The ASUS TUF Gaming Alliance

Darksaber · Dec 18, 2019

ASUS offers several sub-brands, like Republic of Gamers and the TUF Gaming Alliance. The latter is a partnership with Cooler Master and other supporting brands with the purpose of guiding gamers towards a solid mainstream system through individually branded components that result in a cohesive, cool-looking final design.

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Cheeseball · Dec 18, 2019

You've been building this review since June 10 this year? :wtf:

EzioAs · Dec 18, 2019

Cheeseball said:
You've been building this review since June 10 this year?

Sure sounds tuf...

Athlonite · Dec 18, 2019

The TUF X470 Plus Gaming should be called the sTUFfed X470 Puss Gaming as it's a piece of crap. TUF used to be a very reasonable sub brand of Asus's it's now unfortunately their bottom of the barrel bargain basement crapolla brand

Chomiq · Dec 18, 2019

Ballistix Sport LT are also meant to fit the TUF styling and they fit it better IMO.

Athlonite said:
The TUF X470 Plus Gaming should be called the sTUFfed X470 Puss Gaming as it's a piece of crap. TUF used to be a very reasonable sub brand of Asus's it's now unfortunately their bottom of the barrel bargain basement crapolla brand

According to buildzoid their x570 tuf line is ok.

macrobe · Dec 18, 2019

I like this one-brand build. I'm trying to collect AORUS configuration, but Gigabyte doesn't have ITX or SFF case.

INSTG8R · Dec 18, 2019

Athlonite said:
The TUF X470 Plus Gaming should be called the sTUFfed X470 Puss Gaming as it's a piece of crap. TUF used to be a very reasonable sub brand of Asus's it's now unfortunately their bottom of the barrel bargain basement crapolla brand

I believe my Z97 Sabertooth MK1 was probably the last real TUF board they made.

Hugis · Dec 18, 2019

This is now a give away here on TPU, alas im not in the US ,but if i entered could i gift it to norton or some one here to do a give away here on tpu?

Ruru · Dec 18, 2019

Too bad that TUF went from a premium series to a cheap entry level series, I remember having a Sabertooth Z87 and that was awesome. This TUF B450-Plus Gaming which I have now is crap, but I had to get a motherboard and this was available in the local PC shop.

3125b · Dec 18, 2019

Chomiq said:
their x570 tuf line is ok.

True, but many things in that line are just ... well, trash to be honest. Look at their AMD TUF GPUs or most of the boards.
Thats just bad and ruins the Asus brand name.

Dracius · Dec 18, 2019

Hmm I'm not sure I like the case so much.. I do think those LED fans should be yellow too, since that's the 'major' colour that relates to TUF.

But wow.. lots of TUF hate here!

(and justifiable from what I read?)

I just recently purchased the B450M TUF board, coming from a Z97 Ranger. It's really not bad. Buildzoid also said its 'ok', but recommends to avoid it for any heavy overclocking, and/or 3800X and 3950X (due to high VRM temps, though that can be remedied)

Currently running a 2200G at 3.8Ghz stable. 2x mixed sticks of 8GB 2133Mhz DDR4 memory that's running at 2400Mhz.

Quite happy with this board, especially considering I paid $110 for it, brand new.

Chomiq · Dec 18, 2019

Cheeseball said:
You've been building this review since June 10 this year?

It's no Boyhood that's for sure.

shk021051 · Dec 18, 2019

tuf brand is more like fucked

Dammeron · Dec 18, 2019

Chloe Price said:
Too bad that TUF went from a premium series to a cheap entry level series, I remember having a Sabertooth Z87 and that was awesome. This TUF B450-Plus Gaming which I have now is crap, but I had to get a motherboard and this was available in the local PC shop.

TUF B450 is crap because lost of manufacturers treat AMD boards like crap. Just check, how mATX boards on B450/X570 look compared to eg. Z97 - not even worth mentioning.

Dracius · Dec 18, 2019

Dammeron said:
TUF B450 is crap because lost of manufacturers treat AMD boards like crap. Just check, how mATX boards on B450/X570 look compared to eg. Z97 - not even worth mentioning.

