Where do MSI motherboards stand? Any good?

[dma0991]

well it seems everyone has their own opinion.

If anyone has built with those 4 boards I have mentioned above I would like to hear from you.

Buy what you think has the biggest selling point to you. You seem to have a fetish need for more USB 3.0 ports then go for ones that do have more. I went for the MSI Z77A-GD65 because it offered features that what I considered were important to my needs.

The ASRock Z77 Extreme4 is probably one of the best value Z77 board you could find. Have assembled with one as well. It does not have more features than the other boards you've mentioned but at its lower price point, it is also hard to beat.

 

[Shephard]

Buy what you think has the biggest selling point to you. You seem to have a fetish need for more USB 3.0 ports then go for ones that do have more. I went for the MSI Z77A-GD65 because it offered features that what I considered were important to my needs.

The ASRock Z77 Extreme4 is probably one of the best value Z77 board you could find. Have assembled with one as well. It does not have more features than the other boards you've mentioned but at its lower price point, it is also hard to beat.

well I just thought 4 USB 3.0 is a good standard. 2 for external hard drives, 1 for mouse, 1 for something else.

what do you mean more features with MSI board? Am I missing something?

They are all z77 chipset. so they can all overclock and they all have the UEFI bios.

what else is there? The MSI board doesn't have eSata or anything.

 

[Xonim]

well I just thought 4 USB 3.0 is a good standard. 2 for external hard drives, 1 for mouse, 1 for something else.

Why on earth do you need to plug a mouse into USB 3.0 instead of 2.0?

 

[Madpacket]

My last 6 builds have been with MSI motherboards. All are still working fine to this day, no issues at all. The reason I've been sticking with MSI is they tend to give you more desirable features for less money and use less power compared to Asus or Gigabyte. ASRock has been hit and miss for me so I normally don't look at them as a first choice.

Sorted by most recent.

1 - FM2
2 - Z77
1 - Z68
2 - P67 (B3 rev)

Zero Issues so far. IMO MSI boards are underrated.

 

[dma0991]

what else is there?

Like I said, I bought it because it meets my requirements. If you don't see what I see, it means that this isn't the board you want. To explain in detail would take a lot of typing but I could say that there are a lot of subtle nuances that goes into my decision with the MSI Z77A-GD65.

This was my first MSI board and it was bought before a week before IB was released. That means that there were almost no reviews of this board at the time of buying. Bottom line, get what you want based on your preference.

 

[jacktesterson]

Use on all my builds , very happy with them

 

[Shephard]

Like I said, I bought it because it meets my requirements. If you don't see what I see, it means that this isn't the board you want. To explain in detail would take a lot of typing but I could say that there are a lot of subtle nuances that goes into my decision with the MSI Z77A-GD65.

This was my first MSI board and it was bought before a week before IB was released. That means that there were almost no reviews of this board at the time of buying. Bottom line, get what you want based on your preference.

you say features but is that really hard to explain? obviously you don't mean the hardware, because the MSI has less than the other 3 boards.

2 usb 3.0, no esata, less fancy stuff.

so I don't know what you mean. some special software on the msi driver disc?

 

[SparkyJJO]

Why on earth do you need to plug a mouse into USB 3.0 instead of 2.0?

This

There are no USB3 mice anyway, and for good reason. Heck, I don't think most mice even need USB2. I can't think of the last one I plugged into a USB1.1 port that complained about wanting USB2 (had an older keyboard with a 1.1 keyboard built into it for a while).

 

[bryanl]

The capacitor related problems have largely been eliminated, thanks to the extensive or even exclusive use of solid polymer capacitors in all but the lowest priced motherboards. With MSI, few capacitors should fail now, provided excessive overclocking is avoided.

However updating the BIOS appear more risky than with most other brands of motherboards, due to faulty flash utilities. MSI admits there are defects:

http://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/how-to-flash-the-bios-successfully

"We do not recommend using the MSI LiveUpdate tool to update your BIOS!"

"Windows-based flashing - If you REALLY insist on flashing the BIOS under Windows, if you encounter any error during flashing, whatever you do, DON'T restart your PC! Try again until the flash is successful, otherwise your board will not start!"

"Boards with built-in M-Flash function - While this is a nice idea, at the moment we are seeing many cases of users using M-Flash to update their BIOS and having problems, so at present we don't recommend people use M-Flash either!"

"The safest way to flash your BIOS is to use our own MSI HQ Forum USB BIOS Flash Tool, developed by our own Svet."

Another risk is that some MSI BIOS updates for Ivy Bridge CPU support make the motherboards either partially or completley incompatible with older processors. Do not update unless needed.

