I've been fortunate not to have any bad motherboards. Asus and MSI are suppose to be tops when it comes to motherboard reputation. Seems like a lot of the new AM2 motherboards are experiencing problems here and there. If upgrading firmware doesn't fix anything, it's another RMA for you. I've always been loyal to MSI. I never used an Asus before so not too much comments on that. Research some of the MSI motherboards. To tell you the truth, that Asus motherboard you linked does look pretty good and if I had a choice, that would be one of my top ones to pick from.