Z97 MoBo Choice?

[Nvious]

I'm having trouble choosing between the following Z97 boards. Can you help me choose (or point me to the best in this price range if I'm missing something?

 

MSI Gaming 5

ASRock Fatality Z97X

ASRock Extreme 6

ASUS Z97-A

 

Pros of Each:

• MSI: Cheapest, Good Audio, 6 Months XSplit, OC Genie / Good BIOS, Power / Reset Switch
• ASRock Fatality: Lots of USB ports + PCIe Ports, Supposedly Good OCing, Nice Color
• ASRock Extreme 6: 10 SATA 6GB/S, Best M.2 Support, DisplayPort, Lots of USB, Good OCing
• ASUS Z97-A: Best Fan Support (for my H440), 5X Optimization, Best RAM Support, Displayport

 

Cons of each:

• MSI: They never shut up about the Audio, which makes me think that the rest of the board is pretty mediocre. Have yet to find fan support specs. No SATA Express
• ASRock Fatality: Not great fan support (oh well, H440 has a controller regardless), no power / reset switch
• ASRock Extreme 6: Don't like the color, no read USB 2.0 (not a big deal), poorest PCIe layout, MOST EXPENSIVE
• ASUS Z97-A: Currently out of stock at my MicroCenter, only 4 SATA 6Gb/s, Less good Audio (I believe)

So, What' the deal? HELP ME LTT forum! You're my only hope.. And please do tell me if I'm missing some crazy amazing MoBo from Biostar or something. This is just the best that I've found at my local Microcenter at my price point. Worst comes to worst I can also probably dish out a little more if needed. 

 

Thanks.

 

[TooSchoolForCool]

Just because the on board audio is good on the msi's does not mean that they are bad and you wont really be caring about sata-e for a while/you wont wanna buy the hd's because they will be damn expensive but nevertheless you should buy the board that has what you want and fits into your budget. (and dont consider biostar they are a beginner grade hardware co.) My recommendation because they are cheap and have military class 4 rating : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130779&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

[ForsakenLive]

I would pick the Fatality if you want that bright red, or the Extreme 6. 

Personally I found green blue yellow and orange builds much more appealing than the old red. It's not only overused, but it looks hotter and noisier. Who wants a PC with 'fire' inside? Purple and blue always look cool 'n' quiet. White is only nice if you do it right.

 

The reviews and specs on the Asrock boards compete with the ones on the $150-220 pricepoint, with decent audio (give me golden jap caps) quite good OCing options, and plain good looks.

 

Most people fail to pick a motherboard when they start to get rambled between all those features, the best way to do it, is try to think about the stuff that you will actually use.

For example, do I need crazy ass audio? Not really, I don't have top of the tier $350 headphones to compensate. Do I need crazy ROG overcloking? not at all, I'm always going for a stable 24/7 OC that doesn't stress my chip that much. Am I going to use all this OC features? not really, I set the clocks and voltages manually, from the bios/uefi. 

After I check the basic features and quality the board needs for my uses, and some choices I would like to pick for future upgrades, you are pretty much done; stuff like warranty, testing and compatibility are important too. PCIe Layout also matters, if you want to go with a huge air cooler, the 1st slot shouldn't be x16. To avoid cooling issues on the GPU, I like having the first 2 x16 slots far away from each other, so SLI / Crossfire configurations  on the feature can run cooler.

[dragoon20005]

The MSI board may be the cheapest among your choice

 

but they are known to make solid boards

 

I have P31 board from MSI and it still running

[King_Gamma]

MSI Gaming 5 I have this in my rig and I love it!!

[Gachr]

What's the rest of the components?

The onboard audio depends, the all great "gaming" sound chips might have great quality, but I prefer Realtek due to compatibility.

[dragoon20005]

What's the rest of the components?

The onboard audio depends, the all great "gaming" sound chips might have great quality, but I prefer Realtek due to compatibility.

The MSI board is in fact using a Realtek chipset

 

just that it comes with Creative Audio software

[TymmVonD]

MSI. They look "game-y". The BIOS is "better" than Asus, Gigabyte, Biostar, to me. Ever since, I've preferred the MSI boards. Lots of USB 3.0, compared to Maximus.

[dragoon20005]

the gaming 5 series is a good balance of cost and features

 

just nice for gamer and allows future expandability 

[Gachr]

The MSI board is in fact using a Realtek chipset

 

just that it comes with Creative Audio software

What makes it so great then? And I didn't talk about MSI boards, just mobos in general. Gigabyte is using Creative chips, often you don't know because there is "Pure Great Ultra Super Gaming Audio Chip On-Board".

 

@up

A "gaming" board doesn't do much in terms of gaming, it is just branding...

[dragoon20005]

What makes it so great then? And I didn't talk about MSI boards, just mobos in general. Gigabyte is using Creative chips, often you don't know because there is "Pure Great Ultra Super Gaming Audio Chip On-Board".

 

@up

A "gaming" board doesn't do much in terms of gaming, it is just branding...

I didn't say they were great just pointing out that most board still use Realtek chips

 

Gigabyte G1 series are the special case but I don't think ppl need super audio when the Realtek chips does the same job on a cheaper board

[Akolyte]

I would personally pick the z97-a.  Its not the most feature-filled one or the most biggest one but its functional and I like the Asus UEFI and like their software suite.  

[Nvious]

What's the rest of the components?

The onboard audio depends, the all great "gaming" sound chips might have great quality, but I prefer Realtek due to compatibility.

 

I have a 7.1 Logitech Sound System which is curretly running on an old sound card I have. Here are the rest of the components, although I haven't bought all of them yet:

 

i5 4690k

Corsair H55

Kingston Fury 2x4 GB 1600

PNY XLR8 120 GB

Seagate Barracuda 2 TB

Gigabyte Windforce r9 290

NZXT H440

Corsair CSM 550W

 

Many of you seem pretty happy with the Gaming 5. It is the cheapest. Does anybody have any expirience with the Fatality or the Extreme 6?

[adnank77]

If the system is for you are planning to put a graphics card, then forget the Display Port support and it'll be superseded by the graphics card .. 

 

If the system is primarily for gaming, go for the ASRock Fital1ty .. I was in computex 2014 this year and it won an award for being best gaming motherboard presented (based on votes). 

The MSI gaming 5 is also a solid choice .. so if price difference is major, go for this one .. 

 

If overclocking is your prime interest, then go for the Extreme 4 .. 

 

When it comes to ASUS .. I like their ROG motherboards .. but the standard ones are just standard .. good as general purpose but no competitive advantage other than the name  .. 

[Nvious]

If the system is primarily for gaming, go for the ASRock Fital1ty .. I was in computex 2014 this year and it won an award for being best gaming motherboard presented (based on votes). 

The MSI gaming 5 is also a solid choice .. so if price difference is major, go for this one .. 

 

 

They changed the prices a bit today it seems, and now the Fatality is actually $5 cheaper. I'm still having trouble deciding, as I prefer the MSI BIOS... Ugh, this is tough.

[King_Gamma]

They changed the prices a bit today it seems, and now the Fatality is actually $5 cheaper. I'm still having trouble deciding, as I prefer the MSI BIOS... Ugh, this is tough.

MSI's UEFI is fantastic! You can set custom profiles and save them. It is also really easy to navigate.

As for audio quality it is great. It has a separated PCB. You can also supply its own power with a molex plug provided instead of using some of the power from the 24 pin.