# Switching to AMD - questions about a couple of ASRock boards



## Gmr_Chick (Dec 27, 2020)

Long story short, as I have a nasty habit of rambling, I'm selling my Intel platform and, with the money gained from it, going Ryzen 3000, specifically an R5 3600. I'm considering 3 boards, 1 on the X570 chipset and 2 on B550: ASrock's X570 PG Velocita, B550 PG Velocita, and B550M Steel Legend. I've read good things about all of them, they all feature a plethora of connectivity options and are, frankly, more in line with my price bracket, lol. 

If I got the Steel Legend, I'd be able to still make use of my Evolv m-ATX case (kinda scary how much $$ I've got invested in it  ) but would need to buy a new case if I went with the ATX boards (have my eye on the non D-RGB P500A)

So, seeing as how all these boards seem like good options for me, how do I go about picking one? I don't intend to do any overclocking and don't see myself having any use for the monster R9's now or in the future, so I don't need ridiculously beefy VRMs or a zillion power phases -- but that doesn't mean I want garbage ones either!  

Many thanks in advance for the suggestions, peeps!


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## Mr.Scott (Dec 27, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> I don't intend to do any overclocking and don't see myself having any use for the monster R9's now or in the future, so I don't need ridiculously beefy VRMs or a zillion power phases -- but that doesn't mean I want garbage ones either!
> 
> Many thanks in advance for the suggestions, peeps!


Based on just this statement, you might as well buy the Steel Legend and make use of your case. It's a fine board for your use.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Dec 27, 2020)

I have the full atx evolvX, the Matx version is only £111 on amazon UK. Mine was about £200, how much is the scarily priced Matx version where you are. 

Also is there not a Matx X570 you could afford? i always go for the best newest chipset i can.


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## Gmr_Chick (Dec 27, 2020)

tigger said:


> I have the full atx evolvX, the Matx version is only £111 on amazon UK. Mine was about £200,* how much is the scarily priced Matx version where you are.
> 
> Also is there not a Matx X570 you could afford? *i always go for the best newest chipset i can.



I paid around $130 (before tax) for my mATX version...and then, because I'd read how that case had airflow problems, bought custom air flow panels for the top and front from this mod shop (modmymods.com) that, in addition to selling tons of water cooling stuff, offers custom panels for Evolv series cases including the Shift. The panels I bought, because I had to buy them already made, were about $70 apiece, so I technically have $200+ invested in this case... 

As far as X570 mATX boards go, there aren't many, sadly. In fact, I just checked Newegg and there's only ONE (!!!) mATX X570 board, the X570M PRO4 from ASrock and, if it's like their other PRO series boards, chances are it's not very good. There are, however, quite a few Mini-ITX X570 boards to pick from. Only problem I have with those is they're crazy tiny and most are rather lacking in the rear IO. 

ETA: I do find myself looking at the Crosshair VIII Impact but...err...dat price though, lol.


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## Caring1 (Dec 27, 2020)

Have you considered the R5 3600XT instead for a CPU?


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## Gmr_Chick (Dec 27, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> Have you considered the R5 3600XT instead for a CPU?



Yeah, but getting one (at MSRP) is next to impossible at the moment


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## tabascosauz (Dec 27, 2020)

Is there a special preference for ASRock?

The best mATX boards currently are between the Mortar [Wifi] and the TUF [Wifi]. The new Aorus Pro-P is a decent contender as well if you dont want to spend as much.

The Steel Legend mATX is cheaper but it's the only one amongst the mATX boards that can actually conceivably run into thermal issues with higher core counts due to the absolute shite heatsink design (Mortar shares the layout, but has a stellar heatsink).

The Steel Legend was the first mATX board I tried, and remains the only one out of 4 AM4 boards (B450I Aorus, B550I Aorus, B550M TUF) that couldn't run my Trident Z 3600 kit. It's a CL17 CJR kit that usually does my custom profiles without issue. It couldn't hold 3600 through either the XMP or any of my profiles above 3200 without crashing, on any BIOS, at any timings or any voltage. The others had no such problems.

That said, it is cheaper, and we have been through a couple more AGESA revisions since. If you really do want the ASRock though, I'd caution you to stick to the QVL; that board seems to need it. Asrock isn't known for their memory topology prowess.

Oh, and if the X570M Pro4 turns you off, I think you'll be pleased to find that the mATX Steel Legend basically shares its PCB.  It's just got a better VRM and more I/O features, but those things are easily dropped onto the PCB without changing its layout at all. The mATX and ATX Steel Legends are not related.

As for the ATX boards, the Extreme4, Steel Legend and PG Velocita (I think) share the exact same 4-layer PCB, right down to the layout of every PCB component. Some features like the buttons are cut to differentiate them. If you're looking at those, I'd get the cheapest one (Steel Legend if no buttons, Extreme4 if buttons).


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## freeagent (Dec 27, 2020)

I came from an Asrock Z77 OC Formula and loved that board! Its kick axe. I was really interested in getting one for either B550 or X570. Some of them are pretty nice looking, but I let myself get talked out of it. I would recommend my board but I wont. After every boot it takes 38 seconds for the lan to connect once the desktop loads. I miss my instant connection. Makes me feel like I'm running Vista ffs. Outside of that its pretty decent. That matx X570 is pretty nice.. I have a Define C Mini I could have used it in.


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## Lionheart (Dec 27, 2020)

Judging by your system specs, your Intel based system is heaps good. Why the side grade?


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## Gmr_Chick (Dec 27, 2020)

Lionheart said:


> Judging by your system specs, your Intel based system is heaps good. Why the side grade?



I can't explain it. But even if I could, I doubt anybody would understand anyway. It's just...something I *need* to do. If you or anyone you know suffers from OCD (the legit kind) then you know how it all works. I...can't explain it any better than that.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Dec 27, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> I can't explain it. But even if I could, I doubt anybody would understand anyway. It's just...something I *need* to do. If you or anyone you know suffers from OCD (the legit kind) then you know how it all works. I...can't explain it any better than that.


I considered a switch but tbh I cba as my system is so stable, and I don't piss money. I will wait for a while. Seeing as am4 is on its last gen, I'll see what's next and if intel finally pulls it's thumb outta it's ass


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## Lionheart (Dec 27, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> I can't explain it. But even if I could, I doubt anybody would understand anyway. It's just...something I *need* to do. If you or anyone you know suffers from OCD (the legit kind) then you know how it all works. I...can't explain it any better than that.



Somehow, I know that exact feeling even though you can't put it into words. I just re-built my gaming PC but this time I went midrange instead of stupid high end, feels so much better as I barely play any high end games (He says that as he owns an RTX 3060 Ti ) But anyways, I'd go with a B550 Mobo instead of X570. I don't know what the best ones are off by heart but Hardware Unboxed & Gamers Nexus have done good reviews on which ones they recommend, maybe give them a gander.


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## GamerGuy (Dec 27, 2020)

Sorta like me with GPU's, I have an excellent Sapphire Nitro+ RX 6800 which does all the games I play without RT at 3840x1080, the only one which I need to temper my expectations and lower ingame is Cyberpunk 2077. Metro Exodus, Serious Sam 3 and 4, Death Stranding, Strange Brigade run pretty well, no lag.....yet, I find myself longing for an RX 6800 XT, which is virtually impossible to find. So, I've pre-ordered an XFX Speedster MERC319 RX 6900XT just because.....can't explain it either, the heart wants what the heart wants (a quote from Lake Placid).


