> As I recall, ASUS uses a variety of BIOSes. I'm typing from one that has > a Phoenix, and another here has an AMI BIOS. > > One has PCI quirks, the other doesn't. How serious they are, I don't > know, but it works well. Like I said, passing kernel parameters to deal with whatever funny thing the BIOS does usually fixes the stability issues. I, however, feel more comfortable if it installs and runs without any special handling. >>> One bad VIA experience? >> >> FYI, the linux kernel developers have code specifically just for 'Via >> Quirks' which are reverse-engineered from what I see on LKML. If you >> like to trust VIA's mucking about with the PCI bus or what not to get >> some 'short cuts' without releasing data about this behaviour then be >> my guest. > > There seems to be special "quirks" code for several chipsets. The > several computers I've owned that use Via chips all work. I've also > heard good reports of their 17cm square cards, some with embedded Via CPUs. Until you need low latency or until you push the board real hard. > > > Neither your experiences nor mine mean a lot; mine have been good and > when I'm buying my next mobo it will probably be Asus. > /me shrugs. Asus has a very good name in Hong Kong. It's with my latest Asus board desktop server that I was made to think back to all the Asus boards I have since socket 7 where i have had to update BIOSes that I realized that I have been following the crowd with respect to Asus.