ASUS, MSI, ASRock, or Gigabyte motherboards?

[Danielle Alek]

I know "WHICH MOTHABARD SHOLD I GET" is a pretty tacky topic of discussion, but I just want a few varying opinions and to hear what people have to say before diving in and getting one.
What're you guys's opinions on these motherboards?
MSI 990FXA-Gaming
MSI 970 Gaming
ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura
ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX
GIGABYTE GA-970-Gaming SLI
GIGABYTE GA-970-Gaming
My current setup is an AMD FX-8350, 24GB of DDR3 1600 RAM, a MSI Radeon RX 480 Gaming X (8GB), a MSI 970-G45 motherboard, a Western Digital Black and a WD Blue, a Sandisk SSD, and a bunch of Nactua fans.
I play recent games at high graphics settings, so it needs to be good for gaming, but I also use it for graphic design, video editing, audio engineering, and all that good jazz. Hence the emphasis on RAM and amount of threads instead of performance per thread.
A couple things I'm really looking for are good onboard audio (all of the motherboards I chose have isolated audio), and a good phase count that can reliably use my processor to it's fullest abilities.
I want the biggest bang for my buck and don't wanna have to spend too much, but if it turns out the best solution is to shill out more and get the more expensive one I'm willing to do that.
Don't say "Just get a DAC/PCI audio card". I know, they're better, there's no contest between onboard and external audio, but I'm looking for versatility from one piece of hardware instead of having to get multiple right now. If I can get away with getting a cheaper motherboard while having money leftover for an external audio card, that'd be great, but I'm just trying to cover all my bases here just in case.
Which motherboard would you recommend for my setup?

 

[King Dranzer]

it is simple.

1. ASUS (ASUS = Gigabyte in quality but ASUS > Gigabyte in software support)
2. Gigabyte
3. ASRock
4. MSI (MSI is facing QC issues from a very long time and they did nothing to solve it)

Don't know when you built that PC but AMD FX-8350 is out dated.

 

[jimmyEatWord]

asus is the best but also the most expensive , it doesn't advertise for those tough steel made armor titanium that gigabyte does ..


gigabyte is crap and for those fat computer shop experts who'd like to fool you with their manual OC skils your mouse cursor would lag in a gigabyte bios

msi is good they probably don't know how to advertise , their sites also look like they were designed by some illiterate person

asrock has its name on it

----
i would buy msi from now on , value for the money

 

[King Dranzer]

asus is the best but also the most expensive , it doesn't advertise for those tough steel made armor titanium that gigabyte does ..


gigabyte is crap and for those fat computer shop experts who'd like to fool you with their manual OC skils your mouse cursor would lag in a gigabyte bios

msi is good they probably don't know how to advertise , their sites also look like they were designed by some illiterate person

asrock has its name on it

----
i would buy msi from now on , value for the money

MSI is still running through bad QC. I gave them second chance with Z170 board after a long wait of 6Yrs and yet again they disappoint me by failing in less than a month. Don't know why but MSI is not at all monitoring their motherboard lineup. On the other hand they are only concentrating on their GPUs which are very good in quality.

I wouldn't recommend MSI.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

For over clocking that hot fx8350, a 990fx is better than the 970. My personal preference would be the fatality 990fx but the msi is also a good one.

 

[jimmyEatWord]

asus is the best but also the most expensive , it doesn't advertise for those tough steel made armor titanium that gigabyte does ..


gigabyte is crap and for those fat computer shop experts who'd like to fool you with their manual OC skils your mouse cursor would lag in a gigabyte bios

msi is good they probably don't know how to advertise , their sites also look like they were designed by some illiterate person

asrock has its name on it

----
i would buy msi from now on , value for the money

MSI is still running through bad QC. I gave them second chance with Z170 board after a long wait of 6Yrs and yet again they disappoint me by failing in less than a month. Don't know why but MSI is not at all monitoring their motherboard lineup. On the other hand they are only concentrating on their GPUs which are very good in quality.

I wouldn't recommend MSI.

Does QC stand for Customer Support , cause i don't know , we don't have that option in our country . so if you ain't got the money for asus i would go for msi , i actually like it except the chinese dragon logo

 

[King Dranzer]

asus is the best but also the most expensive , it doesn't advertise for those tough steel made armor titanium that gigabyte does ..


gigabyte is crap and for those fat computer shop experts who'd like to fool you with their manual OC skils your mouse cursor would lag in a gigabyte bios

msi is good they probably don't know how to advertise , their sites also look like they were designed by some illiterate person

asrock has its name on it

----
i would buy msi from now on , value for the money

MSI is still running through bad QC. I gave them second chance with Z170 board after a long wait of 6Yrs and yet again they disappoint me by failing in less than a month. Don't know why but MSI is not at all monitoring their motherboard lineup. On the other hand they are only concentrating on their GPUs which are very good in quality.

I wouldn't recommend MSI.

Does QC stand for Customer Support , cause i don't know , we don't have that option in our country . so if you ain't got the money for asus i would go for msi , i actually like it except the chinese dragon logo

QC "Quality Control"

 

[Danielle Alek]

it is simple.

1. ASUS (ASUS = Gigabyte in quality but ASUS > Gigabyte in software support)
2. Gigabyte
3. ASRock
4. MSI (MSI is facing QC issues from a very long time and they did nothing to solve it)

Don't know when you built that PC but AMD FX-8350 is out dated.

Of course the FX series is outdated, but the Ryzen stuff is like three times as expensive. If I had cash for a newer processor, I'd be using an Intel setup right now.