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## Chrispy_ (Dec 27, 2020)

I had a B450 steel legend which was mediocre and unremarkable. Those aren't negative traits in a motherboard at all. The worst thing about it was weak VRM design for the price point, but it was still adequate and properly cooled.

Buildzoid and HWU had good things to say about the B550 Steel Legend so it gets a thumbs up from me.


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## Gmr_Chick (Dec 28, 2020)

tabascosauz said:


> Is there a special preference for ASRock?



Being completely honest with you here, even if my reasons for preferring ASrock are rather silly, I'm simply interested in their PG boards (the good ones like the Velocita and such) because they're the only company that makes silver, red and black-themed boards and those are the main colors of my build theme   

Imma go hide now, lol 

That being said, I can't seem to pull myself away from flashy, pricey boards like the VIII Hero. I had a VI Hero (RIP) and that damn thing absolutely spoiled me as far as IO USB ports went, among other things. So thanks to the VI Hero, whenever I look at mobos now and see no more than 5 USB ports on the back, I shake my fist at it, LMAO


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## tabascosauz (Dec 28, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Being completely honest with you here, even if my reasons for preferring ASrock are rather silly, I'm simply interested in their PG boards (the good ones like the Velocita and such) because they're the only company that makes silver, red and black-themed boards and those are the main colors of my build theme
> 
> Imma go hide now, lol
> 
> That being said, I can't seem to pull myself away from flashy, pricey boards like the VIII Hero. I had a VI Hero (RIP) and that damn thing absolutely spoiled me as far as IO USB ports went, among other things. So thanks to the VI Hero, whenever I look at mobos now and see no more than 5 USB ports on the back, I shake my fist at it, LMAO



I can respect that. I personally wish all boards looked like the B550 Vision D and X570-ACE. The Steel Legends are a little ruined by the really stupid Cool S -looking branding on the plastic shroud. You'll have to see it in person. Both the Extreme4 and PG Velocita look a little better (subjectively).

For a good price, I can take an ASRock board. What I can't forgive is an ASRock AM4 board that costs more than its direct competitors, because more often than not the others are superior hardware-wise and firmware-wise. ASRock knows how to make great high end boards, but OC Formulas are a thing of the past.

One gripe I have with the mATX Steel Legend is that the second M.2 slot is half width, x2. Not even 3.0 x4. Both the Mortars and TUFs have a 4.0x4 and 3.0x4. Yes, it's _supposed_ to be a cheaper board, but there's a lot of questionable cost cutting here as a result of being on the same PCB as the B550M Pro4.

If you do decide to go for either mATX/ATX Steel Legend or the Extreme4, take care when removing the M.2/PCH combo heatsink (first slot on the mATX, second slot on the ATX). It's really wack and is something the PG Velocita doesn't suffer. It's extremely big, rigid and really stuck on there because of the thermal pad and you'll probably feel like you're bending the entire board when you remove it.

That, and keep an eye on your VSOC once you're all set up. ASRock likes to default to 1.2V VSOC for no reason when RAM is above JEDEC speed, and keep it there regardless of what you manually set. Think of it like if your motherboard defaulted to 1.35V VCCSA for no reason. There are ways around it, I think.


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## Gmr_Chick (Dec 28, 2020)

tabascosauz said:


> I can respect that. I personally wish all boards looked like the B550 Vision D and X570-ACE.* The Steel Legends are a little ruined by the really stupid Cool S -looking branding on the plastic shroud. *You'll have to see it in person. Both the Extreme4 and PG Velocita look a little better (subjectively).
> 
> For a good price, I can take an ASRock board. What I can't forgive is an ASRock AM4 board that costs more than its direct competitors, *because more often than not the others are superior hardware-wise and firmware-wise.* ASRock knows how to make great high end boards, but OC Formulas are a thing of the past.
> 
> ...



Totally agree! That, and I don't know why they felt the need to slap the digital camo pattern everywhere. That's one of the biggest aesthetic cons I have about the SL boards. The Extreme 4 is rather eye-catching, but the veins of blue in the PCB would obviously clash with my theme. In that same vein, the "gamer" text and the ROG eye Asus plasters on their STRIX offerings is also a big turn off for me. Thankfully the Crosshair boards have largely avoided such obnoxiousness. While the VIII Hero does feature the ROG eye, I can tolerate it, as it's not ginormous or in a prominent area like the IO shroud. 

From a software perspective, I've only had experience with Gigabyte and Asus, and while Giga has truly come a long way in their BIOS since my first experience (Z87 Sniper-Z5S), Asus is still, hands down, vastly superior. Everything is easy to find and tweak if need be, the font is nice and clear (easy to see) and is just easy to navigate.


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## tabascosauz (Dec 28, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Totally agree! That, and I don't know why they felt the need to slap the digital camo pattern everywhere. That's one of the biggest aesthetic cons I have about the SL boards. The Extreme 4 is rather eye-catching, but the veins of blue in the PCB would obviously clash with my theme. In that same vein, the "gamer" text and the ROG eye Asus plasters on their STRIX offerings is also a big turn off for me. Thankfully the Crosshair boards have largely avoided such obnoxiousness. While the VIII Hero does feature the ROG eye, I can tolerate it, as it's not ginormous or in a prominent area like the IO shroud.
> 
> From a software perspective, I've only had experience with Gigabyte and Asus, and while Giga has truly come a long way in their BIOS since my first experience (Z87 Sniper-Z5S), Asus is still, hands down, vastly superior. Everything is easy to find and tweak if need be, the font is nice and clear (easy to see) and is just easy to navigate.



Fully agree with you on the BIOS front. My first Gigabyte BIOS was even older than yours - I had a newer H97N-WIFI but they had the blue-colored older generation BIOS that had zero BIOS fan control. My B450I Aorus was a little rough around the edges; now my B550I Aorus AX's BIOS is pretty solid.

I have the B550M TUF Wifi in my main rig and it's absolutely spoiled me (especially the fan control).

Asrock's BIOS........well.........there are better choices out there haha. It's certainly not really missing any major features, but like I said there are some "default" values that it forces that can be really questionable.

Aside from fan control. Quite frankly, without resorting to in-OS fan control utilities, ASRock's BIOS fan control can't hold a candle to even Gigabyte's, let alone Asus'.


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## INSTG8R (Dec 28, 2020)

I have to say coming from ASUS for my last 2-3 builds and moving to Gigabyte I sure do miss that ASUS BIOS. Gigabyte just feels kinda "Half UEFI" where most stuff you need to navigate with arrow keys/Enter so the mouse is almost pointless. But my last ASUS board was a Z97 Sabertooth that pretty much forced me to use AI Suite to have proper control of my and fans. THAT I do NOT miss at all


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## biffzinker (Dec 28, 2020)

tabascosauz said:


> ASRock's BIOS fan control can't hold a candle to Gigabyte's, let alone Asus.


MSI’s fan control options seem good enough on the B450 Tomahawk.


