Asrock or MSI?
Asrock or MSI?
Hey everyone, here’s what I think about these motherboards. I’m considering the Asrock B450m Steel Legend and the MSI B450m Mortar Max for my mATX build. I already have most components except these two, so I’m looking for opinions to help decide. My usage includes gaming, video editing (Vegas Pro), graphic design (Photoshop, SAI), and work with VM/Virtualbox. Which one do you prefer and why? Thanks!
I think MSI is the best choice for this VRM, while Steel Legend performs significantly worse overall.
From my own experiences, that's true. Yeah. I've used seven MSI motherboards—six of them had problems. My dad's had nine, and most faced issues. Overall, it's a really bad track record.
I've used two boards without any problems. The MSI B450 boards perform well and offer strong VRM cooling.
I enjoy both brands; my first motherboard was an Asrock, and now I use MSI. However, the mortar stands out more. It offers superior overclocking, better VRM, and improved power delivery. I’d choose the mortar.
MSI offers B tier options at its best. They've previously released parts with reduced quality and then manipulated benchmark results across various models. If budget constraints prevent you from choosing A+ tier brands like AsRock or A tier options from Asus, feel free to select what suits your needs.
If you don’t want to heavily boost the CPU, it will likely handle it itself. Buddy handles the Steel Legend with a 2600 & 1.38V overclock, and he hasn’t mentioned any issues with VRM temps. Could be a challenge in a less ventilated case, though. The Steel Legend is more affordable here—around $90 in my country—while Mortar costs about $110.