I'm not sure about the ESD either. Every MB I have ever had has a function in BIOS called Spread Spectrum. From what I have read that is to enable if you are having trouble with electrostatic discharge interfearing with other functions of your computer. Sounds like the same thing to me. You have thje cooling and temp monitoring in just about all of the boards. And you are right about the 5 year warranty. But, like I told you before, that was not as important to me. In 5 years I will have probably built several computers. Lately I have been building 2 a year, for no reason really. I just like to. I just think they are both pretty good boards just with different features. I won't think you made a mistake no matter which one you buy. IMO, neither one is better, they are just different.