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## Gmr_Chick (Dec 28, 2020)

Aside from the PG boards I mentioned having an interest in, Gigabyte's X570 Aorus-I as well as the B550 version, both appeal to me in some ways, as does the X570 Aorus Ultra. The VIII Hero from Asus is near the top of my short list, but I'm worried it's a bit "overkill" for my needs. Although, if I wanted to think about it that way, my VI Hero was technically "overkill" for me back then, and yet I still loved it to bits.


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## INSTG8R (Dec 28, 2020)

Well don't get me wrong I like like my Aorus X570 Pro for the quality, I just wish the BIOS didn't feel so dated that said it's all very easy to use and the BIOS fan control is great. The only software I keep installed is the RGB software to reset my colours every new BIOS update


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## tabascosauz (Dec 28, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Aside from the PG boards I mentioned having an interest in, Gigabyte's X570 Aorus-I as well as the B550 version, both appeal to me in some ways, as does the X570 Aorus Ultra. The VIII Hero from Asus is near the top of my short list, but I'm worried it's a bit "overkill" for my needs. Although, if I wanted to think about it that way, my VI Hero was technically "overkill" for me back then, and yet I still loved it to bits.



Technically, the Z490-G is higher end than any AM4 mATX board, so if you're looking to "move up", it's gonna have to be smaller or bigger (although PCB layers really only matters for Intel because you won't be running 4000+ unless you have a Renoir APU).

The Hero is a good board, Dark Hero is technically more up to date though.

Between the X570-I Aorus and B550I Aorus AX, I would have chosen my B550 even if they were the same price. The X570 has the deprecated 16MB BIOS chip, the B550 has the 32MB chip; Gigabyte also had some trouble with BIOS corruption on X570 before B550 launched. The B550 also has a pretty ridiculous full coverage backplate that the X570 doesn't have, that makes it weigh twice as much and damn stiff, just make sure the socket area on the case mobo tray has no obstructions. Add to that the fact the B550I is usually rather cheap even amongst its B550 ITX competitors, let alone X570.

Gigabyte X570 ATX boards received later board revisions with a better memory topology, which the B550 boards have right from Rev. 1.0. So if you are looking at Gigabyte X570, it's good to take note of the revision number.



INSTG8R said:


> Well don't get me wrong I like like my Aorus X570 Pro for the quality, I just wish the BIOS didn't feel so dated that said it's all very easy to use and the BIOS fan control is great. The only software I keep installed is the RGB software to reset my colours every new BIOS update



The overclockers might say that arrow keys is the only true way to navigate a BIOS   I actually like the Gigabyte BIOS because I can adjust the fan curves easily with keyboard only, Asus needs mouse. And my mouse is always super laggy in the Asus BIOS, works fine in my B450 and B550 Gigabyte BIOSes


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## INSTG8R (Dec 28, 2020)

tabascosauz said:


> The overclockers might say that arrow keys is the only true way to navigate a BIOS  I actually like the Gigabyte BIOS because I can adjust the fan curves easily with keyboard only, Asus needs mouse. And my mouse is always super laggy in the Asus BIOS, works fine in my B450 and B550 Gigabyte BIOSes


Well the with the flury of BIOS updates I can flip around and get my settings set up pretty quickly. I have yet to figure out how to do the fan curves via Keyboard because that is definitely very fiddly with a mouse that's for sure...but even that I can do fairly quickly now...


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## tabascosauz (Dec 28, 2020)

INSTG8R said:


> Well the with the flury of BIOS updates I can flip around and get my settings set up pretty quickly. I have yet to figure out how to do the fan curves via Keyboard because that is definitely very fiddly with a mouse that's for sure...but even that I can do fairly quickly now...



In GB fan control you can use arrow keys to scroll through all the controls on the screen. So if you are using a manual fan curve, you can use arrow keys to scroll through each of the 4 (or was it 5?) adjustable points on the curve. There's a small label once you've selected a point that says something like Hold Shift to Adjust, so just hold down Shift and your arrow keys will move that point on the curve in whatever direction you desire. Only if you are using a Manual fan curve.


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## suraswami (Dec 28, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Aside from the PG boards I mentioned having an interest in, Gigabyte's X570 Aorus-I as well as the B550 version, both appeal to me in some ways, as does the X570 Aorus Ultra. The VIII Hero from Asus is near the top of my short list, but I'm worried it's a bit "overkill" for my needs. Although, if I wanted to think about it that way, my VI Hero was technically "overkill" for me back then, and yet I still loved it to bits.



Recently helped a friend build a gaming PC for his Son, he ordered the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite Wifi from Amazon.  We wanted to use the new R5 5600x with it, so had to flash the bios without the CPU. Flashing seemed to work but the board wouldn't post with the 5600x at all.  There are no beeps nothing.  I even tested with no ram, still no beep.  After wasting few hours in trying to trouble shoot every component of the build, finally we went back to MC, stood in the stupid line, and got the B550 Aorus Pro AC.  It had an old bios, but still it booted with the 5600x, it just didn't identify what frequency the CPU was running at.  Updated the Bios and all was well.  I like the B550 feature wise, loads of fan headers and it also had the debug LED which is handy in these kind of situations.

I built my PC with Asus X570 TUF Gaming Plus Wifi, I like the Bios layout of Asus to the Gigabyte.

Anyway good luck with your build.


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## Gmr_Chick (Dec 28, 2020)

tabascosauz said:


> Technically, the Z490-G is higher end than any AM4 mATX board, so if you're looking to "move up", it's gonna have to be smaller or bigger (although PCB layers really only matters for Intel because you won't be running 4000+ unless you have a Renoir APU).
> 
> The Hero is a good board, *Dark Hero is technically more up to date though.*
> 
> ...



The Dark Hero might be more up to date, but it's also $400 and sold out everywhere  

Damn, the Aorus B550 AX has a full coverage backplate?! Oh lawd  I consider that a HUGE plus because I'm always afraid of touching the back of the board, but sometimes it's inevitable. As far as I know, the Crosshair VIII Impact is the only other small board to feature a full coverage backplate. I wish they came standard, honestly. Makes working with the board so much easier.


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## Redwoodz (Dec 28, 2020)

I am using a B450 Steel Legend as we speak. Everything the other guy said about it is incorrect pretty much. He obviously got it before AMD got the Ageasa straightened out. Running right now with .950 SOC no problem. You don't need monster VRM's because these chips pull no more than 125w, same as an old Phenom X4. As for memory performance, I put in a CL18 4000MHz B-die set and it booted first try. To each his own but I hate it when people misdiagnose stuff then spread FUD.Look to professional reviews.


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## INSTG8R (Dec 28, 2020)

tabascosauz said:


> In GB fan control you can use arrow keys to scroll through all the controls on the screen. So if you are using a manual fan curve, you can use arrow keys to scroll through each of the 4 (or was it 5?) adjustable points on the curve. There's a small label once you've selected a point that says something like Hold Shift to Adjust, so just hold down Shift and your arrow keys will move that point on the curve in whatever direction you desire. Only if you are using a Manual fan curve.


Yes I’m very particular about my fan curves. Ii did see ”Press Space” hovering over them but it didn’t make much sense to. Next BIOS update I’ll see well that way works.


