Leaving Asus for MSI after 22 years.

[sblantipodi]

Hi all,
I buy Asus boards since the Asus CUSL2 in the 2000 (Pentium III mobo).

Every time I buy an Asus board there are some issues that are never solved and that are clearly related to design issues.
Asus simply ignore these issues and pretends nothing has happened.

I'm not talking about OC (not only at least) I'm talking about design flaws like USB ports not working,
Wake On LAN that doesn't work as expected, WiFi that disconnects continously, SPD write that makes system crash,
software that is ridiculous at least (Armoury Crate is the most broken software yet).

I always bought Asus and I don't know if other brands has same problems but it's time to try,
I don't think that I can go even worse than this.

What do you think about MSI?
Is it a good replacement for Asus? Do they suffer from similar issues?

 

[Zepher]

I have been buying Asus boards as well since the late 90's for my personal builds and builds for others that have a loose budget, and haven't had any issues with any that I can think of.
I have no opinion on other brands as I have very limited hands on experience with them.

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

I don't understand the idea of just being loyal to a brand at all. You shouldn't ever be looking at the brand, but only each product (or service). I know to some extent the reputation of the brand factors into that decision, but if you've empirically (and repeatedly) observed such issues... why would you even consider sticking with that brand...?

I prioritize the following things when choosing a motherboard (some are more recent concerns though lol):
- Reported reliability (supposing the platform has been out for a time, how many have experienced some sort of premature failure?)
- Connectivity options (including the choice of wireless and ethernet adapters, as some have issues)
- Chipset PCIE lane configuration (ie how many NVME slots, SATA, which share bandwidth, etc)
- VRM quality/cooling, PCB layers, memory controller, etc (if I care about overclocking that platform extensively)
- Other little features like looks, maybe, but this usually isn't my focus
- Warranty (which ASUS has a terrible track record here, too, AFAIK)

Why would you ever limit yourself to any company to begin with? That's kind of being a lazy consumer...

 

[sblantipodi]

I don't understand the idea of just being loyal to a brand at all. You shouldn't ever be looking at the brand, but only each product (or service). I know to some extent the reputation of the brand factors into that decision, but if you've empirically (and repeatedly) observed such issues... why would you even consider sticking with that brand...?

I prioritize the following things when choosing a motherboard (some are more recent concerns though lol):
- Reported reliability (supposing the platform has been out for a time, how many have experienced some sort of premature failure?)
- Connectivity options (including the choice of wireless and ethernet adapters, as some have issues)
- Chipset PCIE lane configuration (ie how many NVME slots, SATA, which share bandwidth, etc)
- VRM quality/cooling, PCB layers, memory controller, etc (if I care about overclocking that platform extensively)
- Other little features like looks, maybe, but this usually isn't my focus
- Warranty (which ASUS has a terrible track record here, too, AFAIK)

Why would you ever limit yourself to any company to begin with? That's kind of being a lazy consumer...

I confirm that it was just lazyness and it's really easyer to talk about Asus boards on forums since Asus have a wider community.
but I had too much problems with asus and I want to try something else.

 

[70 Polara]

Though a majority of systems I build for myself and others are low-budget using mostly older used parts, and I don't overclock motherboards (just GPUs) I have been thrilled with the reliability and simplicity of SuperMicro workstation (or SuperO series) motherboards. My current personal relic uses a 13 year old C7SIM-Q that "just works" day in and day out, as are the many C7P67 / C7B75 / X10SLQ boards I've used through the years for various builds for friends/etc. I got tired of dealing with flaky, poorly supported 'gaming motherboards' long ago. My experience with SuperMicro workstation motherboards has been a breath of fresh air, they aren't the prettiest things out there and their BIOS tend to be rather no frills, but the boards use high quality parts and simply do their job. You can definitely feel the server roots when you deal with any of them.

It is interesting that SuperMicro is making more gamer oriented motherboards these days such as the C9Z390 / C9Z590 series, though I don't have any personal experience with them and they aren't cheap!

 

[Zepher]

I don't understand the idea of just being loyal to a brand at all. You shouldn't ever be looking at the brand, but only each product (or service). I know to some extent the reputation of the brand factors into that decision, but if you've empirically (and repeatedly) observed such issues... why would you even consider sticking with that brand...?

[snip]

Why would you ever limit yourself to any company to begin with? That's kind of being a lazy consumer...

