Z77 OC Motherboard Shootout - MSI vs ASRock

Performance Summary: Both the ASRock Z77 OC Formula and the MSI Z77 Big Bang MPOWER posted strong scores in our benchmarks, thanks in part no doubt to the Intel Core i7-3770K (Ivy Bridge) processor and zippy OCZ Vertex 4 SSD in the system, but in every test it was the MSI board that came out on top by mostly slim margins. However, the ASRock board managed to best its competitor with a slightly better overclock of 4.747GHz.

Deciding a winner in this shootout is tricky; on the one hand, the MSI Z77 Big Bang MPOWER showed that it’s consistently faster in regular tests, which might temp you to think that it’s the better board. And frankly, if these were two standard motherboards, that’s what we’d say and give the nod to MSI despite the ASRock board’s slightly higher overclock. This shootout, however, is between two mainboards that are designed and built specifically for overclockers, so we must give greater weight to that aspect of the competition, at least technically.  It's pretty difficult to discern a clear "winner" here though.

Truthfully, though, the margin of victory isn’t a wide one, and we can enthusiastically recommend either of these boards. Both proved to offer great stability and robust construction to ensure that they’ll last for a while, even when users push components to the max. Both also offer excellent UEFI environments and plenty of additional overclocking tools.

Further, neither board has a sticker price at the top of their respective ranges, which makes them all the more appealing. The ASRock Z77 OC Formula comes in at $239.99, and you can currently find an MSI Z77 Big Bang MPOWER for around 200 bucks or even less.

So go ahead, snag one of these bad boys and overclock your heart out; we're putting our stamp of approval on both these boards, as neither of them really has a downside.