Ryzen Owners Zen Garden

[Gmr_Chick]

Seriously, why can't AM4 have boards like this?

 

[freeagent]

But! If you get a big heatsink you wont see it..

Edit:
A big silver heatsink

 

[Athlonite]

Was looking at those but -- and I don't know what's going on -- both the E and F Strix boards have seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet, or if you can find one it's priced crazy. I kinda wonder if Asus has discontinued those two boards because you literally can't find either of them.

Amazon has the Strix E

Amazon.com: ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming ATX Motherboard- PCIe 4.0, Aura Sync RGB Lighting, 2.5 Gbps and Intel Gigabit LAN, WIFI 6 (802.11Ax), Dual M.2 Heatsinks: Computers & Accessories

Buy ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming ATX Motherboard- PCIe 4.0, Aura Sync RGB Lighting, 2.5 Gbps and Intel Gigabit LAN, WIFI 6 (802.11Ax), Dual M.2 Heatsinks: Motherboards - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[WhitetailAni]

Great question! But the best I can say is, since they both have the features you're looking for, I would say get whichever one you find more aesthetically pleasant to look at

Thanks for the advice!
Thinking out loud, here's what I've got.
C7H pros:
- It's a Crosshair board
- It has a PS/2 port (allowing me to use my PS/2 keyboard that I stopped using since my PS/2 to USB adapter bugs out when running Minecraft)
- It has 9 USB-A ports instead of 7
- It has a rear Clear CMOS button along with a clearer BIOS flashback button
- It's much easier to install M.2 drives
- It has open-back PCIe 1x slots
- Less expensive
C7H cons:
- It has only 6 SATA ports (vs. 8 on the X570-E)
- It's X470 instead of X570, meaning no PCIe 4.0 support
- It only has WiFi 5 (802.11ac)
- It doesn't have 2.5Gb Ethernet
X570-E pros:
- X570 chipset, meaning it will likely have driver support for longer
- Supports PCIe 4.0
- Has 8 SATA ports instead of 6
- Supports WiFi 6 (802.11ax)
- Has dual LAN (2.5Gb and 1Gb)
X570-E cons:
- Doesn't have open-backed PCIe 1x slots
- Doesn't have a rear Clear CMOS button and its BIOS flashback button is annoying to press
- Has an annoying M.2 drive installation method
- Has 2 less USB-A ports
- More expensive

I think I'll go with the C7H. I like the way it looks, and the X570-E costs more and doesn't really give me many benefits for the added cost. Plus then I can say that I have a Crosshair board, not a Strix board
Any ideas on a good place to find/buy them?

 

[Gmr_Chick]

Amazon has the Strix E

Amazon.com: ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming ATX Motherboard- PCIe 4.0, Aura Sync RGB Lighting, 2.5 Gbps and Intel Gigabit LAN, WIFI 6 (802.11Ax), Dual M.2 Heatsinks: Computers & Accessories

Buy ASUS ROG Strix X570-E Gaming ATX Motherboard- PCIe 4.0, Aura Sync RGB Lighting, 2.5 Gbps and Intel Gigabit LAN, WIFI 6 (802.11Ax), Dual M.2 Heatsinks: Motherboards - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

It's not SOLD by Amazon though, hence the crazy price

 

[thesmokingman]

Question - if you had to choose between the X570-E and Crosshair VII Hero (Wi-Fi), ignoring PCIe generation and WiFi generation support, which would you choose?
I'm curious what y'all think since those are the two boards I'm considering (only two ones that I've found that have all the features I need, and no I will not choose a manufacturer other than ASUS - I like their RGB software, BIOS, website, and support).

Strix-E, easy. The E has basically the same vrm setup as the CH8 boards, they're vary similar. The E has one external temp sensor ie just like the CH8, that's a big point for me. The real difference between the the E and the CH boards is that the CH boards get the dual stage overclock bios where it lets you run whatever allcore static setting at the same time as a boost overclock. The trick is it switches between the two. I can't remember what they called but it's not a deal breaker for me at least. Also, you cannot separate the the pcie system, the x570 is such a huge increase. This will be especially important if you move a ton of data or use a lot of usb devices.

