ASUS alternative..

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Lamont

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 26, 2004
Messages
4,209
I have always bought ASUS hardware (mobo and videocards). Now that my mobo went to poop, looking for something with a good layout. I am not into overclocking, just stable, good bios and plenty of ports for expansion. I game, but mostly applications like Photoshop/3DS Max/zBrush.

My last mobo was the P7P55D-E Pro, but was too small for GTX 580`s in SLI, and eventually caused a problem with the power/reset connections on the mobo, bottom card was too snug against the pins.

Looking for an ATX that has:
  • SLI
  • USB 3.0 (if lucky)
  • Power/reset pins in good location to allow fatty 580`s to sit in SLI...

Or should I just find a videocard that can run two monitors at 1900x1200 and a Cintiq 22HD?

Thanks for reading.
 
lol OMG honestly ASUS is also on the poop list because of the lack of support and their annoying website.

SLI common
USB 3.0 common
Power/reset pins in good location bottom right

I can not believe how much I feel the you feel about the layout of ASUS mobos, so with that said Gigabyte with no software crap installed, you should be good to go.

Let us know what motherboard your thinking about.

I was even thinking about AsRock because looking at their motherboards and where they came from to now is crazy. tell you the truth there all the same as all as your not looking to overclocking.

PhoneyVirus
https://twitter.com/PhoneyVirus
https://phoneyvirus.wordpress.com/
 
I will go look through the Gigabytes now. I hope to find something since they are kinda old. Thanks a lot!!

I used to avoid AsRock. We used them at my old job years ago and they sucked. If they improved since then to something worth giving ASUS a run for their money, I am all for it.
 
LGA1156 ASRocks weren't that good, and LGA1155 were just decent. It was with 1150 that they really stepped things up.

For something in the 1156 era, I would try to find a Gigabyte or MSI board.
 
I am heading to the store soon after work, I will look at the Gigabyte/ASRocks 1150 boards... and a new CPU.. prolly ram too..
 
Nice to hear that and Lamont your are right AsRock did improve on their motherboards.

PhoneyVirus
 
I checked out the GA Z97X, and will have the same problem. I am thinking to just upgrade the GPU to a thinner one. The ASUS GTX 580`s are just too fat, unless I can find a low profile f panel connectors (or mod some...).

Going to look online now.. see what I can find.
 
Brought measurements to the store and turns out none of the ATX will fit two GTX 580s with the f-panel uncovered. Got the GA Z97X and a i7 4771 and have to get a new PSU, but got everything for 50% off.
 
Nice to hear that, but what version did you get, as there are many with the branding GA Z97X.

GA-Z97X-UD3H
GA-Z97X-Gaming 7
GA-Z97X-Gaming G1

Good choice on the processor, because getting a K version now these days are useless, all I can get from the Core i7 4790K is 200Mhz OC and even with that the system locks up with BSOD. Not mention the power and heat that it puts off, not worth what I paid for it. I don't know why Intel decide to put the graphics in there, honestly who even uses it especially when powerusers are going to be purchasing the chip.
 
I ended up with a Gaming 3. Going from what I had before (4 years ago i7) to this is a nice upgrade. Boots are fast, 4-5 seconds. I thought my PC was waking from sleep mode first few times. The UEFI features are nice and will take some time getting used to.

So for now, my two main monitors are being driven by a single GTX 580, and the Cintiq is connected to the on-board DVI.
 
Since Abit croaked I've built 4 computers with Gigabyte and they have worked well.
I was never a fan of Asus, they were always more expensive then they should have been.

MSI, Biostar......nah
 
Many consider them lower tier and don't have the fit and finish of top 1 tier.

MSI has upped their game but in the past they cut corners with cheap materials.
 
What past are you talking about? MSI has been good on the Intel side since 1366 and 1156. AMD... let's just say Thuban was a good learning experience for them. That said, their RMA service during the entire fiasco was nothing short of excellent (blew up to NF980-G65s, had working ones within a week).

Biostar might not be tier 1, but they're solid boards. They make good budget boards, and let's face it, most budget boards are going to have approximately the same level of fit and finish at the same price tier.

ECS... now that is a brand to avoid.
 
Tsumi, thanks for the kind words. We at MSI are really trying to make sure our products as well as our customer support is top notch! All of the feedback and suggestions from the community heavily influence our product planning :D

Also, If you or anyone has issues with RMA, go ahead and contact me or our support team and we will definitely get your situation resolved ASAP! :cool:
 
Boots are fast, 4-5 seconds. I thought my PC was waking from sleep mode first few times.

Again glad you like it, because the ASUS Maximus VII hero motherboard add that effect too, until I plugged in one of the optical drives and the Keyboard in ASUS Keybot port. Turned the Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD into a HDD when first booting.

Tried every possible setting in the UEFI-BIOS Rom under Boot Tab and the system still takes for ever, so with that I just disable everything like I did and set it normal boot. No splash screen with basic text POST etc, and plugged the keyboard and Mouse into the native USB 3.0 ports on the back of the motherboard. Everything seems fine but I do have to wait for the keyboard to wake now and then.