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## cueman (Dec 28, 2020)

well,wanna say bfore you do final choose...

wait for rocket lake cpu,specially if you are gamer,its beat all ryzen vermeer,easily. coming january 2021 latest rumor..

and, if you have patience and want also multicore performance,wait summer 2021,june,then intel Adler lake coming,
its 8+8 core Hybrid cpu and maded 10nm tech. its is fast!

i mean then you really can compare little bit closer both cpu performance and efficiency,much better than ever..and see is it amd 7nm cpus so 'good'.

well,amd vermeer are not bad cpu,no, but bcoz its maded 7nm tech against intel 14nm,7nm vermeer has so massive handicap advance to verify intel 14nm.

anyway, im gonna wait maximum summer 2021, then i choose cpu my next totally new PC rig


mobo?

i choose Asus or Msi...but sure, Asrock is good also,


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## tabascosauz (Dec 28, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> The Dark Hero might be more up to date, but it's also $400 and sold out everywhere
> 
> Damn, the Aorus B550 AX has a full coverage backplate?! Oh lawd  I consider that a HUGE plus because I'm always afraid of touching the back of the board, but sometimes it's inevitable. As far as I know, the Crosshair VIII Impact is the only other small board to feature a full coverage backplate. I wish they came standard, honestly. Makes working with the board so much easier.



Mine is in my M1 so it's a little hard to see but the TPU review has a good pic:




A significant benefit is that the backplate makes good contact with thermal pads over the back of the ISL99390s on the VRM. Makes a lot of sense on ITX boards where you can only have so much heatsink area on the front side. I wish more companies realized that MOSFET temp is only part of the equation; more contact on the back is a great way to cool VRM PCB temps.

The B550 also has a heatpipe to spread the VRM heat out a bit (not that it really needs it, ISL99390s are really good), and a much cooler-running chipset.


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## Chrispy_ (Dec 28, 2020)

tabascosauz said:


> ASRock's BIOS fan control can't hold a candle to even Gigabyte's, let alone Asus'.


That's a valid point actually; Even up as recently as the B450 boards I would describe Asrock's fan control as barely adequate. I've never been unable to do what I needed but my god it is finicky and basic. I remember their old Z77 boards forcing me to swap two fans around because one header only had fan control for 3-pin and didn't understand PWM. That was a _long_ time ago though. More recently I've been able to set custom speeds for any header I wanted, even if the UI was clunky and not particularly intuitive.


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## freeagent (Dec 28, 2020)

My Z77 OC Formula had awesome fan control, better than the Asus it replaced.. pity.


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## Gmr_Chick (Dec 28, 2020)

cueman said:


> well,wanna say bfore you do final choose...
> 
> wait for rocket lake cpu,specially if you are gamer,its beat all ryzen vermeer,easily. coming january 2021 latest rumor..
> 
> ...



Um...sure man, whatever you say... Way to miss the topic of this thread by a country mile. If I was going to stay with Intel, I don't think I'd be asking about AMD boards...



tabascosauz said:


> Mine is in my M1 so it's a little hard to see but the TPU review has a good pic:
> 
> View attachment 181323
> 
> ...



That's board is damn sexy in the back... Only thing I'm worried about - and this applies to most ITX boards - is that M.2 port in the back. Granted, the M.2 I have runs in SATA mode so it most likely doesn't get very hot, but still. Is having M.2 ports on the back a bad idea?


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## biffzinker (Dec 28, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Is having M.2 ports on the back a bad idea?


Having it on the back could allow using a thermal pad in contact with the metal panel the standoffs are in.


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## Chrispy_ (Dec 29, 2020)

cueman said:


> intel Adler lake coming,
> its 8+8 core Hybrid cpu and maded 10nm tech. its is fast!


Betting on Intel 10nm is like bringing a knife to a gunfight. It's currently so bad, and so far behind schedule that Rocket Lake was diverted away from 10nm and backported to 14++++

Nobody (apart from you) is confident that 10nm will be viable for desktops in 2021. Even Intel have bet against it, they're outsourcing to both TSMC and Samsung in 2021 whilst they try and fix the utterly broken mess of their 10nm fab. It simply doesn't work, laptop yields are poor, they don't clock high enough to be competitive and they can't reliably make any larger multi-core dies despite almost four years of desperately trying.

Rocket lake will be an improvement because it brings newer architecture to 14nm but the most optimistic projections have it tying with Zen3 Vermeer in performance for much higher power draw. That's not a win, that's a tie at best, with lots of added caveats.


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## tabascosauz (Dec 29, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> That's board is damn sexy in the back... Only thing I'm worried about - and this applies to most ITX boards - is that M.2 port in the back. Granted, the M.2 I have runs in SATA mode so it most likely doesn't get very hot, but still. Is having M.2 ports on the back a bad idea?



If you just run an APU like me, no problem. I've had my SN550 back there with no real thermal differences to being on the front side of the board in my main rig. And my WD drives are both inherently warm drives, the SN550 and SN750.

But if you have a high wattage GPU and have a small case like the M1 or NR200P, it can get really toasty on the back of the board. I imagine that a SATA M.2 would never have any issues though. So yeah, since you don't really have space for any aftermarket M.2 heatsinks back there in most ITX cases, it's probably safe to stick with SATA.

The B550 AX doesn't have a case USB-C header though, if you're into that. I couldn't care less because I use a blank front I/O in my M1 with just the power button, but I know USB-C is becoming all the rage these days. It also has 3 fan headers, but much like the X570 Aorus the third header is actually a mini-4-pin and you need the included adapter to connect it to a regular 3 or 4 pin fan.


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## Gmr_Chick (Dec 31, 2020)

Not related to mobos but, is the Ryzen 5 1600A still a worthy alternative to the 3600? I'm just trying to have a Plan B in case the 3600 goes out of stock again. I read the 1600AF is basically a 2600 in all but name and is still pretty capable. My only concern is mobo support. Given that it's basically a 2600, I'm guessing it'll work on x570 boards, but not B550 as those are only compatible with 3000 and 5000 series Ryzen, right?


----------



## Caring1 (Dec 31, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Not related to mobos but, is the Ryzen 5 1600A still a worthy alternative to the 3600? I'm just trying to have a Plan B in case the 3600 goes out of stock again. I read the 1600AF is basically a 2600 in all but name and is still pretty capable. My only concern is mobo support. Given that it's basically a 2600, I'm guessing it'll work on x570 boards, but not B550 as those are only compatible with 3000 and 5000 series Ryzen, right?


Correct, it won't be supported on later Motherboards that only support 3### or 5### chips
Have you looked at 3500X chips?


----------



## Gmr_Chick (Dec 31, 2020)

Caring1 said:


> Correct, it won't be supported on later Motherboards that only support 3### or 5### chips
> Have you looked at 3500X chips?



OK, that's what I thought. So my Plan B will have to include an X570 board, as those tend to support 2000 series.


----------



## tabascosauz (Dec 31, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> OK, that's what I thought. So my Plan B will have to include an X570 board, as those tend to support 2000 series.



1600AF might be a decent alternative to the 3600 if you're *really* strapped for cash, but that's really about it.