 

[Danielle Alek]

asus is the best but also the most expensive , it doesn't advertise for those tough steel made armor titanium that gigabyte does ..


gigabyte is crap and for those fat computer shop experts who'd like to fool you with their manual OC skils your mouse cursor would lag in a gigabyte bios

msi is good they probably don't know how to advertise , their sites also look like they were designed by some illiterate person

asrock has its name on it

----
i would buy msi from now on , value for the money

MSI is still running through bad QC. I gave them second chance with Z170 board after a long wait of 6Yrs and yet again they disappoint me by failing in less than a month. Don't know why but MSI is not at all monitoring their motherboard lineup. On the other hand they are only concentrating on their GPUs which are very good in quality.

I wouldn't recommend MSI.

MSI does seem to be pretty damn hit and miss when it comes to motherboards, but when they hit they really hit it. That's why I was asking about these specific boards.

 

[King Dranzer]

asus is the best but also the most expensive , it doesn't advertise for those tough steel made armor titanium that gigabyte does ..


gigabyte is crap and for those fat computer shop experts who'd like to fool you with their manual OC skils your mouse cursor would lag in a gigabyte bios

msi is good they probably don't know how to advertise , their sites also look like they were designed by some illiterate person

asrock has its name on it

----
i would buy msi from now on , value for the money

MSI is still running through bad QC. I gave them second chance with Z170 board after a long wait of 6Yrs and yet again they disappoint me by failing in less than a month. Don't know why but MSI is not at all monitoring their motherboard lineup. On the other hand they are only concentrating on their GPUs which are very good in quality.

I wouldn't recommend MSI.

MSI does seem to be pretty damn hit and miss when it comes to motherboards, but when they hit they really hit it. That's why I was asking about these specific boards.

Go for ASUS.

 

[L0stChild]

pick the one that comes with features you use.
usb ports, M.2, pci-e multipliers, rgb connection, number of power phases....

Welcome to custom pc building!
Get what you need and plan ahead.
Before purchase, do a quick research on negative feedbacks on it.

 

[Danielle Alek]

pick the one that comes with features you use.
usb ports, M.2, pci-e multipliers, rgb connection, number of power phases....

Welcome to custom pc building!
Get what you need and plan ahead.
Before purchase, do a quick research on negative feedbacks on it.

Well, that's the thing, these are the ones I narrowed it down to after looking at what features I need.
Researching negative feedbacks on motherboards is really difficult, since everyone seems to have wildly different answers; there's some who swear by MSI, others who think all their boards are duds, and you'll see the same thing for every company, all complaints coming from equally credible sources. Any other computer part is easy to research and pick out, but trying to find a motherboard has been hell.
I guess I shouldn't have procrastinated on getting a new motherboard until I had upgraded literally everything else in the computer, haha.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

^ that's kinda true. Cuz I say asrock fatality or msi 990fx, but even asrock didn't have a good reputation a few years ago. But now they seem to deliver quality products at bang/buck price.
BTW, 990fx fatalit1y is indeed a good board. Don't get confused by my comment 😉

 

[L0stChild]

Im curious why u sticking with 970
I say if you're spending money on new gear, get the latest.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Different opinion Jimmy?

 

[Danielle Alek]

Im curious why u sticking with 970
I say if you're spending money on new gear, get the latest.

970 and 990 are what work with the FX series of processors.
I have enough money to replace the motherboard, but not enough to drop $600 on upgrades, Intel or the Ryzen processors are ultra-expensive.

 

[King Dranzer]

$350 is needed to upgrade to Ryzen not $600

 

[King Dranzer]

Here is the list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($197.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME B350-PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $357.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-19 22:41 EDT-0400

 

[King Dranzer]

It depends on how-much can you spend. If you wanna go with Ryzen it is possible for even $250 if you can wait for 1-2Weeks as Ryzen R3 is gonna launch. That will give you 4C/4T CPU for $110

 

[Danielle Alek]

It depends on how-much can you spend. If you wanna go with Ryzen it is possible for even $250 if you can wait for 1-2Weeks as Ryzen R3 is gonna launch. That will give you 4C/4T CPU for $110

1: I have less than $200 to spend on this, literally all I can afford is one motherboard, not a motherboard, a processor, and new RAM.
2: If I currently have an FX-8350, and I got a 4C/4T processor, wouldn't I end up close to where I started with eight total threads? That doesn't seem like an upgrade worthy of an extra $250 from what I'm already planning on spending.

 

[King Dranzer]

Don't know how much you gonna like this idea but here is what you can do. Sell that CPU+RAM combo for $60-70 on ebay.com add it to budget and go for Ryzen. $270 is enough to get new CPU+Mobo+RAM.

 

[Danielle Alek]

Don't know how much you gonna like this idea but here is what you can do. Sell that CPU+RAM combo for $60-70 on ebay.com add it to budget and go for Ryzen. $270 is enough to get new CPU+Mobo+RAM.

I don't really see the point, honestly, only doing $270 would land me with similar or the same specs as I have now. I'd need to spend at least $350 to get enough of a noticeable difference in quality to justify that price jump. I'm planning on budgeting for the Ryzen sometime in the future when I have more to spare, but right now I just need a replacement motherboard for the setup I already have.

 

[King Dranzer]

Nope the Ryzen R3 1200 is as powerful as i5-6500 at base clock so you can compare the performance to your FX-8350. Is FX-8350 as powerful as i5-6500 nope. And when R3 1200 is overclocked it will give even better results. There is definitely a big gain and AM4 has longer upgrade path.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

It's all right as long as u have a 60hz monitor. Cuz gaming in a 144hz, the 8350 will bottleneck and limit ur performance.