Asus vs Gigabyte

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superballz00

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 8, 2005
Messages
148
I'm looking for a socket 1150 motherboard for a 4690k. I've had great success with Asus and Gigabyte in the past. Are they still the best when it comes to reliability? I'm looking for something that has a good chance of lasting 7yrs. Only requirements are full ATX and less than $150.

I've been out of the loop for a while so feel free to bring up any new features that you think I should put on my must have list.
 
For the money you'd be hard pressed to beat the Z97-A.
 
I just can't bring myself to recommend ASUS any more due to the exhaustively documented trouble with their RMA system.

Great gear, just pray you don't have any problems.
 
When Asus works, they're absolutely bloody amazing. When they don't work, they're an utter pain in the ass due to their customer service. Still, when I do motherboard recommendations over in General Hardware, I tend to give Asus a bit more of edge there. Especially since many of the Gigabyte mobos I see at work still have that damn stupid double boot-issue when you initially boot them. It doesn't hurt but it's just annoying as fuck.
 
jojo69 said:
I just can't bring myself to recommend ASUS any more due to the exhaustively documented trouble with their RMA system.

Great gear, just pray you don't have any problems.
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That isn't a huge problem for me since I can't manage the downtime of waiting to get it fix. Although, it would be nice to have a spare once I send it in for RMA. I almost ruled out Asus because I've read so many people complain about getting back the exact same product with no repair attempted on it.

Again, I'm looking for long term durability. I went with Gigabyte for my last mobo because it had quality capacitors at a decent price and is still running after almost 8yrs of heavy overclocking (475-500mhz FSB). It looks like it's between the GigabyteGA-Z97X-UD3H and Asus Z97-A. Do any of those have a problem with a large heatsink blocking the RAM slots?
 
superballz00 said:
That isn't a huge problem for me since I can't manage the downtime of waiting to get it fix. Although, it would be nice to have a spare once I send it in for RMA. I almost ruled out Asus because I've read so many people complain about getting back the exact same product with no repair attempted on it.

Again, I'm looking for long term durability. I went with Gigabyte for my last mobo because it had quality capacitors at a decent price and is still running after almost 8yrs of heavy overclocking (475-500mhz FSB). It looks like it's between the GigabyteGA-Z97X-UD3H and Asus Z97-A. Do any of those have a problem with a large heatsink blocking the RAM slots?
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I'm running one of these on my Z98-a and face it, it is by all rights a computer antique.

Thermalright Ultra Extreme Copper CPU Cooler, 2008

It's set up with 2 Scythe 120mm fans (push pull) and no problem with filling all the RAM slots. The fans are controlled by the Mother Board DC option as opposed to the PCM option and unless I really push things I can't hear the fans run at all.

That's an I5 4690K at 4.2 all day long on Prime 95, max temps 69 degrees. I can OC to 4.6 but I won't run my CPU's at 85c, I don't care how safe anyone says it is.:)

Yes, no doubt, I need to upgrade just on principal, but room is not an issue:)
 
I just grabbed at 4690K as well, perfect thread since I am in the market for a motherboard for it now.
 
Gigabyte isnt perfect either. I think both are good companies with good products. Be aware both make some not so great products however. Not all models are perfectly reliable. I have used both. I tend to lean towards Asus more myself.

Do your research. Look through the models of both companies and pick out the ones that have the features you want and need. Then research each of those models, look at the reviews, and see who is saying what about them and why. If you go with the idea of 'I will only buy Gigabyte' or 'I will only buy Asus' you could be shorting yourself.

Just my opinion. :D
 
I would suggest that ASUS gets a lot more shit thrown at it on the RMA front simply because it sells a shit-tom more motherboards. This is in no way saying their is not a problem however, just it gets more exposure due to the volume.

That said, in terms what I would put in my own case nowadays, ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, Asrock...in that order. I might be a bit skeptical about the Asrock, where as the others I would have no problem with at all.

And yes, that Z97-A from ASUS is simply a hard motherboard to not buy.
 
superballz00 said:
The one star reviews on Newegg scared me a little, although a lot of them were for DOAs. I've also had problems with Asrock in the past but that was about 7 years ago. Has MSI stepped up their quality? I remember them being good for overclocking but had quite a few people complain about failure within months. The main reasons I like Gigabyte is because they use more durable caps and have decent cooling, which really helps with durability. I know Asus tends to be the most stable but I'm just worried about an early failure.
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Here is the thing with the reviews found on Newegg...Learn to read between the lines. In fact, look at all the complaints in here and you will usually find a common theme. "New Mother Board won't post, Ram errors, No power lights and on and on". The builder goes right to the RMA route, gets a new board and boom, same friggen problem and it turns out to be something stupid.

Too many people get a board in the mail, slap all the parts in have an issue and RMA is their cure when most or at least a lot of the time the problem is the builder, not the product.

Between this MOBO thread and the PSU thread you will find the same complaints and questions asked over and over again...The reality is some people just shouldn't be building PC's. I've ended up with way too many new builds with RAM jammed in wrong, CPU's sideways, bent pins from that problem, Thermal paste on the wrong side of the CPU...The list goes on.

The last few machines I've built for people I've used Amazon for my parts simply because there is far less chance of getting somebody else's problem.

I live a few miles from D&H Distributors (and my buddy handles RMAs), a major supplier for computer parts for Amazon and the Egg. You can't believe the crap they get back that was not a factory problem but a customer who pooched a new product....Stupid stuff like the builder grabbed the MOBO to pull it out of the bag and ripped a cap right off the board and worse.

