Which Motherboard is Better for My Build?

I'm not sure the msi has more features. The only place it appears to have more features is in pcie 3.0 slots. It has 3 pcie 3.0 x16 where the asus has 2 pcie 3.0 x16 and 1 pcie 2.0 x16 slots. Either way, it becomes a bit pointless. The z97 chipset only has 16 pcie lanes, so regardless which board they will both support the same things. Either a single amd/nvidia card, 2 way crossfire/2 way sli or 3 way crossfire (x8/x4/x4). Neither will support 3 way sli since they're limited to x8/x8 and sli won't run in x4.

If comparing the ports, the msi appears to have 4 usb3 and 2 usb 1.1 while the asus only has 4 usb 3.0 - but if you continue looking at the specs, the asus z97-a also has 6 usb ports to the rear, the other 2 being usb 3.1 which the msi doesn't have. The asus has more modern tech in this case. They also both run the typical configuration of ports where both have 6 sata headers but only 4 are operable if using m.2 or sata express. The msi doesn't seem to list sata express as an option, just m.2 but it might just be a detail omission.

Personally I'd opt for this board which has a promo going right now marking it down from $145 to $125 after $20 mail in rebate. Even without the rebate it's a killer deal. The gigabyte gaming 7 is a better board than either of those in my opinion. It does lack usb 3.1 but has more sata headers (8), 7.1ch audio and if overclocking has the benefit of higher power phases. The asus board uses 4 digital power phases with doubler, the gd45 has 8 phases I believe and likely 4 with a doubler though not sure if they're analog/hybrids like most of the msi lineup or digital like the gd65. The gigabyte gaming 7 doesn't rely on doublers and features 8 true digital phases which results in more stable power delivery for overclocking.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128708&cm_re=z97x_gaming_7-_-13-128-708-_-Product

If it's strictly between the two boards mentioned in the original post I'd opt for the asus. Even with such similar features, for overall quality I'd personally go for asus/gigabyte over asrock/msi. Unless you go straight to the bottom of the barrel cheapest possible board it's hard to go wrong with most of the mid to upper end z series boards. By then it's mostly nitpicking so if it seems that way it's because it is.

There's not a whole lot of difference there. The biggest difference would probably be in the power phases for the cpu. Not a whole lot of info on the g45 gaming, no real reviews or anything specific to that board. As far as being military class components, it's more or less a marketing gimmick. I'm not entirely sure since I don't work in the industry but some people who do say the particular military test specs they use are essentially a free testing method where iso and others cost money. That the standards for the mil-std-810g they're tested to aren't any more rigorous than typical testing motherboards go through. The gold plated socket bit on the gigabyte is a bit of a marketing ploy as well, I'm sure technically it may make a slight difference but honestly plenty of plain old sockets from back in the day functioned just fine.

I can't seem to get a clear cut list of 'what's included' with both those boards but it appears the msi comes with 2 sata cables (1 straight, 1 90* angled) and it looks like the gigabyte comes with 4, (2 straight, 2 90* angled). Both include an sli bridge. My gigabyte boards came with 4 sata cables but they were a different model so I can't really say for sure. The pic of what comes in the box on newegg is a bit of a bad angle to tell for sure.

None of those things likely make a huge difference, if the color is important to you then get whichever one you like the color of the best. Both are decent boards and should work fine. If one was complete junk and the other was premium it would be much easier to say 'get this one' but that's not the case.