Asus Maximus VI Hero or Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD5H? Advice?

Kissyface69

Honorable
Jan 2, 2014
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10,510
I have been mulling over these two mobos for way too long. Anyone care to chime in with a helpful opinion?

Gigabye GA-Z87X-UD5H LGA 1150
Asus Maximus VI Hero LGA 1150 Intel Z87

In general "get the Asus" seems to be a consensus as far as most motherboard decisions I see being suggested. But, given alot of reviews as of recent, it seems Asus isn't quite as much of a go-to in terms of customer service and quality as they used to be. In fact, their customer service seems to be quite terrible from many experiences I have read, which seems daunting should i recieve a DOA board or something. Otherwise I would have just gone with the Asus by now.

- I do not care about onboard audio. I will be installing a high quality audio card, so no concern there.

- I will be running Windows 7 or 8 as well as OSX Mavericks. I know Gigabyte lends itself to "Hackintosh" setups moreso than Asus, but it's possible with both of these boards. So, stuck there.

- I have 5 fans in my case, so the Gigabyte would be a bit less of a hassle in terms of fans, but getting a couple splitters for the Asus wouldn't be a big deal.

- Also I am installing a Noctua NH-L12 for my cpu cooler. This should have plenty of clearance for ram on either board as far as I can tell. But if anyone knows otherwise, would love to hear.

- Any suggestions of course welcome for other boards. My budget is in the ~$200 zone.

So, yeah. Totally stuck. Spent way too many hours staring at both of these and thinking. Any advice is welcome very much. Thanks.