Asus ROG Strix b350-f gaming

[ohiou_grad_2006]

So what are folks experiences on this board? Here's the deal.

Current setup

Ryzen 5 1600
ASRock AB350m pro 4
8gb ddr4 2400
256gb Samsung Evo 960 nvme
1tb spinning drive
EVGA 600b psu
GTX 1050ti
Deep cool D Shield case

Basically I'm getting a 1700x from a good friend who's tech savvy and has always run the cpu stock and under water.
I am wanting to build end up with a new computer for my wife to use in her home based business, so I'm effectively building myself a new system and getting some parts for my old system to give her. Here's what I expect to end up with on my end.

Ryzen 1700x(currently have a cooler master vortex plus air cooler, but have a higher speed fan with it. May get a hyper 212 Evo or water later though)
16gb ddr4(2 8 sticks. Looking at a 3000 MHz kit or a 3200 MHz)
Asus ROG Strix b350-f gaming
Reuse existing psu, ssd, and video card (though I usually get Christmas money, so hoping to jump to at least a gtx 1060 6gb, if not maybe even a gtx 1070).

I guess my biggest question is this one.

I bought this board today

https://www.microcenter.com/product/480185/rog-strix-b350-f-gaming-am4-atx-amd-motherboard

I got a good deal. Price was a normal 124.99. They had an open box in the store that was an RTV, which means return to vendor. I'm guessing essentially someone got the board and didn't like it. I have bought quite a bit through microcenter, and they told me with an RTV like that, it also would have gone back to Asus and have been tested as working before they sent it back.

Figured it was a great deal at nearly 40 bucks off. I did spend an extra 10 and got a 2 year replacement plan so if there are any issues I can take it back during that time.

In case anyone is interested, I did buy a new case also, so my old system can mostly stay intact for my wife. So ended up with this case. I have fans on the way in white and red led for it.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.newegg.com/amp/products/N82E16811119346

 

[Darkbreeze]

The B350-F has only a 4+4 power phase. I'm not sure I'd use it with the 1700x, and especially not if you plan to overclock at all. Even at the stock configuration though, it's kind of weak for that CPU but it should be marginally ok if you don't plan to push it too hard. Honestly I'd prefer to see a much stronger VRM configuration for use with any of the 8 core Ryzen processors especially since they have memory troubles even with much better power delivery configurations.

If you have to use it, use it. But if you see problems that don't make sense then you can figure it's either due to the fact that somebody already returned that board because it had problems or the power delivery is sub-nominal.

If you do use it, I'd definitely update the bios immediately. Those first gen chipsets were really terrible when it comes to memory configurations and only became even remotely acceptable after a series of bios updates so be sure you are on the latest available bios version before you try enabling the memory at it's advertised profile speed.

I think you will also want a much better cooler than what you have now OR the 212 series coolers. They will work, but they will be loud. I'd recommend some form of 140mm heatsink, minimum. Or at least a 240mm AIO cooler. 280mm would be a lot better. Again, much depends on whether you will run this at the stock configuration or not.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Is there another b350/450 board that would do better? Or do you think I should just step up to a 370/470 board? Keep in mind I'll be buying from microcenter in the st. Louis location, as I can buy the 2 year replacement plans with them.

I know that I'd certainly intend to overclock, at least a mild overclock to 3.7-3.8. If I stay with a b350 board, would I be better off with this?


https://www.microcenter.com/product/476397/ab350-pro4-am4-atx-amd-motherboard

Before you say I'm nuts, I ask because from a video I saw on YouTube, the ASRock ab350 boards, some people thought they had a 6+3 power phase, but the reviewer said they were actually a 3+3 power phase but essentially doubled. I know the 4+4 would be slightly better than a traditional 3+3, but if it's like a doubled setup as he said, I wonder if it would hold up better?

Also looking at this board.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/509724/b450-a-pro-am4-atx-amd-motherboard

Looking at a video from tech deals on YouTube and he's got a review of the b450 tomahawk, from other videos I saw, the tomahawk and b450-a pro are about identical vrm wise. The guy from tech deals thinks the tomahawk is ok for non x CPUs, which my chip will be a 1700x but I'm only paying 75, plus I'm not running dual cards, so I don't think I need all the features of the x470.

