Ok, but would the gigabyte do OKAY as well?
Gigabyte makes quality boards also but they haven't done as well in this price segment with Z87 and they too don't typically offer a equivalent feature set at the same price ..... different board manufacturers seem to target specific market segments where they want to gain market share and will invest heavily and cut prices to "make a mark" or gain a higher "presence". Asus clearly holds the title starting with the GENE on up ($220 +). I have the Asus Maximum IV Formula and the board is great. It, like the other RoG boards have a current BIOS issue where the newer BIOSs bork previously stable OCs but I expect Asus will lick that eventually. MSI had a driver issue with their killer NIC but that was solved a few months back.
I do a lotta builds with the Asus GENE, Formula, Rampage but when the users budget drops down to the $200 mark, Asus is simply not competitive.
If ya still having problems deciding ..... do some research, read the reviews, check the performance charts, look at what components are used, even check the RMA rates for hard facts on quality issues ..... MSI current effort
in this market segments has them sitting at the top in every one of those categories with the G45 and the GD65 ......
Use the compare feature on newegg and look at the feature list for the Hero and GD-65, it's virtually identical. Neither one is a bad choice but he Gigabyte offering comes up a little short . I think perhaps Asus didn't want to cheapen the RoG label by dipping below $200, but the question remains.... Unless you thing the RoG label is worth $52 to ya, why would you wanna pay $200 for a board when you can opt for one with the same features for $52 less ?
As the review says above, in the $125 - $200 market segment, MSI invested heavily in high quality MIL Spec components, hit the market with extremely competitive pricing and have offered continual newegg specials and combo discounts..... for example, in addition to the $52 head to head for the MoBo alone, you get another $42 off on the combo of the GD65, 4670k and the new GTX 770 N Gaming series GFX card
What other parts are on ya shopping list ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1461080
If a GTX 770 and 4670k is on ya shopping list, that effectively puts the Hero choice at $97 more than the MSI. Gigabyte has some nice numbers on their combos but no CPU com,bos and not a lotta things that I'd actually want. The GTX 770 / 780 is another arena where Asus and MSI trade wins..... Asus clearly has the best 780 with their DCII but their 770 a dog by comparison, leaving 7.5% performance on the table with a measly 1058 MHz clock as compared with MSI's (and Gigabytes) 1137 MHz.
Other combos here
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16813130692&SubCategory=280&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1
Compare that with the Heros's combo offerings ..... not much exciting and they top out at $15
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16813131989&SubCategory=280&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1
Of course that does ya no good if ya not in the US. Simply, put....if both MoBos could be had for $150, personally, I'd choose the GD65 for the component quality edge, but I could not argue against the Hero. But at a $52 price premium, it's just not in the same ballpark.
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