MSI got over look because I, personally fine them trying to be a little tad to much like ASUS, plus something to do with Voltage on motherboards or video cards a couple years ago, can't really remember what it was but I'm pretty sure you can still fine it. Plus I think MSI called out Gigabyte a few years ago about their PCI-E Gen 3.0 not been supported even though they had is labeled in screen printing on the motherboard. I could be wrong I can't really remember to be honest.

PhoneyVirus :cool:
 
Eugene Kuo said:
Tsumi, thanks for the kind words. We at MSI are really trying to make sure our products as well as our customer support is top notch! All of the feedback and suggestions from the community heavily influence our product planning :D

Also, If you or anyone has issues with RMA, go ahead and contact me or our support team and we will definitely get your situation resolved ASAP! :cool:
Click to expand...

we have an MSI rep now? interesting! I may have to go that way next time.
 
Thanks PhoneyVirus. This is the first time I have went to another mobo besides ASUS since making computers for myself. Now that I like what I see, I will look into other videocards as well. Soon there will be two GTX 580`s up for sell ;).

Even after reading reviews from all manufactures here on [H] , it does take a bit of a push to swap mobo brands.
 
Eugene Kuo said:
Tsumi, thanks for the kind words. We at MSI are really trying to make sure our products as well as our customer support is top notch! All of the feedback and suggestions from the community heavily influence our product planning :D

Also, If you or anyone has issues with RMA, go ahead and contact me or our support team and we will definitely get your situation resolved ASAP! :cool:
Click to expand...

Hello.
Nice to see an MSI rep here.
I have been almost 100% MSI GPUs since the GTX 580 series, both NVidia and AMD.
I've never purchased an MSI mainboard, but just may do so my next purchase knowing someone is here to support us.
I've always been an ASUS buyer and honestly have never had any problems at all, but their CS and RMA service seems to be going downhill.....so I will keep MSI on the short list.
HardOCP also seems to like MSI a lot.:D
 
@Lamont I'm happy that your happy, but I'm a little jealous that you can boot to the desktop in 4-5 seconds.

Every motherboard manufacturer has it flaws and some don't, I thought highly of ASUS until this Dream Machine 2014 build. At the end I said I would never purchase another product from them again, but what we should be really doing, is when we upgrade give other motherboard manufacturers a chance, sticking with one brand could lead to hating them for ever like myself.

So with that said, when the time comes to purchase a Upgrade Kit in 29 months, I'll give Gigabyte around and followed by who knows say AsRock just keep exploring and never put all you eggs in one basket like I did with ASUS.

PhoneyVirus :cool:
 
I buy a mix of MSI and ASRock when I'm doing low cost builds. I feel that both of them have the best bang for the buck out there. MSI has always been more budget oriented with good quality products, and ASRock has really stepped up their game in the past few years.
 
Tsumi said:
What's wrong with MSI or Biostar?
Click to expand...

Biostar's presence in North America is minimal. If you hate ASUS for potential support issues I don't think Biostar is a good bet for you. MSI has made some pretty damned good motherboards as of late. Physically they tend to be built better than ASUS or GIGABYTE boards. I don't like their software's design but it works for the most part. GIGABYTE's is the worst in this regard as I've found it to be largely unreliable. Their hardware would be pretty good but GIGABYTE has the worst BIOS / firmware of the three. ASUS has the best software by far, and their build quality is generally good. Among the ROG lineup it's top notch and second only to MSI's XPower and MPower boards.

ASRocks are cheap but so far more recent motherboards have worked well. I'd be cautious installing these as they are definitely more delicate than their competitors.
 
Asus tends to have more robust BIOS regarding voltage tweaking and fan control, compared to MSI.
 
Meeho said:
Asus tends to have more robust BIOS regarding voltage tweaking and fan control, compared to MSI.
Click to expand...

Yes they do. ASUS has the best UEFI out there right now and pretty much has since the beginning. They also have some of the best QC when it comes to the UEFI. Though MSI offers DRAM training modes on all models and ASUS only does so on ROG motherboards. MSI also has gotten much better in other areas where the UEFI is concerned. GIGABYTE's is pretty but has some quirks and some design choices I'm not a fan of.
 
Dan_D said:
GIGABYTE's is pretty but has some quirks and some design choices I'm not a fan of.
Click to expand...
I noticed this too.. it was a bit hard to get around for some reason. Or could be because it is my first time around UEFI firsthand.

I understand the use and advantages of the UEFI, but I wish they toned down the graphics, I don`t need it to be pretty.
 
I did not find the Gigabyte UEFI bios to be too difficult but I still F2 for classic. I miss the simplicity of Award though on Abit boards. Choice is good but too much choice an overwhelm.

I've never owned anything MSI or Asus so I could not say if I am missing anything or not.

From recent reviews of MSI boards they appear to be pretty solid.

Everybody has a hit or a dud so research is the key to get a model with good feedback.
 
ep0x73 said:
I did not find the Gigabyte UEFI bios to be too difficult but I still F2 for classic. I miss the simplicity of Award though on Abit boards. Choice is good but too much choice an overwhelm.

I've never owned anything MSI or Asus so I could not say if I am missing anything or not.

From recent reviews of MSI boards they appear to be pretty solid.

Everybody has a hit or a dud so research is the key to get a model with good feedback.
Click to expand...

I still drop to the classic BIOS quite a bit too. I've been forcing myself to use the newer menus on the GIGABYTE boards but there are some functional things about it that irritate me.
 
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