Apologies for all the questions, just trying to figure this piece out and not go completely overboard. Also, with overclocking, I do plan to overclock, but if I need to stop at 3.7-3.8ghz, I think I'm fine with that.

Edit, didn't see ratings on microcenter, but how about this one?

https://www.microcenter.com/product/510839/b450-aorus-elite-am4-atx-amd-motherboard

Just looking and it appears to have better vrms than the others. I actually went ahead and am trying to have them them put one on hold. Having a hard time finding a review on that specific board, but one reviewer was reviewing their b450 pro board, he was saying that board has an 8+3 power phase. Judging by the photos in the review and photos from microcenter, they look to share the vrm design. On the pro he was running and tinkering with a 2700x. I didn't see the pro available with microcenter, but I'm thinking this gigabyte is the diamond in the rough perhaps.

Did find a little info on a gigabyte b450 WiFi model they have, it seems to share the vrms.

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8694/gigabyte-b450-aorus-pro-wifi-amd-motherboard-review/index3.html

From what they said, they think those boards are running an enchanced 4+3 design, but seem to think that is better. Thoughts?

 

[Darkbreeze]

TLDR. LOL. All I heard was "I intend to overclock" and my mind went DIRECTLY to B450 or X470, with X470 being the clear preference.

Overclocking on Ryzen is not as refined and successful a process, nor does it offer the clear advantages of gaining high clock rates, as earlier AMD platforms. Or Intel platforms for that matter. It is HARD to get much in the way of extra clocks on Ryzen. That being said, IMO, you want the best board you can afford because not only is the power phase a factor, there are other considerations such as the QUALITY of the components making up the power delivery and voltage regulation module (AKA, power phase, VRMs) such as quality of capacitors and chokes, thickness of PCB traces, number of power phases dedicated to memory (Which, memory, is already a big factor on Ryzen and you want to be able to use the highest speed memory possible as memory speed directly impacts system performance on all Ryzen/Zen platforms).

Either chipset will work fine and there are plenty of boards with sufficient quality in those regards from both chipsets, but X470 has more USB headers, more SATA III headers, more PCIe 2.0/3.0 slots, support for dual card configurations and in some cases better power delivery. If none of those things are a factor for you, then go with B450. If they are, then go with X470.

I would not go with anything less than a mid range board. Obviously for overclocking, higher quality is always, or usually, better, but paying more isn't always a guarantee of higher quality. Often, but not always. Especially if you can find a good deal on an upper mid range board. For example, on the Intel chipsets you often can get just as good of an overclock with just as good power delivery on the ASUS Zxxx-A boards as you can on the Maximus Hero boards, but minus the ROG features or extras like bios flashback for example.

The B450-F gaming for example, has a 6+2 power phase design, and is otherwise well equipped, but is an ROG board, however the X470-F gaming version has ten power phases for the CPU alone, as mentioned here:

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/asus-rog-strix-x470-f-gaming-review,5.html


That too is an ROG board and you might not want or need the extra bells and whistles.

The B450 Aorus pro wifi, which is a much less expensive board, has an 8+3 power phase design, and despite the fact that I feel like Gigabyte has skimped on bios features and granularity in the bios on the last few generations of Intel and all of the Ryzen boards when it comes to things like fan controls and memory voltage stepping, I think for the price this is a pretty good board.

Obviously, you will want to do you own investigations but it gives you some things to think about and look into. I'll be honest, I have not done a lot of tinkering with Ryzen yet, having built only one Ryzen system so far, but fundamentals are fundamentals no matter what the platform is so the years and years of experience with prior platforms should still offer at least the same basic guiding principles as we'd normally use. Also, when it comes to memory, I'd try to stick to modules using Samsung B-die ICs if possible.

Usually, if you choose a 3000/3200mhz module with a CAS14 latency, it WILL be a B-die module.

https://www.overclock.net/forum/18051-memory/1627555-ryzen-memory-ic-collection-thread.html

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Thanks for all the input. I am considering the Gigabyte board for the power phases. I know I'm not going to run dual cards, probably something like a single 1060 6gb or 1070. I have a b350 board currently, which seems to have just enough usb for me, so I think I'll be ok on that front.

