MSI vs. ASUS and Gigabyte

[chihlidog]

Just a general question, it seems like MSI is pushing really hard to compete in the enthusiast market recently. I've always just kind of ignored them and went with Gigabyte and ASUS, feeling like the extra expense was worth it for the extra quality.

My question is, has MSI come to the point where they are as reliable/high quality as the others? Should I get over my prejudice against them and consider them when purchasing new boards? Some of the stuff they're putting out seems awfully nice, IF it's high enough quality.

 

[Z15CAM]

I kinda prefer the ASRock P67 Extreme4 - Extreme 6 a little too expensive for the Options and consider the MSI a 2nd choice.

 

[chihlidog]

I just mean as a manufacturer in general. I have a great board right now (the Maximus in my sig) but in the very near future I will be upgrading to either a SB or a Bulldozer, so I will be needing a new motherboard. Normally I only consider ASUS (and ASrock by extension) and Gigabyte, but the MSI boards have been looking more appealing lately.

I just am having trouble shaking that gut feeling that they arent built as well as the other 2 and Im wondering if there's anything to that or not these days.

 

[kittysox]

I have built 4 sb systems 2 using asus boards and 1 each gigabyte and msi. The msi board impressed me the most from a cost to features point of view and gave no trouble at all (the gigabyte was also very nice.) Can't say that for the asus boards, they gave me fits.

 

[Andres3605]

In my build i use MSI and ASUS, never had a problem with either.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

I've built several computers using MSI motherboards and have never had a problem with them. They really do make awesome motherboards.

 

[Bartman39]

Currently running a SB 2600K on an MSI P67A-GD53 @4.6Ghz with 1.312 volts and will run 5.0Ghz on 1.410 volts but keep it on the lower setting so its nice and cool with the H70...

Not alot of frills but a good solid stable board with the new type bios which takes a bit of getting used to...:thumbsup:

ASUS makes good stuff but they tend to be a bit to proud of it and seems like all I see are issues with several of the newer models...? ASRock if I`m not mistaken is the ASUS generic or second line (made by them) but just was never that impressed but havent had one since the AMD dual core days and they were not so hot...

 

[Zap]

MSI has been making enthusiast motherboards for a long time. Why does it surprise anyone?

 

[CraigRT]

I've used all 3 brands, although not MSI lately.... Never really had any major trouble from any of them.

My last few have been Gigabytes. My current P67A-UD4-B3 is stellar!

 

[Cerb]

Gigabyte more consistently allows undervolting, compared to MSI, so I tend to favor them a bit more, whether they deserve it on any other merits or not.

IMO, Asus has too many SKUs to sort through. I often discount Asus after I see the 90th variation of the same model number, with useless suffixes like LE, EVO, PRO, and DELUXE. Letter and number suffixes for features may be cryptic at first, but given that they tend to be internally consistent within a brand, it's easier to pick up the differences by them, than by an arbitrary name taken from a list of car trim packages.

MSI is often at the other end of the spectrum, with only basic and super-premo boards, but when that happens, the basic board usually has what I'm looking for.

My question is, has MSI come to the point where they are as reliable/high quality as the others? Should I get over my prejudice against them and consider them when purchasing new boards? Some of the stuff they're putting out seems awfully nice, IF it's high enough quality.

In the early days of Athlon XPs and P4s, MSI had some duds (I had one of them, and there were other models from the same time period that had problems, IIRC). That's about it. Other than that, they've been making good stuff for a long time.

 

[Vette73]

I prefer Gigabyte and have used MSI. No major problems from either.

I go out of my way to not use Asus though; not a fan.

 

[RyanGreener]

I think they're all good. There are the people that will swear to never buy one of those mentioned brands and buy another instead, but there are so many motherboards sold that you can't really use this as a way to judge these. The best thing you can do is look at the specs and see if it works for you in your price range.

Example: All the MSI motherboards I have had have been rock solid stable and never DOA, while others would say that MSI sucks and their motherboards are unreliable/unstable/bad quality control. The ONE time I tried Asus it was DOA, but that doesn't mean they're bad. It's just how things happen.

 

[bobwagner]

I have an MSI P67A-G45, which I'm happy with for the most part. The price was good and it runs like a champ.

The only fault it has is that it doesn't support manual offset CPU voltage. (And as far as I know, none of the MSI sandy bridge boards support that.) Your options are either:

1) Use auto voltage. This isn't desirable because voltage gets way too high at higher clockspeeds (because it errs on the side of stability rather than longevity/temperature).

2) Use manual absolute voltage. This also isn't desirable because your CPU will stay locked at that voltage even when there's no load and the clock speed winds down. This really sucks if you're aiming for a high OC because you're forced to have your CPU locked at a very high voltage even when you don't need it. Once again, this is bad for longevity/temperature.

Of course, if you don't plan to overclock, it's a none-issue. But since you said you're looking for an enthusiast board, I'm guessing that you do care about OC.

 

[chihlidog]

Interesting responses, guys. I just never really felt like they were well made boards. Not really based on solid information I suppose, just a general impression I have held. I appreciate the feedback and will be considering them as an option when I go to upgrade to either BD or SB.

Thanks!

 

[Janus67]

I think it more depends on what boards you are comparing. All of the boards that are in a similar price bracket will most likely perform similarly, it isn't quite fair to say that x-bought a budget $50 msi board and it was trash, so the next time they built they got a $200 gigabyte board and it was wonderful. I personally prefer gigabyte as of late.

 

[skipsneeky2]

love asus motherboards never played around much with gigabyte the color themes didnt match well with my case of choice the antec 900,which ive used in every build since the days of the first pentium 4 i built lol msi for me i dont care for any more i had a platinum p45 and one of the heatsinks made the fitting for my gtx280 almost impossible,i had to hack it to make it work,and the nb still ran hot with that elaborate roller coaster heatsink,and im using a msi ironically that cant overclock for shit i do miss abit motherboards i had the ip35-pro man what a solid motherboard

 

[cebalrai]

I've built 15-20 computers in my time and have had zero problems with motherboards of any brand. And this includes a few builds with second-tier brands.

 

[StrangerGuy]

1. Demand for desktops are getting lower and lower. Thats why we see MSI and Asus producing laptops...And Abit, DFI, Shuttle, Epox, Soyo, Albatron out of the desktop mobo business.

2. There is nothing substantial left to differentiate between motherboards. Nowadays it's all "support SLI or not?" and gimmicky stuff like "how many dozens of power phases and millions of SATA ports and heatsinks can we shove into the board to jack up the price?"...None of which are of practical benefit to most users or even enthusiasts.

At least back in 2003 a more expensive 875P mobo actually performed slightly better than a cheaper 865PE board (Even so, 865PE board with hacked PAT performs the same for a much cheaper price).

 

[skipsneeky2]

yup stranger i did notice whenever i used a pentium 4 based on the 875p chipset it was much quicker then any of the pcs with the same cpu i rolled with a pentium 4 till i believe early 2007 with the release of the e6750 lol yeah that long,besides from the occasional basic program that maxed my cpu,i didnt need to upgrade i had the p4c800-e deluxe my favorite motherboard ive ever owned thing blew me away i got it at a swapmeet never used for $50