 

[freeagent]

From a performance standpoint, is there anything to gain by switching from b550 to x570? Maybe some neat overclocking features or something of that nature? I'm not talking about an extra m.2 or anything like that, but a technical overclocking advantage?

 

[thesmokingman]

From a performance standpoint, is there anything to gain by switching from b550 to x570? Maybe some neat overclocking features or something of that nature? I'm not talking about an extra m.2 or anything like that, but a technical overclocking advantage?

There shouldn't be but if there is it's in the manufacturers hands. B550 boards have a crapton of variance, so pick carefully what additions each board comes with because they are tacked on and that adds to pricing.

 

[toilet pepper]

From a performance standpoint, is there anything to gain by switching from b550 to x570? Maybe some neat overclocking features or something of that nature? I'm not talking about an extra m.2 or anything like that, but a technical overclocking advantage?

Nothing. B550 is newer (has 2.5G) and most of the boards have better memory traces. I think they're coming up with a new x570 though.

 

[freeagent]

Awesome thanks. I thought I read someone was able to set a +500 curve with the 5600x on x570.. I could be mistaken though. I have a limit of 250 I think. Well 4850 is my cap and I'm not sure how to pass it. Not that it really matters anyways because at 4700 it could reach its power limit. There was that, and maybe a better possibility of driving four sticks to 2000fclk. I could run some benches at 4900 but I manually set it for 1 clock 1 voltage

 

[tabascosauz]

Seriously, why can't AM4 have boards like this?


View attachment 197464

The things I'd do for an mATX board with:

• AM4
• 6-layer PCB
• Any VRM with 8 x 50A Vcore or better
• VRM spacing of my current TUF
• Silver heatsinks a la Mortar or Z590M Gaming X
• BIOS flashback
• Reasonable CMOS header location
• 8 or more rear USB ports

On a separate note, how do you feel about the Tomahawk? I feel like MSI really dropped the ball by not giving it the silver heatsink+wifi treatment it did the Mortar. Could give the Strix-A a run for its money.

Thanks for the advice!
Thinking out loud, here's what I've got.
C7H pros:
- It's a Crosshair board
- It has a PS/2 port (allowing me to use my PS/2 keyboard that I stopped using since my PS/2 to USB adapter bugs out when running Minecraft)
- It has 9 USB-A ports instead of 7
- It has a rear Clear CMOS button along with a clearer BIOS flashback button
- It's much easier to install M.2 drives
- It has open-back PCIe 1x slots
- Less expensive
C7H cons:
- It has only 6 SATA ports (vs. 8 on the X570-E)
- It's X470 instead of X570, meaning no PCIe 4.0 support
- It only has WiFi 5 (802.11ac)
- It doesn't have 2.5Gb Ethernet
X570-E pros:
- X570 chipset, meaning it will likely have driver support for longer
- Supports PCIe 4.0
- Has 8 SATA ports instead of 6
- Supports WiFi 6 (802.11ax)
- Has dual LAN (2.5Gb and 1Gb)
X570-E cons:
- Doesn't have open-backed PCIe 1x slots
- Doesn't have a rear Clear CMOS button and its BIOS flashback button is annoying to press
- Has an annoying M.2 drive installation method
- Has 2 less USB-A ports
- More expensive

I think I'll go with the C7H. I like the way it looks, and the X570-E costs more and doesn't really give me many benefits for the added cost. Plus then I can say that I have a Crosshair board, not a Strix board
Any ideas on a good place to find/buy them?

If it was between the C8H and the Strix-E I'd tell you to go for the Strix-E unless you do XOC and really need the POST code or USB ports. Well, even for XOC the POST code isn't as useful on AMD.

As it's the X470 Hero, I'd definitely say Strix-E. X470 has the stupid-ass bandwidth sharing problem and iirc the X470 Hero still has it just in a less problematic way compared to some others. That, and Asus is pretty terrible for supporting old boards with new AGESA fixes so I really don't know why you'd go out of your way to buy an obsolete product.

