Need some help deciding between MSI, Gigabyte and ASUS

[avoidconfusion]

Hi all,

Really need some help making my mind up please.

I am torn between the MSI Tomahawk, the Asus ROG Strix E and the Gigabyte Aorus Master.
I am also open to alternative suggestions as well!

What is important to me?

1. I need to be able to flash the BIOS without CPU - so Q-Flash, Flashback etc. is a must
2. I am going for a white/black build - initially wanted the ASUS X570 Pro but because it does not support point 1 it is not an option anymore. Cannot be bothered to borrow a CPU to update the BIOS.

That means look wise it has to be a board that would not look dumb in a white case. Have to say looks-wise the Aorus Master probably wins for me.

3. I won't be doing any insane Overclocking stuff
4. If something is wrong with the board I don't want to have a massive hassle dealing with RMA... heard ASUS are dreadful when it comes to RMA - personally never had an ASUS board fail on me (using an X99 for 5 years now) but I heard stories... Gigabyte is meant to be really good with UK based RMA?

5. Heard the Gigabyte BIOS is a pain though, and generally speaking heard the Software is rubbish too?

 

[pc-guy]

ASUS customer services is no good. I have had first hand experience trying to get some cash back on their promotion where they just send me going around in a circle.

no actual experience with MSI or Gigabyte tho.

But I think the Gigabyte boards especially the Aorus master ones got issues with power cycle such that you need to pull the cmos battery out and put it back in for the board to boot. Which is clearly not ideal.

if ASRock is on your radar, I can say to you that their customer support is ace. They are based in Netherlands, when I emailed regarding a TPM module, they sent me one at cost - £8 only. Also when I had any queries they reply within 24hrs and often times with a few hours. So it was really easy to get talking to those guys. But I never had RMA situation with them. Nevertheless, they are competent

 

[VonScar]

The tomahawk has silver black on it and RGB. It has a flash bios facility. I received my B550 board today, seems like a good solid board, however, not many frills. 2 Sata cables, and the board really. Oh and some screws for the M2 slots. Note if you use the 2nd M2 slot (on the Tomahawk), for a drive it disables lots of slots. Not SATA slots, I mean the PCI express times 1 and 4 slots!

The B550 E seems a lot more premium to me. Wi fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, a higher specced onboard sound solution. It also has some USB's on the back, MSI Tomahawk has a PS2 port and less USB's. And BOTH GPU slots are PCI E 4 x 8 or top one is 16, as it does SLI. Meaning the Asus is more future proof, adaptable. Oh and the RGB looks good. The board is red and black.

The Tomahawk has 8 fan headers, but the Strix B550- E has only 5. However, the B550 Strix E does have HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.2b MSI one only has 1.2 HDMI. And lower spec sound solution from Realtek. Note HDMI and Display port only work with a 4000 series APU solution.

Both boards can flash the bios without a CPU.

 

[pcfarrar]

The Tomahawk has 8 fan headers, but the E has only 5. However, the B550 Strix E does have HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.2b MSI one only has 1.2 HDMI. And lower spec sound solution from Realtek. Note HDMI and Display port only work with a 4000 series APU solution.

The B550 Tomahawk has HDMI 2.1 as well. MSI made a mistake when they originally published the specs but they have updated the site now.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B550-TOMAHAWK/Specification

 

[VonScar]

The B550 Tomahawk has HDMI 2.1 as well. MSI made a mistake when they originally published the specs but they have updated the site now.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MAG-B550-TOMAHAWK/Specification

That is good news. Must have been a typo by them, 1.2. vs 2.1...

Well, I believe B550 4000 series APU's are not out yet, but to be honest not looked, because who wants an APU for a gaming machine!

 

[darms]

I'm a little surprised at the options, X570 Tomahawk, Asus ROG Strix-E and X570 Aorus Master aren't really in the same price bracket

Feature-wise the GB board seems to be the best. Coming from an X370 Gaming 5 and having an X399 Aorus Xtreme at work I can confirm the GB BIOS is not very well organized (loads of sub-menus and stuff in not-so-obvious places). The Windows software tools are pretty bad too, the only one worth using imho is the system monitor for changing fan speeds in windows when gaming etc.

 

[avoidconfusion]

I'm a little surprised at the options, X570 Tomahawk, Asus ROG Strix-E and X570 Aorus Master aren't really in the same price bracket

Feature-wise the GB board seems to be the best. Coming from an X370 Gaming 5 and having an X399 Aorus Xtreme at work I can confirm the GB BIOS is not very well organized (loads of sub-menus and stuff in not-so-obvious places). The Windows software tools are pretty bad too, the only one worth using imho is the system monitor for changing fan speeds in windows when gaming etc.

Yea I am trying to make a decision based on looks, features, support from the manufacturer etc. rather than compare boards in the same price category.


