ASRock X370 Gaming K4

[cadaveca]

ASRock's mid-level X370 motherboard for gamers, the X370 Gaming K4, is here for us to play with. Is it worth the dollars, what is so special, and does ASRock's X370 Gaming K4 compare to the almighty ASRock X370 Taichi? Here are the answers!

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[Folterknecht]

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

• The ASRock X370 Taichi is available for US$150.

...


Find the mistake

 

[lightofhonor]

I have the Killer SLI/ac version of this board and haven't been able to stablely hit 3200 on the RAM. Mind sharing your settings?

Memory has been my one real complaint as it seems harder than other Ryzen boards to hit 3200.

 

[Folterknecht]

I have the Killer SLI/ac version of this board and haven't been able to stablely hit 3200 on the RAM. Mind sharing your settings?

Memory has been my one real complaint as it seems harder than other Ryzen boards to hit 3200.

He also couldn't as mentioned in the review.

 

[cadaveca]

I have the Killer SLI/ac version of this board and haven't been able to stablely hit 3200 on the RAM. Mind sharing your settings?

Memory has been my one real complaint as it seems harder than other Ryzen boards to hit 3200.

I have magical G.Skill ram that can do it with 1.15V SOC and simply setting first four timings to 14-14-14-34, vDIMM to 1.36V. No other changes. You shouldn't have to make any more changes than that, maybe adjust SOC.

He also couldn't as mentioned in the review.

I did, and it is mostly stable. By that I mean it works with one boot, or it doesn't... it boots every time though.

 

[dj-electric]

The Asus Prime X370-Pro looks like a better choice in this price bracket tbh

 

[nangu]

Hi,

Why you tested this board which such old UEFI revision? The UEFI version you tested is not the latest, neither the one with AGESA 1.06 microcode. The latest UEFI version is P3.10 Agesa 1.0.0.6a

Really, I don't know why you posted this review, intended to update about the madurity of the platform as you said, but didn't care even to check if there were newer UEFI revisions.

This board has the same OC options as the Taichi. You can even do pstate OC, wich you don't on some competitor's boards with X370 chipset and same ´price tag. The only real settings related to OC this board doesn't have are BCLK OC (only featured by the top of the line X370 boards) and DRAM Boot voltage override, which are also not present on the Taichi neither the top of the line Fatality Pro. Of course it's not a board aimed to win the OC crown, but it's OC options are far from "This is one of those times where a BIOS doesn't offer enough for those who like to play with every setting to tune every last part of their system"

Memory OC is still limited, but with the latest Agesa you can boot and run full stable Hynix ram @2933 cas 15 1T, as is my case. If you really care, try your FlareX B-dies with the latest UEFI version to see if it can now run 3200 stable without cold boot problems.

You also override to mention full fan curve tuning from BIOS, not basic stuff as you wrote.

You didn't mention, nor care to investigate further, the single most concern about this board, which you as a tech journalist must inform your readers: This board was EOL'ed by Asrock last July, and replaced it with the Gaming X, so is strongly a not recommended buy right now at this price tag.

I'm really sorry but this in my book is a very lazy form of tech journalism you did on this review. Comparing performance with boards and CPU from totally different platforms? With earlier and not optimized UEFI version? Really?

It seems like you did this review two or three months ago, saved it and publish it now because needed to fill some empty space on the site, which would be fine if you had investigated a little about updates at least.

In my view, this is not what I'm accostumed to by reading TPU, I'm sorry.

Cheers.

 

[Kanan]

I also like to add that 150$ is not "entry level", that is pretty much a good level to buy a medium class board. "Entry level" - as always, nothing changed ever - is still under 100$ or even under 50$, but always under 100$ and never ever at 150$. 150$ is a nice price to get a *good* board. And this one seems to be good, also for overclocking. 12 phases are nothing to sniff at. The I/O looks "in order", not "chaotic". The sound is pretty much nice for onboard sound I'd say. In general, the end score 8.3 is okay or maybe a little bit on the low side, but I'm not a fan of how you've written this time, seems to be the worst MB article I read here to date. Next time try to be less PCMR-elitist if it's possible.

 

[cadaveca]

Hi,

Why you tested this board which such old UEFI revision?

IT was most recent at the time of writing.

It WAS most recent AGESA:

BIOS screenshots may have been form earlier version, but testing was done with the most recent, AND the other versions, results are from the version shown above. It's not big deal to flash BIOS and run results, you bet. No reason to change screenshot other than for your type of complaints is no reason to change a screenshot.

You didn't mention, nor care to investigate further, the single most concern about this board, which you as a tech journalist must inform your readers: This board was EOL'ed by Asrock last July, and replaced it with the Gaming X, so is strongly a not recommended buy right now at this price tag.

Still available in US at this time:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157758

gaming X is cheaper, not the same

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...e=asrock_x370_gaming_X-_-13-157-774-_-Product



Newegg sells both, so yeah... not exactly EOL when still for sale. Tat simply means they aren't making any more, and you don't understand that they only make like 30000 units average of each board design anyway. Most are "EOL" by the time they hit stores.

