If you are planning to build a gaming computer, then you cannot do it without buying a motherboard. To meet your expectations, it must support fast memory and a powerful processor, as well as a large number of connectors. These boards are manufactured by many companies. We decided to compare the most affordable models created by Asus Vs Msi Vs Gigabyte Motherboards.
All three motherboards we have chosen belong to the ATX form factor. It seems to us that a gaming computer will be big enough anyway, so looking for a miniature board makes no sense. Also, all models included in our comparison have socket AM4. That is, they are designed to fit a processor from AMD, which usually has the best price-performance ratio. And yet they all support overclocking to one degree or another. As for the cost of motherboards, it is close to or even slightly more than 10 thousand rubles. Approximately that kind of money is asked for the following models:
Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite v2 this board features three PCI-Express x16 slots.
MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max is designed in red and black colors, the product is the most affordable, especially during all kinds of sales.
ASUS TUF B450-PRO Gaming This motherboard supports high-speed RAM, and there is a place on its back panel for an abundance of USB 3.1 slots.
- Asus Vs Msi Vs Gigabyte Motherboard
- Appearance Asus Vs Msi Vs Gigabyte Motherboard
- RAM Support: Asus Vs Msi Vs Gigabyte Motherboard
- Drive controllers : Asus Vs Msi Vs Gigabyte Motherboard
- Expansion slots
- Interface panel and internal USB connectors
- Additional features
- Price difference of Asus, Msi and Gigabyte Motherboard
- Which is better to buy from Asus, Msi, Gigabyte Motherboard?
Asus Vs Msi Vs Gigabyte Motherboard
Appearance Asus Vs Msi Vs Gigabyte Motherboard
We evaluate the design and contents of the package
All three motherboards are made of expensive and hard PCB. As a result, they don’t walk around during editing.
Gigabyte Motherboard
The product from Gigabyte differs in that the buyer does not need to install the connector protection on his own – it is already in its place. It should be noted that the video card slot is reinforced here. As for the package bundle, it includes a sticker, a pair of SATA cables, a disk with drivers, an adapter for the front panel of the case, and all sorts of paper documentation. Some buyers will be confused by the lack of a seal or a seal on the antistatic bag – it is sealed with ordinary tape. Because of this, at first, it may feel like you got a refund.
Check Best Gigabyte Z390 Motherboards.
Msi Motherboard
If we talk about a product from MSI, then this is the best choice for a gamer, whose system unit has a transparent window. Yes, this motherboard also does not have RGB backlighting, but it still attracts attention due to its red and black colors. The device also stands out due to the huge heatsinks that can come in handy during overclocking. The manufacturer also decided to equip the video card slot with a metal frame. Included with this model, the buyer will receive clear instructions for installing the board itself and the processor, a disk with drivers, protection for connectors (painted black and has a proprietary drawing), a sticker, a bolt for attaching an M.2 SSD, and a pair of SATA wires.
Asus Motherboard
The motherboard from Asus looks no less impressive. Unlike its competitors, it boasts AURA Sync LED backlighting. In this case, the user can additionally connect a pair of LED strips – the manufacturer has not forgotten the corresponding pads (as is the case with the MSI product). The massive protective casing above the interface panel also stands out here. Another feature is the DIMM slots, which have latches on only one side, which simplifies the installation and replacement of RAM. It remains to add that ASUS TUF B450-PRO Gaming comes with stickers, paper documentation, a driver disk, a set of mounting screws for SSD drives, an interface panel cover, and two SATA cables.
Rating
- MSI: 4.8,
- ASUS: 4.8,
- Gigabyte: 4.7
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RAM Support: Asus Vs Msi Vs Gigabyte Motherboard
How fast is the “RAM” supported by the boards?
All boards support DDR4 RAM. All of them use four slots. At the same time, the minimum allowable frequency for MSI is different: it is 1866 MHz. But if you are building a computer for games, then the upper bar is important. In this regard, MSI also wins, since the product of this manufacturer officially supports memory operating at 4133 MHz. The outsider is the board from Asus. However, many of our readers do not expect to get more from RAM than 3533 MHz.
| Name | Max. volume | Memory type | Number of slots | Max. frequency |
| Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 | 128 GB | DDR4 | 4 | 4000 MHz |
| MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX | 64 GB | DDR4 | 4 | 4133 MHz |
| ASUS TUF B450-PRO Gaming | 64 GB | DDR4 | 4 | 3533 MHz |
Interestingly, the two boards are maximally capable of interacting with 64 GB of memory, while the Gigabyte B550 Aurus Elite V2 supports 128 GB. Whether you need such a volume is another question.
Drive controllers : Asus Vs Msi Vs Gigabyte Motherboard
Getting to know the number of internal connectors for connecting drives
SATA connectors are provided for connecting hard drives. There are six of them, and only the motherboard from Gigabyte has only four sockets. This immediately makes it the worst choice in the event that you have a large number of drives that interact with just such a connector.
| Name | SATA 6Gb / s | Qty M.2 |
| Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 | 4 things. | 2 pcs. |
| MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX | 6 pcs. | 1 PC. |
| ASUS TUF B450-PRO Gaming | 6 pcs. | 2 pcs. |
A gaming motherboard couldn’t do without an M.2 SSD slot. Moreover, products from Gigabytes and Asus have two such connectors! In the case of the first board, one of the slots is even covered with a heatsink, which makes it possible to achieve stable speed indicators, including from a relatively inexpensive drive.
