Why is everyone so harsh on SIS ?

[YeuEmMaiMai]

I do not know about intel platforms but I can say without a doubt that SiS offerings for AMD are way better than VIA's for anything (SiS 735 or newer)

1. SiS 735 Single Chip Solution, very fast none of the VIA problems such as incompatability with creative soundcards. capable of running reliably at 166 FSB (MSI 735 Ultra board does this quite well)

2. No once a week driver updates to fix all of the errors that they found in the previous week unlike some others in the field

3. IDE perfomance is very good and it is not riddled with problems like VIA's

4. AGP works as advertised and video card drivers do not have to revert back to a lower settings unlike certain VIA offerings.

5. The only bad thing that I can think of about SiS is asyncronous performance and that we definately resolved in the 746 chipset

6. the onboard modem does work as advertised no problems with it

7. Price check out some of ECS SiS boards and you will see they are quite cheap with good perfomance and stability....

SiS have many many problems with their chipsets as well.

Trust me I worked in tech support having to deal with customer enquiries on why they couldnt get their Alcatel modems to work properly (this also afflicted the VIA boards to some degree). And the same problem was found on one particular ASUS Intel based mobo.. the CUSL2 IIRC.

The SiS 655 chipset, the SiS 648 chipset.. are both pretty rubbish from a tech support perspective too.

This only happens when companies cut corners. So far the only good 3rd party chipset has been the NForce series and NForce 2 (even though there are more problems with NForce2).

Just my tuppence worth.

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

crappy double post

 

[Tagrineth]

i disagree i think via is better then intel at quality and price thats why i always buy from them

Price? Yes.

But how can you say Intel chipsets are lower quality than VIA ones, while keeping a straight face? Ever done tech support?

 

[8ender]

Chipsets are one thing, actual motherboard quality is a whole other tomato.

The reason Intel is perceived as a higher quality is that they tightly control the quality of parts used on the motherboards. Remember that nasty capacitor scandal? Intel used the old type despite the extra cost and came out of it looking like liquid gold.

As for other motherboard companies, today I looked at an Amptron (PCChips) motherboard which had blown nearly every capacitor.

Strangely enough, ECS, a relatively no-name company backed by an evil, evil, company (PCChips) produces almost Intel quality boards using SIS chipsets.

In all the systems we have sold, we have never, ever had a bad ECS board. Hell, one time a little urchin of a customer wiped his BIOS while overclocking and we just swapped the BIOS chip out with a fresh board, booted up, swapped back, and flashed the bad BIOS. It worked like a charm too.

The point is, beyond chipset compatability issues, motherboard quality is something I and my coworkers hold sacred. Chipset bugs are one thing, those can be overcome with BIOS/Software updates, but shitty motherboard construction is a much more tragic and cruel game, especially when your store is shipping out many similarily configured computers.

 

[Aerows]

I concur that ECS motherboards are quite good. Their desknote PC's aren't bad either.

 

[8ender]

yeah, the desknotes are neat, especially when you get those rich sort of people that don't want a full size computer, they just want something small and cute to put in the kitchen.

then you dont feel bad selling them a full out laptop, knowing it will be sitting in the same place for most of its life.

 

[Aerows]

Bender, Exactly...they are perfect for those that aren't going to move them around much, and want something to collect their email on that doesn't take up space. They are hardly a gaming box, but I've been toting one around for 3 months as my primary PC (moving, etc.), and it's really not bad at all to take with you if you are just going someplace with a plug and are just using it to surf, get email, and play an occasional round of Diablo2 or Warcraft3. Morrowind is just pitiful on it though But I've yet to throw something at it that won't run...Just sloooooow LOL

 

[Aerows]

Dang, I didn't see that one word in your post...."rich sort"?

The things are dirt cheap! You couldn't get a Dell for the price of one of these! Maybe an e-Machines, but it would probably not be half the machine!

Truthfully, I know most people think they are horrible, but they really are excellent for a not so mobile, broke person that wants something that can go somewhere OR who doesn't play a lot of games, but likes to watch movies.

 

[8ender]

I live in canada caff, everything is expensive here.

what I meant about rich sort is the frame of mind they have when they come in the store. They usually want something cute and small and dont care how much it costs.