As I said, overclock wise, I'm not trying to set records, just bump the cpu up for a little extra performance without blowing anything up. Either way, I'm returning the ROG b350 today, and out of the boards in my price range, the aorus appears to be the best choice.

Although, I will say I just hopped on their site, and found this board.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/600975/x470-aorus-ultra-gaming-am4-atx-amd-motherboard

They had one as open box for 103. So 4 bucks more than what the b450 is. So I'm trying to reserve that one, since they only had 1 open box. But if I get that one, I may have hit the jackpot. It does appear to have the same vrm setup as the b450 elite though interestingly.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

If I don't get the other board, either way I think you've talked me into the x470. I may skip the gigabyte board though. Looked at an ASRock Fatality X470, but for a few dollars more, I may go for the Asus Prime X470-Pro.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/506165/Prime_X470-Pro_AM4_ATX_AMD_Motherboard

or do you think the gigabyte aorus x470 elite gaming is decent? Since I can get an open box for 103. Or am I splitting hairs at this point lol.

Edit. Just so you know, I found a youtube video on the gigabyte ultra gaming, and the guy was doing a pcb overview of that board, and he said basically it was a 4+3 phase that they are advertising as 8+3, so I guess that board is out.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yeah, I was going to say that's probably not a great choice. I think the Aorus Pro wifi is the better choice unless that board also has falsified power phase claims. Truthfully, I'm almost always a religiously ASUS guy with a few ASRock boards thrown in. My last board though was a Z170x-gaming 5 which was a solid board, but like I said it lacked some features in the bios that most other boards had so I changed to a Hero VIII which is what I am running now in this machine.

It looks like many of these Ryzen boards have very weak power phases, likely because they are not actually targeting overclockers on most of them due to the fact that there are not tremendous extra clocks to be had on Ryzen but for those who do want to get a few hundred extra Mhz out of their processor I'd definitely try to get a board with the best power phase possible. It's not REQUIRED that you have a board with high number of power phases but it certainly helps with keeping things cool and with stability. Long term reliability is also a factor not to mention VRM overheating.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

I got there to get it, and after talking to a friend realized I had always had good luck with gigabyte. I decided to roll the dice and go for the gigabyte x470. When we checked the board there was some white substance actually in the cpu socket.

So I passed. Considered the Asus, but ended up getting the higher end b450 gigabyte board I linked to save some cash. I did however buy the 2 year replacement plan on the board. So if starts to act flaky when I push the cpu, I can pop it out, get a gift card for what I paid for the board, then upgrade. So that's the approach I'm going to take and see if the board acts flaky. For reference, this is the exact board I got.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/510839/b450-aorus-elite-am4-atx-amd-motherboard

I've owned quite a few gigabyte boards and usually never had issues, so I'll see if this one is nice to me. I could have gone higher end, but I still want to get a nice 16gb ram kit, new GPU to replace my 1050ti and maybe better cooler later, so gotta save a little somewhere.

But really, my 1600 was only a 65 watt cpu stock. I think the 1700x is 95 watts, so it's not like I'm pushing maybe pushing a lot of juice. If I can get an extra 300-400mhz I'm good. Don't have to have like 4.2ghz, though that would be nice. I still feel like I got a board better than what I started with. Thanks for all of the information. You really made me think of things I didn't know as much about before. I'm actually a PC tech, but it's nice to talk to someone who's familiar with things that I can bounce things off of.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Seems like a good plan. I have doubts, because images of that board look to me like you can clearly see un-heatsinked chokes and caps on the voltage regulation section of the board, but designs are changing a lot so I'm not going to go too far out on a limb especially since I have not done any overclocking on these boards yet. I will, but have not yet as I haven't had a client who wanted one overclocked. I've actually only done the single Ryzen build with a 2600x on a Taichi board and they were not interested in overclocking at this time.

