I had to go look through a few discussions on comp.sys.apple2 to get a definitive aswer to your question.

Out of curiosity, isn't ROM 1 better than ROM 3 for software compatibilities?

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The ROM 1 is better if you want to be able to run ALL the programs that were released for the Apple IIGS. When they released the ROM 3 version there was some of the early GS stuff that wouldn't run on it because of "bugs" in the ROM that were fixed in the ROM 3.

Of course the ROM 3 offers the advantage of larger amount of RAM, 1MB built in vs 256K, 256k ROM vs 128K ROM, ability to use the slots without losing the built in port i.e. put a card in slot 4 and still use the mouse in GS/OS, etc.

So it comes down to a matter of taste. I've got a ROM 1 GS but I've also got a ROM 3 motherboard that I'm considering putting into the case.

Cheers,

Dean