I personally stuck with Asus since I had no issues with any board and probably built over 100 systems using Asus motherboards.
For Nvidia GPU's I choose EVGA first due to the warranty and fantastic customer support they have.
Keyboards and Mice are Logitech because they have great customer support with warranty claims, even though some of their newer stuff is pretty pricey. I have a couple of G815's and G604's and they have a really nice feel to them.

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

I personally stuck with Asus since I had no issues with any board and probably built over 100 systems using Asus motherboards.
For Nvidia GPU's I choose EVGA first due to the warranty and fantastic customer support they have.
Keyboards and Mice are Logitech because they have great customer support with warranty claims, even though some of their newer stuff is pretty pricey. I have a couple of G815's and G604's and they have a really nice feel to them.

I have had an issue with ASUS boards for sure in the past, one of my first boards was ASUS actually, on an old i5 750 build. So many issues with that thing. Sure it was a low budget board, but I've used plenty of budget boards by other companies with no issues to speak of. Do I necessarily avoid ASUS? No not really. My one time experience was just with one model. I participate in build suggests on PCPartpicker regularly and I just suggest whatever individual board seems to be the best match for a person, evaluating all of those factors I mentioned in my post (well and price obviously since it has to fit in a budget).

Well actually, my first X570 board on the build I just made was an ASUS too (a TUF PRO), and it had that stupid Intel I225-V adapter... which basically ruined the experience for me. After that I turned to MSI, but not because I particularly liked MSI, but because all of their boards had newer connectivity specs for the AM4 platform and didn't use that adapter, and the board I chose was simply for its PCIE lane layout. But if the Asrock Taichi had 2.5Gb port and some other stuff, I would have chosen that. Gigabyte just didn't have any favorable offerings to me price vs performance wise. The X570 experience definitely taught me to look at the motherboard as a bunch of separate factors combined into a package, give them weighted importances, and figure out which ones are dealbreakers, rather than just blindly pick "eh okay that works" (because all 4 motherboards I exchanged with at Microcenter worked on my first boot...).

I understand sticking to stuff that's worked for you, but that's regularly burning me with Logitech products, too, funny enough. I've been having their mice fail on me quite regularly now, and many people seem to be having quality issues with their new wares. Companies that experience enough success seem to just get complacent and gradually degrade, until they get the next slap in the face. That's why we shouldn't just stick to them as consumers, IMO and always keep them on their toes. Bit annoying when there aren't that many companies making a certain product, but the Motherboard space has enough competitors to at least do that.

 

[Toconator]

I've owned many ASUS mobo's since the late 90's and have had very few issues with them. As a matter of fact the only thing that comes to mind is an onboard soundcard which failed and would cause bluescreens until I disabled in BIOS and then continued to use the board with an add-in soundcard for years afterward. I've also owned other mobo's throughtout the years (remember the Abit BH6?) with a few MSI boards in the mix which I've had a few issues starting with a dual socket 370 mobo which went flaky after a couple years. MSI did accept a RMA on it but the replacement did the same thing shortly after so I avoided them for a few years. Fast fwd to AM3+ and their 890FXA-GD70 which was rock solid with an OC'd 1090T in it for years until the primary PCI-E slot failed. As some here have posted I consider the features I need and quality over a specific brand and I've found Gigabyte to be very competitive in my region. 3 current mobo's are Gigabyte and I've got an ASUS on the testbench PC.

 

[polonyc2]

I also always used Asus boards up until my recent AMD upgrade...not out of any fanboy loyalty but just because ASUS always seemed to get excellent reviews...but my MSI board runs perfect and I love the BIOS

 

[uOpt]

From my experience the key is to use the cheaper, simpler Asus boards. My 9700k in an Asus Prime board is very hassle free. (and the MSI board it replaced simply died)

 

[Furious_Styles]

I'm with stolemyowncar, brand loyalty is dumb. Just like letting anecdotal experiences heavily influence your buying decisions. Though the exception to that rule imo is with warranty service. If that sucks then I totally would switch brands for a while.

 

[Starfalcon]

I am not a fan of blind brand loyalty, Ive bought many boards from many makers over the years. I usually buy the board that has the features I want on it over a specific brand. If I had a good experience with a certain maker I will look at their boards first, but I dont lock myself to that only.

 

[Darunion]

ive used asus, abit, gigabyte, supermicro, msi in the past. I tend to see what is out there when I am building a pc and grab a few to compare and pick one based on features and "trustworthy" reviews/experiences.

