looking to build a new system and im considering asrock brand but i have some doubts/concerns.

[squallypo]

hello there everyone, please bare with me in this hunt
im currently in the search of building a new system with a ryzen 7800x3d processor (already know which rams im gonna get thanks to everyone involved in the other post i made) and im looking towards asrock motherboards because they seem to be quality build and affordable things considered, but there are things that are keeping me in doubt towards asrock boards such as :

1- DOA boards seems to be some cases around the net mentioning this.
2-motherboards dying after a few months for some reason
3-usb issues
4-boot times issues
4-ram compatibility issues
5-cpu getting fried (although i know this is not asrock only, seems that it was across all the other brands as well, not sure if this was already fixed?)
6-coil whine on vrm

now with that being considered, there seems to be some pros which is pretty much pricing, in comparison to other brands that seems to offer more or less the same but at higher price range and i dont think its OKAY that we gotta buy something above 400$ in order to have a functional board.
also im avoiding ASUS on the x670e since apparently they are rather trash in terms of quality and their whole fiasco with the bios and chipset getting toasted without taking responsibility for the cause was a big NO to me, also the VRM terms seems to be higher depending on the model, and the higher end are way too expensive for me to be real.
these are the boards ive come into consideration so far:

x670e:
1-asrock x670e steel legend
2-msi mag x670e tomahawk wifi (not an MSI user, dont know but i feel unsure about them)
3-gigabyte x670e aorus pro x (unsure about this one since theres lack of reviews or users reviews about it since apparently its rather "new")
4-asrock x670e taichi (although i think we can reject this already since its EATX and my case only supports ATX)

b650e: the reason of the selection here is due to pci express 5.0 for the gpu

1-Asrock B650E PG Riptide WiFi
2-Asrock B650E Steel Legend WiFi
3-Gigabyte B650E Aorus Master (i think this is outside of my price range)
4-GIGABYTE B650E AORUS ELITE X AX ICE (unsure about this one since theres lack of reviews or users reviews about it since apparently its rather "new")
5- Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WiFi (added this one since i would assume its okay on b650 mobos)

question is, do i need an x670e? or should the b650e mobos be enough for my needs?

thanks to everyone that gets to come here and provide feedback that i really need.

 

[#22]

As somebody who uses ASRock boards in my own, main computers for five years I just can't complain: no problems and no coilwhine. I like ASRock for usually balancing features of their boards better than others and they seeming to treat their bios updates seriously in the meaning of not ever bringing me any problems.

 

[overclockedamd]

5-cpu getting fried (although i know this is not asrock only, seems that it was across all the other brands as well, not sure if this was already fixed?)

This was fixed on all manufacturers boards. It was MB manufacturers allowing to much voltage at stock to X3D chips frying them.

“We have root caused the issue and have already distributed a new [AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture] that puts measures in place on certain power rails on AM5 motherboards to prevent the CPU from operating beyond its specification limits, including a cap on SOC voltage at 1.3V,” AMD spokesperson Matthew Hurwitz

 

[ir_cow]

1- DOA boards seems to be some cases around the net mentioning this.
2-motherboards dying after a few months for some reason
3-usb issues
4-boot times issues
4-ram compatibility issues
5-cpu getting fried (although i know this is not asrock only, seems that it was across all the other brands as well, not sure if this was already fixed?)
6-coil whine on vrm

This happens with all brands over the years. I had a ASRock X58 that was absolute crap. I'm using a ASRock Z690 and it's fine. On the AMD side, same deal. No issues with the AM5 ones so far. Just update the BIOS to the newest and Ram, boot times, CPU melting all go away.

So I wouldn't put much thought into the top brands. Pick a brand you like, pick a price point and see what your final choices are.

 

[thesmokingman]

Asrock is a decent brand. The two brands I find consistently crap are Gigafail and MSI.

 

[ir_cow]

The two brands I find consistently crap are Gigafail and MSI.

Gigabyte has made great AM5 motherboards so far. We will ignore the A620, because it sucks for every vendor.

 

[squallypo]

Gigabyte has made great AM5 motherboards so far. We will ignore the A620, because it sucks for every vendor.

why does this happens ? just bad luck?

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Every company makes awesome and trash motherboards. Best thing to do is set a price you are willing to spend and then look at what features each vendor offers you in that price range that you want.

I've done builds with every motherboard maker except Biostar and I've had awesome experiences and terrible ones with all of them best not to get too hung up on a specific brand as all of them have terrible CS in my experiences and as long as you aren't scraping the bottom of the barrel of their product line make pretty decent products.

 

[freeagent]

I have a Z77 OCFormula that kicks axe.

Outside of that I have been a little leary of them..

But my fears may be unfounded

 

[squallypo]

Every company makes awesome and trash motherboards. Best thing to do is set a price you are willing to spend and then look at what features each vendor offers you in that price range that you want.

