Which is better?

Id do the Giga

Too compare the features look up one at a time on newegg. You will see a little checkbox next to the pic.... check the box to "compare". When ya have both checked, hit the COMPARE button.

or copy paste the following in your address bar after "http://www." (THG no longer likes long url's)

newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2050001314%2040000280%20600438202&IsNodeId=1&srchInDesc=Sniper&Manufactory=1314&page=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-157-369^13-157-369-TS%2C13-128-671^13-128-671-TS&percm=13-128-681%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B13-128-671%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

Sound and LAN solutions are different ..... Asrock has an extra PCI-E 16 slot that is good for only x4 so kinda useless. Giga has an extra PCIE x1 slot. Asrock has an extra 2 x SATA 6.0 Gb/s by ASMedia ASM1061 . Giga has an extra USB, and extra SPDIF, .... but you can see all that using the compare function

Most peeps have ascribe to brand loyalty .... they have had good luck with one brand so that must be the best .... they had bad luck with another brand so that must be terrible. I have never had good luck (bulged caps, warped board) w/ AsRock so am a little shy. I will say tho that their quality has improved over the years.

Gigabyte is rather quiet. They don't stand out like Asus and MSI but if ya look deep into VRM construction and such, the components they use are generally superior. Other than that, just from reading reviews, and forums, i see more glowing reports for Giga than I do for AsRock.

I find that different manufacturers excel in different price segments. When I'm shopping, personally I go for Asus from $225 and up....and MSI between $125 and $200.

What makes your question harder is Giga makes numerous Sniper boards.

I wouldn't consider the AsRock anywhere near the GD65. The GD65 and Asus Hero are a feature for feature match up and down the list and both have very good components....the MSI is $40 cheaper.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_z87_gd65_gaming/12.htm

MSI has been using components that meet or exceed MIL-STD-810G for some time as part of its Military Class build philosophy. Parts such as Super Ferrite Chokes that run at up to 35 degree Celsius lower temperatures, have a 30% higher current handling capacity, and a 20% improvement in power efficiency; Tantalum filled Hi-C Caps that are are up to 93% efficient; and "Dark Capacitors" that feature Lower ESR and a ten-year lifespan all tied into a PCB with improved temperature and humidity protections as part of the "Military Essentials" package......In the end MSI's Z87-GD65 is a board that comes with an expansive feature set that includes all your basics and the extras that set them apart such as the V-Check points, upper end audio, Dual BIOS ROMs, KIller Network package, Military Class IV package, and a three-year warranty. Couple that with good looks that carry the dragon theme through the board, and you have a winning combination at $189.

Click to expand...

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/msi_z87_gd65_gaming_review/15

Now and again a motherboard appears that is so obviously brilliant, and so affordable, that we wonder if anything will be able to top it. For a while that crown was held by the ASUS Sabertooth, both in X58 and then P67 variants. Then MSI stole the crown with the Z77 MPower. Looking at the Z87 GD65 Gaming we think it's going to take something extraordinary to top it, such is the perfect storm of price, performance, features and looks.

The switch to Military Class 4 has given us an extremely ready overclocker too. You're always thermally limited when overclocking and the i7-4770K is one of the most demanding around. Considering the amount of cooling we're using we think that although the GD65 is capable of bringing 5GHz from our i7-4770K you'd need a proper water loop to make the most of it.

Performance is outstanding. The stock results were a particular highlight. We know a lot of people still just like to put their CPU in and go, without overclocking it first. Despite how easy it is these days we know that the fear factor still exists. So you'll be glad to know that the MSI Z87 GD65 Gaming really rocks hard even at stock settings. Naturally the overclocking is blistering too, with some OC3D records broken.

MSI have laid the gauntlet down to all the other manufacturers. Gorgeous to look at, blistering performance and all at a very affordable price, the MSI Z87 GD65 Gaming is not only the new benchmark for Z87 motherboards, but probably for all motherboards.

Click to expand...

But unless you getting a very good combo discount on the MoBo / CPU, I'd get the Z97 version and the 4690k.

Pretty sure you'll be pleased with it, ask your Storm Trooper, he's telling his buddy about the A

I have a lot of Asus Boards..... However, they had a rough patch with the Z87's..... first the C1 stepping had issues with external drives and sleep.....when PC was woken up, external drives didn't. That was a hardware fix and if ya had a C1, you were stuck. I was lucky..... my hero and Formula builds were C2. But had to stop using them for the time being because of too many issues and complaints about the BIOS Time Clock bug.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-40554.html
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?45079-BIOS-Time-Clock-not-Keeping-Correct-Time-or-Date
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?33895-Hero-Time-Clock-Problem
http://www.simforums.com/forums/asus-rog-mobo-issues_topic47902.html
http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?35490-Sabertooth-Z87-Bios-Clock-Issue
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2119454/asus-z87-bios-clock-freeze.html

Google "Asus BIOS Time Clock Feeze" and you'll find threads all over the place. By no means an isolated issue. AFAIK, every Z87 model is affected and as the issues is unrelated to the Z87 chipset, the assumption so far is that Z97 is also affected. When Asus was asked, the answer was that if one is concerned about the issue on Z97, they should wait until such time as a fix was out.

A fix was announced on June 11 for several boards .... but it seems it either isn't available as yet or isn't working.

http://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?36676-Frozen-Time-Clock-in-UEFI-The-Fix/page30

Frustrating as hell cost me hours and hours of time to date but it hasn't soured me on Asus .... many peeps are upset because they have been nagging about this for a year and swearing they will never buy Asus again. Over the years I have seen every manufacturer flub one release or another and this looks like it was Asus' turn.

If their recent announcements prove true, it looks like they got a handle on it now. Fix was originally announced back in August and it works for a few days or a few hours.

The Z87-A was one of those for which a fix was reported as "available" as of 06-11-14....the announcement stated that the BIOS page would state "fix list states RTC stop issue cured". There are several BIOSs posted on 06-12 but the ones I checked say nothing about any RTC Stop Error being cured. Mostly just "performance improvements". Nor has anyone who tried these BIOSs found that it solves the problem.

While Asus is still my fav MoBo vendor, I can't in good conscience tell someone to go ahead and buy an affected board and then leave the user "hoping" they are not affected.