Z270E Vs Maximus IX Hero

270E vs Hero
Max ram speed: 3866 vs 4133
PCIe slots: 2 extra x1 vs extra x16
Bluetooth: yes vs no
Overclocking: good vs better
BIOS flashback: no vs yes

More or less complete

I agree ASUS is overpriced, but they are also an industry giant, which is how they can get away with this. Their UEFI is worlds better than Gigabyte and that's how they're better for OCing. The Hero unfortunately is one of the most overpriced boards. It strips features that were in the Z270E Strix and against other boards is lacking. Gigabyte gives you dual LAN, SATA Express, and U.2, but Hero gives you none of that. Personally I'm struggling with the Hero as an option too but Gigabyte's OCing is so far behind it's kinda shocking. So on paper they look great but once you use their BIOS you realize it's completely lacking.

I agree that the Asus BIOS is much more intuitive but that doesn't mean you can't accomplish the same thing. In my experience as well as published reviews, Asus lost the performance edge thru Z87 / Z97 ... they caught back up with Z170 but have not separated themselves from the pack as they did w/ Z77 and prior.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/msi_z97_gaming_6_review/10

The ranking is based on setting the board which recorded the highest combined fps in the gaming tests at 100% and ranking the others by fps as a % of the fastest one.

MoBo % of Leader

MSI Z97 Gaming 9 - 100.00%
MSI Z97 Gaming 5 - 99.86%
MSI Z97A Gaming 6 - 98.96%
Asus Z97 TUF Sabranco - 96.13%
Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 5 - 95.00%
Gigabyte Z97X SOC Force - 94.95%
Asus Z97 Maximus VII Hero - 93.67%
Asus Z97 Maximus VII Formula - 93.58%
Asus Z97 Maximus VII Gene - 91.69%
Asus Z97-A - 89.57%
MSI Z97 Mpower MAX AC - 88.20%
MSI Z97S Krait SLI - 71.01%

While many of the long term OC'ers tend to "stay w/ what they know" .... we generally don't see as much unfortunately for other brands. I'd be the 1st to say that I struggle w/ Giga's BIOS but in the end that job gets done, even MSI has me digging for things and finding a setting takes me longer than I'd like.

My main problem however remains as you have described. The cost premium is ridiculous and is just too big, for a pretty BIOS. And the latest foray, led by Asus w/ Z170 and now by taken up by other manufacturers w/ the substandard audio subsystems up tot he $150 - $180 or so price niche to push a few more bucks into the margins column has me doing a Nancy Reagan and "I just say No". We pretty much were an Asus only shop from 2002 to 2012, but the price gouging has not been my only issue:

High end WS build, failed MoBo took 3 months to get an RMA .. and this with "Premium Service" in which they ship you replacement BEFORE you send back old one. The replacement was bent like a banana an even w/ pressure applies it was so bent that couldn't get I/O panel into case opening... entire RMA process was handled by Pegatron BTW, (parent of AsRock).

Three Z87 boards afflicted by clock freeze bug ... Forum TS acknowledges problem, state that BIOS fix coming. Telephone support says that Asus as no knowledge of issue.

If a new BIOS comes out, say like when Kaby Lake support is available for Sky lake boards, you don't update cause you have no need for KL support .. then no TS.

I too miss the BIOS and I'd use Asus Gaming boards again, but not with the $$50 - $75 RoG tax and the lack of decent audio on low and moderately priced boards. The Sabertooth is a board I still use tho.

I also enjoyed seeing that Asus has followed MSI's lead and reinforced the PCI slots and made other on board component upgrades and also seems to have taken a node from Giga w/ better power delivery.

MSI does deserve credit. Their UEFI is VASTLY cleaned up to the point where it looks better than ASUS'. ASRock hasn't really changed since the Z77 days and the still offer good value, but Gigabyte's UEFI is just in the dust.

I am however very surprised by the varying results of these motherboards--didn't think the same chipset would make a 10% difference in framerate.

Also maybe we should look at Z270 results instead

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cpu_mainboard/msi_z270_gaming_m7_review/14

BTDT ... been looking since the 1st one and still waiting for a means to draw conclusions for the Z270 results ...13 boards from Asus (but no Hero which is subject of conversation) , only 2 Giga...gonna have to wait for a wider spread before any broad conclusions can be drawn ... and the GoW thing needs to be taken out:

1) Way too wide a variance... something off
2) Like anyone cares is its 216 or 316
3) Points to a tweaking thing

The other 3 results are closely grouped.

But as for the OC which is where you were concerned you were concerned about, the top board and the worse board on the list both hit 5.1 GHz ... as did the Gigabyte models