I've done builds with every motherboard maker except Biostar and I've had awesome experiences and terrible ones with all of them best not to get too hung up on a specific brand as all of them have terrible CS in my experiences and as long as you aren't scraping the bottom of the barrel of their product line make pretty decent products.

agreed and understandable, which is pretty much what ive tried to come up with the list i posted on my original post.
prices between both of b650e and x670e are pretty much equal from what ive gathered, at least from the versions im considering, which is what makes me question, do i even need to consider the b650e series at all? and just stick to x670e

 

[tabascosauz]

agreed and understandable, which is pretty much what ive tried to come up with the list i posted on my original post.
prices between both of b650e and x670e are pretty much equal from what ive gathered, at least from the versions im considering, which is what makes me question, do i even need to consider the b650e series at all? and just stick to x670e

If there is not a meaningful enough price advantage to B650E, then no.

Each board vendor has its ups and downs. Even when X3Ds were exploding, ASRock had some of the better auto voltages least likely to kill them.

95%+ of the time Amazon reviews are some of the most worthless things in existence.

As to support, you can do a lot worse than ASRock. At least on technical support.

 

[ir_cow]

View attachment 345274
why does this happens ? just bad luck?

People not willing to wait long enough for memory training and or won't do the basic trouble shooting? It could be they put in 128GB of ram and expect it to boot. We don't know.

 

[squallypo]

thanks everyone, i think all the feedback that you have provided serves for my purposes and reassurance than no matter which brand i go with as long is not A620 to set an example, should be good enough.
keep in mind that every vendor has its ups and downs as @tabascosauz stated, if i gotta pick a x670e might end up being the steel legend price enough seems solid for what it offers and wont have to overspend much on it, the gigabyte x670e aorus pro x seems good enough as well but there's barely any review on it and opinions as well so its going blindly with it.

and if i decide to go with b650e the best options from what ive noticed at least seems to be : b650e steel legend, the pg riptide as well from asrock, and GIGABYTE B650E AORUS ELITE X AX ICE which seems to be a more *newer* model seems like a refresh to me of the aorus elite ax non white version, and then Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WiFi.

gonna have to check prices, compatibility with the ram i choose already (not purchased but most likely that will be the one "F5-6000J3038F16GX2-TZ5NR")
and that should be it, again thanks for the feedback and putting my mind at ease.

 

[tabascosauz]

thanks everyone, i think all the feedback that you have provided serves for my purposes and reassurance than no matter which brand i go with as long is not A620 to set an example, should be good enough.
keep in mind that every vendor has its ups and downs as @tabascosauz stated, if i gotta pick a x670e might end up being the steel legend price enough seems solid for what it offers and wont have to overspend much on it, the gigabyte x670e aorus pro x seems good enough as well but there's barely any review on it and opinions as well so its going blindly with it.

and if i decide to go with b650e the best options from what ive noticed at least seems to be : b650e steel legend, the pg riptide as well from asrock, and GIGABYTE B650E AORUS ELITE X AX ICE which seems to be a more *newer* model seems like a refresh to me of the aorus elite ax non white version, and then Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WiFi.

gonna have to check prices, compatibility with the ram i choose already (not purchased but most likely that will be the one "F5-6000J3038F16GX2-TZ5NR")
and that should be it, again thanks for the feedback and putting my mind at ease.

If you ever have any doubts, you can always hit up the AM5 list:

AM5 Motherboards Sheet (X670/B650/A620) - Google Sheets

I don't think I would simply assume that Aorus Elite ICE is a newer revision of Aorus Elite. Gigabyte has always been notorious with its board revisions.

There is no direct counterpart as there does not exist a B650E Aorus Elite. That said, B650E Aorus Elite ICE and B650 Aorus Elite ICE/Aorus Elite V2 look similar in feature set and specs, so it might be as simple as a PCH swap on Gigabyte's part, to create the new board. Then again, looking at the rear I/O it looks like the B650E ICE is not comparable to the B650s.

 

[squallypo]

If you ever have any doubts, you can always hit up the AM5 list:

AM5 Motherboards Sheet (X670/B650/A620) - Google Sheets

I don't think I would simply assume that Aorus Elite ICE is a newer revision of Aorus Elite. Gigabyte has always been notorious with its board revisions.

There is no direct counterpart as there does not exist a B650E Aorus Elite. That said, B650E Aorus Elite ICE and B650 Aorus Elite ICE/Aorus Elite V2 look similar in feature set and specs, so it might be as simple as a PCH swap on Gigabyte's part, to create the new board. Then again, looking at the rear I/O it looks like the B650E ICE is not comparable to the B650s.

perhaps there's some distinctions to not make it fully obvious that they are the same but share some resemblance? somehow they gotta justify the existance of a new board i suppose, gigabyte being gigabyte is all i can think of.

thanks for the list ill check it out seems well compiled!

 

[oxrufiioxo]

and if i decide to go with b650e the best options from what ive noticed at least seems to be : b650e steel legend, the pg riptide as well from asrock, and GIGABYTE B650E AORUS ELITE X AX ICE which seems to be a more *newer* model seems like a refresh to me of the aorus elite ax non white version, and then Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WiFi.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those boards I've done multiple AM5 build with 6000CL30 memory in the Aorus Elite and they've been Great to work with, I'm sure your experience with the other options will be equally fantastic if that's the route you take. I've only worked with X670 boards from the other vendors but all have been great so far. I've stuck with Gskill 6000CL30 with all builds and it's worked flawlessly. The only board I had issues with was a X670 Hero having to manually set timings etc but that has been cleared up with later bios revisions.