The lack of a clear CMOS button is easily remedied by hooking up a vandal switch to the pins.


@freeagent if you go to any X570 that's not the Dark Hero or a late PCB revision if the vendor publishes that info, it will probably be a downgrade on the memory side from B550. By how much exactly can't say, it seemed like mostly Gigabyte X570s that suffered on memory speeds, but I did read somewhere that the C8 Impact made for horrible memory OCing despite its design and reputation

 

[Gmr_Chick]

The things I'd do for an mATX board with:

• AM4
• 6-layer PCB
• Any VRM with 8 x 50A Vcore or better
• VRM spacing of my current TUF
• Silver heatsinks a la Mortar or Z590M Gaming X
• BIOS flashback
• Reasonable CMOS header location
• 8 or more rear USB ports

On a separate note, how do you feel about the Tomahawk? I feel like MSI really dropped the ball by not giving it the silver heatsink+wifi treatment it did the Mortar. Could give the Strix-A a run for its money.

The Tomahawk is...OK, I suppose. I don't know, MSI boards don't really "do it" for me. Like, you go to the product page for any MSI board, and it's nothing but marketing buzzwords and no real information. Like, at least give me the basics, you know?

 

[Mussels]

Question - if you had to choose between the X570-E and Crosshair VII Hero (Wi-Fi), ignoring PCIe generation and WiFi generation support, which would you choose?
I'm curious what y'all think since those are the two boards I'm considering (only two ones that I've found that have all the features I need, and no I will not choose a manufacturer other than ASUS - I like their RGB software, BIOS, website, and support).

you... like asus RGB software?

 

[thesmokingman]

Nothing. B550 is newer (has 2.5G) and most of the boards have better memory traces. I think they're coming up with a new x570 though.

It may be technically newer but it's not better and it doesn't have 2.5G. That like other options are tacked on. And traces.... lol wut? The top end of the board, is on the cpu. The only difference is the lower end, ie. the chipset which is not a pos anymore being upgraded to pcie3. It's still rather weak but it's a helluva lot better then pcie2 of the previous chipset.

 

[tabascosauz]

The Tomahawk is...OK, I suppose. I don't know, MSI boards don't really "do it" for me. Like, you go to the product page for any MSI board, and it's nothing but marketing buzzwords and no real information. Like, at least give me the basics, you know?

I guess you're right. I just never noticed because I don't ever read the main page the most I'll do is the board overview picture that Gigabyte likes to make starting with B550 boards, it's actually quite nice. Funny you should mention that though, ASRock is certainly the worst offender for me lol

It may be technically newer but it's not better and it doesn't have 2.5G. That like other options are tacked on. And traces.... lol wut? The top end of the board, is on the cpu. The only difference is the lower end, ie. the chipset which is not a pos anymore being upgraded to pcie3. It's still rather weak but it's a helluva lot better then pcie2 of the previous chipset.

It's not a consequence of the chipset being B550, more that B550 happened to be just in time to pick up on general improvements in memory plane design across a few vendors. It's most obvious with Gigabyte where you can easily compare X570 v1.0 boards to X570 v1.1/1.2 boards and B550 boards.

It might not be the case for other vendors, but for Gigabyte boards you can usually glean a fair bit of info from what their rated mem speeds. Of course in 2021 it doesn't mean much anymore because vendors later took the opportunity to just go back and revise some of their spec pages regardless of whether they changed anything.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

I'll be honest, my "dream" board is actually a tie between the C8 Hero and the Asrock Phantom Gaming X, but they're both completely out of my price range. It sucks not being able to earn your own income, lol.

 

[Calmmo]

you... like asus RGB software?

I tried their latest RGB software (one you now need to control their 3080 cards) and it's pure garbage. Installs a billion different apps and services that hog your system BG, and in fact it screwed up my win install to the point i couldnt remove some things without manual services/registry effort.. not to mention the noticable perf (measurable) loss. Never again.

