Z77 Boards: Asrock vs. MSI

[yams_22]

Hey guys, I was looking at deals on Microcenter and I learned that they are having a promotion in which they are selling an Asrock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard for only $90 when you buy an i5 3570k with it. I was originally going to get an MSI Z77A-GD45 motherboard.

I've heard good things about both boards but I'm not quite as confident in Asrock as I am in MSI. With this great deal do you think I should switch over? And if so, why, what features does the Asrock have vs the MSI board.

Thanks guys.

 

[nikorr]

They are both quality boards, I like ASRock, but its just my preference.

MSI is just as good.

If the price is the same, I would take the MSI.

 

[yams_22]

Any features on the ASRock board that makes it stand out? I know that the MSI board has OC Genie II which is somewhat appealing since I have never OC'd before.

 

[nikorr]

No, they are about the same. And u can OC on both mobos just fine, using the BIOS.

Its more efficient and its easy : ) They are about the same really.

And the ASRock has AXTU - The All-in-1 Tuning Software

ASRock Extreme Tuning Utility (AXTU) is an all-in-one software to fine-tune different features in an user-friendly interface, which includes Hardware Monitor, Fan Control, Overclocking, OC DNA, IES and XFast RAM. In Hardware Monitor, it shows the major readings of your system. In Fan Control, it shows the fan speed and temperature for you to adjust. In Overclocking, you are allowed to adjust the CPU frequency, ratio and some voltages for optimal system performance. In OC DNA, you can save your OC settings as a profile and share with your friends. Your friends then can load the OC profile to their own system to get the same OC settings. In IES (Intelligent Energy Saver), the voltage regulator can reduce the number of output phases to improve efficiency when the CPU cores are idle without sacrificing computing performance. In XFast RAM, it fully utilizes the memory space that cannot be used under Windows® OS 32-bit CPU.

 

[rwayne]

My vote is for ASRock. MSI is good too but I think ASRock is a higher tier in quality.

 

[spat55]

My vote is for ASRock. MSI is good too but I think ASRock is a higher tier in quality.

I heard ASrock are bad? I quite a lot of reviews too...

 

[iendigma]

ASRock

 

[bigcyco1]

ASRock any day!

 

[rwayne]

I heard ASrock are bad? I quite a lot of reviews too...

ASrock is a spin off of ASUS. Their quality is very good and has improved significantly over the past few years.

Check out their article on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asrock

ASRock sold eight million motherboards in 2011, compared with ECS and MSI who sold seven million apiece.The figures, which are quoted over on DigiTimes, put ASRock in third place behind Asustek and Gigabyte. This is a significant improvement over the company's showing in 2009, with 2010's figures pushing ASRock ahead of both MSI and ECS. This has recently placed ASRock as a top tier motherboard manufacture.

 

[yams_22]

Thanks for all of your help guys, looks like I will be going with the ASRock Extreme4 Motherboard. The savings will allow me to buy something else such as an SSD which I'm pretty happy about.