Alternative motherboard to Asus Z97-A?

PCNosePicker · Aug 28, 2014

Hey,

So I'm building a desktop. Have most of the components sorted out, although I need an alternative motherboard to the Asus Z97-A motherboard. I need something of similar quality and specs, but it can't be an Asus. My Asus laptop has been having trouble, and the Asus service has really sucked, and I really don't want any Asus components in my desktop.

I've been looking at Gigabyte motherboards. The Gigabyte Z97-D3H seems pretty good, in terms of both price and performance. I'd like to know if it is a viable alternative to the Asus Z97-A.
I don't really need an SLI option in my build, so I'm fine without it, since the Gigabyte Z97-D3H doesn't have an SLI option, but the Asus does. Some feedback I read about the Gigabyte Z97-D3H is that the sound is only all right, not great, which is a little worrying.

Any other ideas or alternatives? I'm not sure how good MSI motherboards are.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks a lot

i7Baby · Aug 28, 2014

Per - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mainstream-gaming-z97-motherboard,3824.html - ASRock Z97 Extreme 4

SU11YBEAR · Aug 28, 2014

In the same price range I would suggest these boards, all of them should be solid boards
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97xgaming5
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97gaming5
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-motherboard-142hre977kr

MSI and Gigabyte have upped their Motherboard game in the last few years (IMO) and Evga has been a top provider for a long time so I would be comfortable with any of these.

Darkbreeze · Aug 30, 2014

I would be more comfortable if MSI wasn't included in your list. The other two are ok. If you think ASUS support is under par don't even think of purchasing an MSI board. ASUS has a pretty decent reputation when it comes to quality and support. MSI has a terrible track record.

Ramon Suey · Aug 30, 2014

Hi PCNosePicker. I have just replaced my Gigabyte G1-Sniper / i5-4570 mobo which failed with the ASRock Anniversary and a G3258 on Wednesday. I have just used the built in overclock facility to hike it up to 3.8Ghz - dead simple. Core Temp showed a max temp of under 50C whilst running Tomb Raider 2013 for an hour. So clearly plently of room to overclock further in the future. TR ran at just under 60 fps with a MSI 750ti graphics card. The cooler is a Cooler Master 212Evo and one side panel is currently off. Would recommend this combination as it is cheap and puts in a good performance for the price. If you went for this mobo make sure you have a fan splitter cable as unbelievably it has only fan power for the CPU fan and one case fan. Regards, Ramon Suey

PCNosePicker · Sep 2, 2014

SU11YBEAR :

Hey guys, sorry for the late reply, was travelling. Thanks a lot for all the help and advice. I had a hard time choosing the best answer, but I'm going for the gigabyte z97 gaming 5 motherboard, so it had to be this. Cheers everyone

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