MSI z97-Gaming 7 and Gigabyte z97x-Gaming 7 are sharing the best bang for the buck on the z97 market at the moment.
Why?
1- Onboard Audio: If you are gonna use the onboard audio solution these MSI and Gigabyte use tad better components than their rivals this time around. Most of the boards, even the Asus ROG boards employ Realtek ALC1150 codec (don't believe the gimmicky Asus marketing here, they just love to rename things in a very cool way.) and also pcb seperation, emi shielding etc.... But MSI and Gigabyte Gaming series employs nichicon caps which are the exact same caps that are used on studio-grade audio solutions. In terms of snr these are currently the best ones after Gigabyte G1 sniper which actually has quad core Creative sound processor.
2- VRM department quality: One might say it's not that important anymore, since the vrm load is now shared with cpu. Well it's true at some point. We don't need some overkill vrms anymore to do badass overclocks. But the vrm still matters. Good vrm runs cooler, more efficient and makes your overclock more stable in the long-term.
Here MSI and Gigabyte Gaming 7 boards are outperform even the more expensive ROG boards like HERO.
Gigabyte Gaming 7 has 8 true phases digitally controlled by IR 3563B. Mosfets are some decent powerpaks from Vishay. 8 of them. Each should be around 30A@6.5W. I don't know much about inductors (8 of them) they use since Gigabyte tend not to give that info out. But they are probably not 60A, but also not less than 40A.
MSI Gaming 7 offers tad more output with a bit more costly and hard to build vrm. It's 6 true phases digitally controlled by Intersil 6388 but doubled to 12 with doubler drivers. On the paper one might say 8 true phase design without doubler is better. But that depends, and you'll see why. There are 12 powerpak mosfets from nikos and each roughly can do around 39A@6.5V. Also 12 chokes (inductors) rated at 60amp.
The difference is very minor though and it won't effect the overclock potential for sure. But more mosfet count means that less load and less heat, better heat dissipation. Also MSI's design is a bit more costly and harder to apply. Still Gigabyte's 8 true phase pwm design is tad more efficient in the first place. So on the paper they are pretty much equal.
Also I'd like to suggest an ASRock board here. But I don't know... Even though Extreme6 looks good I just don't understand why ASRock still continue promoting their hybrid/analog controller as a digital one. I just decided to stay away from them and their deceptive marketing.
Anyways... At this price range you'll have pretty much the same features like 8x sata3 ports, 6-8x usb3 ports etc.. and also will have the m.2 slot, sli&crossfire support etc... Pretty much everything you need.
What about Asus maximus vii HERO? Or its below 200$ brother Ranger. Well... we can't say that rog boards have better components than the two boards I suggested here. Because they don't. I don't really a reason to suggest them unless you have a personal brand preference (which is really meaningless in electronics).
So all in all I would go either Gigabyte z97x Gaming 7 or MSI z97x Gaming 7 (what a naming coincidence eh?).
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