Being an even lower binned 2600 (the 2600 already being amongst the lowest in the binning stack) the quality of the cores can get pretty close, but from what I've seen the memory controller is still Ryzen 1000-level, whether that's the result of binning or design. Knowing where Ryzen 1000 is memory-wise, that's not particularly confidence inspiring even for a 3200CL16 kit.



Caring1 said:


> Correct, it won't be supported on later Motherboards that only support 3### or 5### chips
> Have you looked at 3500X chips?



Isn't the 3500X a China-only part? Sure it ships in a proper box unlike Renoir, but something tells me that attempting to get warranty support on it will probably end the same way as trying to get an RMA for a 4750G. I think where it's available outside of China (where it's a retail product), it's OEM-only.


----------



## Gmr_Chick (Dec 31, 2020)

tabascosauz said:


> 1600AF might be a decent alternative to the 3600 if you're *really* strapped for cash, but that's really about it.
> 
> Being an even lower binned 2600 (the 2600 already being amongst the lowest in the binning stack) the quality of the cores can get pretty close, but from what I've seen the memory controller is still Ryzen 1000-level, whether that's the result of binning or design. Knowing where Ryzen 1000 is memory-wise, that's not particularly confidence inspiring even for a 3200CL16 kit.
> 
> ...



I believe so, yeah. But oddly enough, you can find them for sale on Amazon and Newegg. Hardware Unboxed didn't give it particularly high marks... 

https://www.techspot.com/review/1966-amd-ryzen-5-3500x/ 

The key difference between it and say, the 2600/3600 is that SMT is disabled, so while it's a 6 core, it's also only 6 threads, whereas the 2600/3600 are 6c 12t.


----------



## tabascosauz (Dec 31, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> I believe so, yeah. But oddly enough, you can find them for sale on Amazon and Newegg. Hardware Unboxed didn't give it particularly high marks...
> 
> https://www.techspot.com/review/1966-amd-ryzen-5-3500x/
> 
> The key difference between it and say, the 2600/3600 is that SMT is disabled, so while it's a 6 core, it's also only 6 threads, whereas the 2600/3600 are 6c 12t.



Didn't find it on Amazon but Newegg's is unsurprisingly available only from third party sellers - I'd probably not trust in whatever "warranty" it has actually being enforceable in North America. Learned my lesson with third party sellers on Amazon lol. AMD's own page on the 3500X is in Chinese and states China-only.

Are you unable to find a 3600/3600X/3600XT though? Though $CAD is unforgiving I generally see the three on sale regularly and sometimes at the same price. Knowing that you come from a 10700K, a 3600 is still alright but 1600AF seems like quite a downgrade.


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## Gmr_Chick (Dec 31, 2020)

tabascosauz said:


> Didn't find it on Amazon but Newegg's is unsurprisingly available only from third party sellers - I'd probably not trust in whatever "warranty" it has actually being enforceable in North America. Learned my lesson with third party sellers on Amazon lol. AMD's own page on the 3500X is in Chinese and states China-only.
> 
> *Are you unable to find a 3600/3600X/3600XT though? *Though $CAD is unforgiving I generally see the three on sale regularly and sometimes at the same price. Knowing that you come from a 10700K, a 3600 is still alright but 1600AF seems like quite a downgrade.



Oh, I can find the 3600 on Newegg and Amazon for $200, but am unable to find the X or XT variants. Unfortunately, the money from my Intel parts won't be in my PayPal until between Jan 8-14, and the way the CPU market is at the moment, the 3600 could damn well go out of stock again so just in case it does, I'm trying to formulate a "Plan B".  

Y'all wanna know the sad part about all this? I still have my Ryzen 5 1600, and so all I'd need is a board to put it in, but I can't because AMD doesn't "support" first-gen Ryzen anymore


----------



## oxrufiioxo (Dec 31, 2020)

I agree, you may not notice the difference from a 3600 to a 10700k in real world scenarios with a mid range ish gpu but the 1600AF is a major downgrade from a  10700k

You'd be going from near the top tier as far as gaming cpu performance to near the bottom of all modern cpu.....


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## Chrispy_ (Dec 31, 2020)

Given that there's no real motherboard shortages right now and plenty of options, Just focus on getting the CPU you want first. Whatever you end up with you can easily find RAM/Motherboard/Cooler etc to pair it up with later.


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## Super XP (Dec 31, 2020)

The ASRock boards seem alright, though my total preference is ASUS ROG gaming boards, I ended up with a ASRock myself because of price and wanted to give them a try. So far, its been running as it should with no issues. Though I struggle to get my RAM to 3200 as its meant to run. I later figured that my 1700X was the limiting factor.


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## sepheronx (Dec 31, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Oh, I can find the 3600 on Newegg and Amazon for $200, but am unable to find the X or XT variants. Unfortunately, the money from my Intel parts won't be in my PayPal until between Jan 8-14, and the way the CPU market is at the moment, the 3600 could damn well go out of stock again so just in case it does, I'm trying to formulate a "Plan B".
> 
> Y'all wanna know the sad part about all this? I still have my Ryzen 5 1600, and so all I'd need is a board to put it in, but I can't because AMD doesn't "support" first-gen Ryzen anymore











						85.99US $ 24% OFF|Amd Ryzen 5 3500x New R5 3500x 3.6 Ghz Six-core Six-thread Cpu Processor 7nm 65w L3=32m 100-000000158 Socket Am4 New - Cpus - AliExpress
					

Smarter Shopping, Better Living!  Aliexpress.com




					www.aliexpress.com
				




I bought from this guy 4 times.  All 4 times have been good.  I bought one of these exact processors (though it was the boxed variant with cooler) for about $180 CAD.  This is of course cheaper.

This is at least makes a good alternative for a while till you can find a 5600X at reasonable price.


----------



## Caring1 (Dec 31, 2020)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Not related to mobos but, is the Ryzen 5 1600A still a worthy alternative to the 3600? I'm just trying to have a Plan B in case the 3600 goes out of stock again. I read the 1600AF is basically a 2600 in all but name and is still pretty capable. My only concern is mobo support. Given that it's basically a 2600, I'm guessing it'll work on x570 boards, but not B550 as those are only compatible with 3000 and 5000 series Ryzen, right?


If you would consider an Asus board apparently they support older CPU's even after an update.








						Asus Prime B450 M-A latest bios update...update or not?
					

Hi, I am Running an Ryzen 5  1600 (non AF) processor on a b450 M-A MB with 16 gb 2400mhz ddr4 ram, i recently saw that asus has posted a new bios update for the MB...version 2409. There are some rumours that asus has dropped support for 1st gen ryzen processors. The bios release notes only...




					www.techpowerup.com


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## A Computer Guy (Jan 2, 2021)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Being completely honest with you here, even if my reasons for preferring ASrock are rather silly, I'm simply interested in their PG boards (the good ones like the Velocita and such) because they're the only company that makes silver, red and black-themed boards and those are the main colors of my build theme
> 
> Imma go hide now, lol
> 
> That being said, I can't seem to pull myself away from flashy, pricey boards like the VIII Hero. I had a VI Hero (RIP) and that damn thing absolutely spoiled me as far as IO USB ports went, among other things. So thanks to the VI Hero, whenever I look at mobos now and see no more than 5 USB ports on the back, I shake my fist at it, LMAO


If your open to ITX formfactor ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ax is quite good and a decent amount of rear I/O and robust enough VRM should handle 3950x.    
I have one as my backup PC and have no complaints and had a much better time with RAM overclocking over my ASRock x470 Master SLI/ac.