I've got the TUF B450M.. a mATX B450 board.. I'm glad I went with Buildzoid's advice. (Especially considering my budget and availability of products)

What am I missing?

Ruru · Dec 18, 2019

Dammeron said:
TUF B450 is crap because lost of manufacturers treat AMD boards like crap. Just check, how mATX boards on B450/X570 look compared to eg. Z97 - not even worth mentioning.

Not just this but many other TUF boards too. Like I said, TUF went from premium to cheap entry-level crap.

TheinsanegamerN · Dec 18, 2019

Dracius said:
I've got the TUF B450M.. a mATX B450 board.. I'm glad I went with Buildzoid's advice. (Especially considering my budget and availability of products)

What am I missing?

Did you....you know....look at the intel versions like Dammeron suggested?

The intel versions of their TUF boards are built WAY better for the same $$$ as their intel boards are. They are an affront to the TUF brand (which used to mean overbuilt, long lasting hardware, now is a gimmicky gamerz brand). Even their intel boards today are a far cry from the z87-97 days.

You are happy with your board? That's great, doesnt mean it isnt a junk board with lots of cheap cost cutting that undermines the features and longevity that should be present at that price point.

Athlonite · Dec 18, 2019

Chomiq said:
According to buildzoid their x570 tuf line is ok.

I still wouldn't touch it I would have bought an Crosshair VII or VIII but I didn't have $795~$1000 for a mobo

sepheronx · Dec 18, 2019

Could you guys name the exact issues that the Tuf line has? Because I haven't heard of any to be specific.

Calmmo · Dec 18, 2019

You have to look at it on a per product basis. And every single Tuf product ive seen this year x570 aside has had issues, ones that stem from the "its a budget product- lets cut corners" (sometimes all the corners) approach

gamefoo21 · Dec 18, 2019

TUF = That Unfortunate F*cker

For the PG crowd...

TUF = The Untimely Failure

Would have been nice to see some actual benches, temps, and sound levels. This is like a forum build by a noob... Also where's the cost, and actual value sentiment? With so much blatant branding, you'd think the cost would be subsidized, or does branding come from the component budget?

Any way... The cat on the ram has a fist for a head. Is it supposed to represent fisting loose pu... timings? LoL

Cheeseball · Dec 18, 2019

TheinsanegamerN said:
Did you....you know....look at the intel versions like Dammeron suggested?

The intel versions of their TUF boards are built WAY better for the same $$$ as their intel boards are. They are an affront to the TUF brand (which used to mean overbuilt, long lasting hardware, now is a gimmicky gamerz brand). Even their intel boards today are a far cry from the z87-97 days.

You are happy with your board? That's great, doesnt mean it isnt a junk board with lots of cheap cost cutting that undermines the features and longevity that should be present at that price point.

I currently use the TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) and it is built pretty well, tbh. I can push this pair of older G.SKILL (Hynix) 3200 DDR4 16-18-18-36 to 3600 at the same timings using the stock 1.35v. My newer Patriot Vipers do a nice 3733 MHz 15-16-16-34 for 1:1 IF, but these are Samsung B-dies (and are XMP 4400 MHz out of the box) so that's expected.

My previous board for an i5-8400 was the TUF B360-PLUS GAMING, which had two M.2 PCI-E/SATA slots. I liked it for the year I used it.

Not sure if they ASUS built the B450s well, but I did consider the TUF edition since I was looking for a mATX form factor board. I initially went with the ASRock B450M Steel Legend instead, but I ended up returning it because ASRock's UEFI options are severely lacking.

damric · Dec 18, 2019

Looks nice. I wish there was a price tag included for the components in this review. I'm not sure if all of them are even available anymore.

Dammeron · Dec 18, 2019

Cheeseball said:
I currently use the TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI) and it is built pretty well, tbh.

I wanted to build AMD mATX platform, however there's no B450/X570 mobo that has wi-fi, decent VRM/chipset cooling etc... On the other hand, there would be no problem, if I went for Intel CPU (but I prefer AMD, so that's a "no go").

