a look at that too...

[AKHandyman]

I talked to ABit the other day and clearly depicted my frustration with them. To their credit I think they were actually going to see if they could refund my board. Of course, they never called back when they said they would to verify this. I've even debating getting them to replace this for a IX38 Quad GT and then trying to sell that. I'm just wondering how much it will depreciate in value over the expected 6mo turn around time ;)Did you talk to someone by the name of Ray Tsai? In Fremont, CA? That's who I had help me during a different situation with a customer of mine who had a NF7-S board ... he was a very nice and accommodating man, who clearly wanted to make good, but was bound by company policies and rules ... if it were up to him, he said he would send stuff out to people without question ... just thought I'd ask ... ;)

[Salahuddin]

Did you talk to someone by the name of Ray Tsai? In Fremont, CA? That's who I had help me during a different situation with a customer of mine who had a NF7-S board ... he was a very nice and accommodating man, who clearly wanted to make good, but was bound by company policies and rules ... if it were up to him, he said he would send stuff out to people without question ... just thought I'd ask ... ;)

No, didn't get to talk to anyone by that name. But ABit just did a major overhaul of their company and basically fired everyone including their manager. Now they have all new staff. They are a lot nicer to talk to now, they actually called me back once!!! Unfortunately, it feels a little to late for me. They offered to replace my ABit IP35 Pro, the manager promised to inspect it herself and make sure it was a good clean board before she sent it to me with no bent pins or anything. I think she even would have given me an IX38 Quad GT, but since its such a new board, they apparently don't have any refurbished ones available.

I don't know, I can cancel my order and exchange the board. But if I'm just going to sell it, I cleaned this one up pretty good and straightened the pins, so I think this is as good as any replacement I'll get.

[BAM!]

when you missed the train, you MISSED THE TRAIN. it's too late in the game trying to convince people that you're out there doing good, you already cried wolf many times.

just hope other hardware manufactures look at this as a good example because they just lost one of their most loyal customers.

i had a horrid story almost exactly to this with GATEWAY computer back in the 1999. of course it was too late in the game for them to redeem themselves, i never bought gateway again and told all my relatives, friends and clients to stay away. word of mouth is a powerful thing my friend, especially in the 21st century. all it takes is a flip of a cell phone.

[AKHandyman]

i had a horrid story almost exactly to this with GATEWAY computer back in the 1999. of course it was too late in the game for them to redeem themselves, i never bought gateway again and told all my relatives, friends and clients to stay away. word of mouth is a powerful thing my friend, especially in the 21st century. all it takes is a flip of a cell phone.And some well placed Blogs as well ... the tech industry has blossomed and expanded exponentially, mainly because the Blog has made exposure to the latest news and gadgets and companies become relative easy ... as well as letting the masses know who's NOT playing nice ... ;)