(As as side note it's a great fit for cooler master NR200P or allows a bit more room for water-cooling in Lian Li 011D.)


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## Gmr_Chick (Jan 4, 2021)

Apologies peeps. I haven't gotten any push notifications in Firefox these last couple days letting me know there were new replies in this thread, until I looked just now  

A couple days ago I bought a vanilla 3600 on Newegg for $200 USD during a sale they were having. If the rumors are true and AMD releases a vanilla 5600, I can always sell the 3600, but as of right now, I can't justify spending $300 on a 6 core 5600X. 

I'm reusing all my other parts (GPU, RAM, PSU, SSDs etc) so no worries there. Only things I need to decide on are a board and depending on its form factor, a case. Still considering the B550M Steel Legend, the X570 Strix-I ( what the hell is going on with this mobo as of late?!) as well as the Aorus B550-I (again, wtf is going on with that board?) and at the batshit crazy high-end of the spectrum, the Crosshair VIII Impact. 

As far as ATX boards go, I'm trying to keep my budget to $250 because I need to factor in the price of the P500A (non DRGB) I'm looking at for $99, and so my top picks are the Asus B550-A and/or F, the B550 PG Velocita and coming in $10 over my budget is the newer X570 PG Velocita. My biggest gripe with both Asus boards is they both have only 1 ARGB header and I need 2, and because they as well as the B550 Velocita, are B550, there's lots of sharing between lanes and whatnot. 

I think I even saw a listing in the BST forum for the X570 Velocita, In fact. I sent the seller a message a few days ago (before New Year's) but I haven't heard anything back yet


----------



## Space Lynx (Jan 4, 2021)

If it were me I'd go with B550M Steel Legend. or b550 velocita as second choice, depends how much you are comfortable spending.


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## tabascosauz (Jan 4, 2021)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Apologies peeps. I haven't gotten any push notifications in Firefox these last couple days letting me know there were new replies in this thread, until I looked just now
> 
> A couple days ago I bought a vanilla 3600 on Newegg for $200 USD during a sale they were having. If the rumors are true and AMD releases a vanilla 5600, I can always sell the 3600, but as of right now, I can't justify spending $300 on a 6 core 5600X.
> 
> ...



I think 2020 supply is finally coming around for motherboards now. AM4 boards were the only PC component that you could actually buy up here for the past half year.

If you want to keep it under $250 but relatively high end, the ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming ITX is on for a hair under $200. It has almost identical component choice and feature set to the Aorus ITX, so it's pretty stout. Only real differences are that the PG has a USB-C front header whereas the Aorus doesn't, the PG has no BIOS flashback whereas the Aorus does, no backplate, and the PG has a crappier heatsink but the VRM is the same. Can't tell you how the firmware will go though.

As for mATX, if you're after the B550-A aesthetic, have you considered the Mortar Wifi? It has a much brighter silver (subjectively cleaner) theme than the regular Mortar. Only problem is the CMOS header placement. About $19 more than the Steel Legend for better thermals, BIOS flashback, and 802.11ax Wifi (although the mATX Steel Legend has cutouts for a wifi card and antennas that you have to wire yourself, I think it only supports something like a 1x1 802.11ac card).


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## Gmr_Chick (Jan 4, 2021)

tabascosauz said:


> I think 2020 supply is finally coming around for motherboards now. AM4 boards were the only PC component that you could actually buy up here for the past half year.
> 
> If you want to keep it under $250 but relatively high end, the ASRock B550 Phantom Gaming ITX is on for a hair under $200. It has almost identical component choice and feature set to the Aorus ITX, so it's pretty stout. Only real differences are that the PG has a USB-C front header whereas the Aorus doesn't, the PG has no BIOS flashback whereas the Aorus does, no backplate, and the PG has a crappier heatsink but the VRM is the same. Can't tell you how the firmware will go though.
> 
> As for mATX, if you're after the B550-A aesthetic, have you considered the Mortar Wifi? It has a much brighter silver (subjectively cleaner) theme than the regular Mortar. Only problem is the CMOS header placement. About $19 more than the Steel Legend for better thermals, BIOS flashback, and 802.11ax Wifi (although the mATX Steel Legend has cutouts for a wifi card and antennas that you have to wire yourself, I think it only supports something like a 1x1 802.11ac card.



I did consider both boards you mention, but in the end I decided to cross them off my short list due to their lack of I/O USB, but it sounds like lack of rear I/O is common due to the lack of space. I will say that I like the Mortar wi-fi's aesthetics though. About the only two ITX boards I'm actually considering are also the two most difficult ones to find - the X570-I Strix and the B550-I Aorus.


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## oxrufiioxo (Jan 4, 2021)

Just get the board that has all the core features you need in a form factor that fits in your current case would be my advice.

Under $200 preferably because spending more than that on a board if you're never gonna overclock just for aesthetics doesn't make sense.

At the same time you ditched really nice hardware to switch back to amd for even lesser performance so maybe you should just yolo it on an impact.....

At this point with all the hardware you've been through over the last year not working out just get exactly what you want.


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## tabascosauz (Jan 4, 2021)

Gmr_Chick said:


> I did consider both boards you mention, but in the end I decided to cross them off my short list due to their lack of I/O USB, but it sounds like lack of rear I/O is common due to the lack of space. I will say that I like the Mortar wi-fi's aesthetics though. About the only two ITX boards I'm actually considering are also the two most difficult ones to find - the X570-I Strix and the B550-I Aorus.



What about the B550M Pro-P? I didn't actually realize this before but it's got the most rear I/O out of all the mATX boards. It's essentially the old B550M Aorus Pro updated with a 10x50A VRM (ngl actually went from the weakest to the strongest mATX power delivery now lol) and 2.5Gbe LAN. Seems like the memory trace layout may have received some improvements. $20 cheaper than the Steel Legend, has BIOS flashback.

But aside from that, yeah, that's about everything. Still feel like you should go for a higher end ITX or ATX board and skip mATX altogether - none of these mATX AM4 boards are even on the level of the Z490-G.

edit: Pro-P has two ARGB headers on the bottom. Might not take an extra x1 if you use a 3 slot GPU though, the x16 slot is shifted down like the TUF, but unlike the TUF there's no x1 above the x16, just the M.2 slot. Just goes to show the level of compromise that goes on amongst these mATX boards.