Cheeseball · Dec 18, 2019

Dammeron said:
I wanted to build AMD mATX platform, however there's no B450/X570 mobo that has wi-fi, decent VRM/chipset cooling etc... On the other hand, there would be no problem, if I went for Intel CPU (but I prefer AMD, so that's a "no go").

Yeah, I was looking at ASRock's X570M Pro4, but knowing how their UEFI is, I just spent more for the TUF X570 WiFi even though its standard ATX.

System Name	Corsair 2000D Silent Gaming Rig
Processor	Intel Core i5-14600K
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix Z790-i Gaming Wifi
Cooling	Corsair iCUE H150i Black
Memory	Corsair 64 GB 6000 MHz DDR5
Video Card(s)	Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phoenix GS
Storage	TeamGroup 1TB NVMe SSD
Display(s)	Gigabyte 32" M32U
Case	Corsair 2000D
Power Supply	Corsair 850 W SFX
Mouse	Logitech MX
Keyboard	Sharkoon PureWriter TKL

System Name	Titan
Processor	AMD Ryzen™ 7 7950X3D
Motherboard	ASRock X870 Taichi Lite
Cooling	Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO CPU
Memory	TEAMGROUP T-Force Delta RGB 2x16GB DDR5-6000 CL30
Video Card(s)	ASRock Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24 GB GDDR6 (MBA)
Storage	Crucial T500 2TB x 3
Display(s)	LG 32GS95UE-B, ASUS ROG Swift OLED (PG27AQDP), LG C4 42" (OLED42C4PUA)
Case	Cooler Master QUBE 500 Flatpack Macaron
Audio Device(s)	Kanto Audio YU2 and SUB8 Desktop Speakers and Subwoofer, Cloud Alpha Wireless
Power Supply	Corsair SF1000
Mouse	Logitech Pro Superlight 2 (White), G303 Shroud Edition
Keyboard	Keychron K2 HE Wireless / 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard (N Edition) / NuPhy Air75 v2
VR HMD	Meta Quest 3 512GB
Software	Windows 11 Pro 64-bit 24H2 Build 26100.2605

System Name	Cypher-C4
Processor	Ryzen 9 5900X
Motherboard	MSI B450 Tomahawk Max
Cooling	Deepcool AK620
Memory	32GB Crucial Ballistix Elite 3200MHz
Video Card(s)	Palit RTX 3060 Ti Dual
Storage	250GB Crucial MX500 + 2TB Crucial MX500 + 2TB WD Black + 4TB Toshiba + 1TB Samsung F3
Display(s)	Acer XV272UP
Case	Corsair Obsidian 750D
Audio Device(s)	Behringher UMC202HD Audio Interface + Mackie HM-4 + Sennheiser HD 280 Pro + Shure SM58
Power Supply	Corsair HX750i
Mouse	Steelseries Rival 310
Keyboard	Keychron K8 + Kailh BOX Crystal Jade switches + Ducky Good in Blue keycaps
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

System Name	Cumquat 2021
Processor	AMD RyZen R7 7800X3D
Motherboard	Asus Strix X670E - E Gaming WIFI
Cooling	Deep Cool LT720 + CM MasterGel Pro TP + Lian Li Uni Fan V2
Memory	32GB GSkill Trident Z5 Neo 6000
Video Card(s)	PowerColor HellHound RX7800XT 2550cclk/2450mclk
Storage	1x Adata SX8200PRO NVMe 1TB gen3 x4 1X Samsung 980 Pro NVMe Gen 4 x4 1TB, 12TB of HDD Storage
Display(s)	AOC 24G2 IPS 144Hz FreeSync Premium 1920x1080p
Case	Lian Li O11D XL ROG edition
Audio Device(s)	RX7800XT via HDMI + Pioneer VSX-531 amp Technics 100W 5.1 Speaker set
Power Supply	EVGA 1000W G5 Gold
Mouse	Logitech G502 Proteus Core Wired
Keyboard	Logitech G915 Wireless
Software	Windows 11 X64 PRO (build 24H2)
Benchmark Scores	it sucks even more less now ;)

