[sando99]

Hey guys, building my new rig and can't decide which mobo to pick. As the thread title says I'm wondering between ASUS Z87-A & MSI Z87-G45 GAMING. Can you help me sorting this out? Thanks in advance.

 

[DeXel]

G45 is better in almost every way. Asus has digital PWM and that's about it. Both of them are worse than ASRock Z87 Extreme4 or Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H.

 

[sando99]

Well Gigabyte is out of my budget. So you want to say that ASRock Z87 Extreme4 is better than MSI Z87-G45 GAMING?

 

[DeXel]

UD3H only costs 5 bucks more than G45... unless you don't live in the US, or found G45 much cheaper.

Extreme4 well it has better VRM. They have comparable sound although IIRC MSI has better amp. ASRock uses Intel NIC instead of Killer. Some people have stability issues with Killer FYI.

Also Extreme4 is significantly cheaper than G45, so it's definitely better purchase atm.

 

[PureBlackFire]

what is your budget and where are you buying from? the G45 gaming isn't so cheap, at least in the US48. it's the same price as the Z87X UD3H in almost every shop, with the Asrock Extreme 4 being ~$15-$20 cheaper than both. According to this chart and this pic the Asrock is better in at least one way.

 

[Nikusha]

MSI GAMING mobos are great Z77 mobos was perfect and they continue it i just bought GD 65 i was going to bought UD4H but it was out of stock

 

[sando99]

Well, I actually live in Bulgaria and the Gigabyte is the most expensive one followed by ASRock and then MSI. I also read that ASRock has crappy sound and big BIOS problems...

 

[Nikusha]

Go for MSI ori gigabyte hard choice between them cause both are great mobos can't say anything about asrock

 

[DeXel]

Yea you should have mentioned that. Gigabyte has pretty aggressive pricing in the US, but kind of high in the rest of the world.

Well, just weight your options now. G45 is OK board. Asus is definitely worse. Gigabyte is the best of 4, and ASRock is slightly better than MSI although I'm not aware of any issues that the boards could have.

 

[sando99]

So the best mobo of these is the Gigabyte, right?

Also, one more question: Will the BOX cooler keep non-clocked i5-4670K cold?

 

[PureBlackFire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sando99

Well, I actually live in Bulgaria and the Gigabyte is the most expensive one followed by ASRock and then MSI. I also red that ASRock has crappy sound and big BIOS problems...

asrock bios does have some issues that manifest mostly in the bios freezing, but to be honest, they all have a bug or two that are usually fixed with a bios update. the audio codec is the same on the extreme 4 and G45 so I can't imagine there will bbe much of a difference there. the stock cooler will keep it from overheating (hopefully) but I do recommend buying an aftermarket cooler.

 

[sando99]

Well the Gigabyte mobo is not in stock right now. I'm ordering the parts next week so if it's still not available I'll probably pick ASRock or MSI (which one would you recommend?).

 

[PureBlackFire]

then asrock. that heat on the G45 vrm is not encouraging.

 

[sando99]

Is ASRock strong enough to mount Noctua NH-D14 on it?

 

[Hyolyn]

Why not try the Sabertooth series?
Used it for my AMD and it's amazing, not sure how it performs with intel but i haven't heard anything negative.
It also looks good with the armour thing, just ordered it myself.

 

[sando99]

It's really out of my budget...

 

[GTA967]

You may need to rethink your budget and parts you need. What do you have on your parts list right now and how much are you trying to spend?

 

[Hyolyn]

What is your budget? The Asus Hero is relatively cheap and good

 

[sando99]

Well, here's the parts list so far:

ASRock Z87 Extreme4

I5-4670K

Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB 1600 mhz

Gigabyte GTX 760

Wdc black 750 gb 7200 rpm sata 2 32 mb cache, will be adding SSD later

Seasonic g-series 550w gold

Fd core 3000

(Do you think that Ivy Bridge is better?)

 

[DeXel]

Looks pretty good.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Hyolyn

Why not try the Sabertooth series?
Used it for my AMD and it's amazing, not sure how it performs with intel but i haven't heard anything negative.
It also looks good with the armour thing, just ordered it myself.

They're terrible value for money. That's the opposite to what OP needs considering his budget.