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## Gmr_Chick (Jan 4, 2021)

I admit, that Pro-P is getting my attention. It's just odd to see a board in the age of RGB...without any, LOL. Very stealthy birb from Gigabyte  I'll have a closer look at it and see what I think about it. So long as it has more than one ARGB header and at least 1 PCI-ex1 slot (for my wifi adapter) it's got a spot on my short list


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## oxrufiioxo (Jan 4, 2021)

I'd worry about the slot placement interfering with the gpu on an matx board if using a wifi card..... i'd just get something that already comes with ax wifi.... Unless you plan on sticking with lower than mid tier gpus long term


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## Gmr_Chick (Jan 4, 2021)

tabascosauz said:


> What about the B550M Pro-P? I didn't actually realize this before but it's got the most rear I/O out of all the mATX boards. It's essentially the old B550M Aorus Pro updated with a 10x50A VRM (ngl actually went from the weakest to the strongest mATX power delivery now lol) and 2.5Gbe LAN. Seems like the memory trace layout may have received some improvements. $20 cheaper than the Steel Legend, has BIOS flashback.
> 
> But aside from that, yeah, that's about everything. Still feel like *you should go for a higher end ITX or ATX board and skip mATX altogether - none of these mATX AM4 boards are even on the level of the Z490-G.*
> 
> edit: Pro-P has two ARGB headers on the bottom.* Might not take an extra x1 if you use a 3 slot GPU though*, the x16 slot is shifted down like the TUF, but unlike the TUF there's no x1 above the x16, just the M.2 slot. Just goes to show the level of compromise that goes on amongst these mATX boards.



You make some very good points there, tabby. You would think that, as successful Ryzen has been - not to mention how far it's come since 1st gen - mobo companies would put as much into their AMD X570 boards as they do with Intel and their Z-series. I know SFF is gaining popularity nowdays, but unfortunately, it's all on the ITX end, whereas the mATX form factor is becoming -- perhaps it always has been -- more and more like the crazy racist uncle nobody likes dealing with during the holidays, lol. And this is painfully true especially on the AMD side. But like I said, perhaps mATX always has been the "crazy uncle" of form factors, lol. 

Then again, the title of "batshit crazy uncle" may very well go to Asus' Mini-DTX Crosshair VIII Impact board. I mean shit, I think it's the ONLY board to exist in that form factor? That's also probably why it costs more than even the ATX-sized VIII Dark Hero, oh lawd  Only the Formula costs more (excluding the Threadripper boards of course)

The GPU I'm using is MSI's Gaming X 1660 Super, which is a two slot card, I think? But yeah, might be right about clearance between the GPU and the wifi card being an issue on an mATX board...


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## biffzinker (Jan 4, 2021)

Gmr_Chick said:


> I know SFF is gaining popularity nowdays, but unfortunately, it's all on the ITX end, whereas the mATX form factor is becoming -- perhaps it always has been -- more and more like the crazy racist uncle nobody likes dealing with during the holidays, lol. And this is painfully true especially on the AMD side. But like I said, perhaps mATX always has been the "crazy uncle" of form factors, lol.


Since mITX gained popularity I've always viewed mATX as the sweet spot between the two. It's to bad AMD's mDTX/DTX didn't gain any traction not that it would matter now with graphics cards requiring triple/dual slots.









						DTX (form factor) - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


----------



## tabascosauz (Jan 4, 2021)

Gmr_Chick said:


> You make some very good points there, tabby. You would think that, as successful Ryzen has been - not to mention how far it's come since 1st gen - mobo companies would put as much into their AMD X570 boards as they do with Intel and their Z-series. I know SFF is gaining popularity nowdays, but unfortunately, it's all on the ITX end, whereas the mATX form factor is becoming -- perhaps it always has been -- more and more like the crazy racist uncle nobody likes dealing with during the holidays, lol. And this is painfully true especially on the AMD side. But like I said, perhaps mATX always has been the "crazy uncle" of form factors, lol.
> 
> Then again, the title of "batshit crazy uncle" may very well go to Asus' Mini-DTX Crosshair VIII Impact board. I mean shit, I think it's the ONLY board to exist in that form factor? That's also probably why it costs more than even the ATX-sized VIII Dark Hero, oh lawd  Only the Formula costs more (excluding the Threadripper boards of course)
> 
> The GPU I'm using is MSI's Gaming X 1660 Super, which is a two slot card, I think? But yeah, might be right about clearance between the GPU and the wifi card being an issue on an mATX board...



I'm inclined to agree with you; proper midrange to high end mATX might finally be gone for good. Even the Strix-G was disappointing to see; it's solid but all it says to me is that Asus is testing the market to see whether they can stop making Genes without people noticing. How many years has it been since ASRock made its last mATX OC Formula?

The C8I is an amazing board, but it just makes no sense for not overclocking daily. Sandwich cases were all the rage this year, the Impact fit none of them, and the Strix does everything it does except extreme DDR4 OCs, a POST code and an insane price tag even for a ROG board (not big enough to fit enough stuff).

The Gaming X is, but the cooler extends a little bit past 2. I just sold my 1070 ACX, that's a true 2-slot cooler. Could be a close one depending on the wifi card, your call. They don't make a Pro-P with Wifi (yet) so your only bet for mATX would be probably the Steel Legend if you want 8 rear USB ports and [the ability to use] Wifi.

TUF mATX (I have) would tick all your boxes, even the PCIe slot layout, but it's hella ugly. I really do wish Asus at least made a Strix-G equivalent for AM4.


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## Bones (Jan 4, 2021)

Gmr_Chick said:


> I admit, that Pro-P is getting my attention. It's just odd to see a board in the age of RGB...without any, LOL. Very stealthy birb from Gigabyte  I'll have a closer look at it and see what I think about it. So long as it has more than one ARGB header and at least 1 PCI-ex1 slot (for my wifi adapter) it's got a spot on my short list


I believe you already know to get a board with the features you want and be done with it even if it's a little more expensive - It's bad to spend money twice over buyers' remorse.
It sounds like you're not dead set on an ASRock board and that's fine.
For some reason the ASRock lineup just seems to fall short of others for max stable RAM speeds achieved, don't know how important that would be for you but it seems to be a trend I've noticed.

For a non-RGB setup your choices aren't that plentiful since everything seems to be puking rainbows out of the box nowadays.

Suggestion:
For a cheap x570 based board this is nicely priced: https://www.newegg.com/msi-mpg-x570-gaming-edge-wifi/p/N82E16813144261?Item=N82E16813144261
Gets you the top chipset and features for not much more than contemporary B550 boards go for overall and as long as it has all the ports and so on you want, it should be good choice to consider.

Asus is good of course, you already seem to know what's good with those - I guess it's really a matter of budget and that's one thing we all have to figure into our builds when we do them.


----------



## Gmr_Chick (Jan 4, 2021)

tabascosauz said:


> I'm inclined to agree with you; proper midrange to high end mATX might finally be gone for good. Even the Strix-G was disappointing to see; it's solid but all it says to me is that Asus is testing the market to see whether they can stop making Genes without people noticing. How many years has it been since ASRock made its last mATX OC Formula?
> 
> *The C8I is an amazing board, but it just makes no sense for not overclocking daily. Sandwich cases were all the rage this year, the Impact fit none of them, and the Strix does everything it does except extreme DDR4 OCs, a POST code and an insane price tag even for a ROG board *(not big enough to fit enough stuff)





Bones said:


> I believe you already know to get a board with the features you want and be done with it even if it's a little more expensive -* It's bad to spend money twice over buyers' remorse.*



As much as I like the Impact (and have a mATX case that it fits in) you've kinda talked me off the ledge, sort to speak, tabby. It really is one of those extreme niche boards that 99% of people have no use case for -- which therein begs the question: who is the board geared towards? Is it like the AMD version of the Apex (board built specifically for insane LN2 level OCing)? Someone who wants the pinnacle of SFF? The board truly is an anomaly. 

