Z87 Motherboard - MSI G45?

[Bounty_Bam]

I'm after replacing my old Abit IP35 motherboard - I've had it for around 7-8 years now. It has served me well but it's time to upgrade it to something a little more modern, wouldn't you agree?
I've had my eye on this one for a few weeks now. It appears to cover my needs, and it's within my preferred price-range. I'm not entirely sure about every last detail, but I must admit that it was the overall look and design of the board that struck my eye

I've chosen Intel purely because I've had Intel chipsets all my life, never had an AMD and wouldn't know where to begin..

http://www.ebuyer.com/507003-msi-z87...z87-g45-gaming


Does anyone currently own, or owned this board? What are your thoughts?

[MrJim]

It seems like a decent motherboard, & gets good reviews from what I've read. The only thing that'd put me off the G45 Gaming board is that it uses the Killer E2205 chipset for Ethernet. I've heard that the driver support is a bit iffy for the E2205, whilst the chipset offers relatively few features over and above the Intel equivalent.

In reality if you stick to one of the 'tier one' manufacturers (Asus, Gigabye & MSI), you're not likely to go too far wrong though. Your choice will probably be down to features, aesthetics, and of course, price. I have a preference for Asus myself, but other's tastes will no doubt differ. I think MSI's UK after-sales support is pretty good too (if it's anything like that for their graphics cards, anyway).