 

[Deders]

I've been very happy with both MSI boards I've owned, My K7N2 pushed my Athlon XP 2400 to be faster than a 3GHz Pentium 4 in most situations and lasted me for years. My current has lasted me 2 years and was a replacement for an Asrock that displayed the same PCIe bandwidth issues that made video jerky as previous Asrock boards I'd bought. Never buying Asrock again but MSI has served me well.

 

[dma0991]

you say features but is that really hard to explain?

I could explain them but it will just be a long paragraph of regurgitated information that could be found from the internet or reviews anyway. Read Z77 boards reviews and do a side by side comparison between each manufacturer's model and you'll get what I mean.

Long story short, features like 4 USB 3.0 ports wasn't on top of my priority list. Having the features you've mentioned is only a part of the decision making. There are more important aspects to consider while buying a motherboard other than über amounts of USB ports.

 

[mkmitch]

Check out overclock.net>forums>intel>intlel motherboards *official* MSI owners club/ All things MPower.

 

[Shephard]

I could explain them but it will just be a long paragraph of regurgitated information that could be found from the internet or reviews anyway. Read Z77 boards reviews and do a side by side comparison between each manufacturer's model and you'll get what I mean.

Long story short, features like 4 USB 3.0 ports wasn't on top of my priority list. Having the features you've mentioned is only a part of the decision making. There are more important aspects to consider while buying a motherboard other than über amounts of USB ports.

so you mean msi only software on the driver disc.

also your right I guess usb 3.0 is pointless. I thought it was super useful but I guess it's a gimmick. mouse no benefit, keyboard I use ps2.

only thing useful for usb 3.0 is an external hard drive and maybe an mp3 player.

what a con!

 

[InsaneAdam]

Ok guys I didn't want to bump my old topic because it's labelled Asrock maybe no one cares about it anymore.

Where does MSI boards stand?

Specifically MSI Z77A-GD65

how does it fair against these 3 boards you guys recommend all in the same price range.

ASUS p8z77-V LK
Gigabyte z77x-D3H
Asrock z77 Extreme 4

I notice MSI board only has 2 USB 3.0 ports... All the others have 4 minimum.

what is your opinion on MSI

MSI ALL THE WAY! I'm building myself a new computer this week because my msi mother board finally crapped out after 5 years of solid hardcore gaming and hd video. Those bad boys are ment to last and perform well. they are well worth it. Only reason I didn't buy a msi board on my new build is because I got a different brand x79 board at a killer deal + mail in rebate $290 board for $99. If I didn't catch that end of the year deal i would have most definitely gone with another MSI BOARD.


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[Merovign]

MSI have been my go-to, I don't think I've had one fail. I think I'm 6/6 on successes there, I did have an ASRock that failed and replaced it with an MSI.

In the *old* days I had horrible experiences with ASUS, but nothing recent.

The problem is, this is all people with a handful of experiences. I don't think anyone but the manufacturers collect real statistics on it.

And AFAIK the "military capacitors" are just not the stolen formula / bad caps, it's dizzy marketing speak as some have said. *Everybody* got hit by those, I had to replace some of those bad caps in late 90s cars. It was a catastrophic screw-up.

 

[Deders]

My consumer experience differs from my professional experience. Colleagues will tell me that they've had many MSI boards returned in the past (maybe down to the bad caps era) and that Asrock boards (one in particular) have been the most reliable, with the least returns.

Personally I've had nothing but average to bad experiences with Asrock, although they do innovate with boards that provide both AGP and PCIe which are very useful for bridging periods, I've found that up until the last P55 board I tried with them their PCIe implementation hasn't quite been up to scratch meaning stuttery graphics performance. Swapping the board for my current MSI (and the older board for an EVGA) solved the stutter problems instantly.

I guess the concerns I have don't really affect 90% of the end users we sell to as most business and schools don't need smooth gaming performance, but until I could not recommend Asrock for a gaming rig but I would happily recommend an MSI board.

 

[mikeymikec]

I've built about 90 PCs for customers (2003-present). About 10 of those were with MSI boards. Of those ten, one failed (MSI K8N Neo 2 or 4 Platinum without any sign of dodgy capacitors), another failed (MSI K9N Neo-F - bloaty capacitors), my parents' machine (MSI K9N Neo-F) has bloaty capacitors and can't take more than one memory module any more, and another Neo 2/4 Platinum has bloaty capacitors but hasn't shown any dodgy symptoms yet. The rest are ASUS boards, and one of those has failed (no bloaty capacitors).

I plan to warn the remaining customers using the MSI boards.

