Z77 Overclocking Motherboard Shootout - MSI vs ASRock

Both of these are nice boards.

I have been buying mostly ASRock boards for the past year and none of them have disappointed me.

You buy a lot of motherboards, Neil? What do you do with all those boards? :)

Thanks for the shootout, either one would be AOK for me and in some ways I like the MSI board a bit better.

*** just wanted to pop in here >>yeah Dave I remember talking to Neil a while back and he has been having some postive results with his ASRock boards, mentioned some thing about building some rigs for raffles or local communities or something like that.. BTW Happy Belated Birthday Neil

Dave_HH:

You buy a lot of motherboards, Neil? What do you do with all those boards? :)

I build systems for others as a sideline to help pay for my disgusting computer habit. It's not a lot of PCs.

Four of the PCs here at the house have ASRock boards. (two Z68, one 990FX, and one N68 board)

One is an ASUS socket FM-1 board.

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Peter is right, I have built two raffle PCs for a local battered woman's shelter so far, with another one coming up in early 2013. Both machines brought around 700 bucks each to the shelter. I donated as much as I could and some friends donated parts to help me finish them off.

My wife is a pastor and a crisis counselor now and works at that shelter counseling ladies and their children.

There is a large community outreach here with many organizations helping these people. It's very cool.

rrplay:

BTW Happy Belated Birthday Neil

Not until the 29th of this month,....but thank you Peter.

I'm Chinese Hello, may I make friends with you?

This shootout really gave me the itch to build another bang-for-buck gamer that can be finessed to 3DMark11 glory.  Checking prices at NCIX Canada and the MSI board is on sale at $100 less expensive than the ASRock!

Edit: Let's Build Some $1000 Rigs!

realneil:

 Not until the 29th of this month,....but thank you Peter.

Good thing I mentioned it , & good to know as the selective CRS ever looms on the horizon..still like the MSI board a bit better and the price is good too ,,

btw @eunoia and gang ...Micro Center has the i5 3570K at $169  in store only todayhttp://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?sku_list=425470+425405+866350

rrplay:

as the selective CRS ever looms on the horizon

Yeah, it's a part of life at this point,.................

realneil:

 

rrplay:

as the selective CRS ever looms on the horizon

Yeah, it's a part of life at this point,.................

yeah sorta proves a point that "Your'e Never to old to learn something stupid"........................

meanwhile Let Build Us Some $1000 Dream Rigs like eunoia has posted 

rrplay:

btw @eunoia and gang ...Micro Center has the i5 3570K at $169  in store only todayhttp://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?sku_list=425470+425405+866350

Once again I bow to your superior shop fu. That's the CPU I'd most want to see in the MSI MPower Z77. If I lived anywhere close to those famous Micro Center deals, it would be a new Golden Age in Can./U.S. relations!

Great shootout, I was pumped up to read this as I just picked up the MSI board and the i7-3770K for $467 at frys.com over the past weekend. Now to complete the build. It's been a long time since I built my own system, anyone have any recommended sites to review proper OC settings? Thanks!!

Forgot to add that also has a $40 rebate. Here is the link: http://www.frys.com/product/7411335?site=sa:adpages page:P6_SUN date:112512

Now I'm feeling the urge to upgrade...

No thunderbolt plugs ? In 2013 ? For OC users ? Seems strange for me.

On a purely aesthetic basis, I like the ASRock better. I do think I would lean more toward the MSI for a purchase mostly because of the Military Class III components. I also like that each of the motherboards have been tested and certified. All in all, they both seem like excellent motherboards.

Both boards have turned out to be popular with consumers.

I'd like to own either one of them.

Pretty nice either one of them. I know MSI is doing their whole gaming series z77 MBs now it would be nice to see how they stack up.

I cringe whenever I see Asrock... they're prices are so competitive and I went for it with my first build (890FX) but it had issues with drivers that were just corrupted with no solutions that caused incessant BSOD's.  I eventually just had to go without a couple drivers, and I'm not sure if it's related to this as well but it would do strange things involving booting such as not booting when devices where in certain USB ports and only booting when a device was in another USB port.
I don't think I'll be buying anything from the again and I suggest others do the same

I've never bought ASRock boards but the few people I know that have didnt have really an issues. Drivers were something a couple of them had issues with but either found a workaround or ASRock got out an update. 

Before I bought my current asus sabertooth board I almost bought one but found mine new for $120 bucks and couldn't pass it up.

OSunday:

I cringe whenever I see Asrock...

And it's just the opposite for me. I have four ASRock motherboards (two Z68, one 990FX and one N68) and one ASUS FM1 board too. I have no issues with any of them. Loading all of the latest drivers from the websites help to make this so.

I recommend the ASRock brand.