 

[#22]

@squallypo Your concerns about going given chipset are confusing to me. It's all about your needs of equipment board comes with. Higher-end chipset means higher baseline of anything included:

One thing I would definitely advise is rather sticking to E chipsets. It's worth to just have PCIe 5.0 for both GPU and M2. Especially if you plan to use this platform for rather longer. You may only loose some performance with pairing GPU with lower-standard slot and with faster drives it's always the same: they start with rarely making a difference until software adopts to benefit from their higher speeds. It's just good if your mobo supports possibly latest standards of anything, because it may only come in handy.

 

[squallypo]

@squallypo Your concerns about going given chipset are confusing to me. It's all about your needs of equipment board comes with. Higher-end chipset means higher baseline of anything included:

One thing I would definitely advise is rather sticking to E chipsets. It's worth to just have PCIe 5.0 for both GPU and M2. Especially if you plan to use this platform for rather longer. You may only loose some performance with pairing GPU with lower-standard slot and with faster drives it's always the same: they start with rarely making a difference until software adopts to benefit from their higher speeds. It's just good if your mobo supports possibly latest standards of anything, because it may only come in handy.

Yeah the idea is to go with the platform that will give longer longevity for further upgrades, gpus that are gonna be pci express gen 5 is one reason, as well as m.2 gen 5 but as far I know I've picked both "e" sides for either b650 and x670.
On the site now and I'm not sure if this related in any way:

I was watching a video about pci switching lanes which is like for example: the pci express for the gpu shares bandwidth with the m.2 slot above the pci express 16x on the gpu and this makes the slot work 8x instead 16x, which will lead to a downgrade on performance for the gpu.
I hope I made some sense on this, and I noticed how the x670e aorus pro x could possibly have this scenario (I'm unsure since I don't exactly understand the diagram on that end in comparison as how ASRock describe it on their mobos)

 

[ir_cow]

The RTX 4090 doesn't use all of PCIe gen4 16x bandwidth. In fact if you do 8x, the loss of performance is about 15%. Gen5 16x for GPUs won't be needed for another few generations. On the flip slide if the GPU supports Gen5, running it at 8x will be the same as Gen4 16x, so you gain a PCIe slots when it's split to 8x/8x.

 

[#22]

Yeah the idea is to go with the platform that will give longer longevity for further upgrades, gpus that are gonna be pci express gen 5 is one reason, as well as m.2 gen 5 but as far I know I've picked both "e" sides for either b650 and x670.
On the site now and I'm not sure if this related in any way:

Hard to say how much of a CPU upgrade will ever land on AM5, so don't count on it. Or maybe ask yourself how much would encourage you to upgrade and if it seems realistic. Maybe wait for new chips, if I recall planned to be presented during Computex. With importance of PCIe 5.0 I was more like you ever happened to get GPU with cut down PCIe to x8 or x4 and then having faster standard coming handy, but in general it's only better to have it faster. With M2, if we talk gaming, I wouldn't expect PCIe 5.0 making any difference until next-gen console games will arrive in around 5 years time. But maybe something other will move like e.g. Direct Storage.

I was watching a video about pci switching lanes which is like for example: the pci express for the gpu shares bandwidth with the m.2 slot above the pci express 16x on the gpu and this makes the slot work 8x instead 16x, which will lead to a downgrade on performance for the gpu.
I hope I made some sense on this, and I noticed how the x670e aorus pro x could possibly have this scenario (I'm unsure since I don't exactly understand the diagram on that end in comparison as how ASRock describe it on their mobos)

Sometimes happens that using some slot disables other or e.g. degrades GPU PCIe multiplier, but I don't see anything like that in X670E Aorus Pro X specification or manual. Always thoroughly check both to be sure and you can always ask manufacturer as the best source of such info.

 

[dgianstefani]

The RTX 4090 doesn't use all of PCIe gen4 16x bandwidth. In fact if you do 8x, the loss of performance is about 15%. Gen5 16x for GPUs won't be needed for another few generations. On the flip slide if the GPU supports Gen5, running it at 8x will be the same as Gen4 16x, so you gain a PCIe slots when it's split to 8x/8x.

Loses 3% performance going from Gen 4 to Gen 3, which is same as going Gen 4 x16 to Gen 4 x8.

Not having PCIe 5.0 isn't a problem, and will not be a problem for the life of the socket.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 PCI-Express Scaling

The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is a graphics card powerhouse, but what happens when you run it on a PCI-Express 4.0 x8 bus? In our mini-review we've also tested various PCI-Express 3.0, 2.0 and 1.1 configs to get a feel for how FPS scales with bandwidth.

www.techpowerup.com

2% difference at 4K.

 

[ir_cow]

Even lower amount!