 

[Dan_D]

As a reviewer I've used just about every brand you can think of. Brand loyalty doesn't make much sense to me given how good the remaining motherboard brands generally are. I'd gladly use MSI, GIGABYTE, or ASUS pretty interchangeably at this point. I have a preference for ASUS' BIOS but it's not a huge deal either way. When I bought my last board, the ASUS was the only one I could readily get my hands on but I'd have just as easily gone with MSI or GIGABYTE's equivalent offerings. I think the GIGABYTE would have been my preference in that case, but this ASUS board has been fine.

 

[Valnar]

I owned most major brands and ASUS has been the most problem free overall. I've been buying the Q series (have a Q370 now) for several years though because I'm out of the overclocking game and like the ability to boot or control it remotely.

The only motherboard I've really had problems with was a Gigabyte in the C2D days. It needed a separate heatsink & fan on the north bridge to stop from overheating.

 

[cdabc123]

My current msi board is kinda a pain. Mostly because I use it under esxi and alot of the onboard devices dont place nice with that. The bios is just meh. Granted its a relatively cheap board.

The only manufacturer I have had zero issues with is supermicro. Granted this is abit more expected for enterprise boards.

My only evga board (sr-x) was also fantastic

 

[Dan_D]

I've generally had the best overall luck with ASUS despite testing more of their boards than anyone else's. However, I've had absolutely perfect experiences with GIGABYTE and MSI motherboards. I've had all three in my personal rig at one time or another. I've also had problems with all three. I've also had problems with EVGA, Biostar, ASRock, etc. I've had good experiences with those as well but none I'd necessarily consider perfect. ASRock has been the least reliable in my experience. My DOA rate with their boards is literally higher than everything else combined.

 

[Axman]

I don't understand the idea of just being loyal to a brand at all. You shouldn't ever be looking at the brand, but only each product (or service). I know to some extent the reputation of the brand factors into that decision, but if you've empirically (and repeatedly) observed such issues... why would you even consider sticking with that brand...?

That's a good way to approach things but at the same time, I will always see what Asrock has got first, since they really do have a different company culture, with very long, sustained BIOS support and updates, and generally quirks and features that other companies just don't bother with.

ASRock has been the least reliable in my experience.

When I was doing reviews, (about 10 years ago for about seven years) I had the most problems with Asus and Gigabyte. While when they did work, they worked very well, but I genuinely had a better experience with motherboards I bought off the shelf than what were sent to me for testing. MSI and Asrock were always in the middle of the road for performance, but more reliable in general.

Since I don't really go for manual overclocking any more, I'm more interested in features than pushing boundaries with performance.

 

[Furious_Styles]

That's a good way to approach things but at the same time, I will always see what Asrock has got first, since they really do have a different company culture, with very long, sustained BIOS support and updates, and generally quirks and features that other companies just don't bother with.



When I was doing reviews, (about 10 years ago for about seven years) I had the most problems with Asus and Gigabyte. While when they did work, they worked very well, but I genuinely had a better experience with motherboards I bought off the shelf than what were sent to me for testing. MSI and Asrock were always in the middle of the road for performance, but more reliable in general.

Since I don't really go for manual overclocking any more, I'm more interested in features than pushing boundaries with performance.

Asrock does have some good boards for sure. the Z77 extreme 4/6 were extremely reliable and great OCers. You're also right that they update bios for older boards much more than any other manufacturer I'd say.

 

[jeffreyp]

Hi all,
I buy Asus boards since the Asus CUSL2 in the 2000 (Pentium III mobo).

Every time I buy an Asus board there are some issues that are never solved and that are clearly related to design issues.
Asus simply ignore these issues and pretends nothing has happened.

I'm not talking about OC (not only at least) I'm talking about design flaws like USB ports not working,
Wake On LAN that doesn't work as expected, WiFi that disconnects continously, SPD write that makes system crash,
software that is ridiculous at least (Armoury Crate is the most broken software yet).

I always bought Asus and I don't know if other brands has same problems but it's time to try,
I don't think that I can go even worse than this.

What do you think about MSI?
Is it a good replacement for Asus? Do they suffer from similar issues?

Mostly kids are fanboys. I was a Gibson guitar fanboy for years. Now I just laugh. I bought Asus motherboards until one failed. Gigabyte for awhile. Going to 2 AMD platforms this time with x570 w/5600x and 5950x. Did a little research. 2 new Asus MB. Performance before fanboyism.