Someone mentioned ASUS having higher returns rates according to a website. I can't remember where I saw it, but I saw a survey of a (IIRC) tech forum in the last 3 years, and something like 90% of the forum who self-built were using ASUS boards. I realise the nature of percentages, but a survey of anything is more likely to be a better representation of the bigger picture if the survey is larger.

Personally I don't think much of ASUS's tech support, they seem to be as competent as the average broadband tech support person employed by a UK company (e.g. they're trained to read off cue sheets and they don't understand the nature of the questions they're asking, and furthermore they think they know what they're talking about). However I would be surprised if any mobo tech support department is significantly better.

I once had a chat with ABit's tech support and he was quite attentive, but it wasn't a very complex issue. I'm not sure if ABit is still around though...

 

[loki993]

I've built about 90 PCs for customers (2003-present). About 10 of those were with MSI boards. Of those ten, one failed (MSI K8N Neo 2 or 4 Platinum without any sign of dodgy capacitors), another failed (MSI K9N Neo-F - bloaty capacitors), my parents' machine (MSI K9N Neo-F) has bloaty capacitors and can't take more than one memory module any more, and another Neo 2/4 Platinum has bloaty capacitors but hasn't shown any dodgy symptoms yet. The rest are ASUS boards, and one of those has failed (no bloaty capacitors).

Wow I must have been lucky. I have a K8N Neo 4 platinum back int eh day and the thing that finally took it out was a bad power supply. Never had an issue.


What do you all think same price Asrock or Asus? Im thinking Asus.

 

[rgallant]

I've built about 90 PCs for customers (2003-present). About 10 of those were with MSI boards. Of those ten, one failed (MSI K8N Neo 2 or 4 Platinum without any sign of dodgy capacitors), another failed (MSI K9N Neo-F - bloaty capacitors), my parents' machine (MSI K9N Neo-F) has bloaty capacitors and can't take more than one memory module any more, and another Neo 2/4 Platinum has bloaty capacitors but hasn't shown any dodgy symptoms yet. The rest are ASUS boards, and one of those has failed (no bloaty capacitors).

I plan to warn the remaining customers using the MSI boards.

Someone mentioned ASUS having higher returns rates according to a website. I can't remember where I saw it, but I saw a survey of a (IIRC) tech forum in the last 3 years, and something like 90% of the forum who self-built were using ASUS boards. I realise the nature of percentages, but a survey of anything is more likely to be a better representation of the bigger picture if the survey is larger.

Personally I don't think much of ASUS's tech support, they seem to be as competent as the average broadband tech support person employed by a UK company (e.g. they're trained to read off cue sheets and they don't understand the nature of the questions they're asking, and furthermore they think they know what they're talking about). However I would be surprised if any mobo tech support department is significantly better.

I once had a chat with ABit's tech support and he was quite attentive, but it wasn't a very complex issue. I'm not sure if ABit is still around though...

re Asus tech support
just saying
-moved from a evga x58 to a M5F rog and was really surprised with the rog forum , same high level techs. on hand / or near by for any issues same as evga .
-comes with a higher product price , but I like fast / solid support and a faster rma if I ever need it.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Use on all my builds , very happy with them

Same here (2009 onwards).

 

[bigrash]

I've had a couple of MSI motherboards and they were decent. I try to stick with ASUS these days.

 

[Shephard]

Ok guys I have another question. I know I said I would avoid MSI, but there have been no good deals in Canada for motherboards since I started posting here in November.

Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 has not dropped below $159.99.
Asus P8z77-V LK is even more expensive and I heard of memory problems.

Now MSI Z77A-GD55 - not GD65 is on sale!

The price is $117 with free shipping.

Does anyone have this board? I don't know if I should jump on it or not. All I need is a mobo and ram to turn the computer on!

Here is the newegg link.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16813130644

 

[jacktesterson]

According to this, MSI has a 2.3% Return rate on motherboards. Asus is 1.9% and ASRock is 2.0%.

One person says they've had multiple failures.

Another such as myself will say I've used a dozen MSI boards over the years, most of them overclocking, and I've yet to have one fail.

I'm using a G43 budget priced board right now (It was under $100 new), that was a replacement I received for the SATA bug (I bought a MSI board on launch with the SATA Intel Chipset issue that MSI replaced, affected all Makers as chipset problem), so I've owned it since P67 came out with the new updated boards. Been running a 2500k at 4.5GHz problem free.

 

[Shephard]

I can also get the Gigabyte-D3H. That's GA-Z77-D3H not UD3H - for $140 after taxes and shipping.

The MSI GD55 would be $130 after taxes.

I don't know when the sale will end so help me out.

 

[SilentAssassin]

I have the MSI Big Bang XPower (X58 Chipset) and it's been running rock solid for over 2 years now. Best motherboard I've ever owned.