iXBT labs just posted their mid-end motherboard roundup. Here's a bit:

ASUS offers the maximum number of models in its product lines in combination with traditionally high activity of its distributors. Small wonder that the company takes up the most positions in our summary table. Moreover, we could have formally added another popular motherboard with AMD 780G (M3A78 PRO). Its price is only a little higher than $100, and unlike the M3A-H/HDMI it has a 140-W voltage regulator.

Gigabyte is fortifying its position in the market, although it offers a narrower choice of products. However, its best products are often spread wider than similar models from ASUS. And its growing popularity is supported by technical characteristics.

ASRock made a real breakthrough to the local market. A year ago we could find only stray shipments of relatively old models in our stores. But now you can easily find any popular product from this manufacturer. Only two motherboards made it to our table with the most popular products, but that's also a success. It's a pity that our retail stores have missed a very interesting A780GXE/128M. However, that's partially our mistake. We missed a change in the shipment policy and failed to attract attention to products from this manufacturer. We'll mend our manners!

Unfortunately, MSI has been delaying new products of late, and it's more difficult to win the old positions back than to stand its ground. Besides, inexpensive motherboards from MSI cannot boast of any specially attractive features to lure users from Gigabyte products, for example. The same can be said about Foxconn, which have original offers in a more expensive price range (with the 790GX and 790FX chipsets).

On the contrary, ECS is one of the first companies to roll out motherboards with the new chipsets in the market. And they are probably making good sales. However, even non-entry-level motherboards are competitive mostly owing to their price. Their technical image is the least attractive among all contenders. Biostar is also trying to keep up its line of motherboards with the new chipsets. But popular models from this company are also very cheap. And the only motherboard that made it to our rating is actually hors concours (we included this product just to cover all manufacturers that offer their products in our parts, but it's not widely spread in retail stores). And from the technical point of view its only interesting feature is two eSATA ports.