 

[Dan_D]

Asrock does have some good boards for sure. the Z77 extreme 4/6 were extremely reliable and great OCers. You're also right that they update bios for older boards much more than any other manufacturer I'd say.

And the Z68 Pro was hot garbage. Two out of three we had for review had hardware issues. A friend of mine had one as well and that one developed hardware issues after a year or so. Bad DIMM slots, bad PCIe slots, failed NIC, etc. were all common place with them. I've also had some issues with boards like the ASRock X570 Velocita and the X570 Creator.

 

[Domingo]

I understand brand loyalty to a point. I've had good experiences with MSI going back to the mid 00's, so they're my go-to with new builds. I'm familiar with their BIOS layout, software, board layouts, update process, support, etc. and they've been consistent with the 5-6 boards I've purchased from them. I know for a fact that they made some stinkers in the x570 and b550 space, so I know they aren't perfect though. There's nothing wrong with sticking with a brand that has served you well, but do some research, too.
Personally, right now I'd be perfectly content with builds that are nothing but MSI, Corsair, and Nvidia (ideally EVGA).

 

[Axman]

One thing to keep in mind is that a whole PC will have something like a 12-17 percent failure rate, typically in the first 90 days (although there is a long tail, and the most failure-likely time is in the first hundred or so hours of use). Each component has about a 10 percent chance of letting out magic smoke, and might even cause domino problems.

Even CPUs, which are much more vigorously tested, can fail. I've had out-of-the-box failures from Red Team and Blue Team. I also burned out two Intel processors overclocking them too hard, ironically enough, on Asrock boards. Was it the CPU, the motherboard, my own damn fault, or plain bad luck? Dunno. I don't recommend Asrock for overclocking. Features, price, and great support, sure.

 

[E4g1e]

Over the past decade I have been alternating between Asus and Gigabyte for my motherboard choices. However, I have used Asus more than I have Gigabyte.

For my very recent switch of my main PC from AMD back to Intel, I picked a near-midrange MSI motherboard. So far so good with MSI, knowing that this is my first-ever MSI motherboard that I worked with.

 

[LigTasm]

I bought two MSI boards recently, one B550 and one Z690. Both are fantastic. MSI seems to be doing really well with the 100-150$ class where they focus mainly on the VRM and stuff that matter rather than flashy heatsinks and a lot of RGB.

 

[Odigo]

I recently jumped ship.. with my Z690 I had a hard time finding "approved" memory that was higher than 5200. AsusCrate tried to push on me on fresh Windows install... Device manager was missing drivers that wasn't on the driver download page, or installed via Windows Update.. I had to search the ASUS forums for an upload.. I went with MSI not only did I find compatible ram that ran at tested speeds (DDR-5 6200), all of the drivers were available.

 

[pgaster]

With Alder Lake boards it seems like Asus really slipped up in a few areas:

Some large heatsinks like the Noctua D15 do not fit. Getting the socket area clearance correct seems like a pretty easy thing but they managed to get it wrong. I can't even remember a time when any major company screwed that up.

Also Asus put in the double heatsink holes on some boards. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see this as useful at all, and it could cause problems. The Z height of the LGA 1200 and LGA 1700 coolers is different, so the Asus manual even states not to use an LGA 1200 cooler directly with it's LGA 1200 designed bracket. I think these extra holes can only be used if a heatsink manufacturer made a special bracket, but why would they? I'm not sure anyone made such a bracket.
Also the Asus manuals say that with the double holes that sort of overlap, you should not use push pin style heatsinks. The push pins will not have enough material to grab and will not stay in place. You need stand alone holes. I know, I know, who would buy a Z690 board and then use a i5-12400 or lower cpu and the standard heatsink? I know it will be a rare situation but I bet some people do and overlook this. I could see people getting a Z690 board and an i5 with the intention of getting a 13th gen cpu later.

Anyway, these seem like significant slip ups to me. I used to see Asus as sort of the gold standard of boards and engineering. I forget when this was, but at one new Intel cpu release I remember Asus stating that they had overclocked hundreds of cpus. They let everyone know what to expect in terms of overclocking speeds and voltages. They used to really put some major effort into things and seemed like enthusiasts, like many here. Now I'm not sure what is going on.

 

[flegg]

I stopped using Asus mobos and all the systems I have since built have lasted forever (to this day). Will continue to hard avoid.

