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  1. #1

    * phpBB vs. Invision Board

    I will be launching a site soon that will get an over 1000 unique hits a day. I also will be putting a bulletin board on my site as well. I have been using phpBB for the last 2 years and I've kind of became attached to it. But a few people have told me about IB. I have taken a look at it and I must say that it does look impressive. I have searched here about the differences but all I find is people’s opinions. I was hoping for some pros and cons. I'm sorry if this has been asked a hundred time already but for my type of site, witch do you think would be best for me. I'm looking for some non-bias opinions and what your experiences are. Pros and Cons of both would be great.

    One thing that kind of draws me to IB is the layout of it and it seems to be more feature rich than phpBB. I don’t have a problem moding the forum, in fact, I do it extensively, but every time there is an upgrade, I have to eventually re-install all the mods because some of the mods don’t work with the updated version and the mod never gets updated.

    I haven’t had time to download and see what’s different yet but I was wondering I someone could fill me in on it. How is the community, their mods, do they update their mods, ect. Also, does anyone know witch one uses more bandwidth, maybe some comparing benchmarks.

    I know VB might be my best choice but I'm not willing to pay for anything right now.

    Thanks for your time…

  2. #2
    My 2 cents:

    - Invision Board has a more dedicated community filled with ibskins.com, etc.

    - PhpBB has a larger user base

    - They are both very well written

    - IB is a lot more easily customized

    - PhpBB is more slowly developing, possibly for the better

    - Invision Board isn't totally free-source, it's sorta like XMB (if you don't know what XMB is, you more-a-less have to pay for top notch support, installatation help, pre-release versions, etc.)

    That's all I can think of at the moment.My choice for the most part is Invision Board, but I really don't think one is all that better over the other. They have their pros and cons.

  3. #3
    I have a phpBB running with over 3000 members, getting close to 100,000 posts and does averages 110,000 pagviews per day. I can say that even after moving to a dedicated server it does put a little extra strain on the system than my UBB.Threads forum, but a little less than when it was vB. So, while it is a great free forum, just be careful if you plan on large growth, as before you know it you will have your hands full trying to keep the server in top shape to keep it running

    Also.. keep an eye out for runaway processes thanks to phpBB. I occasionally get paged at 4am because for some reason phpBB will @#%)* up and be using 99% CPU until I kill it. It doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen occasionally. But I would highly recomend it for a small to moderate sized forum, it works great for free

  4. #4
    Originally posted by JeremyV
    Also.. keep an eye out for runaway processes thanks to phpBB. I occasionally get paged at 4am because for some reason phpBB will @#%)* up and be using 99% CPU until I kill it. It doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen occasionally.
    Do you have any idea what could be causing this? I visit a small forum running burning board and they're having the same problem with runaway cpu usage and Slow_queries. Their host has suspended their account twice now for a few hours each time and has given them 5 days to convert to phpBB or he'll cancel the account.

    Does killing the process solve the problem till the next time it happens or do you need to do something to the database?

  5. #5
    Hello,

    I run about 10 phpBBs and 5 ibforums.

    IB has very very lower load on the server and it is very faster.

    It's also very cleaner, uses less bandwidth, attracts more users and people love it.

    I have been with phpBB for more than 2 years but I am converting all of them to IB one by one.

    Just pay attention that IB may not be free for ever as it is being developped by a company.

    Mac

  6. #6
    Originally posted by pcjunky

    Do you have any idea what could be causing this? I visit a small forum running burning board and they're having the same problem with runaway cpu usage and Slow_queries. Their host has suspended their account twice now for a few hours each time and has given them 5 days to convert to phpBB or he'll cancel the account.

    Does killing the process solve the problem till the next time it happens or do you need to do something to the database?
    I just kill the process and it will work fine for a few days until it happens again. I have tried to figure out why this happens, and almost always happens early in the morning even when not much use. So as of now, I just kill it and it will continue working just fine. *shrug*

    When I had this forum on a shared account I too had my account suspended as they kept reporting to me this was happening. I thought they were just lying and mad I was running a busy forum, but soon after putting it on my own server I know what they were talking about.

