The motherboard award proved one of the most fiercely contested of our awards. Both Gigabyte and Asus really wanted to win. This was good to see as few PC components are as complex and integral to a computer as the motherboard – if that goes wrong you’re truly stuffed and face the heinous task of installing a replacement.
Almost 11,000 people voted in this category with Asus and Gigabyte picking up over 3000 votes each. Intel’s buyers accounted for the next most respondents by registering 864 votes. But, and to Asus’ chagrin, it was Gigabyte which won the laurels, although Asus was a very close runner up.
The first rating we asked for concerned Post Sales Support including BIOS updates and forums. The industry average for satisfying customers here was 78%. ASRock was the lowest, satisfying 72% of customers but Gigabyte was the highest, satisfying 82% of its customers. Last year’s winner, DFI satisfied 81% of buyers while Asus satisfied 79%.
In the key Reliability stakes, a satisfyingly-high 89% of all buyers were satisfied with their motherboards. There was little variance in the results too – the highest score was Gigabyte with 91%. However, two results were abnormally low: ASRock satisfied 84% of customers while Foxconn satisfied only 81% of its customers.
There wasn’t much variance in the Value For Money ratings either. On average, 86% of all buyers were satisfied though budget-brand ASRock was best, satisfying 92%. Gigabyte satisfied 90% of its buyers while Asus satisfied 86%. Intel was lowest satisfying 82% and DFI took itself out of the running by satisfying only 77% of its customers.
Brand loyalty was a generally high scorer and 91% of all buyers said they’d buy from the same manufacturer again. But both Gigabyte and Asus lead the field with 95% of customers saying they’d return. But 'only' 83% of MSI customers said they’d be back and 81% of Foxconn customers said likewise. DFI further hurt its overall score with a below-average 86% of customers saying they’d be back.
Which processor?
62% of respondents used Intel-based motherboards and 38% used AMD. Last year the split was 50-50 which illustrates just how successful Core 2 has been this year. Intel-based motherboards rated marginally higher in terms of satisfaction but the differences were minor. For Post Sales Support, Intel boards satisfied 79% of customers to AMD’s 78%. In terms of Reliability, Intel boards satisfied 90% of customers to AMD’s 89%. But AMD boards led for Value – 88% of its customers were satisfied compared with 85% of Intel’s. Finally, 92% of buyers of Intel-based boards said they’d buy from the same manufacturer again while 91% of AMD's said likewise.
