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Need help picking a AM4 board.

4K views 21 replies 14 participants last post by  SliceTbone 
#1 ·
Hello guys, I kinda need help finding out what board to get. MSI X370 GAMING PRO or the ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F GAMING
The board will be pared with a Ryzen 1700 and G.Skill Flare X series 2 x 8 GB CL14 3200 MHZ, and of course a GTX 1070. Most reasons for my upgrade from a 4670k is that I want maybe to stream, create content and Photoshop.
But I am really unaware on what board to get, and hoping you guys can help me out? I might want to get it to around 3,6 OC
smile.gif

Hope you all can help me around here.
Sorry for my bad english, it's not my native language.
 
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#2 ·
get an x370 for starters imo , better vrm 350 gets too hot when oc esp with an 8core. then there other bonusses like way better sound , expandability etc.

Taichi gets the best bang of your buck , offerring the best vrm and solid sound expansion slots and wifi and you can find it relatively cheap right now. Though vrm can be overkill and misses cmos power reset buttons and doesnt comer with any qvl's

Id went with hero cause i like the looks , solid vrm , great sound plenty of qvl and good rgb leds but its bit expensive

Another solid option is asus x370 pro prime for its money.

stay clear from gigabyte and msi
 
#3 ·
There's two things you need to consider

1. Number of VRM's -6 is common on B350 boards and is enough for a 3.6GHz OC on a 1700. 8 is common with X370 which will yield lower temperatures and higher overall OC ability...more like 3.9GHz.
2. Quality of VRM's - A digital controller with NexFET's is considered ideal. Only a few vendors use digital controllers and NexFET's, but those are the boards you should be trying to find.

The ROG Strix B350-F Gaming has 4 VRM's with digital controller but no NexFET's.

The MSI X370 Gaming Pro has 8 VRM's with a digital controller but no NexFET's.

Personally I would probably recommend the Asus Prime Pro, which has 6 VRM's with a digital controller and NexFET's. It also has had more time to mature from a BIOS perspective and is the same price as the ROG Strix B350-F.

Edit: This is a great resource to investigate motherboard options: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hardwareluxx.de%2Fcommunity%2Ff12%2Fam4-mainboard-vrm-liste-1155146.html&edit-text=&act=url
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmac68 View Post

I say get the ASUS ROG X370-F Strix Gaming.

The 2 parts I refuse cheap out on are motherboard and power supply.
That board is $50 extra and has nearly the exact same VRM's specs as the X370-Prime Pro. Granted, it kicks out more Amps than the CSD 87350's on the Prime Pro, but unless you're going for 4.1GHz, the 180W capability of the Prime Pro is adequate for mortal overclocking.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by LuckyImperial View Post

That board is $50 extra and has nearly the exact same VRM's specs as the X370-Prime Pro. Granted, it kicks out more Amps than the CSD 87350's on the Prime Pro, but unless you're going for 4.1GHz, the 180W capability of the Prime Pro is adequate for mortal overclocking.
It doesn't have the same VRM

It has better than X370 Prime Pro VRM since it uses 6x IR3555 (60A Powerstages), with a Bclk gen. They key advantage is the BCLK gen.

I think it also has better audio shielding.

The initial batches of BIOS had issues with Ryzen 7 1700 / Ryzen 5 1600 non-X CPUs due to lack of the Sense mi skew option. Now it seems to have been rectified.

That said, going lower than the ASUS X370 Prime Pro in quality is ill advised for Ryzen 7.