You are 100% welcome to bounce any questions you have on this, or any other subjects at any time, ever. I'm practically always available at some point during the day so if I don't get back to you right away I will generally at some point or another. We see practically every issue that comes along since most of us have been doing this here for a fairly long while, some longer than others of course, but even so we still occasionally come across something that makes even the collective scratch it's head. LOL.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Ah clients. I work in a help desk, but did support on the side off and on for years. Definitely some good money if you are a mobile tech. I could sometimes make 2 weeks pay in a few days. Had a little workshop set up in my basement and could game while I fixed computers lol.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I mostly just do custom builds, installations and configuration of systems and small networks (emphasis on SMALL, as in, mom and pop locations) on the side. I'm a mechanic and professional handyman primarily but I've been working with, tearing apart, customizing, building and otherwise acting enthusiastically about computer hardware since about 1984. Maybe longer if you include some older stuff like word processors. A long time. But, not nearly as long as some of the other members and moderators around here.

There is probably about six thousand years worth of experience on this forum if you were to add up only the hard core regular members. There are a lot of knowledgeable people out there on other sites too, but I believe there are few sites out there with forums frequented by as MANY of them as there is here.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Yeah I just started as the kid who wanted to play video games. Remember the commodore 64? My first computer at 5 lol.

Just always tried to tinker and make them faster for games. Must have learned something.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I actually had a vic20 which was pre-Commodore64. And for that matter, was playing around with a Wang word processor even before that. It sure became a lot more fun in the 90's though.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

So question. Got everything together. The gigabyte board just on optimized defaults, stock essentially, will show sometimes a voltage of 1.488 while sitting in bios. I know the max is supposed to be 1.45. Now when I get into Windows, it will bounce around. sometimes in the 1.268 or so range to 1.4 something. I'm assuming that's just from the core boosting and it attempting to save power?

Just making sure that it's not trying overvolt my 1700x.

In any event, I do note, if I disable Core Boost, Cool N Quiet, and C States, when I'm in Windows, it seems to stay around 1.268 or so even though I've not changed any voltage offset in bios. I know it's supposed to be able to turbo to 3.8ghz. My thought is maybe grab one of these to put over the vrms.

https://www.amazon.com/Antec-Spot-Cool-SpotCool-System/dp/B000I5KSNQ

Maybe one of these for cooling and try to get 3.8ghz or 3.9 out of it.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/483748/masterliquid-ml240l-240mm-rgb-water-cooling-kit

Note, I live close to Microcenter, so it's easier to get parts there.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Microcenter has a poor selection of CPU coolers. If you want to go with a water cooled configuration, that' fine, but it's going to make your VRMs suffer somewhat. I don't think it's really an issue though.

Honestly, I'd just put a decent air cooler on there. The only one that Microcenter carries that I'd recommend is the NH-U14S.

Honestly, this would do just fine for that configuration.

https://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-814256001052-Macho-Rev-B/dp/B00PKJ21LW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544647105&sr=8-1&keywords=thermalright+macho+rev.b


Or this:

https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-U14S-Premium-Cooler-NF-A15/dp/B00C9FLSLY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1544647137&sr=8-3&keywords=NH-U14S


Or any of these:

Below is my list of preferred CPU AIR coolers, also known as Heatsink fans (HSF).

Do not look here for recommendations on water/liquid cooling solutions. There are none to be found.

They are basically listed in order of preference, from top to bottom. To some degree that preference is based on known performance on similarly overclocked configurations, but not entirely. There are likely a couple of units that are placed closer to the top not because they offer purely better performance than another cooler which is below it, but potentially due to a variety of reasons.

One model might be placed higher than another with the same or similar performance, but has quieter or higher quality fans. It may have the same performance but a better warranty. Long term quality may be higher. It may be less expensive in some cases. Maybe it performs slightly worse, but has quieter fans and a better "fan pitch". Some fans with equal decibel levels do not "sound" like they are the same as the specific pitch heard from one fan might be less annoying than another.

In any case, these are not "tiered" and are not a 100% be all, end all ranking. They are simply MY preference when looking at coolers for a build or when making recommendations. Often, which HSF gets chosen depends on what is on this list and fits the budget or is priced right at the time due to a sale or rebate. Hopefully it will help you and you can rest assured that every cooler listed here is a model that to some degree or other is generally a quality unit which is a lot more likely to be worth the money spent on it than on many other models out there that might look to be a similarly worthwhile investment.