Processor	Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard	Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite
Cooling	Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE
Memory	2x16 GB Crucial Ballistix 3600 CL16 Rev E @ 3600 CL14
Video Card(s)	RTX3080 Ti FE
Storage	SX8200 Pro 1 TB, Plextor M6Pro 256 GB, WD Blue 2TB
Display(s)	LG 34GN850P-B
Case	SilverStone Primera PM01 RGB
Audio Device(s)	SoundBlaster G6 \| Fidelio X2 \| Sennheiser 6XX
Power Supply	SeaSonic Focus Plus Gold 750W
Mouse	Endgame Gear XM1R
Keyboard	Wooting Two HE

The ASUS TUF Gaming Alliance

Darksaber

Senior Editor & Case Reviewer

Cheeseball

Not a Potato

EzioAs

Athlonite

Chomiq

macrobe

INSTG8R

Vanguard Beta Tester

Hugis

Moderator

Ruru

S.T.A.R.S.

3125b

Dracius

Chomiq

shk021051

Dammeron

Dracius

Ruru

S.T.A.R.S.

TheinsanegamerN

Athlonite

sepheronx

Calmmo

gamefoo21

Cheeseball

Not a Potato

damric

Dammeron

Cheeseball

Not a Potato

System Name	AMD AORUS
Processor	AMD RYZEN R7 2700X
Motherboard	GIGABYTE B450 I AORUS PRO WIFI
Cooling	AORUS ATC700
Memory	AORUS GP-AR32C16S8K2HU416R
Video Card(s)	GIGABYTE RX VEGA 64 SILVER 8G
Storage	AORUS GP-ASM2NE2512GTTDR
Display(s)	PHILIPS 276E9QJAB/00
Case	Open frame
Audio Device(s)	GIGABYTE GP-S7500
Power Supply	GIGABYTE G750H
Mouse	Sharkoon Shark Zone M50
Keyboard	Sharkoon Purewriter TKL RGB

System Name	Hellbox 5.1(same case new guts)
Processor	Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard	MSI X570S MAG Torpedo Max
Cooling	TT Kandalf L.C.S.(Water/Air)EK Velocity CPU Block/Noctua EK Quantum DDC Pump/Res
Memory	2x16GB Gskill Trident Neo Z 3600 CL16
Video Card(s)	Powercolor Hellhound 7900XTX
Storage	970 Evo Plus 500GB 2xSamsung 850 Evo 500GB RAID 0 1TB WD Blue Corsair MP600 Core 2TB
Display(s)	Alienware QD-OLED 34” 3440x1440 144hz 10Bit VESA HDR 400
Case	TT Kandalf L.C.S.
Audio Device(s)	Soundblaster ZX/Logitech Z906 5.1
Power Supply	Seasonic TX~’850 Platinum
Mouse	G502 Hero
Keyboard	G19s
VR HMD	Oculus Quest 3
Software	Win 11 Pro x64

System Name	Office / Gamer Mk IV
Processor	i5 - 12500
Motherboard	TUF GAMING B660-PLUS WIFI D4
Cooling	Themalright Peerless Assassin 120 RGB
Memory	32GB (2x16) Corsair CMK32GX4M2D3600C18 "micron B die"
Video Card(s)	UHD770 / PNY 4060Ti (www.techpowerup.com/review/pny-geforce-rtx-4060-ti-verto)
Storage	SN850X - P41Plat - SN770 - 980Pro - BX500
Display(s)	Philips 246E9Q 75Hz @ 1920 * 1080
Case	Corsair Carbide 200R
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC897 (On Board)
Power Supply	Cooler Master V750 Gold v2
Mouse	Cooler Master MM712
Keyboard	Logitech S530 - mac
Software	Windows 11 Pro