As a rule the manufacture simply won't take those back so they get shipped back to the dealer and guess which dealer has the most complaints?;)
 
superballz00 said:
The main reasons I like Gigabyte is because they use more durable caps and have decent cooling, which really helps with durability. I know Asus tends to be the most stable but I'm just worried about an early failure.
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With durability, it's hard to predict. The top manufacturers all use quality caps on mainstream and premium boards (for budget boards that don't advertise 5K/10K/"Japan made" capacitors, both Asus and Gigabyte use APAQ caps these days, despite the latter's previous condemnation of the component), so I don't think the likelihood of failure can boil down to capacitor supplier. Chances are that something else might fail first.

From what I've read, RMA rates between manufacturers are probably quite similar across the board, despite anecdotal accounts singling out specific companies for high failure rates.
 
Only problem I see with the ASUS Z97-A personally is the gold on it lol. I want to try getting into watercooling and it is hard to find a color that goes with it. Wish it was green,red or black lol.
 
You can always pull and repaint the sinks, thats pretty trivial.
 
Yause said:
With durability, it's hard to predict. The top manufacturers all use quality caps on mainstream and premium boards (for budget boards that don't advertise 5K/10K/"Japan made" capacitors, both Asus and Gigabyte use APAQ caps these days, despite the latter's previous condemnation of the component), so I don't think the likelihood of failure can boil down to capacitor supplier. Chances are that something else might fail first.

From what I've read, RMA rates between manufacturers are probably quite similar across the board, despite anecdotal accounts singling out specific companies for high failure rates.
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The Gigabyte does say 10k hrs caps. Caps don't have to completely fail to cause something else to fail. Usually, the drop in capacitance will cause stress to other components and make them more likely to fail over time. I'm probably just going to go with the one that I can find for cheaper.
 
superballz00 said:
The Gigabyte does say 10k hrs caps. Caps don't have to completely fail to cause something else to fail. Usually, the drop in capacitance will cause stress to other components and make them more likely to fail over time. I'm probably just going to go with the one that I can find for cheaper.
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The Z97-WS has 12k hour caps.
 
Dan_D said:
My point is that if your concerned about longevity of capacitors, the Z97-WS has just about everything beat.
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I meant the Z97x-UD3H has 10k hours caps while the Z97-A only has 5k hours caps.

It looks like you found the MOSFET heatsink mount on the Z97-A to be a potential problem. Do the heatsinks have an adhesive backing or are the push pins the only thing keeping them secure? I've seen a few reviews of the Gigabyte with the same problem but with greater severity. One even had his OC limited to 4.2GHz, from 4.8GHz on another board, due to the heatsink on the MOSFET being loose. I also read a review from OCAholic that praised the heatsinks on the Gigabyte and said they have thermal pads on the back. The reviewer from OCAholic took the heatsinks off the board to examine all of the parts.
 
superballz00 said:
I meant the Z97x-UD3H has 10k hours caps while the Z97-A only has 5k hours caps.

It looks like you found the MOSFET heatsink mount on the Z97-A to be a potential problem. Do the heatsinks have an adhesive backing or are the push pins the only thing keeping them secure? I've seen a few reviews of the Gigabyte with the same problem but with greater severity. One even had his OC limited to 4.2GHz, from 4.8GHz on another board, due to the heatsink on the MOSFET being loose. I also read a review from OCAholic that praised the heatsinks on the Gigabyte and said they have thermal pads on the back. The reviewer from OCAholic took the heatsinks off the board to examine all of the parts.
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It's just push pins. There is a TIM of some sort but to be honest I haven't pulled the heat sinks to check it out. It may be adhesive I don't know. I kind of doubt it given how much play there was in the cooler. Most of the Z97 family have their MOSFET cooling more securely mounted but the Z97-A doesn't.
 
Asus #1, GB and MSI can fight over 2nd place. My best builds have been Asus based systems going back to the 486 dx/2 days. Including some early AMD builds.

My last box was a q6600 on a P5k-p/wifi black. on water it still runs soild at 3.6ghz. As of lastnight I brought up a 4790K Batch# L419B643 on a Hero VII. and I could not be happier. A easy 4.7 ghz at 70c across all four cores on prime or occt with a H100i cooling it in a H440 case. and thats a over volted auto oc.

If my new cpu has 5 ghz in it. Im sure the Asus board will help me get there.
 
I don't know about ASUS, but Gigabyte just earned a 1+ in my book.

I had damaged the PCI-E connector on the board and had to get it RMAed. Gigabyte has a 3 year warranty on their boards (serial) so I decided to try it out. I explained the problem and within an hour I got a response and they told me to send it in.

I took out the CPU, RAM, and everything else off of the board. Although they recommend using anti-static wrapping to wrap the board, I had none available. All I had was a ziplock bag and packing material. I had to pay $16 shipping at my local USPS (I put a lot of packing material) out of my own pocket.

I was able to look at the status on their website to see where they were with my board. The time it took to repair was quite fast. It took less than two weeks and they paid for the return shipment, faster than what I had expected.

What really surprised me was how they returned my board. They sent it in an adequate size box with packing material. They also put it in an unused Gigabyte motherboard box that they had folded to accomodate the mITX board that I sent in. They also put the board in an anti-static bag. Furthermore, they added the plastic cap over the CPU socket.

I wish I could give a feedback on my positive experience with Gigabyte to let others know. But hopefully you see this post and that it helps you when you make your decision.
 
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