Expansion slots
We estimate the number of connectors for a video card and other similar components
The motherboard from Gigabyte is a bit more expensive than the others for a reason. It is the only one that supports the PCI Express 4.0 standard. This means that this model has the best bandwidth. It will squeeze all the juice out of absolutely any video card, even if it is a GeForce RTX 3090. And this board also has three PCI-E x16 slots, and not two, as is the case with competitors. It is clear that with their simultaneous operation, the speed will be cut, but the very fact of their presence is important!
| Name | Number of PCIe x 16 | # Of PCIe x 1 | PCIe x16 version |
| Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 | 3 pcs. | 1 PC. | 4.0 |
| MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX | 2 pcs. | 4 things. | 3.0 |
| ASUS TUF B450-PRO Gaming | 2 pcs. | 3 pcs. | 3.0 |
Of course, the manufacturer had to reduce the number of PCI-E x1 slots – Gigabyte uses only one such slot. In this regard, MSI is far superior to the competitor. But you need to understand that now such connectors are used less and less. Especially in gaming PCs where high data transfer speeds are important.
MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX is High-speed memory support
The motherboard allows you to use RAM operating at frequencies up to 4133 MHz.
Interface panel and internal USB connectors
What connectors does the rear side have?
Hardly anyone will argue that any motherboard is used not only for games. Therefore, it is important to get the product with the largest number of connectors on its rear panel. And so that many of them turn out to be high-speed. In this regard, Gigabyte looks much more interesting. But in fact, even the least expensive MSI product should suit the vast majority of our readers.
| Name | USB 2.0 | USB 3.2 | USB 3.2 Type-C | Audio | PS/2 | LAN |
| Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 | 2 pcs. | 5 pieces. | – | 5 pcs, optical output | – | 2500 Mbps |
| MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX | 2 pcs. | 4 things. | – | 6 pcs. | 1 PC. | 1000 Mbps |
| ASUS TUF B450-PRO Gaming | 2 pcs. | 4 things. | 1 PC. | 3 pcs. | 1 PC. | 1000 Mbps |
Speaking about the audio component, the boards use a different audio adapter chipset, but all of them support the 7.1 scheme. At the same time, it will be difficult to connect multichannel acoustics to the ASUS motherboard, since it uses only three analog connectors, and it has no digital port at all. But on the other hand, a product from Gigabyte is endowed with an optical output. It also received five analog connectors. And one more is built into the MSI board, but it lacks a digital port.
Another important difference between the more expensive Gigabyte B550 from its competitors is the LAN port. Its speed reaches 2.5 Gb / s, while when buying the other two boards, you will have to rely on the standard 1 Gb / s. The models we have selected have no wireless modules.
| Name | USB 2.0 | USB 3.2 | USB 3.2 Type-C |
| Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 | 4 things. | 2 pcs. | 1 PC. |
| MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX | 4 things. | 2 pcs. | – |
| ASUS TUF B450-PRO Gaming | 4 things. | 2 pcs. | – |
With the purchase of a gaming motherboard, you will have to puzzle over which case to choose. The fact is that all three models support a large number of external USB connectors, and many of them can be high-speed. The table above will tell you more about this.
Check out Best MSI Motherboards For Gaming And Graphics.
Additional features
How else do the motherboards differ from each other?
All three boards allow overclocking, but Gigabyte is the least. This is evidenced by the power system chosen by the manufacturer, and the corresponding settings hidden too far in the Bios. It is worth trying only if the installed processor consists of four or six cores. Another limitation of this model is the small number of connectors for case fans.
The MSI board uses a 7-phase power supply system. Also, the buyer should be pleased with the Flash BIOS button, thanks to which a quick update to the latest BIOS version is carried out (if only it was preloaded onto a connected USB flash drive).
The ASUS product also has good overclocking capabilities. But we have already mentioned all the main features of this board otherwise it does not differ from competitors with the same price tag.
ASUS TUF B450-PRO Gaming have Signature lighting
The board allows you to sync RGB lighting with other peripherals made by the same company.
Price difference of Asus, Msi and Gigabyte Motherboard
Motherboards don’t have the same price tag
The last thing sellers ask for is an MSI product. This is one of the most affordable gaming motherboards out there. This must be why it does not have the most “chips” that would make it stand out from other top models. But sometimes the price is everything.
ASUS products always have a certain markup. So the motherboard we reviewed is slightly more expensive than it should be. Especially when you consider that in the future its owner may also need a sound card (for connecting multichannel acoustics). The most expensive on our list is the Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2. This is understandable because the board has a number of distinctive features. Perhaps, it lacks only Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules – for that kind of money I would like to get them too.
| Name | price |
| Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 | Check Price at Amazon |
| MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX | Check Price at Amazon |
| ASUS TUF B450-PRO Gaming | Check Price at Amazon |
Which is better to buy from Asus, Msi, Gigabyte Motherboard?
If you have a top-end graphics card and something else from ASUS, then your choice may seem obvious. The fact is that the motherboard from the same manufacturer has proprietary RGB lighting that can be synchronized with other devices. But if you are not striving to assemble a system unit sparkling with all the colors of the rainbow, then you can think about it.
The product from Asus will definitely not suit you if you are going to connect multichannel speakers. If you plan to output digital sound somewhere, then in general you need to focus exclusively on the motherboard from Gigabyte. In our comparison, it scored almost identical to the MSI product. Of course, in some ways she surpassed him, but in some ways she yielded. For example, the Gigabyte product is the only one of the trinity that has a USB Type-C connector and the fourth version of PCI-Express. Not a bad start for the future! But MSI allows you to connect more hard drives that are relevant right now. And due to the lower price, this purchase turns out to be much more profitable.
| Name | Rating | Number of victories by criteria | Winner in the nomination |
| MSI B450 Gaming Plus MAX | 4.64 | 4/7 | Appearance, Memory, Additional features, Cost |
| Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite V2 | 4.61 | 2/7 | Expansion slots, Interface panel |
| ASUS TUF B450-PRO Gaming | 4.58 | 2/7 | Appearance, Controllers |