Help me choose a motherboard.

[DatDinkleberg]

I'm building a gaming PC next week and I'm kinda hesitated about which motherboard should I get, I'm building my PC around a red and black theme, my local store doesn't have a wide range of motherboards, so my options are the ASUS Z97-Pro Gamer, and the ASUS Maximus VII Ranger, they're 189$ and 226$ respectively, and that's without VAT, there's the Z97-A at 179$ but it's not red and black, there's also MSI motherboards which are all cheaper than the Ranger, the Z97A Gaming 7 is 220$, the Z97A Gaming 6 is 189$, and the Gaming 5 is 174$, problem is that I have heard bad things about MSI motherboards. Which motherboard should I get ?

 

[Tradesman1]

The Pro Gamer fits the Red Black scheme though the Z97-A is a great mobo also (have done 9 builds on them), I myself won't touch MSI due to their poor QC

 

[DatDinkleberg]

The Pro Gamer fits the Red Black scheme though the Z97-A is a great mobo also (have done 9 builds on them), I myself won't touch MSI due to their poor QC

So you don't advise me to get the Ranger ?

 

[neverumindnow]

I, too have found out the hard way that MSI sells crap. I have had much better luck with Asus. My latest build is using the Z97-a, and I'm very happy with it. the Asus UEFI firmware and its interface are the best, IMO. Since you don't appear to be too worried about cost, get the red/black Asus.

 

[Tradesman1]

The Rangers good, but does it have anything you need that the Gamer doesn't? If not the savings can go into other components

 

[DatDinkleberg]

The Rangers good, but does it have anything you need that the Gamer doesn't? If not the savings can go into other components

Other than the looks (and bragging rights since it's a ROG), it offers pretty much the same features as the Pro Gamer, the only features I need are ethernet, at least 2 USB 3.0 ports, good integrated audio and CF/SLI capability which I'm sure both have.

 

[Tradesman1]

Yep, I like the ROG mobos also but, I think I'd be happy with a Pro Gamer, have played with one and liked it (didn't get to play as long as I wanted, but here in a couple weeks I will