Question ASUS Motherboards ?

[Elliah246]

ASUS ROG Strix B850-A​

versus​

ASUS ROG Strix B850-E​

Any reason to get the more expensive board?
My personal needs are 2x M.2 slots + 2x PCIe slots. That's all. Don't care about things like 5G ethernet or Wifi7.

Question: I will run one GPU + one soundcard + 2 nvme ssds.
Will my GPU run in x8 or in x4 mode with the B850-E ? And how would it run with the B850-A?

Thank you.

 

[Lutfij]

The E denotes the Extreme series...which was a nomenclature used about a decade or so ago. The A would stand for Arctic or rather a white board. So if anything it boils down to the aesthetics of your build. I'd also avoid Asus and side with ASRock, Gigabyte or MSI, if possible.

one soundcard
Please elaborate. If you drop a device onto the second PCIeX16(G4) slot, you shouldn't populate slot M2_3 on the board with an SSD as they are both shared.
^
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM5/ROG_STRIX_B850-A_GAMING_WIFI/E24382_ROG_STRIX_B850-A_GAMING_WIFI_EM_WEB.pdf?model=ROG STRIX B850-A GAMING WIFI
page 14 for the Strix B850-A.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/...EM_WEB.pdf?model=ROG STRIX B850-E GAMING WIFI
page 13 for the Strix B850-E

My personal needs are 2x M.2 slots + 2x PCIe slots.
Why not look at an matx motherboard?

 

[Elliah246]

The E denotes the Extreme series...which was a nomenclature used about a decade or so ago. The A would stand for Arctic or rather a white board. So if anything it boils down to the aesthetics of your build. I'd also avoid Asus and side with ASRock, Gigabyte or MSI, if possible.

one soundcard
Please elaborate. If you drop a device onto the second PCIeX16(G4) slot, you shouldn't populate slot M2_3 on the board with an SSD as they are both shared.
^
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM5/ROG_STRIX_B850-A_GAMING_WIFI/E24382_ROG_STRIX_B850-A_GAMING_WIFI_EM_WEB.pdf?model=ROG STRIX B850-A GAMING WIFI
page 14 for the Strix B850-A.

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM5/ROG_STRIX_B850-E_GAMING_WIFI/E24280_ROG_STRIX_B850-E_GAMING_WIFI_EM_WEB.pdf?model=ROG STRIX B850-E GAMING WIFI
page 13 for the Strix B850-E

My personal needs are 2x M.2 slots + 2x PCIe slots.
Why not look at an matx motherboard?

Yeah i know that much that E series is thought to be a superior class over the rest.
But in practice i cannot spot much of a difference other than a few more slots for this or that.
So is it essentially the same board with a 100 dollar price gap?

Why avoid asus? The newer boards use realtek network over intel but i asume this isn't what you're on about.
I have bad experience with msi, from my knownledge their products lack quality.

Yes my intention was to mount the soundcard into the second PCIe slot below the graphicscard.
Oh, does the manual say not to use the M2_3 slot because it shares "bandwidth" with the lower PCIe slot? What would happen when both are used, fallback to x4?

What's mATX? mini atx? Can't say, used to having the typical mid range sized atx desktop.

 

[COLGeek]

What's mATX? mini atx? Can't say, used to having the typical mid range sized atx desktop.

Micro ATX. See here for background info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX

 

[Elliah246]

Looking at this, correct me if wrong, all slots labeled with "A" share bandwidth, same goes for "B".
So if i populate more than one A slot, the bandwidth for both will become lower.
Also there is a total of 3x A slots but the configuration tab only provides information for max 2x devices operating. What if all 3 are operating?

What would happen if i mounted the GPU to upper PCIe "A" slot, and a soundcard to the lowest PCIe "B" slot, i mean would the gpu still run at x16 since those two slots share no bandwidth?

Then i could mount one M.2 nvme ssd to the upside M.2_1 slot since it's neither labeled with A or B must indicate it's independently operating.
The second M.2 nvme ssd could be mounted to the "B" slot right above the lowest "B" slot.
That would result in the soundcard and the nvme ssd sharing bandwidth and thus reduce it.
But would it be reduced to x8 or x4 ?

