Taipei (Taiwan) – There is a new battle brewing in Taiwan and this time it is Asus that is bringing out the big guns against its rival Gigabyte: Gigabyte claimed in a recent presentation in front of journalists that Asus is flat-out lying about power savings and power efficiency of its EPU motherboards.  Asus responded saying that Gigabyte is lying and is now threatening to sue Gigabyte as well as websites “spreading” Gigabyte’s claims.

Gigabyte apparently used an event last week in Taipei to tell journalists from hardware websites what it found out about Asus’ EPU motherboards. According to Gigabyte, Asus claims that its physical Energy Processing Unit, short EPU, can achieve power savings of about 80%, while Gigabyte said that number is closer to 59%. And, Gigabyte launched a widely publicized attack on Asus, alleging that the EPU is a pure marketing term and that Asus did not change the design, firmware or packaging of these motherboards.   
 
Asus fired back with two statements, one of them refuting the claims and one threatening with legal action.  According to Asus, its P5Q series of motherboards in fact “utilizes the newest version of the EPU hardware based energy saving chip, which can detect current PC loadings in real time and automatically moderate the power supply for complete system level power savings.”

The second statement reads:

"It has come to our attention that a certain Taiwanese Motherboard Manufacturer has made false claims against ASUS motherboards. These claims have given rise to false information being communicated in both the mainstream media and technology channels. ASUS wishes to clarify the issues and so avoid any further confusion.
After investigation, it is clear that this company in question made use of a sponsored gathering of local and international media to deliberately spread information that we consider both untrue and without credible verification. This “disinformation” is not only extremely damaging to ASUS but also completely misleading to the consumers.
ASUS reserves the right to take legal action against any individual, organization or corporation which creates or spreads such rumors."

Such a reaction has probably been expected by Gigabyte. You can’t accuse your key rival of lying and not expect something flying back in return. However, we are not sure if it is the right decision to threaten websites with a lawsuit as well.

Go Gigabyte

May 16, 2008 13:11     

ASUS is a joke. Junk, overpriced, overrated, overheating boards. Maybe Tom's Hardware can get their hands on the ASUS motherboard in question and run their own power tests. If that were to happen, I would bet Gigabyte's claims would be more accurate.
Big Dong report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -5

So this is what the taxi trip was all about

May 16, 2008 20:19     

Hm... so the journalist who attended Gigabyte's event and then took a taxi to Asus had something concrete to tell. I guess China won't have to invade Taiwan after all, they can certainly make war among themselves.
Bjorn report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Go ASUS

May 17, 2008 07:50     

Power savings doesn't sell enthusiast motherboards. Both these company's make a lot of money in this area, and this type of user could care less about power savings differences between 59% and 80%. They care about performance at top power, period. Personally, I like ASUS motherboards better than Gigabyte, as do a LOT of power users. ASUS has made a lot of advances over the years. The latest Linux based BIOS is one good one. That's probably why Gigabyte has been stretching the truth a bit here, just to get attention. Sad they need to be so stupid.

Narg report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -2

RE BD

May 17, 2008 07:56     

Asus is a joke? Speaking from personal experience as a bench tech, ASUS motherboards are very good when compared to most others...
Kalt report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

80% or 60%

May 17, 2008 08:57     

As a consumer, I don't see the downside to a motherboard saving as much energy as the ASUS board is doing. Doesn't matter if the percentage is 80% or 60%, the result is still a major improvement. Thank you Gigabyte for drawing attention to a motherboard that is more energy efficient than yours.
Rich C report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +4

Come on....

May 17, 2008 09:54     

They're suing a rival for saying their stuff isn't as good as they say? Seem a bit childish to anyone else?
Ben report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

people are dumb

May 17, 2008 18:14     

people are dumb asus rocks
ha report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -4

re: 80% or 60%

May 17, 2008 20:57     

yeah, you would be right, if it wasnt for the fact that gigabytes power saving motherboards are in fact a good deal more saving than asus's.. just read tests...
Kasper Sandberg report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

lol

May 18, 2008 01:16     

wow... i personally love ASUS. I'm totally pissed off that my high end psu blew and melted into the board! Neway, I've ran asus boards for the last 6 years. Infact, the one single gigabyte board i have at home is currently a paper weight... though i suppose my Asus is as well but thats the psu's fault... As for the lawsuit, Asus is simply going after damages. If it wouldn't have received as much attention as this has i'm sure it would have just blown over but its been all over the place. I don't blame them. Ditto on the website thing though; that's just stupid.

Epsilon report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

Re: Big Dong.... and This is so dumb, and

May 18, 2008 05:23     

Well I donno what you do to your motherboards but I've owned many ASUS motherboards and a few Gigabyte motherboards, Both are great brands and haven't had one die on me yet, so I donno where you get ASUS is a joke from nor are they over priced or overrated .. or have i seen one over heat .. maybe ur just doing something wrong or shopping at the wrong place .. And like 'Narg' said for enthusiast like me power saving is the last thing i think about or even look at .. when did we ever the the word of marketing ploys .. if i did .. i'd be taking back all my cell phones due to them saying they have like a 20day stand by time and like 20hours nonstop talking time ..

Andrew report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Suit for what, prove it first.

May 18, 2008 08:37     

If Gigabyte lie about the test, Asus do have ground to suit them. But first, they have to prove that Gigabyte press is deceptive by find a third pirty that nuture to both company to prove the test is deceptive. Than, you can files a lawsuit. Gigabyte at least can suit back if Asus use Lawsuit to make sure all the websites don't report the finding by Gigabyte. I also think TG should do a independent test to see if the data correct at all. If a third party test and find the result to be true. I guest we can all say case close. If not, than Asus should go ahead with their lawsuit.

Lpoo report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Gigabyte should just close down and die!

May 19, 2008 20:13     

Gigabyte is so silly starting all this, they could never compeat with a company like A S U S, to me i think Asus is the best company, i have been with Asus every since i can remember and never had a problem at all no over heating rubbish or anything, and as always every time i upgrade there is always a major increase in everything with performance and with power saving, so all i have to say now is that GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ASUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Farouk Asus report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

Last bullet

May 19, 2008 23:29     

this is gigabyte's last bullet!!!
liugf report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Is this how hardware companies compete to get headl...

May 20, 2008 00:02     

Is this how hardware companies compete to get headlines these days? So sad that gigabyte had to stretch/distort/hypothesize/speculate the asus marketing messages and product stories to give themselves brownie points. What good does this do to the consumers? Why can't these companies just focus on making their products better? If the entire accusation started with the missing journalist, then, doesn't this tell us that gigabyte needs to tighten up on travel arrangements, instead of trying to find an excuse for the perceived loss of confidential info? As far as I can tell, no one can prove that any info was lost as a result. It has just been a bunch of neurosis. LAME! I am so done. Just give me a good board that overclocks well and that performs solid 24/7!!! Cut the crap!

Kral report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

First Asus makes a far better board.

May 20, 2008 17:57     

Gigabyte may stuff more features into a board, however, in my experience, Asus boards fail far less often. For many of us, a down computer is lost money. Going back to the lawsuit, just use a quote. Don't say, "Asus uses less power", say, "Asus claims they use less power." (Please understand, I am not a lawyer. If you follow my advice, "A man who thinks he is a talking dog told me to say it." will not save you in court.)

Ralf The Dog report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2