System Name	4K-gaming / console
Processor	5800X @ PBO +200 / i5-8600K @ 4.6GHz
Motherboard	ROG Crosshair VII Hero / ROG Strix Z370-F
Cooling	Alphacool Eisbaer 360 / Alphacool Eisbaer 240
Memory	32GB DDR4-3466 / 16GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 3080 TUF OC / Powercolor RX 6700 XT
Storage	3.5TB of SSDs / several small SSDs
Display(s)	4K120 IPS + 4K60 IPS / 1080p60 HDTV
Case	Corsair 4000D AF White / DeepCool CC560 WH
Audio Device(s)	Sony WH-CH720N / TV speakers
Power Supply	EVGA G2 750W / Fractal ION Gold 550W
Mouse	Razer Basilisk / Logitech G400s
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO / NOS C450 Mini Pro
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro / Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	They run Crysis

System Name	Cast Lead™
Processor	Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7600 CPU @ 3.50GHz
Motherboard	Asus ROG STRIX H270F GAMING
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212 LED
Memory	G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4 2400
Video Card(s)	MSI Radeon RX 480 GAMING X 8G
Storage	Seagate 1TB 7200 rpm
Display(s)	LG 24MP59G
Case	Green Z4
Audio Device(s)	Realtek High Definition Audio
Power Supply	Green 650 UK Gold
Software	Windows 10™ Pro 64 bit

System Name	Proper
Processor	5900X + OC
Motherboard	GB X570s Elite AX
Cooling	WC Heatkiller 3.0 LT
Memory	G.Skill 3600 CL16
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX 3070 Ti Trinity LC'ed + OC
Storage	KC2500 1TB + A2000 1TB
Display(s)	GB M32Q
Case	Fractal Define R6 USB C
Audio Device(s)	Creative AE-7 + Phonic AM120 MkIII + H/K AVR 265 -> Paradigm Monitor 11 v.7 + AKG K712 Pro
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime PX-850
Mouse	Log G502 X LS
Keyboard	Keychron K5 Opt.brown
Software	Win10 Pro

System Name	Skunkworks 3.0
Processor	5800x3d
Motherboard	x570 unify
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12A
Memory	32GB 3600 mhz
Video Card(s)	asrock 6800xt challenger D
Storage	Sabarent rocket 4.0 2TB, MX 500 2TB
Display(s)	Asus 1440p144 27"
Case	Old arse cooler master 932
Power Supply	Corsair 1200w platinum
Mouse	squeak
Keyboard	Some old office thing
Software	Manjaro

System Name	PCGR
Processor	12400f
Motherboard	Asus ROG STRIX B660-I
Cooling	Stock Intel Cooler
Memory	2x16GB DDR5 5600 Corsair
Video Card(s)	Dell RTX 3080
Storage	1x 512GB Mmoment PCIe 3 NVME 1x 2TB Corsair S70
Display(s)	LG 32" 1440p
Case	Phanteks Evolve itx
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	750W Cooler Master sfx
Software	Windows 11

System Name	Apex Raptor: Silverback
Processor	Intel i9 13900KS
Motherboard	z790 Apex
Cooling	LT720 + Phanteks T30
Memory	32GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 5090 Astral
Storage	990 PRO 4TB
Display(s)	Neo G8 / C1 65"
Case	Antec Performance 1
Audio Device(s)	DT 1990 Pro / Motu M2
Power Supply	Hx1200i
Mouse	G502 X Plus
Keyboard	K95 Platinum

System Name	R2V2 *In Progress
Processor	Ryzen 7 2700
Motherboard	Asrock X570 Taichi
Cooling	W2A... water to air
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z3466 B-die
Video Card(s)	Radeon VII repaired and resurrected
Storage	Adata and Samsung NVME
Display(s)	Samsung LCD
Case	Some ThermalTake
Audio Device(s)	Asus Strix RAID DLX upgraded op amps
Power Supply	Seasonic Prime something or other
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

System Name	Main
Processor	Ryzen 5950x
Motherboard	B550 PG Velocita
Cooling	Water
Memory	Ballistix
Video Card(s)	RX 6900XT
Storage	T-FORCE CARDEA A440 PRO
Display(s)	MAG401QR
Case	QUBE 500
Audio Device(s)	Logitech Z623
Power Supply	LEADEX V 1KW
Mouse	Cooler Master MM710
Keyboard	Huntsman Elite
Software	11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	https://hwbot.org/user/damric/