Some boards I would consider for Ryzen 7:
MSI B350 Pro Carbon --- when on sale , for low overclocks only / on a budget (<$120) , it's the same VRM as X370 Pro Carbon / X370 Krait Gaming / B350 Krait Gaming
Asus X370 Prime Pro ---- has been on sale ~ $110-120 otherwise it's normally about $150
Asus X370-F STRIX --- has BCLK , has been on sale ~$160
Asus Crosshair VI Hero --- top tier, has BCLK
Asus Crosshair VI Extreme --- probably best of top tier , has BCLK, but very pricey
Gigabyte X370 Gaming 5 , K7 ---- RGB , K7 has BCLK .... best with monoblock waterblocks otherwise VRM heatsink is garbage , beware of BIOS versions that overvolt
Asrock X370 Taichi / Fatal1ty Gaming Pro--- top tier, has BCLK , Taichi is a best price/perf board when < $190
Biostar X370 GT7 --- missing some niceties including reinforced PCIe slots and Intel LAN, but top tier VRM & has RGB for people into that
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlphaC View Post

It doesn't have the same VRM

It has better than X370 Prime Pro VRM since it uses 6x IR3555 (60A Powerstages), with a Bclk gen. They key advantage is the BCLK gen.

I think it also has better audio shielding.

The initial batches of BIOS had issues with Ryzen 7 1700 / Ryzen 5 1600 non-X CPUs due to lack of the Sense mi skew option. Now it seems to have been rectified.

That said, going lower than the ASUS X370 Prime Pro in quality is ill advised for Ryzen 7.
I didn't know about the bclck gen.
 
#11 ·
ryzen becomes more popular where i live . have couple of friends who are building new rigs.

One went with an asus strix , second friend is between taichi or hero wifi if price difference is around 60 dollars. Told him taichi , i think is way better perf/value , though i went with hero but when i bought it the price difference was smaller.
 
#12 ·
@AlphaC You seem to have some better understanding of the boards. I just had an Prime B350-Plus that bricked and am looking for a new board too. Your suggestions sound good but whenever I read the user reviews of these boards they don't sound so good anymore. From my own experience I shy away from Asus now but MSI doesn't seem to do any better. The ram problems are still not quite figured out I guess. I have an 1800x lying around but no board with it. Does it make sense to get a x370-pro if I had an B350-Plus before. The differences seem minimal, actually the B350 sounds better than the x370-pro if you don't want to overclock eg.

Can you suggest any other board? I liked the Asus Bios and from what I heard the MSI Bios does some things on its own. My price range is max 120$/€
 
#13 ·
@monitorhero

Asus customer service is some of the best. If you open up an RMA with them they should have you a new board in a couple of weeks. A month max.

Your Prime is a great board.

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hardwareluxx.de%2Fcommunity%2Ff12%2Fam4-mainboard-vrm-liste-1155146.html&edit-text=&act=url

There's a good VRM thread in German. Use translate to read it. Not many true six phase boards out there, let alone cheaper ones. The B350 Gaming Pro Carbon is a 4x2 though, so that's pretty good.
 
#20 ·
The X370 PRO PRIME is a really good board. In my work sell pre-asambled build with that board and never had a issue.
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#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by LuckyImperial View Post

@monitorhero

Asus customer service is some of the best. If you open up an RMA with them they should have you a new board in a couple of weeks. A month max.

Your Prime is a great board.

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hardwareluxx.de%2Fcommunity%2Ff12%2Fam4-mainboard-vrm-liste-1155146.html&edit-text=&act=url

There's a good VRM thread in German. Use translate to read it. Not many true six phase boards out there, let alone cheaper ones. The B350 Gaming Pro Carbon is a 4x2 though, so that's pretty good.
You're one of the first people to ever say this. All I ever hear about is how awful Asus customer service is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by monitorhero View Post

@AlphaC You seem to have some better understanding of the boards. I just had an Prime B350-Plus that bricked and am looking for a new board too. Your suggestions sound good but whenever I read the user reviews of these boards they don't sound so good anymore. From my own experience I shy away from Asus now but MSI doesn't seem to do any better. The ram problems are still not quite figured out I guess. I have an 1800x lying around but no board with it. Does it make sense to get a x370-pro if I had an B350-Plus before. The differences seem minimal, actually the B350 sounds better than the x370-pro if you don't want to overclock eg.

Can you suggest any other board? I liked the Asus Bios and from what I heard the MSI Bios does some things on its own. My price range is max 120$/€
Many of the user reviews are with older BIOS. Most of the kinks have been worked out. Make sure to check the date of the reviews... The newer ones should be a better reflection of the current state of the motherboards than the older ones.
 
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