Abit stepping out of the motherboard market?

[TheCheat]

I dont know if digitimes.com is a reputable news site... but,


Second-tier motherboard maker Abit is reportedly concidering phasing out of the motherboard market after evaluating its shipment performance of Intel 4 series motherboards, according to channel sources.

Abit, howerver, maintains it does not know anything about the speculation and will continue to develop motherboard products.

Abit's has failed to meet the expectations of parent company Universal Scientific Industrial (USI) in its ability to compete with fellow second-teir makers in terms of performance, or first-tier makers in terms of pricing in the mid-range and entry-level market, and so the company is evaluating whether to quit the market and start developing other products for the Abit brand, noted the sources.

In 2007, Abit shipped 2-3 million motherboards and had set a goal to ship six million units in 2008. However, the company's current shipments have actually decreased. Abit will determine whether to stay in the market after evaluating its shipments performance of P45-based motherboards, added the sources.

Source: http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20080527PD203.html

Sad times for abit if this is true.

[Trap05]

Their support is horrible so this wouldn't surprise me.

[Evilsizer]

if we lose Abit, it will be a sad day.

[CGR]

Havent used an Abit since my P2 days. Have heard more horror stories about support from Abit than any other manufacturer though.

Even if Abit left the market, there are plenty of other good manufacturers.

[Leonardo]

if we lose Abit, it will be a sad day.Not necessarily, and that coming from a long-time Abit user. Running three of their boards right now. Why no big deal? Except for the last nine months, Abit's really been a minor player with both AMD and Intel platforms for the last several years. IMO, their heyday ended around 2003. There are so many more competent performance brands now than there were several years ago, that the disappearance of Abit really wouldn't matter that much. It used to be that a DIYer wanted a high performance motherboard, there was essentially only a menu of Asus, Abit, and Epox. Quality and performance have been taken seriously by many of the manufacturers now: Asus, DFI, Gigabyte.... Even bargain basement OEM supplier Foxcon now has performance boards!

[ratbuddy]

All I know Abit from is that IP35e that got suggested a lot before the DS3L sorta took over the sub-$100 'best' mobo. The article says they are a second tier maker, who would qualify as first? My impression was that the top 3 are Abit, Asus, Gigabyte. Is that incorrect?

[Tweaked!]

All I know Abit from is that IP35e that got suggested a lot before the DS3L sorta took over the sub-$100 'best' mobo. The article says they are a second tier maker, who would qualify as first? My impression was that the top 3 are Abit, Asus, Gigabyte. Is that incorrect?

I wouldn't have guessed gigabyte as my choice of three, it would've been DFI, but nevertheless, I had always held Abit as a top notch manufacturer till I had to RMA my IP35 Pro. Here's a link (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=555646) to that thread and how that went. And I still have not received that board, and I did end up paying the 40 bucks to get it taken care of, in hopes of recouping some of my costs by ebaying it once I got it back.
So in essence, I guess I'd feel a little vindicated if Abit does start backpedaling. As far as I'm concerned, I'll never give them anymore of my business, or recommend them.

[Leonardo]

I've purchased five Abit boards in the last year, all IP35-Es. Two of them would not operate correctly out of the box. Fortunately, both were a very quick RMA through the vendor. They were new enough that Newegg covered them. The three boards I have that are good have been very good performers, excellent bang for the buck. With their quirks though, I would not recommend the IP35-E to someone with money to burn for say a Gigabyte P35-DS4, the upscale DFIs, or the fancier Asus P5K models, or the Abit IP35-Pro. I can't comment on Abit's customer support, as I've never used it.

[Evilsizer]

well we all knew this day was coming though... abit after the merger into USI, customer support went down hill. it was stead decline though which started after the AW9D-Max board. abit has produced many great ocing boards for LGA775 latly. of course problems as well, some of abit's lower boards are actually ECS boards. i noticed this when comparing a 945 board that had 2 pcie 16x slots on it. abit had one as well, the only realy difference was the name on the board and the PCB color.

for me its going to be hard to choose a "player" to stick with for motherboards. the way the bios is for me is just so easy. comparing that to say asus, dont ask me its just one of those things. it like do you prefer driving a BMW or MB... if abit was able to keep up with bios updates for the boards in a timly fashion the rest would fall into place. meaning they would sell more boards allowing the company to support the customer better. sometimes though you have to wonder why they make certian choices...

[Leonardo]

I've never had to use official Abit customer support, but I have made very good use of the Abit user forums (http://forum.abit-usa.com/index.php?). That's a rich site for Abit motherboards.

[cuda340]

if we lose Abit, it will be a sad day.

I agree 100% & i have dealt with Abit's customer support, no complaints.

if abit was able to keep up with bios updates for the boards in a timly fashion the rest would fall into place.

Also agree with 100%. I've been using Abit boards since the BE6-II and slow bios releases are my only beef. Gone though BE6-II, BD7, BE7, IC7, AL8, AW8, AB9, IP35 E/Pro.

