ASROCK versus ASUS

Are they both built by Asustek, I never knew that.

I have used both and the Asus was far superior in my opinion.

Graeme


"Piotr Makley" wrote in message
...
Asrock and Asus motherboards are both made by Asustek. So what is
the main difference between them?

I am told that Asrock is a cheaper range so is one range positoned
to be cheap and the other to be more expensive but with more
features? Or do both ranges aim at broadly the same market but one
is built better than the other?

Any info welcome.

Piotr Makley wrote:
Asrock and Asus motherboards are both made by Asustek. So what is
the main difference between them?

I am told that Asrock is a cheaper range so is one range positoned
to be cheap and the other to be more expensive but with more
features? Or do both ranges aim at broadly the same market but one
is built better than the other?

Any info welcome.

Asrock *is* the budget range, they usually have less choice of options and
slightly less expensive components (From what I gather). It is Asustek's
attempt at getting a slice of the budget/OEM market without compromising the
name of their Asus range.

Seiko did something similar years back, with a difference. They bought out
the 'Pulsar' brand of watches which are internally identical to the Seiko
range but sell for about 40% less. (A great buy BTW, I have a 10-year old
Pulsar that I wear in the shower, swimming-pool etc. and it's running
perfectly). Seiko found themselves in a situation where they could produce
their product for a lot less than they were charging for it but didn't want
their name associated with lower-priced product, they have a good reputation
and people will pay a premium for a watch with "Seiko" on it. So they
invented the Pulsar brand. (This was circa 1980) Wise people in the know who
weren't overly image-conscious bought Pulsar and saved approximately 40% and
got the exact same ultra-reliable watch. They're made in the same factory,
they just go to a different 'finishing line' where they are fitted into
either a Seiko or a Pulsar case.

It's not quite the same with Asus /Asrock, they use different
components/features on their Asrock range but the example holds true. Not
wanting to diminish the name of their premium range in the eye of the
consumer.
--
~misfit~

Piotr Makley wrote:

Asrock and Asus motherboards are both made by Asustek. So what is
the main difference between them?

I am told that Asrock is a cheaper range so is one range positoned
to be cheap and the other to be more expensive but with more
features? Or do both ranges aim at broadly the same market but one
is built better than the other?

Only worked with one ASRock board I can recall and don't know how much
it cost but I thought the Asus P4BGV-MX I fitted into a machine
recently, one of the cheapest integrated S478 boards around (less than
£40 delivered), was a better board. Don't know if that's
representative of the range in general.

--
iv Paul iv

"Paul Hopwood" wrote in message
...
Piotr Makley wrote:

Asrock and Asus motherboards are both made by Asustek. So what is
the main difference between them?

I am told that Asrock is a cheaper range so is one range positoned
to be cheap and the other to be more expensive but with more
features? Or do both ranges aim at broadly the same market but one
is built better than the other?

Only worked with one ASRock board I can recall and don't know how much
it cost but I thought the Asus P4BGV-MX I fitted into a machine
recently, one of the cheapest integrated S478 boards around (less than
£40 delivered), was a better board. Don't know if that's
representative of the range in general.

--
iv Paul iv

Nothing but good things to say for Asus P3 and P4 boards but I found the few
Socket A boards to be very problematic.


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.648 / Virus Database: 415 - Release Date: 31/03/2004

SNIP
" I am told that Asrock is a cheaper range "

I have to agree with that. In a number of years of building The Asrock is
the only boards I Have ever had a failure on (and I have used some crap).
Not a catastrophic failure I may add, rear usb ports died. However I bought
it thinking it was a quality item. I forget the model, was one of these
maplin bundles that at the time seemed like a great deal.

"K-Tel Ronco" wrote:

SNIP
" I am told that Asrock is a cheaper range "

I have to agree with that. In a number of years of building The Asrock is
the only boards I Have ever had a failure on (and I have used some crap).
Not a catastrophic failure I may add, rear usb ports died. However I bought
it thinking it was a quality item. I forget the model, was one of these
maplin bundles that at the time seemed like a great deal.

Might be a common fault? The one I dealt with had exactly the same
fault and I've noticed a couple sold on eBay in the last few weeks
with the same problem.

--
iv Paul iv

On Mon, 5 Apr 2004 06:39:49 +0100, "K-Tel Ronco"
wrote:

SNIP
" I am told that Asrock is a cheaper range "

I have to agree with that. In a number of years of building The Asrock is
the only boards I Have ever had a failure on (and I have used some crap).
Not a catastrophic failure I may add, rear usb ports died. However I bought
it thinking it was a quality item. I forget the model, was one of these
maplin bundles that at the time seemed like a great deal.