And Bones, I fully agree with you. But thankfully, should we get stricken with a case of PC Part Buyer's Remorse-itis, there's several treatments -- sell, return, or simply make the best of it. 

You, tabby and others have helped me come to a decision. Drumroll please!  

I'm going to go with the X570 PG Velocita!  Sure it's $10 over my $250 budget, but it's got everything I'm looking for - aesthetics (black, red and silver), plenty of rear USB, 2 ARGB headers, etc, and best of all, no lane sharing. Not to mention it should go extremely well with my Trident Z silver Royals


----------



## oxrufiioxo (Jan 4, 2021)

Seems pretty similar to the Taichi to me with just a couple things nipped and tucked so pretty solid board. I wonder how the Killer network stuff performs on it  been ages since I've used any of their products but I wasn't overly impressed in the past.

Not that it matters as much with AMD but having a post code is awesome for a 250 ish board these days....

Actually seems to have better memory traces according to Asrock anyway vs the Tachi as well another big plus.


----------



## tabascosauz (Jan 4, 2021)

oxrufiioxo said:


> Seems pretty similar to the Taichi to me with just a couple things nipped and tucked so pretty solid board. I wonder how the Killer network stuff performs on it  been ages since I've used any of their products but I wasn't overly impressed in the past.
> 
> Not that it matters as much with AMD but having a post code is awesome for a 250 ish board these days....
> 
> Actually seems to have better memory traces according to Asrock anyway vs the Tachi as well another big plus.



ASRock is ridiculous with its XMP claims (DDR4-4733 on Pro4 lmao ok) but even ASRock doesn't let 4-layer boards get DDR4-5000 QVL, so the fact that the PG Velocita has it is a good indicator that it probably has more in common with the Taichi than the Extreme4/Steel Legend. And thus being a 6-layer board that invalidates my one reason for hating on ASRock  

Until you brought it up I had no idea that the X570 SL/Extreme4 had no POST code. For B550 the SL/Extreme4/PG all have it. So much for all the initial hate on B550 haha. 



Gmr_Chick said:


> As much as I like the Impact (and have a mATX case that it fits in) you've kinda talked me off the ledge, sort to speak, tabby. It really is one of those extreme niche boards that 99% of people have no use case for -- which therein begs the question: who is the board geared towards? Is it like the AMD version of the Apex (board built specifically for insane LN2 level OCing)? Someone who wants the pinnacle of SFF? The board truly is an anomaly.
> 
> And Bones, I fully agree with you. But thankfully, should we get stricken with a case of PC Part Buyer's Remorse-itis, there's several treatments -- sell, return, or simply make the best of it.
> 
> ...



Sharp looking board. Hope everything goes smoothly for you. It's got that entire Killer suite for Wifi and LAN, but as long as you've got the right drivers should be smooth sailing if their previous 802.11ac and 1Gbe products are any indication


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## Bones (Jan 4, 2021)

Gmr_Chick said:


> As much as I like the Impact (and have a mATX case that it fits in) you've kinda talked me off the ledge, sort to speak, tabby.* It really is one of those extreme niche boards that 99% of people have no use case for -- which therein begs the question: who is the board geared towards? Is it like the AMD version of the Apex (board built specifically for insane LN2 level OCing)? Someone who wants the pinnacle of SFF? The board truly is an anomaly.*
> 
> And Bones, I fully agree with you. But thankfully, should we get stricken with a case of PC Part Buyer's Remorse-itis, there's several treatments -- sell, return, or simply make the best of it.
> 
> ...


Yes, the Impact is a niche product but still has it's place.
For those wanting a compact powerhouse of a machine in a little case, it fills the bill nicely and yes, it's also made for OC'ing like my little Z270 Maximus VIII Impact.
With that I can tell you it does quite well.

I hope the board does well for you, I have a full sized x570 Phantom Gaming board and it has plenty of features - Too bad it's dead and was 100% my own fault so no worries about whether a Phantom Gaming board is good or not here.


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## Gmr_Chick (Jan 9, 2021)

Bit of an update, but thanks to Real Life, I now may not be able to afford the X570 PG Velocita like I'd hoped... Jury is still out on that. I did, however, find a used (but clean) Crosshair VI Extreme on Ebay. I know it's "old" but I'm just curious about it is all, and whether or not it would work with a Ryzen 5 3600. Remember, I also have my 1600 I could use to at least update the BIOS and whatnot.


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## oxrufiioxo (Jan 9, 2021)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Bit of an update, but thanks to Real Life, I now may not be able to afford the X570 PG Velocita like I'd hoped... Jury is still out on that. I did, however, find a used (but clean) Crosshair VI Extreme on Ebay. I know it's "old" but I'm just curious about it is all, and whether or not it would work with a Ryzen 5 3600. Remember, I also have my 1600 I could use to at least update the BIOS and whatnot.



If it does it'll just be a beta bios which might give you issues.... Not sure what you're paying for it but the majority of b550 boards are gonna be better than it even the sub 200 usd ones.... I wouldn't go older than X470 personally because an X370 would lock you out of Ryzen 5000 support.


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## Gmr_Chick (Jan 9, 2021)

oxrufiioxo said:


> If it does it'll just be a beta bios which might give you issues.... Not sure what you're paying for it but the majority of b550 boards are gonna be better than it even the sub 200 usd ones.... I wouldn't go older than X470 personally because* an X370 would lock you out of Ryzen 5000 support.*



Well shit, that would suck a big one, wouldn't it? Good thing I asked, lol. I didn't buy it though, so no worries. Still going to try for the X570 Velocita (maybe family can help) but if I'm unable to, there's always the B550 version


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## Zach_01 (Jan 9, 2021)

oxrufiioxo said:


> If it does it'll just be a beta bios which might give you issues.... Not sure what you're paying for it but the majority of b550 boards are gonna be better than it even the sub 200 usd ones.... I wouldn't go older than X470 personally because an X370 would lock you out of Ryzen 5000 support.


That^^
...and also on the newer CPUs that do "support" like 3000, may lack some features of them. Like proper power management for instance.
From older to newer I would go to B450, B550, X570. Personally X470 is also out of the question unless you find a good deal. B550/X570 would be the best choise and you have to be sure about the connectivity of your system (how many SSDs, SATAs, USBs), to make the choise between the 2. Performance wise or CPU/GPUx1/RAM support is identical.


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## Gmr_Chick (Jan 9, 2021)

Thanks for your help, peeps! 

btw @Zach_01, I currently have one 2.5" SSD, one HDD and one M.2 SSD


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## Zach_01 (Jan 9, 2021)

Gmr_Chick said:


> Thanks for your help, peeps!
> 
> btw @Zach_01, I currently have one 2.5" SSD, one HDD and one M.2 SSD


Then a B550 should be fine...


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## biffzinker (Jan 10, 2021)

I think you’d have more fun on a ThreadRipper platform if money wasn’t the hold up.


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## Gmr_Chick (Jan 10, 2021)

Mehehe, I think I would too. But I don't have that kind of money nor actual use for such a beastly CPU. And when I say "actual use" I mean more than just gaming. Though, I do work with GIMP for my artwork...  

If ya'll wanna chip in and help me buy a Threadripper + mobo... Doesn't have to be the biggest, best one...


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