ASUS and MSI are the two biggest players in the motherboard market. It’s not very fruitful to compare them as a whole, but if you put two similar boards together, some impactful factors will certainly stick out.

Comparatively, MSI boards may provide the same features at a lower price point. But, ASUS’s AI overclocking might interest you if you’re just getting into overclocking. Or, you might prefer the BIOS UI of one manufacturer over the other.

If you’re stuck and can’t choose between similar MSI and ASUS boards, this article will help you make a more informed decision.

How to Choose the Best Motherboard For You

Whenchoosing a motherboard, what matters most iswhether the chosen model is the best fit for you. In general, focus on factors like:

I’m mentioning this because manynew PC buildershave this misconception that products from one brand are entirely better than the other. But this is not true.

Instead, you should first think about the aforementioned points to filter your options down to a few motherboards.

Once you find identical boards from both brands, that isonlywhen the brand name should come into play.

MSI Vs ASUS Motherboards – How Are They Different?

MSI and ASUS differ in a lot of ways. They have different product lines, trademarked technologies, etc.

But these aren’t valid points of comparison. Let’s instead focus on the things that we can compare side by side.

Price

You’ve likely heard the term “ASUS tax” if you’ve been in PC-building circles for a while. This originates from the trend of ASUS products costing more due to the brand name.

This is a particularlyimportant detail forbudget or mid-range builds.

Among two similar-spec boards from MSI and ASUS, if the MSI board is considerably cheaper, it makes sense to pick it.

In some cases, the cheaper MSI board may even provide extra features like WiFi or USB-C that are lacking on the ASUS board.

So, if you’d prefer toprioritize other components like the GPUwhen budgeting, MSI boards willusuallysave you a few bucks.

BIOS Interface

Before we publish our guides here at TechNewsToday, we verify all the info via thorough testing.

I’ve had to set up and test numerous ASUS and MSI systems for this. My daily driver is also an MSI system (MAG B550M MORTARspecifically).

In my experience, both the ASUS and MSI BIOSes provide all the config options you’d expect (XMP/CPU overclocking,fan control,boot priority,virtualization, and so on). I’ve only noticed two major differences.

Thefirstis regarding theBIOS interface.

MostMSI boardsuse the iconic Red-Black-White UI in their BIOS. Some Intel boards also ship with the Black and white UI.

Thelocation of some settings is different, but functionally, both of these interfaces are identical.

ASUS boardshave a bit more variation depending on the product line (ROG, TUF GAMING, PRIME, ProArt, etc).

Once again, thelocation of the settings is different, but the BIOSes are functionally the same.

If the appearance and feel of the BIOS UI matter to you, then you may prefer ASUS over MSI or vice-versa.

Thesecond differenceis regardingoverclocking support.

ASUS systems providevarious auto-tuning methodslikeEZ System Tuning,EZ Tuning Wizard,AI Overclocking, etc.

ASUS’s flagship ROG line is also quite popular among overclock enthusiasts. This not only shows user trust but also better community support when it comes to overclocking.

MSI doesn’t have any MSI-specific auto OC tools. You’re limited toCPU-specific featureslikeAMD PBOandIntel Turbo Boost(which provide quite good results btw).

It’s nothing significant, but if you plan to overclock your system,ASUS has a slight edge.

Customer Support

ASUS has had various controversies of late (AM5 boards thatovervolted CPUs, drama with GamersNexus and JayzTwoCents, etc).

They handled most of these situations poorly in terms of RMA and customer support.

MSI is certainly not without its flaws. You’ll find plenty of people who’ve had their struggles with MSI RMA.

But if we put aside anecdotal experiences and look at overall trends,MSI is definitely in a better spotright now in terms of customer support.

MSI Vs ASUS – Which Should You Pick

To reiterate my first point, comparing brands is simply not a smart approach. It’s hard to find many significant differences when doing so.

After all, both make goodandbad products. Instead, single out individual motherboards for comparison. Focus on thefeatures and factors that matter to you.

If needed, filter based on minor details like the motherboard color, heatsinks, or theVRM quality. The brand name should be very low on your priority list.

Ultimately, when you find some motherboards that fit the bill,read the reviews!See how the boardholds up in the long termand if it’s the best purchase at that budget. And try to understand how well it’ll perform foryouruse cases.