 

[tabascosauz]

I'll be honest, my "dream" board is actually a tie between the C8 Hero and the Asrock Phantom Gaming X, but they're both completely out of my price range. It sucks not being able to earn your own income, lol.

Amen to that. I took a break from school for medical reasons and worked a couple of blue collar jobs for a while. Less than 2 months until exam torture is over and I can graduate and I keep telling myself that it'll all be worth it in the end, but it's always really hard going from having a bit of regular income back to school and just living off savings.

If it's any consolation, the PGX and PG-V are like, the same board minus the wifi and flashback button. I love the new Z590 OCF but ASRock really has to step up the rest of its lineup and stop recycling the same board. Gotta stop cutting wifi and flashback out of their boards for no effing reason and actually designing some decent heatsinks not covered up with plastic instead of just adding more phases. The copy paste 50A Vishay parts from Steel Legend onto something as expensive as Taichi are just embarrassing compared to the competition.

Now that you've mentioned the Hero I'll just keep repeating it until you inevitably cave in to the ROG allure. DARK HERO, DARK HERO, DARK HERO, DARK HERO, DARK HERO, DARK HERO, DARK HERO

 

[Gmr_Chick]

Amen to that. I took a break from school for medical reasons and worked a couple of blue collar jobs for a while. Less than 2 months until exam torture is over and I can graduate and I keep telling myself that it'll all be worth it in the end, but it's always really hard going from having a bit of regular income back to school and just living off savings.

If it's any consolation, the PGX and PG-V are like, the same board minus the wifi and flashback button. I love the new Z590 OCF but ASRock really has to step up the rest of its lineup and stop recycling the same board. Gotta stop cutting wifi and flashback out of their boards for no effing reason and actually designing some decent heatsinks not covered up with plastic instead of just adding more phases. The copy paste 50A Vishay parts from Steel Legend onto something as expensive as Taichi are just embarrassing compared to the competition.

Now that you've mentioned the Hero I'll just keep repeating it until you inevitably cave in to the ROG allure. DARK HERO, DARK HERO, DARK HERO, DARK HERO, DARK HERO, DARK HERO, DARK HERO

Mehehe, I do like the look of the Hero's more stealthy brother. You gonna buy it for me? Because that's the only way I'm ever getting one lol

 

[WhitetailAni]

you... like asus RGB software?

Yes.
I tried the other ones at a Micro Center once. It was not fun.
I don't know why people are complaining - it uses 50MB of RAM and 0.1% CPU across all of its services.

As for which board, I would do the X570-E if there wasn't one problem - they've just up and vanished...
Two months ago, I could find them for $310. Now they're just gone and I can pay less to get a C8H.

 

[toilet pepper]

I tried their latest RGB software (one you now need to control their 3080 cards) and it's pure garbage. Installs a billion different apps and services that hog your system BG, and in fact it screwed up my win install to the point i couldnt remove some things without manual services/registry effort.. not to mention the noticable perf (measurable) loss. Never again.

Atleast yours work. My Gigabyte Fusion does not even work. You can install it and if you're lucky you can change the lights but once you restart its back to orange. I used the cooler master ARGB controller and hooked it up via usb. The Cooler Master software can control individual leds for their fans.

 

[freeagent]

The Aura software isn't as horrible as I recalled it to be.. the uninstall tool works really well. Its crazy that is its own separate program @ 122mb lol (the uninstaller)

 

[thesmokingman]

Yea the aura software isn't nearly as bad as the gigafails. And you used to be able to just install aura alone, then uninstall it. I keep my rgb off nowadays so I don't even install it these days.

 

[toilet pepper]

Yea the aura software isn't nearly as bad as the gigafails. And you used to be able to just install aura alone, then uninstall it. I keep my rgb off nowadays so I don't even install it these days.

That's the thing. I cant turn it off. The previous Gigatrash board I had was the AX370 Gaming 5 and it had the RGB fusion thing in BIOS. The Aorus B550i doesn't have it in the BIOS though.

I just want to have atleast the RGB turned off if I can't change it.

 

[freeagent]

I can turn off the mobo ones in the bios but I need software to turn off my ram