In my view, this is not what I'm accostumed to by reading TPU, I'm sorry.

Cheers.

Excellent! That means I can still keep it fresh and new and not write the same old thing!

Thanks for feedback!

Next time try to be less PCMR-elitist if it's possible.

Sorry, not possible. This is a PC enthusiast site, not the office water jug.

 

[Kanan]

Sorry, not possible. This is a PC enthusiast site, not the office water jug.

Nothing to do with that. Entry level is still at 50-80 or 50 to 100 bucks, you won't change that. X370 is also *not* the entry level chipset of AMD. And 150 bucks isn't even the cheapest X370 mainboard. You're off on many levels here.

Also it's rather better to write reviews for everyone, and not only for a exclusive club. But this you can take as a *imo*.

 

[cadaveca]

Also it's rather better to write reviews for everyone, and not only for a exclusive club. But this you can take as a *imo*.

Yeah, generally we agree. However, a line must be drawn as to what's great, and what is acceptable, and what isn't. Now, keeping in mind that I agree with you, how does what I write make sense? That's some food for thought perhaps.

Thanks!

 

[Kanan]

I'd say it's correct to name the board "not great" as on page 1. I'd just maybe not say it like that, but that's my personal choice, I think I'd go on like "it's a good board, but nothing more than that". I can understand that you define "entry level" differently, but I'd name it "entry level high end" then, because the general "entry" level is at a 50 bucks with A320 chipset or a little higher with B350 chipset. I mean you can easily see at the 12 Power Stages that it's in no way a entry level mainboard. But if you'd say it's "entry level for high end", that'd be absolutely right.

 

[ne6togadno]

@cadaveca
do you have by any chance ASRock's X370 Gaming X anywhere in your pile of mbs for testing?

 

[Mirkoskji]

I tend to agree about the "entry level discussion". A 150$ motherboard is a midrange high-level. Plus for that price you get a r5 1500x, and for little more a 1600, which is a 6 core... Then about the enthusiast site... C'mon, it means that we're all enthusiastic about technology in computers. A smart but cheap hardware option would still be interesting to me.

 

[cadaveca]

@cadaveca
do you have by any chance ASRock's X370 Gaming X anywhere in your pile of mbs for testing?

Nope, sorry. I missed out on some boards when TNT shipping changing contractor local. They lost over 100k packages I was told, so I may have been sent one and never got it. There are a couple of ASRock boards that I have confirmed got lost in the shuffle there.

 

[cadaveca]

Well done Dave...

Well, we both know what's going on here, anyway. The Corn Flakes were ruined, so now we hear the cries.


Thanks!

 

[EarthDog]

Shoot.... accidentally deleted my post..........

 

[Folterknecht]

Nope, sorry. I missed out on some boards when TNT shipping changing contractor local. They lost over 100k packages I was told, so I may have been sent one and never got it. There are a couple of ASRock boards that I have confirmed got lost in the shuffle there.

100K lost packages? I 'd start assembling a firing squad to prevent procreation of that level of incompetence

 

[cadaveca]

100K lost packages? I 'd start assembling a firing squad to prevent procreation of that level of incompetence

I wish I was imagining it. It was actually over 300k to start with.

 

[nangu]

IT was most recent at the time of writing.

It WAS most recent AGESA:


BIOS screenshots may have been form earlier version, but testing was done with the most recent, AND the other versions, results are from the version shown above. It's not big deal to flash BIOS and run results, you bet. No reason to change screenshot other than for your type of complaints is no reason to change a screenshot.

It's not only screenshots, it's on your description of the tested system too. So still, very poor and not consistent information on your article.




Still available in US at this time:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157758

gaming X is cheaper, not the same

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...e=asrock_x370_gaming_X-_-13-157-774-_-Product



Newegg sells both, so yeah... not exactly EOL when still for sale. Tat simply means they aren't making any more, and you don't understand that they only make like 30000 units average of each board design anyway. Most are "EOL" by the time they hit stores.

As I wrote, if you had done your work, you knew they are selling the stock and finished manufacturing the board on July. Asrock themselves had stated the K4 was replaced with the Gaming X.

You seems to have some confusion about terms....


Excellent! That means I can still keep it fresh and new and not write the same old thing!

Don't confuse "fresh" poorly written review with an "old" good one please.

Thanks for feedback!

Thank to you for your response.




Sorry, not possible. This is a PC enthusiast site, not the office water jug.

If so, why you review "low/mid end" hardware? lol

 

[cadaveca]

If so, why you review "low/mid end" hardware? lol

You should ask "why after all these years do they still send it to me?"





They kind of have to, because, you know, covering "halo" products all the time doesn't provide a level perspective. So I review all they send. I mean, I don't care about the hardware itself, really, you know, it's about the end user experience, because that is what really matters. Each board has an intended audience... it's not that hard for me to put myself into that audience's shoes and see things as they are. Not every product is meant for every single person out there, so no big deal? Some people want an android phone, some want iphone.. meh. Each has their reasons..

So please be critical; that's great.