for my vote Biostar - Asus - and number three is an odd call - Mach Speed-
my first ever computer that i started with was a loaner biostar socket a m7vig pro with a xp2200 athlon in it, but it wasnt mine, i was trying out the biz in computers converting a mobile dj system from cd to puter.
dont laugh-the next was a HP pavillion 501n
which went up in smoke but the price was right- i got it for free cause it needed a powersupply
the next was my first dual core build- Mach Speed venom with an athlon 4600- tough as nails awesome rig- and the same week i put another biostar m7vig 400 rev 7.3 with a xp2800 barton and 2gig of corsair 400mhz ram and a ati radeon 9200 original.
that was the moneymakingest computer i ever owned and was the only one that i ever fully trusted cause it never crashed or did anything wrong- so i built another mach speed venom and another biostar, all the while im acuiring various builds and used stuff and started servicing and building in my spare time. along came an asus m2ne with a 5000 black dual core- everyone wanted it so for thr 5 days i had it i loved it- doubled my money in a week-but it was nvida with a ati x750 card and everyone said itd never run- it was awesome
along the way i tried various intels but they kept freezing up where the amd's would slow up but never freeze up- seemed they could always chew thier way back to normal and the music never ever stopped- i had two different intels cost me 5 accounts- that was the day i got rid of every intel and nvidia product in sight. nvidia cards gave us hell trying to get to composite video- other than that i love em, but i cant trust em on the road.
ive heard so much about dfi and i will have one someday, but the whole concept for me is these are usually built to do bars and pubs and go on the road with bands. it has to stay under 1000.00 to make it break even within its insurance depriciation and it has to be as solid as i can build it cost effectively-
biostars teamed with ati and amd have made me more money than any other brand and ive never had one die yet. My only beef with the machspeed was ati & nvidia didnt play well together on the same board- all of these are three screen rigs except the hp, all built to do specialized un-overclocked boring jobs as lighting, mobile dj or karaoke or sound mixer sampler/memory units for bands
didnt mean to get wordy- i just wanted to make sure yall didnt think i was crazy