Question Two motherboards one build!

[Notsquire]

Hey y'all, I'm putting together a 14900k rig.I ordered these two mobo. I was afraid I wouldn’t get one in time for my build. So i order a second. But they both showed up. I Can't decide between the gigabyte Aorus Master X and the Asus Strix-E Gaming Wi-Fi ll. I'm looking at a bit of overclocking, but mostly after reliability and feature set. Anyone got any experience with these boards? I been going back and forth for days. Thansk again!!

 

[Darkbreeze]

You haven't told us WHICH boards they are yet. You've only given us the general series nomenclature. Are they Z690 boards? Z790 boards? B760? Etc.

 

[Notsquire]

Sorry about that. They are z790 boards for the 14th gen intel.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Right, but of course there are several years worth of motherboard chipset families that will work with 14th Gen parts, that's why it's kind of important. So thanks for that.

The Aorus Master X is a superior board with a 23 phase 105A VRM configuration, while the Z790-E has a 19 phase 90A configuration.

Aorus master X supports up to DDR5 8266MT/s memory while the Z790-E only has support up to DDR5 7800MT/s according to product support page specs. It's possible the Z790-E can support higher speeds if BIOS firmware has been updated to allow for that. Possibly. But it doesn't say it supports it currently. Probably you won't be using memory that fast anyhow, but you never know.

Master X has FIVE M.2 slots. Two from the CPU and three from the chipset, with one of the CPU M.2 slots supporting PCIe 5.0 devices and the rest all being PCIe 4.0. The Z790-E has the same M.2 slot configuration, so this is a push.

The Aorus master X has a 10Gbe onboard LAN adapter while the Z790-E only supports 2.5Gbe LAN.

The Z790-E has WiFi 6e support while the Master X support WiFi 7.

The problem you might encounter though, depends entirely on your case, because the Z790 Aorus master X is not an ATX board. It is an E-ATX board, and measures 305mm x 260mm (12.05" x 10.2") while the Z790-E is standard ATX and measures 305mm x 244mm (12.05" x 9.6"). The mounting holes are the same but the Aorus Master X is about an inch wider on the side, which may not work in a lot of cases.

What is your case model?

 

[Notsquire]

Thanks for the in depth answer! The strix is newest model that’s supports gen 14 and has Wi-Fi 7

ROG STRIX Z790-E GAMING WIFI II | Gaming motherboards｜ROG - Republic of Gamers｜ROG Global

ASUS ROG Strix Z790-E Gaming WiFi II Intel® Z790 LGA 1700 ATX motherboard, 18+1+2 power stages, DDR5 slots, five M.2 slots with heatsinks, PCIe® 5.0, WiFi 7, USB 20Gbps w/ PD 3.0 up to 30W and Aura Sync RGB

rog.asus.com

My case is the 5000d from Corsair.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ah, I missed the "II". Let me look again.

So, looks like the only major differences are that it does have WiFi 7 as you say, and it has a slightly improved 21 phase 105A VRM configuration.

In all honestly, either of these boards is outstanding and more than 99.9% of users really want or need, even for a power hungry CPU like the 14900k, unless you are doing extreme overclocking and if you were you wouldn't need to ask these questions because you'd already know the answers. LOL.

And, as far as the case goes, it will support motherboards up to 305mm x 277mm , so either of those boards will work fine in that case.

I will recommend this though. If you have the standard Corsair 5000d, not the 5000d airflow, you might want to seriously consider swapping out your front panel for the high airflow option which is only like 15 bucks.

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/p/pc-...-airflow-front-airflow-panel-black-cc-8900501

 

[Notsquire]

Thanks man! I do appreciate the help! I always had gigabyte masters in the past. I was debating to switch it up. But just worried about reliability with Asus.

 

[Darkbreeze]

If we're being honest, at one time I'd buy mostly ASUS boards because the quality was always good and the customer service if something ever went wrong was always good too. These days, I won't buy ANYTHING from ASUS unless the price is so extremely great that you simply can't pass it up, because their customer service on things like warranty, tech support and RMA are simply terrible compared to what they used to be. They got too big, and now they simply don't give a tin crap about the average customer. Gigabyte and ASRock are still pretty good about their product support and their quality is good too. I've been Gigabyte only on my motherboard purchases for my personal machines, of which I have several, since about 2016.

For customer builds I'll use mostly Gigabyte and ASRock and will only use MSI or ASUS if there is a deal so good you'd simply have to be an idiot to not take advantage of it. For MSI it's not because of quality or support, it's because they are a lousy company that craps all over reviewers and retailers, and to be honest I have no idea what their customer service is like anymore because I haven't bought anything or had to deal with them in so long that my past experiences are surely no longer relevant. I will recommend some of their boards occasionally especially if there's a Tomahawk version of whatever chipset somebody is looking for because it's usually a far superior board in the upper mid range quality for lower mid range prices, but if there's an Aorus Elite variant in the same price range I'll recommend that. I've had very good luck with all my Gigabyte Gaming 5, Gaming 7, Elite, Elite AX and Elite WiFi purchases and so have all the people I've bought them for and used in their builds. But I wouldn't likely be inclined to run an i9 on one of them even though it would probably handle it at stock clocks just fine.

 

[ocer9999]

I completely understand your perspective on motherboard brands. Like you, I've also shifted towards using more ASRock boards for customer builds. I've found that ASRock, in particular, offers great value for money. Their motherboards are not only affordable but also reliable, making them a fantastic choice for various builds. In my experience, ASRock boards have consistently delivered excellent performance and stability, which is crucial for customer satisfaction. While I do consider other brands like MSI or ASUS when there's an unbeatable deal, ASRock remains a top choice due to their consistent quality and supportive customer service. It's great to hear about your positive experiences with Gigabyte as well; they're definitely a strong contender in the motherboard market.