Well, I'm no neophyte with computers.I've been building systems for some time, and stuff like this is way out of the ordinary.
I've been building systems longer than 99% of the people out there, although for the last few years, I've bought more than built.
For a large company like Intel, the response time was pretty good IMHO.
I've not experienced most of the problems that you are referring to.
I had problems with sound, but I found the Intel drivers work perfectly for me, while the Sigmatel drivers were quirky. However, using the Intel drivers, I've not found any problems yet.
With the latest BIOS revision, the only issue I have left is with the PS2 keyboard problem. I've not tested that yet, but will eventually. With S3 suspend, I really have no need to power down, so the PS2 issue become far less significant.
I've not tried a PCI-e mass storage card, only PCI, but that has worked fine as well.
In reality, Intel is probably better equipped to design motherboards than anyone else because they make the chipsets.
However, I do agree with your comment on Marvell. My experience with it has been far less than satifactory.
