Which company that makes the motherboards has a good reputation in general? i.e. who has good chipsets, good audio, good BIOS, good power management etc etc doesn't need to be specific to any CPU or socket type - i was want to know who would be best to look at and who to avoid - people with disaster stories are welcome too
i made the mistake of buying an Asrock motherboard and it was DOA - but i wasn't able to get a refund
Here's my take on this. The company that makes the best motherboard are:
Asus
Gigabyte
Some ok ones I feel are:
eVGA
MSI
Abit
Biostar
Best socket are the motherboards using the LGA775 right now (which is Intel). For AMD, I believe it's still Socket AM2. There are variant sockets, but they don't appeal to me that much for me to take actual notice.
Sound? Well, they're all good to me. Motherboards these days all have beyond 5.1 surround sound capability. But if you're really into sound, get an internal sound card with an X-Fi chipset.
BIOS, that doesn't matter to me. Some allow more system flexibility than others. Since I'm not on overclocker, I'll take any BIOS. But the ones that come up at the top of my head are: AMI and Phoenix
Video cards, hmmm, I've always like eVGA. Solid, reputable, and fast!!!!
Best CPU? IMO, the Q6600 is currently the best. Quad core, baby.
Best LCD monitor? Viewsonic and Samsung, no doubt!!!
Best hard drive? I always prefer Western Digital, but Seagate is another excellent company too. They make fast hard drives and their support is phenomenal.
Best CPU cooling? Zalman 9700 and Tuniq Tower
Hmmmm, that's all I can think of right off the bat.
My hardware experience has been really good with these products. In all my life of system building (and I've built a lot so far--since it's just a small part of what I do at work), those names I listed above has never failed me. Well, with the exception for the Western Digital hard drive, but it was probably DOA. That was the only major DOA in the countless of parts I have ordered, so they're pretty good.
Oh, best mouse and keyboard? Logitech. I have their G7 laser wireless mouse, OMG, that thing is pure heaven. The feel is so sexy and it glides with precision.