I consider Asus No1, and maybe my logic is flawed, but I wouldn't buy
a budget board from Asustek. My guess is the likes of Shuttle, EPoX
and Soltek knows much more about how to build a cheap board.
They've been at it for much longer, and have had decent success with
it too.

ancra

"Piotr Makley" wrote in message
...
Asrock and Asus motherboards are both made by Asustek. So what is
the main difference between them?

I am told that Asrock is a cheaper range so is one range positoned
to be cheap and the other to be more expensive but with more
features? Or do both ranges aim at broadly the same market but one
is built better than the other?


I've seen somewhere that Asrock was a Chinese daughter company of Astek
intended to allow Asus to compete with companies like Elite eo in the
motherboard entry market. So recently I decided to purchase my first Asrock
P4VT8, where the box mentioned plenty of nice features, all at a very nice
price.
When installing however, I discovered a lot of "anomalies". Some examples:
- the board has 2 SATA connectors, but drivers have to be loaded from
diskettes at initial setup in order to recognize SATA drives;
- when shutting down the computer, power is still delivered to on-board USB
connectors, resulting in USB devices (6 in 1 card readers, for ex)with leds
always on;
- the board crashes randomly (up to 3 - 4 times a day);
- the temp and voltage reports of the board are wrong: cpu temp is mostly at
72°C (although feeling cold), -12 V is reported -0.17 V, and so on.
- there is no dual channel DDR available (but I must say dual-channel is not
mentioned on the box);
- installation of windows 2000 worked normally, but install of Win XP was
totally impossible (Win setup freezes early, at "press F6 to load additional
disk drivers").
This could have been an isolated single bad experience, but I did some
search on the net and encountered a lot of idenditical or similar
experiences.
I always loved Asus and installed many of those boards for P3 and P4 without
any problem. My first trial with Asrock was a total failure and I even
couldn' t get valuable support. I soon replaced the P4VT8 by an Asus P4P800
(price difference is not that big), and all problems above disappeared.
This was my first and last Asrock !!!

"ElJerid" wrote in message
...

"Piotr Makley" wrote in message
...
Asrock and Asus motherboards are both made by Asustek. So what is
the main difference between them?

I am told that Asrock is a cheaper range so is one range positoned
to be cheap and the other to be more expensive but with more
features? Or do both ranges aim at broadly the same market but
one
is built better than the other?


I've seen somewhere that Asrock was a Chinese daughter company of
Astek
intended to allow Asus to compete with companies like Elite eo in
the
motherboard entry market. So recently I decided to purchase my first
Asrock
P4VT8, where the box mentioned plenty of nice features, all at a
very nice
price.
When installing however, I discovered a lot of "anomalies". Some
examples:
- the board has 2 SATA connectors, but drivers have to be loaded
from
diskettes at initial setup in order to recognize SATA drives;

Isn't this a condition of Windows rather than the motherboard? AFAIK,
Windows XP, and obviously older versions, requires drivers to be
loaded prior to installing.

"Peter A. Stavrakoglou" wrote in message
...

"ElJerid" wrote in message
...

"Piotr Makley" wrote in message
...
Asrock and Asus motherboards are both made by Asustek. So what is
the main difference between them?

I am told that Asrock is a cheaper range so is one range positoned
to be cheap and the other to be more expensive but with more
features? Or do both ranges aim at broadly the same market but
one
is built better than the other?


I've seen somewhere that Asrock was a Chinese daughter company of
Astek
intended to allow Asus to compete with companies like Elite eo in
the
motherboard entry market. So recently I decided to purchase my first
Asrock
P4VT8, where the box mentioned plenty of nice features, all at a
very nice
price.
When installing however, I discovered a lot of "anomalies". Some
examples:
- the board has 2 SATA connectors, but drivers have to be loaded
from
diskettes at initial setup in order to recognize SATA drives;

Isn't this a condition of Windows rather than the motherboard? AFAIK,
Windows XP, and obviously older versions, requires drivers to be
loaded prior to installing.


I know this, but the installation freezes just befor the stage where it's
normally asked to hit F6 and insert the floppy with the drivers. Windows
2000 however installs without problems (except later crashes), and the Win
XP CD was checked on 2 other computers with Asus mobos and installed
correctly. Only the Asrock freezes at install.