Are Asrock the Skoda's of the PC world ?

[Davefran]

A few years ago both Asrock and Skoda had a reputation for being a cheap and nasty copy of their parent companies products. But recently according to owners and expert reviews, and I for one can personally vouch for this, they seem to produce products that are better performing, with higher reliability and fantastic value than their parents offerings

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Werent ASRock a seperate division of asus or some other company?

 

[Hyburnate]

I guess so
Nah they have always been a side company of Asus I believe

 

[Davefran]

Werent ASRock a seperate division of asus or some other company?

Yeah Asrock -> Asus.....Skoda -> VW

 

[Nightglow]

Asrock are fast gaining a reputation for high quality boards.
You only have to look at their Z68 boards.

 

[Davefran]

Asrock are fast gaining a reputation for high quality boards.
You only have to look at their Z68 boards.

*peers into case, and admires his Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3*

Check.....Oh yeah

 

[smit101]

*peers into case, and admires his Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3*

Check.....Oh yeah

Give it a stroke from me.

 

[Davefran]

Give it a stroke from me.

Computer says NO

 

[Evoss]

Skodas are good now xD

But I suppose so they are the same as the old Skodas xD

 

[Domi]

Not the worst analogy, Asrock certainly started out as rock bottom budget brand but with some decent products and some clever innovation they are definately now a brand of there own.

Oh and Skodas are still naff cars and for me I would buy a £50 Asrock board but £150 one no chance.

 

[stulid]

I would buy a £50 Asrock board but £150 one no chance.

Even if its better than say a ASUS or Gigabyte equivalent? Such as the ASrock Z68 extreme4.

 

[OpenToSuggestions]

In 2006 I had a motherboard that was AGP 8x and wanted a new cpu (so new motherboard and wanted PCIE) yet to keep my 6800gt AGP card.
ASRock had a board out with both PCIE and AGP - I thought this was an immense idea as I could go to an AMD dual core cpu and keep my 6800GT whilst having the PCIE for future graphics card purchases.
I got one and it would not post. I RMA'ed it and had FOUR replacements.
In the end I just gave up and sold the 6800GT, board a new motherboard that wasn't crap and bought an x1800xt pcie graphics card.

It will take a lot to make me buy ASRock again.

 

[P3N9U1N]

Skodas are not naff!, there just rebadged vw's, no less quality, just a smaller price tag...

 

[dave_beast]

Werent ASRock a seperate division of asus or some other company?

Yes, they we're the budget division of Asus

I guess so
Nah they have always been a side company of Asus I believe

Not anymore, they've been separate for a few years now

 

[Domi]

The issue is who defines what is better more feature, review giving it better overclocking etc ?

For me Asrocks a budget make and whatever they put out as press etc I will continue to believe they will cut corners slightly lesser components or whatever to compete.

Over time my opinion may change if they continue to put out good products but I have had several asrocks and my experience has been good but not great. Oh and I do actually still have booted as a server one of those PCI and AGP motherboards mentioned above working happily (completely passively with a Q6600) in the room with me now.

 

[stulid]

The issue is who defines what is better more feature, review giving it better overclocking etc ?

Well everything really, more features (a lot of Z68 gigabyte boards dont even have Luid+Quicksync), better price, great overclocking.

Tomshardware put it ahead of the Asus and gigabyte,
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...s-p8z68-v-pro-gigabyte-z68x-ud3h-b3,2939.html


All the other reviews for it suggest its awesome,
http://www.kitguru.net/components/m...k-z68-extreme-4-intel-z68-motherboard-review/
http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1300&page=1
http://www.bcchardware.com/index.ph...=view&id=10269&Itemid=40&limit=1&limitstart=4
http://thessdreview.com/hardware/asrock-z68-extreme-4-the-best-equipped-z68-motherboard-13/

The support thread is great,
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...d.-Share-your-experiences-OCs-amp-tech-issues

 

[QuackPot]

I know I'm going to get flak for this but the ASrock Z68 extreme4 does look cheap and tacky.

I'd far rather have the sexy GB or Asus boards over that ASrock board. Heck, even the MSI boards look better.

 

[Domi]

That misses the point that what reviews well today might just not hold up to be so good this time next year.

For example if they use slightly cheaper components and overclocked boards start to fail early ....

I am in no way saying Asrock are **** I am simply saying I percieve them as a budget make and am yet to be convinced otherwise.

 

[stulid]

I know I'm going to get flak for this but the ASrock Z68 extreme4 does look cheap and tacky.

I'd far rather have the sexy GB or Asus boards over that ASrock board. Heck, even the MSI boards look better.

So you go for looks instead of actual component quality, features and the rest etc?

 

[stulid]

That misses the point that what reviews well today might just not hold up to be so good this time next year.

For example if they use slightly cheaper components and overclocked boards start to fail early ....

I am in no way saying Asrock are **** I am simply saying I percieve them as a budget make and am yet to be convinced otherwise.

The reviews all say that all the components etc are high quality, Japanese capacitors and all the good stuff just like other quality boards.

At least they aren't Gigabytes - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/gigabyte-ga-z68x.html