  7. #7
    On the users side, witch one would attract more users. I am willing to change and learn different software if it makes a difference with the user.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,802
    Originally posted by jake712
    Invision Board isn't totally free-source, it's sorta like XMB (if you don't know what XMB is, you more-a-less have to pay for top notch support, installatation help, pre-release versions, etc.)
    Hi,
    It is free. The only paid services they offer, is if you want them to do things for you. But the actual program and support is totally free (they offer forum support and ticket support – free). The way they make money is by offering hosting.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Chesterton, IN
    Posts
    792
    My vote is phpBB. I have found my phpBB to be easier to administrate than any iBF, as well as customize. There are very few differences between the two's template systems (skins, themes, etc). I don't see why an iBF would be easier to customize because of that.
    Matt De Leon
    GreekComm - http://www.greekcomm.com/
    Online Community for Greek Fraternities and Sororities.

  10. #10
    INVISION FOR SURE!

    their new version 1.1 is great with tonnes of features and the upgrade was painless and very simple! Love it!

    I would definately go for IB!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,622
    Another vote for Invision Board from me.

    I've used both quite a bit and have to say I love IB (phpBB is good aswell though). Also, I've not done any tests as such but IB 'feels' a little less clunky and faster.

    Plus, the latest version is totally feature packed - I especially like the new moderation options... makes life a whole lot easier when dealing with many posts.
    Chief brew-maker at several hosting brands since 2002.

    FLXI | UK based, cPanel/WHM reseller hosting
    Pay-as-you-go billing, why pay for what you don't use?

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    3,098
    Has to be invision board, check out the new beta release

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    MO, USA
    Posts
    1,104
    The database requirements for the 2 are different. phpBB will run on mySQL OR MS Access whereas InvisionBoard requires mySQL and doesn't support MS Access. mySQL is supposed to be a better database, but some Win hosting companies won't support it so you need to consider that also. This is why I've run phpBB instead of InvisionBoard. If you're running on a Linux host, then you shouldn't have this problem.

  14. #14
    As far as a user stand-point though, witch one is more appealing? I am more comfortable with phpBB, but my intreast is in the users, not me.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    265
    the point i am concerning is which one can support more than, say 1,000,000 posts without porformance lost? Thanks.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Perth, Western Australia
    Posts
    227
    Originally posted by JeremyV


    I just kill the process and it will work fine for a few days until it happens again. I have tried to figure out why this happens, and almost always happens early in the morning even when not much use. So as of now, I just kill it and it will continue working just fine. *shrug*

    When I had this forum on a shared account I too had my account suspended as they kept reporting to me this was happening. I thought they were just lying and mad I was running a busy forum, but soon after putting it on my own server I know what they were talking about.
    What does the runaway process look like?

    Apache related process? ie:

    apache 4751 80.0 4.6 31208 23716 ? S 05:00 :00 /usr/sbin/httpd
    <<Please RTFM for signature setup>>

  17. #17
    here i go again.

    Let's see:

    -invision board is currently the fastest forum software ever (yes, faster than vbulletin)
    -u may think that invision board will get slower as more features get in. Well, invision board v1.1 has a lot more features than 1.0.x but v1.1 has been proven to be slightly faster than 1.0.x.
    -i have to say that invision board has a bad skinning system but in v1.1, their skinning system has been greatly improved.
    -It will always be free because it is being developed by a professional coder, Matt. If u look at his history, all his forum softwares have been free. He had helped developing yabb and ikonboard.
    -Through my experience, their support is good cos u get an answer the day u asked the question, not like ikonboard.

    With my experience, phpBB also has its advantages. But i would recommend ibf as it has a bright future but it's ur choice.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Los Angeles, CA
    Posts
    1,337
    I vote for IB, phpBB admin panel doesn't have a lot of features.
    Ronny Fang
    Linux Problems Solved. | Built for the Hosting Industry
    Server Management. Node Management. Helpdesk Management.
    ( AcuNett, Est. 15 Years, RateLobby 5 Stars )

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    United Arab Emirates
    Posts
    468
    I have been using Invision Board 1.01 and now i have switched to Invision Board Beta 1.1

    I vote for Invision Board

  20. #20
    can i vote for wBB ? i think it's better than all of them

  21. #21
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Posts
    1,593
    We better keep the thread on-topic (namely, phpbb and invisionboard).

    wBB version 2 has become a paid version, which cuts down a lot on its appeal.

    Peter

  22. #22
    Originally posted by raz0r
    can i vote for wBB ? i think it's better than all of them
    if u include costs, speed, team support and features, i don't think so.

  23. #23
    The performance of the board is greatly affected by the performance of the HTTP and mySQL servers.

    If you were to load balance three or four servers, then it's possible that you could manage thousands on online users and millions of posts without a problem.

    The software can only scale as far as the hardware allows.

    Invision Board has proven to handle about 350 - 400 online users on one single 1.2ghz proc'd server, running both HTTP and mySQL without a problem.

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