Opinions/Experience with MSI motherboards

[Alaric]

I'm looking at this board as a replacement for my current mobo https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/Z270-XPOWER-GAMING-TITANIUM.html#productFeature-section I remember MSI's struggles with FX chips (OK, they sucked), but that was a common failing for the vast majority of AM3+ boards, not just MSI.
But MSI's boards seem to have a reputation as lower end parts in some circles, so I'm looking for input on whether or not I should spend that kind of money ($300) on a MSI board.

 

[Johan45]

MSI has done well in the Intel circles as opposed to AMD. Here's E_Ds review http://www.overclockers.com/msi-z270-xpower-gaming-titanium-motherboard-review/

 

[Alaric]

I should have known we had a review of it. I am officially embarrassed that I didn't look here first.

edit: I'm also interested in longevity/reliability. In fact, that's probably more important than a lot of the features. As with all flagships, I won't need or use a lot of the features. It's nice to have them all, and I'll use some, but I don't want something that will die in a year or two. LOL. I'll hop over to the review thread and ask around there. Thx again, Johan45.

 

[Johan45]

No biggie, is there a reason you're going all out like that?

EDIT: Just because is a valid answer in my books

 

[wingman99]

What is bad with your Gigabyte Z170 Gaming 7?

 

[mackerel]

I've had a bad experience with the two Z170A Gaming Pro mobos from them bought at separate times. Odd failure to boot problem stuck on DRAM LED, tried all sorts of ram, PSUs, CPUs, GPUs, never goes away but can get better or worse. Works fine when booted. Early bios has some weirdness with OC not booting, but it seems to have gone away. The killer, the on board RGB LED doesn't work in Win10. It's reported on their forums but no one seems to have found a fix for it. This has broken my confidence in them for anything other than low end mobos. I also have non-OC Haswell era boards from them, and they're fine, as is my MSI laptop. Gonna stick to Asus for higher end mobos.

 

[Alaric]

I have to RMA my current board due to the back panel audio being messed up, and it somehow just doesn't "feel" right when I OC my chip. Since it's my only rig that would leave me screwed, blue, and tattooed. I'd like to go all out on a board at least once, and the MSI Titanium is the best board (I hope) that goes with the aesthetics of my rig. I don't like the Realtek audio chip, but everybody seems to be using them. External DAC for that problem. I know, looks isn't a great reason. That's why I wanted to get good parts. I don't want to sacrifice the look I want, IF I can achieve it with the quality level I want. I'm a pain in the rear with this build. LOL Also on the list is this https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=100-CW-1300-B9 And I'm liking this..... http://www.idcooling.com/Product/detail/id/86/name/ICEKIMO 240W and this won't be in the budget unless I win the lottery http://www.galax.com/en/ram/hof-ram/galax-hof-ddr4-4000-16g-8g-2-c19-168.html

 

[wingman99]

Realtek audio is tried and true to the sound work, low overhead and very reliable. Realtek audio is what I look for with a motherboard, I don't like trouble or spending a lot of money on a simple motherboard.

 

[Alaric]

I don't like the sound quality of Realtek chips. I haven't owned or heard one I care for. Ever. My current board has much better sounding audio than Realtek-when it works right. I'm tired of seeing the audio cable sticking out of my front panel and snaking back to my amp. It clutters it up, and my rig is in my living room so looks are important. The audio is handled by my stereo, so sound quality is important.

 

[trents]

My experience with MSI boards has been generally been negative with Phenom and FX AMD CPUs and mixed with Intel CPUs. It is not my go to brand by any means. I have't used an MSI board for a year or so. I had very good success with one of MSI's mATX boards when overclocking a Pentium G3258.

 

[wingman99]

I don't like the sound quality of Realtek chips. I haven't owned or heard one I care for. Ever. My current board has much better sounding audio than Realtek-when it works right. I'm tired of seeing the audio cable sticking out of my front panel and snaking back to my amp. It clutters it up, and my rig is in my living room so looks are important. The audio is handled by my stereo, so sound quality is important.

Realtek ALC 1220 is a 120dB SNR Codec it does not get much better than that with any Codec. They are very simple Chip to convert digital to analog. The capacitors they use for the Codec DAC (Digital to analog converter) chip are very important also. I use 200w AMP with my rig and have Realtek ALC 887 at 97dB SNR Codec and it sounds perfect, considering coming from Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 SNR at 106 dB.

With a higher Signal to noise ratio the Codec does more digital sampling for a smoother analog output.



When a measurement is digitized, the number of bits used to represent the measurement determines the maximum possible signal-to-noise ratio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal-to-noise_ratio

I take sound equipment very seriously.

 

[Alaric]

Yeahhhhh. Unfortunately, the analog section is for s*** in the chips I've heard, but I haven't heard the 1220, and I have heard some endorsements I have to take seriously (yours among them). ED seems to like Realtek chips, but he's an OSU fan, so... JUST KIDDING, ED!

Audio is a subject I'm serious about also. Bryston amps generally measure better than Mark Levinson amps, but I can't stand the way Brystons amps sound. Dry, flat, clinical. Which is exactly the impression I get from Realtek chips. The audio on my Giga board is much more open, full, with a more 3D soundstage. If I get some new Schiit for my stereo I can just use the digital signal and not worry about it. http://schiit.com/products/modi-2 I'm not much of a digital music fan to start with, and my disc player's sound far exceeds any motherboard I've heard, but the convenience is somewhat addicting.