Certainly there are a great many other very good coolers out there, but these are models which are usually available to most anybody building a system or looking for a cooler, regardless of what part of the world they might live in. As always, professional reviews are usually an absolutely essential part of the process of finding a cooler so if you are looking at a model not listed here, I would highly recommend looking at at least two or three professional reviews first.

If you cannot find two reviews of any given cooler, it is likely either too new to have been reviewed yet or it sucked, and nobody wanted to buy one in order to review it plus the manufacturer refused to send samples out to the sites that perform reviews because they knew it would likely get bad publicity.

IMO, nobody out there is making better fans, overall, than Noctua, followed pretty closely by Thermalright. So if you intend to match case fans to the same brand on your HSF, those are pretty hard to beat. Of course, Corsair has it's Maglev fans, and those are pretty damn good too, but since they don't make CPU air cooling products, only AIO water coolers, they cannot join the party.


Noctua NH-D14 (Replace stock fans with NF-A14 industrialPPC 2000rpm)
Noctua NH-D15/D15 SE-AM4
Noctua NH-D14 (With original fans)
Thermalright Silver arrow IB-E Extreme
Phanteks PH-TC14PE (BK,BL, OR or RD)
Cryorig R1 Ultimate or Universal
Thermalright Legrand Macho RT
FSP Windale 6
Scythe Mugen 5 rev.b
Thermalright Macho (Direct, 120)
Noctua NH-U14S
Scythe Mugen max
BeQuiet dark rock pro (3 or 4)
BeQuiet dark rock (3 or 4)
Deepcool Assassin II
Thermalright true spirit 140 (Direct, Power, BW)
Cryorig H5
Noctua NH-U12S
Phanteks PH-TC12DX (Any)
Phanteks PH-TC14S
Cryorig H7

If you want to do an AIO cooler, I'd look at something other than Cooler Master. They are unpreferred over many other brands. I've seen and heard of a lot more unpleasant issues from leakage on their coolers than on any others.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Ok, will have to do some looking then. I'm assuming the Hyper 212 Evo is not looked highly upon. I used to have a CM V6 GT, but that thing was a beast for sure. Looking for something easy to put on for sure also.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Cooler master heatsink fans are not generally good performance per dollar AND are almost universally louder, by a good margin, than any cooler with equivalent performance and often louder than coolers with a lot better performance.

Yeah, they perform well on a lot of reviews if you look at the temperature over ambient, but if you THEN look at the noise levels required by their fans to GET that performance, it's simply not worth it.

Their heatsinks are ok, and if you put a good fan on one like a Noctua NF-A14, it would perform well and be quiet, but that adds ANOTHER 25 bucks to the cost of the cooler which makes even more expensive that superior models you could already get for less money.

Honestly, the Cryorig H7 would be a pretty good choice for that CPU if you're not overclocking by much, and at 38 bucks it's a terrific deal.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49 CFM CPU Cooler ($38.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $38.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-12 18:43 EST-0500


But if you're overclocking by even a moderate degree, say 300+ Mhz, or would prefer the cooler to be much quieter than it's going to be with ANY of the 120mm coolers, then I'd maybe look at The Cryorig H5 Ultimate or Universal, FSP Windale 6, Noctua NH-U14S (Which is what I currently run on my overclocked 6700k@4.7Ghz and previously on an overclocked FX-8320@4.6Ghz), or any of those listed on my preferred list above.

If you want excellent performance with a very high quality fan and low noise levels, you will want something from Noctua, Thermalright (NOT to be confused with Thermaltake), Phanteks or Cryorig. Deepcool has some really decent units as well but the fan quality will not be as high nor will the sound levels at an equivalent level of performance be as quiet. They are still an option though as their heatsinks are pretty good.

NOTHING aftermarket is going to be "easy to put on". Whether it is an AIO or an aftermarket HSF, you are going to have to change out the CPU cooler backplate and mounting hardware, either in the case or out, so it really doesn't matter what you go with the difficulty is going to be about the same. You do not want ANY cooler that mounts with pushpins or bolts up to the stock cooler hardware.