MSI sucks!

[ShaidarHaran]

In my experience MSI hasn't built a quality enthusiast-level motherboard since the days of the Neo 2 Platinum.

 

[NovemberMike]

Then you have people who think those $80 headphones they just bought are great but they're not. Finding good reviews for anything is hard to do, but looking to the consumers is one of the worst things I can I could do for reviews.

Honestly, if you need to look at reviews like that those $80 headphones are probably fine for you. It isn't a rating of how good the product is, it is a rating of how happy the consumers were with it.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

If your still looking for a mother board AM2 then theres a good Gigabyte out there. Its the GA-MA69G-S3H and had nothing but good luck with many of them. Newegg has them for $85 so its cheap and very good overclocker. Most hit 380HTT speeds with it and I have one that hits 435HTT.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128052

 

[Sxotty]

It is all just luck it seems.

By far my most solid boards have been ABIT boards, an old p3 450 system (forgot the board name). And an NF-7S.

Have had problems with almost every other company I have tried, including Intel, Asus. It seems you need to read reviews for specific boards not brands now.

 

[FutureCTO]

I've had some good experiences with MSI.

But recently Gigabyte has been my favorite motherboard offering.

 

[Sxotty]

Except there are reviews of merit that give low scores, and then you're into a circle.

Even if they say
"DOA product sucks"

It is still very useful info. I look at their reviews and take the lowest rating and scale it to determine failure rates (if they have 100 reviews or so).

Oh and to add

Isn't ABIT basically out of business and bought out by someone else just using the name?

I ask just b/c they were always by far my best boards. They were the only brand I never had a problem with. (And I realize that could be random luck) I just don't see why they failed when they seemed to make really solid products.

 

[I.S.T.]

I dunno about their motherboards, but my MSI 8500 gt works remarkably well considering what it is.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

I dunno about their motherboards, but my MSI 8500 gt works remarkably well considering what it is.

That's because MSI didn't make that card. MSI doesn't make any video cards, they just buy from Foxconn (assuming that's who still does all the reference designs).

I bought an MSI X800 XL a couple years back. POS shipped with a loose heatsink. I thought the damn thing was defective until I pulled it out to inspect closer. MSI tried to be clever with their own HSF design. Too bad they don't know how to affix HSFs properly This is a common problem for MSI, sadly. If you buy an MSI card and it has a non-reference cooler: CHECK IT BEFORE INSTALLING!

 

[I.S.T.]

This wasn't a reference design. It's got a fanless heatsink.

Pretty big chunk of metal too.

 

[Vadi]

I had to add washers for my Asus 8600GT in order to fasten the heatsink down.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

This wasn't a reference design. It's got a fanless heatsink.

Pretty big chunk of metal too.

Guess you got lucky then I used to resell MSI cards and this was a common problem. Have friends in the same position in other parts of the country that share my experience, so it's not an isolated problem.

I had to add washers for my Asus 8600GT in order to fasten the heatsink down.

I had to do the same with my X800 XL

 

[AcceleratorX]

No such bad experience here, but then I've never used an MSI card. I've always loyally stuck to Asus and XFX for NVIDIA cards, with no problems with either of them....Always used Asus motherboards too, have never had any problems unless you count some crappy BIOS from Asus....But I guess I've just been lucky