MSI Z97I GAMING AC (Intel LGA 1150)

[cadaveca]

Never had any problem with their BIOS though? (The motherboards have taken a stern beating with overclocking mind you)

Just look on ROG forums. See BIOS updates to address specific issues like this. What part of system-config that causes these problems...I dunno. I just push buttons trying to break limits.
Like, I like MFR memory. "Pro" oc'ers in general do not. But many users buying new systems have MFR or Samsung single-sided.. that's just what is popular now. When you push these memories to the limits, things go wonky.


I've ALWAYS pushed memory in this way. is no big deal. And beucase I don't care about HWBOT, or benchmarking competitively, I push ALL HARDWARE equally, caring not who is "BEST". I simply push, for the thrill of exploring all limits, rather than being snobbish about it. I buy or get it all, since paying for stuff and saving cash isn't worth missing that experience.

So you are admitting that MSI has poor CPU socket placement

Yes, -.1 point.

lacks SATA Express and there are superior UEFI interfaces out there... and 9.8? That's pretty vivid.

SATA Express? NO. M.2, yes. -.1 point. Total, 9.8.

Superior UEFI? No way. No way. Sry, just no. Superior fan control has nothing to do with UEFI, that's driven by Super I/O, and ASUS didn't make this. Nuvoton did.

Frankly, when it comes to OC, ASRock is giving ASUS a run for the money at the moment in terms of UEFI capabilities.

See, if you value OC, then I understand why opinions might be as they may. If running your system just stable enough for a screen-cap is important, sure.


But for MOST users, having BIOS without that, that just doesn't work, but doesn't corrupt, is more valuable. ASUS took many generations to deal with stuck time in UEFI, and still some boards have not received BIOS update for that one. We all have different ideas on what is "stable", that is of no question. But to me, UEFI stability is a very important thing. ASUS needs to work on this.

 

[Nokiron]

Just look on ROG forums. See BIOS updates to address specific issues like this. What part of system-config that causes these problems...I dunno. I just push buttons trying to break limits.
Like, I like MFR memory. "Pro" oc'ers in general do not. But many users buying new systems have MFR or Samsung single-sided.. that's just what is popular now. When you push these memories to the limits, things go wonky.


I've ALWAYS pushed memory in this way. is no big deal. And beucase I don't care about HWBOT, or benchmarking competitively, I push ALL HARDWARE equally, caring not who is "BEST". I simply push, for the thrill of exploring all limits, rather than being snobbish about it. I buy or get it all, since paying for stuff and saving cash isn't worth missing that experience.

Glad i haven't experienced that

I have a Gigabyte X79 board and a MSI Mpower Max aswell, and their UEFI is absolutely rubbish. Especially the Gigabyte-one, its still the old 3DBios-variant, i still shudder just at the thought of that.


And as a secondary note, and some feedback: your review-score is a little wonky, not yours personally but Techpowerup as a whole. I think that way too many products get an award where they really shouldnt.

 

[cadaveca]

And as a secondary note, and some feedback: your review-score is a little wonky, not yours personally but Techpowerup as a whole. I think that way too many products get an award where they really shouldnt.

I guess it's how you look at scores. For myself, each product has an intended market, and how that product meets that users needs is what dictates the final score. Each problem encountered leads to a deduction in points, with severity and likelihood of user finding such problem dictating how big of a deduction is placed. No company, in my eyes is directly competing with each other. The numbers of each product sold actually paints a very different picture than you'd think.

For example, 140 million boards. 560 different boards available for purchase. top boards sell 250kunits, or more, bottom boards sell 30k units. OEMs offer products that span many user types to increase sales numbers, but users are very picky, so this doesn't always work out well. What ASUS does well that gives them huge market share is bridging the gaps between users and thereby building a wider community of users behind each product, which inputs more dollars for R&D. Marketing that appeals to gamers with OC-centric products sells those products. But the OC-side of things isn't what really matters to sales. It's the hype, and that community. Other brands choose to strategically target specific users with that 50K number, and as such, have smaller communities.

But, when it comes time to think about UEFI implementations, that hardcore OC-centric feeling brought to all marketing categories means that bugs that are present and acceptable for OC products, and aren't OK for others, get noticed where they shouldn't be, creating some negative hype, that from where I sit, exhausts those that are happy with things the way they are.

Filtering that with motherboards, VS. another type of product, is different. Marketing and product design is more rigid and tight, with less options within the same brand due to strict physical limitations that aren't present when thinking of motherboards.

 

[Vaux]

Many users...would save that $20 on a M.2(um, who doesn't try to save money building a PC...that's WHY you build a PC yyourself!!!), and buy SSD, simply because M.2 drives are ugly. Eww, gotta stick this green PCB in my nice matte black motherboard?

On mini-itx it's generally underneath the motherboard, so you don't even see it.

Also M.2 is use in laptop too, so that's gonna be very common pretty soon.


For AIO, well why put an loud 120mm AIO who gonna block the airflow of your case when you can put an nh-d15 ?

 

[cadaveca]

For AIO, well why put an loud 120mm AIO who gonna block the airflow of your case when you can put an nh-d15 ?

But..but..W1zzard told me to. And listen, you don't argue with him, OK?

 

[LeonVolcove]

I like mini-itx these day, they cute and desireable. and btw when Asus Maximus VII Impact review?

 

[Lopez0101]

they cute

First time I've ever heard that about a motherboard.

 

[efahl]

How many users here have mSATA drives? Uh...me? Any others? Nah, didn't think so.

I have one! It was (yes, past tense) on a 3770k build a couple years ago, realized too late that the mSATA port on the motherboard was only SATA 2 (I mean WTF?), while the external drive ports were SATA 3 and pulled the mSATA drive off. It's sitting in the pile if anyone wants it. Definitely a failed experiment.

 

[neliz]

I have one! It was (yes, past tense) on a 3770k build a couple years ago, realized too late that the mSATA port on the motherboard was only SATA 2 (I mean WTF?), while the external drive ports were SATA 3 and pulled the mSATA drive off. It's sitting in the pile if anyone wants it. Definitely a failed experiment.

First off, a lot these things like eSATA and mSATA are done on third party controllers, if you're unlucky it will be "powered" by a Marvell controller, that's why I always laugh when a positive point about a motherboard is that "it has eleventy sata ports!!11" having 20 sata ports means diddly squat if they can't even properly server SATA2 HDDs, quality > quantity.

As a M.2 user, I can only say it is still a novelty (how many drives can I choose from?), and SATA Express will honestly be a novelty for even much longer (0 drives on the market in the next 6 months and who ever thought that that connector was a good idea? exactly.) I hope that everyone here has enough experience to know that "future proof" never is a buying argument for those that want the latest features as there's always something better available by the time you actually need it.

 

[cadaveca]

First off, a lot these things like eSATA and mSATA are done on third party controllers, if you're unlucky it will be "powered" by a Marvell controller, that's why I always laugh when a positive point about a motherboard is that "it has eleventy sata ports!!11" having 20 sata ports means diddly squat if they can't even properly server SATA2 HDDs, quality > quantity.

As a M.2 user, I can only say it is still a novelty (how many drives can I choose from?), and SATA Express will honestly be a novelty for even much longer (0 drives on the market in the next 6 months and who ever thought that that connector was a good idea? exactly.) I hope that everyone here has enough experience to know that "future proof" never is a buying argument for those that want the latest features as there's always something better available by the time you actually need it.

Oh snap, we agree on something! High Five, bro!


ROFL.

 

[neliz]

Oh snap, we agree on something! High Five, bro!


ROFL.

I'm still a bit sick, maybe once I'm back to 100% health I can start disagreeing again