Gigabyte or AsRock (or Asus) motherboard?

[tm1533220341]

I am looking for general opinions on Gigabyte vs. AsRock motherboards (and possibly also Asus motherboards) based on the following criteria, in this order: stability (in Windows 7, Linux, and Hackintosh environments), ease of overclocking, durability, and value.

I maintain about seven computers in my family (Windows 7, Linux, and Hackintosh), and I am about to do the next round of upgrades. Long ago, I had been happy with Asus motherboards. Then I tried AsRock motherboards because they seemed to be a better value (Z68 Pro3 and Z68 Pro3-M). I was pretty much satisfied with them, though I had compatibility problems for my Hackintosh setup.

As a general practice, I like to get the same model motherboard so I can do stuff like clone drives, or swap parts, easily across systems, and it's good if a particular model of ATX motherboard has an mATX counterpart.

Right now, I've narrowed my search down to: the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ($129.99 at Newegg) and the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ($134.99 at Newegg). So, I'm looking for opinions on these two motherboards, and these two brands.

Questions:

1. In general, if you had two identically configured, identically priced motherboards, which would you rather buy, the Gigabyte or the AsRock? How about Asus?

2. Am I going to have Hackintosh compatibility issues with the AsRock Z77 motherboard?

3. Which boards will work the best across the three environments (Windows 7, Linux, and Hackintosh)?

If you have specific experience with these motherboards, I'd be interested in hearing your opinions.

Thanks

 

[samisnake]

1. if they are configured identically, surely itd come down to which you prefer
2. neither are ideal. the asrock has the audio codec you want, but uses broadcom lan which wont work. the gigabyte uses atheros lan (which isnt really an issue, just isnt as supported) and via audio which will work, but isnt as good as realtek if you are going to use the onboard audio.
the asrock will need a modified bios flashed. have a read of http://www.tonymacx86.com/dsdt/47397-msi-asrock-foxconn-1155-patched-bios-thread.html
3. impossible to say

if you are going to use the onboard lan and audio, look for boards with realtek audio, and intel, realtek, or if pushed, atheros lan.

 

[tm1533220341]

@samisnake: thanks for the great info.

I was under the impression that the Gigabyte motherboards were more fully supported with respect to the DSDTs, at least there seems to be more of an ecosystem for Gigabyte here.

So, I guess going with a Gigabyte motherboard (in the $100+ range) is not really a panacea for Hackintosh compatibility.

Maybe I'll go with the GA-Z77-DS3H, as it is one of the recommended boards and forego some of the extra features of the GA-Z77X-D3H.

 

[thelostswede]

You technically don't need a DSDT for the new 7-series Gigabyte boards.
As long as you're happy with VooDoo HDA for audio, or a third party audio solution such as a USB audio device or a compatible soundcard (which there aren't many of these days), then the board you're looking at will be fine.