[petteyg359]

The article says they are a second tier maker, who would qualify as first? My impression was that the top 3 are Abit, Asus, Gigabyte. Is that incorrect?

I would assume it's the same as bandwidth providers. First tier would be Intel, AMD/ATI, and Via (the ones that actually make the chipsets), though I haven't seen any mainboards manufacted by AMD/ATI or Via, just Intel. Second tier would be those who buy chipsets from first tier and make boards with them. Third tier would be OEMs like Dell that would redesign a dog's hindquarters if they could, that buy second-tier motherboards and modify them for their pre-built systems.

[freeagent]

i used to be a die hard abit fan, but they all died on me, at the worst possible time.. plus with slow bios updates, a few irritateing quirks here and there.. honestly.. it doesnt surprise me. their boards look the part, but imo, they dont live up to what abit used to be.


Edit:

i also forgot to mention their RMA service.. it took 2 months for them to replace a 2 week old abit an8 sli fatality.

loved my NF7-S tho, i spent more time with it, then i did with my ex <3

dam bluescreens! random shutdowns! fragile bios!

/random spewing

[Leonardo]

dam bluescreens! random shutdowns! fragile bios!The motherboard or the "ex?"loved my NF7-S tho, i spent more time with it, then i did with my ex <3Is there a cause-effect relationship here?

[ghost_recon88]

plus with slow bios updates, a few irritateing quirks here and there..

That's why I won't miss them :beer:

[hokiealumnus]

This rumor has been denounced by abit. (Source (http://my.ocworkbench.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=431742#post431742).)
Univeral abit denies quitting motherboard business after intel P45

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We managed to catch our PR contacts before they are off for the day. Their immediate reactions is that we should not believe in such rumours.

Thore Welling, Universal ABIT Global Marketing Director points out: “ abit is a well established and strong brand within the enthusiast and high-end motherboard and components industry. In fact, particularly over the past 12 months we have been able to considerably increase market share not only in traditional markets such as Western Europe, but even stronger so in emerging markets such as East Asia as well as in the Middle East. Therefore, the broadening of our product lines into the Consumer Electronics (digital photo frames with integrated photo printer {FunFab} and MIDs) segment represents a stronger commitment to the overall brand and the continuation of our motherboard concept into other products. abit stays committed to motherboards and has a broad lineup of motherboards ready, as you will see in during Computex.”
Thanks to Nelly for posting this @ the abit forums. Move along...nothing to see here. :beer:

[cuda340]

Good news, even for those who are not fans of Abit. More competitors. :beer:

[CGR]

Man, if I had a quarter for every time a company says something isnt true, but ends up being true, I would be really really wealthy..

[BLOOP!]

glad about that news! I love my IP35 Pro over my last few Asus boards. Would certainly get their new boards.

[w2richwood]

i know theres lots of people that like abit boards so i hope this is true and they in prove there customer support for the users
Rich

[Krypto]

I had always been an Abit fan...... but with new players in the market like EVGA, who offer 24/7 support, its a doggie dog market.

[OldSkool]

Sad but as stated many times before, they have horrendous customer support. Great product though.

[Shiggity]

+1 on bios updates being way too slow

Parent companies expect pure profit and if you can't cut it, bye bye.

[Leonardo]

I had always been an Abit fan...... but with new players in the market like EVGAYou make a very good point. 10 years ago, even 5 years ago, there weren't many serious players in the high performance motherboard market. It's pretty rich now.

[Az00123]

well over in the uk at least the abit ip35 dark raider mobo was great for its money, i had no problems with mine (apart from the fact that i ripped off a sata port and got a rma from scan :D)

[mepis]

I had always been an Abit fan...... but with new players in the market like EVGA, who offer 24/7 support, its a doggie dog market.

Im not making fun of you, but before you say it to the wrong person that does for some stupid reason it's "Dog eat dog" market/world/business, you get the idea.

I do agree with the rest of your statement. I have been a long time Abit supporter since the socket 7 days. I think my first mobo was an Abit board if I remember right. The only motherboards I have ever bought have been Abit and Asus. But since the k7 days other manufacturers have stepped up to the plate. You have EVGA, and DFI, and Gigabyte, and Soyo that make good quality boards. You even have "lower quality" companies like Biostar that have stepped up as well and offer a fantastic motherboard for the price. Not foxconn though, they are evil...

[Krypto]

Im not making fun of you, but before you say it to the wrong person that does for some stupid reason it's "Dog eat dog" market/world/business, you get the idea.

lol... you dissin' my slang :beer:


But yeah.... to solidify what you added.

Abit
AOpen
Arima (Flextronics)
ASUS
ASRock
Advansus (Industrial Motherboards)
BFG Technologies
Biostar
Chassis Plans
Chaintech Ceased manufacturing motherboards.
DFI
ECS (also PCChips)
EPoX
eVGA
FIC
Foxconn, manufacturer of Intel motherboards
Gigabyte
Intel
Jetway
Magic-Pro
MSI
Sapphire Technology
Shuttle
Soyo
Supermicro
Tyan
VIA
XFX