Still don't know which board to chose. Just need it to run 1 gpu + 1 sound card + 2 nvme drives

https://rog.asus.com/motherboards/rog-strix/rog-strix-b850-e-gaming-wifi/spec/

ROG STRIX B850-A GAMING WIFI | Gaming motherboards｜ROG - Republic of Gamers｜ROG Global

ROG Strix B850-A: Unleash AI power with AMD Ryzen™ 9000 support, PCIe 5.0, DDR5, WiFi 7, USB 20Gbps, ASUS AI Advisor. Elevate your build to new heights!

rog.asus.com

 

[Elliah246]

So the only difference between A and E board is the E standing for Extreme.
Extreme = few more connection ports like an extra nvme slot and usb slots.
The price gap isn't worth it. Doesn't deserve the naming scheme extreme.
Is that really all? Is the board made of the same quality, same materials, same product?
Am i missing something?

 

[Elliah246]

Isn't this a forum where you're supposed to get help?

 

[Unolocogringo]

Basically the E boards have an extra I/O chip onboard similar to a old "southbridge" chip for expansion.
It gives more M.2 slots and PCIE lanes to connect more devices at full speed. Instead of having to share lanes or disable SATA ports when 2 or more M.2s are installed.
We are all forum members like yourself, who give our time to help others. Not employees of the site.

 

[JayGau]

I'd also avoid Asus and side with ASRock, Gigabyte or MSI, if possible.

And why's that? I have been using Asus boards for 8 years (4 of them) and they all worked great (they are still all working actually). Never had a problem beside the ones caused by my own stupidity. If you are talking about their atrocious customer service then yes, maybe, but the odds that you end up needing it are very small. If the board works in the first 30 days, it will most likely work for years.

 

[MEMOFLEX]

And why's that? I have been using Asus boards for 8 years (4 of them) and they all worked great (they are still all working actually). Never had a problem beside the ones caused by my own stupidity. If you are talking about their atrocious customer service then yes, maybe, but the odds that you end up needing it are very small. If the board works in the first 30 days, it will most likely work for years.

I second this. I have only ever used ASUS boards and they have all been rock solid. They do tend to be a bit more expensive than comparative boards but I will likely buy ASUS again when the next cycle comes around without a second thought

 

[bill001g]

You don't have to search real far to find some of the large screw ups asus has had in the last couple years. It has lead to some very major youtube computer tech channels not accepting advertising or sponsored product from asus. They key one I remember was related to warranty and that was one of the big thing that made it worth paying extra for with asus.

Asus has so many modules and sub models it tends to be almost impossible to figure out. You just have to read all the fine print and decide for yourself if it something you need and worth the cost difference between the boards. In general most the stuff is marketing hype or physical appearance stuff.

My general guess without reading the details is your assumption about using the 2-1 ssd slot and the gpu in the A slot is correct. Most boards have a x16 slot and a x4 SSD socket that run directly from the CPU. All the other slots are running from the chipset and you need to read the fine print to see what restrictions there are about using them at the same time.

 

[bill001g]

As a added note even if you were to run your video card at x8 it likely makes no difference. Its not like you are running pcie2 or something. They have tested 4090 running on pcie4 x 8 and it runs just fine so lesser cards should also. They have tested the new 5090 but I have not bothered to dig though and see what the minimum it will run on.

 

[MEMOFLEX]

You don't have to search real far to find some of the large screw ups asus has had in the last couple years. It has lead to some very major youtube computer tech channels not accepting advertising or sponsored product from asus. They key one I remember was related to warranty and that was one of the big thing that made it worth paying extra for with asus.

Asus has so many modules and sub models it tends to be almost impossible to figure out. You just have to read all the fine print and decide for yourself if it something you need and worth the cost difference between the boards. In general most the stuff is marketing hype or physical appearance stuff.

My general guess without reading the details is your assumption about using the 2-1 ssd slot and the gpu in the A slot is correct. Most boards have a x16 slot and a x4 SSD socket that run directly from the CPU. All the other slots are running from the chipset and you need to read the fine print to see what restrictions there are about using them at the same time.

Oh i am well aware of the recent exposure of the Asus warranty and repairs issues. Not something I have ever needed but I work on the principle that once these things have been exposed that there will be a considerable improvement from the company should you have an issue.

There is definitely an Asus tax - certainly if you go down the ROG route - but I have found that the USB configurations on the Asus boards do tend to be a little more robust. Certainly on the boards that I look at anyway.

I am not a serial upgrader and tend to try and buy once and buy well with a platform lasting me quite a while. My current z370 Maximus X Hero has been a great board.

I do tend to build quite a few systems for others though and when often more limited by budget, then I often use MSI boards. Not had many issues to report here either. I have used AsRock on one occasion for a build and no problems encountered although the BIOS left a lot to be desired. I have never used a Gigabyte board so I cannot comment.