You can search these forums for similar Asus stories

It's like buying Apple - breaking over time part of the design

And it's worse than Apple since they never honor their extended warranties.

 

[techie81]

MSI boards are my sweet spot right now for price, features and affordability. I have disliked ASUS boards for a while now due to some specific board weirdness and to their shady RMA practices.

 

[Nebulous]

MSI boards are my sweet spot right now for price, features and affordability. I have disliked ASUS boards for a while now due to some specific board weirdness and to their shady RMA practices.

Same here. I had so many issues with the Maximus line of boards, that for the money I paid, should not have happend. Then of course that wonderful RMA experience I went though. I jumped ship and tried ASrock. Surprising the 2 boards I got were rock steady stable. It's when I got tired of team blue I gave team red a shot with my current MSI board. For the price, it's been trouble free and that's a plus.

 

[duronboy]

I remember Gamer's Nexus did an extensive overview of some of the incredibly shady shit MSI would pull, much of it with reviewers, and that was enough for me. I don't remember if he's revisited them, I hope he does, but it sounded like their behavior was so willful and from the top that it's difficult to imagine them getting better. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[Dan_D]

I remember Gamer's Nexus did an extensive overview of some of the incredibly shady shit MSI would pull, much of it with reviewers, and that was enough for me. I don't remember if he's revisited them, I hope he does, but it sounded like their behavior was so willful and from the top that it's difficult to imagine them getting better. I hope I'm wrong.

I would also point out that while I'm not disputing what's in that video, I never saw anything like that. I knew a ton of the guys at MSI. I've had dinner with them, hung out with them etc. and with us they were always stand up guys. Now, that might be because they knew we wouldn't put up with the kind of shit they were accused of by other review sites. That's entirely possible. But my experiences with MSI were nothing like those described in the video.

I've dealt with MSI as a company for a lot of years in a number of capacities.

 

[OFaceSIG]

I remember when that video came out. I was surprised. I always had a very indifferent feeling about MSI. I've bought from MSI in the past when they had the correct product for me at the time. But never thought as MSI as a must have brand. I despise my current MSI motherboard's BIOS. But overall the products have been competent. Reminds me of Nvidia. Good engineering, bad business practices.

 

[Dan_D]

I remember when that video came out. I was surprised. I always had a very indifferent feeling about MSI. I've bought from MSI in the past when they had the correct product for me at the time. But never thought as MSI as a must have brand. I despise my current MSI motherboard's BIOS. But overall the products have been competent. Reminds me of Nvidia. Good engineering, bad business practices.

There has been a lot of churn in recent years at these companies. A lot of them have switched to external PR firms rather than having their own marketing guys. In some cases they've greatly downsized these departments. They don't spend the money that they used to either. All the people that worked at GIGABYTE while I was at [H]ard|OCP are all gone. Irene moved to Intel to rep their Optane products (oops) and Leon left too. For awhile there it seemed like I dealt with a different PR rep every few weeks. MSI and ASUS were much more stable than that. But even then, Gary from ASUS has moved on. I can't remember where he went, but he's not at ASUS anymore. I'm not sure if any of the guys I know from MSI are still there. Especially not after that Gamer's Nexus video came out.

The point is, this always comes down to people. If the people lack integrity, then the company won't either.

 

[OFaceSIG]

The point is, this always comes down to people. If the people lack integrity, then the company won't either.

Agree, 100%

 

[xDiVolatilX]

Aside from my last 2080Ti Ek X from MSI that fried to death lol I've otherwise always like their prices/features/style of components for PC.

 

[Dan_D]

Aside from my last 2080Ti Ek X from MSI that fried to death lol I've otherwise always like their prices/features/style of components for PC.

I've reviewed probably 200 and something motherboards at this point. I've had a few die on the bench. Two of them were MSI. That's only one more than GIGABYTE or ASUS and less than ASRock. I've also had a couple negative experiences with MSI GPU's. Specifically a 980 Ti and a 2080 Super. MSI's RMA on the 980 Ti was horrible and they not only didn't fix the card after it was sent to them, they damaged the cooling fins.

 

[duronboy]

and less than ASRock.

ASRock's new thing is just to do their own reviews, so reviewers don't have to. Isn't that kind of them? lol

 

[Dan_D]

ASRock's new thing is just to do their own reviews, so reviewers don't have to. Isn't that kind of them? lol

Sadly, that won't stop me. I think we've purchased most of the recent ASRock boards to review anyway.

 

[Dan_D]

Wrong thread.