Do any other motherboards actually have good software?

 

[pc-guy]

Yea I am trying to make a decision based on looks, features, support from the manufacturer etc. rather than compare boards in the same price category.


Do any other motherboards actually have good software?

All board software are trash. They are bloat ware not worth installing.

You should be able to determine features for each board based on their spec.

 

[Mesai]

MSI X570 Tomahawk. Got one recently, had to bench flash it because I didn’t have a CPU, which worked first time; haven’t had a single issue with it. Best value for money IMO.

 

[ik9000]

Appreciate this might be a bit late but I would go Aorus Master based on specs then MSi ACE, which while the tomahawk is ok the ACE again is better spec'd. I just wish they had done a little more with the ACE and then it would beat the Aorus hands down.

The AM has two extra sata ports (deactivated if you use all 3 NVMe), metal backed motherboad, you can install all 9 mobo screws (middle one impossible on the ACE - poor design MSI), and has a water block for the chipset available if you want to ditch the chipset fan, the current version also has a thunderbolt header, supports 2No full-length NVMe slots with 1No 2280 (though most drives these days are 2280 so it might not matter)

The MSI ACE has an extra PCIex1 slot, but that's irrelevant as you can only use one of the pciex1 at a time (they should have made these switchable in BIOS for better flexibility IMO), has 1No full length nvme slot with 2No 2280, can push the RAM faster with good bdie kits, has the chipset fan offset so not blocked by GPU, chipset heatpipe links to the VRM coolers. It's debatable if this is a good or bad thing, but it means there isn't a waterblock available for it despite it being relatively simple to allow the heatpipe to push-fit into the block should they desire to do so. It also has a native PS2 port which is useful for extreme LN2 overclocking, but also for installing win7 (and yes I have got win7 running on my ACE (as well as win10). The ACE also has a dedicated pump header and fan header, which IIRC the AM lacks, though don't quote me on that.

If you want a black theme the MSI unify is an all black version of the ACE but lacking some of the frills like the heatpipe, and no reinforced RAM, GPU slots etc IIRC (do check for yourself first though). If you're finding the Tomahawk appealing but that it deactivates lots in certain configurations then the Unify may be a better option. Personally I would pay the small uplift for the ACE over the unify though. The black and gold looks good in the flesh, and their infinity mirror thing works well with the RGB, which I wasn't fussed about, but seeing it in action does look quite nice, although I don't have a windowed case so meh for me. My main gripes with the ACE are the two pciex1 not being operational simultaneously (nor switchable in BIOS so I could leave the PS2 card in place but deactivated for the most part) and the absolute stupidity of the pcie heatsink shroud blocking the middle mobo screw. (the unify does let you install all 9 screws as they have ditched the silly chipset shroud.)

Hope that helps.

 

[Tinkers2004]

Aorus master would be my choice, I personally haven't had any problems with gigabyte, but have with MSI and ASUS in the past. I have never had a gigabyte board fail on me. I currently use the Z490 Aorus Master and I am sure that you wont go wrong with the AMD version of the Aorus Master

 

[pc-guy]

Aorus master would be my choice, I personally haven't had any problems with gigabyte, but have with MSI and ASUS in the past. I have never had a gigabyte board fail on me. I currently use the Z490 Aorus Master and I am sure that you wont go wrong with the AMD version of the Aorus Master

actually the AMD ones there is a problem with power cycle apparantly after a certain time, you have to pull the cmos battery out and clear cmos everytime you want to the PC to boot.

 

[HoneyBadger]

When I started building PC's I always used Gigabyte and up until 2005, its all I would use. Durable, feature rich, good boards. They seem to tail off a bit though so gave them a wide berth, so I switch to using flagship ASUS or ASrock boards. I personally think Asrock boards are great, super fast - My Z270 SuperCarrier was an astonishing in features and speed. It even had a PLX chip on it and support 4x SLI as well as 3x M.2 boards, but for circa £400 you'd expect that.

Asus seem to be getting worse, and most certainly over priced. My ITX Z390 was good, a bit light on features and not as robust as I'd have liked but certainly not bad.

By sheer fate, I needed a new board and this time went Gigabyte again as it offered good value for money in terms of features and it's a real peach. Currently got the Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Master and it's a very slick board, robust with dual BIOS support, QFlash+ meaning no CPU to upgrade BIOS, built with Gen4 PCIE ready and has lots of sensors, ports and I can use TPM again so as things stand, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Gigabyte again.

I don't have lots of experience with MSI boards, but have heard mixed things.

 

[Tinkers2004]

actually the AMD ones there is a problem with power cycle apparantly after a certain time, you have to pull the cmos battery out and clear cmos everytime you want to the PC to boot.

I thought this was an issue that could be fixed by updating the backup bios to match the bios running.