Question Asus Tuf B550-Plus Issues -- Gigabyte Upgrade?

[Anomaly_76]

I have been fighting with several annoying issues with my Asus Tuf B550-Plus for about two years now.

First it was sporadic RAM compatibility issues, solved within a few months of troubleshooting. Lately the audio is playing peek-a-boo. I mainly use the rear optical and HDMI out, but last night I tried to use the rear 3.5mm out. Audio monitor showed signal, but there was no audio out. WTH?..

Troubleshooting revealed the board is sending audio to the FRONT 3.5mm out only, regardless of which 3.5mm is connected. And I know for a fact the rear audio out worked nine months ago. Realtek Audio console (when it loads properly) sees only "Speaker", regardless of which one is connected.

That said, it is still under warranty, but after the other issues (including an RMA about 14 months ago that went from "WAITING FOR PARTS" to the board returned "NO ISSUE FOUND", I have decided that I am tired of fighting with this board. It's a shame, because I've seen 5.0 - 5.025 Ghz from my 5900X with it, but I don't care if Asus fixes the problem this time, I'm sour on Asus products (my KO-RTX3060ti has done weird things too).

I poked around and ran across a Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master, supposedly new in box for $200. Sources indicate $280 MRSP new. Seller claims board is still under warranty and is willing to throw in some DDR4 (possibly 3600) for the asking price. Story is, board was purchased 2.5 years ago and never got around to using it.

Since I'm having to drive 90 minutes to pick up, I am curious if anyone has any experience with this brand / series of board ? I've heard some interesting bits about their GPUs, but not the motherboards. Sources show the Aorus B550 Master to be a better board than the Tuf B550-Plus.

 

[zinkles]

Sources show the Aorus B550 Master to be a better board than the Tuf B550-Plus.

Yes, in a lot of everyday aspects, it sems to be a better board in terms of features. It also allows for running your RAM at a higher overclock, if that's your thing. Also, has a bunch more USB ports too.

Both boards are great, nonetheless, the issues you were having were mostly related to the Drivers/Realtek rather than the board itself, I assume.

 

[Anomaly_76]

Yes, in a lot of everyday aspects, it sems to be a better board in terms of features. It also allows for running your RAM at a higher overclock, if that's your thing. Also, has a bunch more USB ports too.

Both boards are great, nonetheless, the issues you were having were mostly related to the Drivers/Realtek rather than the board itself, I assume.

I had hoped that was all it was, but the issues are persisting after uninstalling drivers, deleting previous software, reinstalling, hell, half the time the Realtek Console won't even load. Also, every time the system reboots, it cancels out the line input jack and I have to access the volume mixer properties to re-enable "Listen to this device". Pretty sure that's not normal, especially after numerous uninstalls / reinstalls.

So you would say the Aorus Master is worth $200?

 

[Lafong]

3 hours round trip in a car to get it?

From a seller previously unknown to you?

For 80 dollars less than a new example?

 

[Anomaly_76]

3 hours round trip in a car to get it?

From a seller previously unknown to you?

For 80 dollars less than a new example?

Yes, I know it's taking a chance. I can't seem to find any new Aorus Master boards. I did find a few used B550 and X570 Elites on eBay for $200-$280. But those pretty much are all from the same seller, some are Buy It Now, some are not, and one is listed parts or not working, so I don't see this as any more of a gamble, since the listing shows the motherboard box in a larger box like it might have been shipped in.

Story is the Master board was purchased new in 2021 and never used.

 

[Lafong]

Can you find ANY new motherboards that are compatible with the rest of your hardware?

 

[Anomaly_76]

Can you find ANY new motherboards that are compatible with the rest of your hardware?

Nothing I can guarantee at the moment. I'm also on a fixed income (disabled), so while I try to get the best bang for my buck, I try not to break the bank where I don't have to. Gigabyte and AsRock are about the only ones I'm interested in looking at. If this Tuf series hadn't been such a PITA to date, I might consider a Strix, but every time I turn around, every time I think I've gotten things figured out, something pops up. Had this board out of the case over a dozen times already.

 

[Lafong]

If you go for this Aorus B550 and it becomes a problem for you......for whatever reason...............would you just shrug your shoulders? Or would you be quite frustrated for taking the chance?

 

[Anomaly_76]

If you go for this Aorus B550 and it becomes a problem for you......for whatever reason...............would you just shrug your shoulders? Or would you be quite frustrated for taking the chance?

That's something I've considered. Seller has receipt showing when it was purchased, and I presume if it's truly new in the box, the static bag will still be sealed. If it is, then I have a reasonably good chance of getting a good egg.

Truth be told, I have two other rigs, a 1700 / B450M Bazooka and a 3600X / B450M-HDV. I could just slap the 3060ti in that and keep on trucking, I suppose, but then I have (presumably) a perfectly good 5900X collecting dust. Or lose money parting the current rig out to the highest bidder.

 

[Lafong]

Sounds like it is purely a personal decision based on your own temperament.

Some people would shrug off being ripped off within 60 seconds.

Others would castigate themselves for weeks and months.

I have no idea where you are on that spectrum. You are an authority on yourself. Evaluate yourself and proceed accordingly.

 

[Anomaly_76]

Sounds like it is purely a personal decision based on your own temperament.

Some people would shrug off being ripped off within 60 seconds.

Others would castigate themselves for weeks and months.

I have no idea where you are on that spectrum. You are an authority on yourself. Evaluate yourself and proceed accordingly.

All true. Consider, however, that I doubt much could top the frustration of paying retail for a brand-new board and having it drive me nuts for 2 years, even after an RMA that basically did nothing. I'm considering ditching the RTX3060ti as well, because quite frankly I want nothing more to do with Asus.

To that end, I'm just waiting for the right deal to come along. I've even considered going Radeon. As far as I'm concerned, Nvidia really screwed the pooch on the last driver update for my card. Disabled settings that severely impacted games and it's taken me me a solid month to figure that one out. It's bad enough I'm having to cap FPS at 53 because my 75" display is 60hz instead of 75-120 like I thought it was.

I'm a set-it-and-forget-it kind of guy, and this thing is lucky I haven't sent it to Davy Jones' locker already.

 

[Lafong]

That sounds like you were highly frustrated by the experience so far.

Computer hardware reliability is more of a crapshoot than any of us would like to admit.

New hardware from a highly reliable source is X degree of a crapshoot.

Your source is X plus Y.

You can avoid Y if you spend more than you'd like.

I don't know where you draw the line. Likelihood of even more frustration versus spending more than you'd like.

A brand new Aorus is not going to be as reliable as a random new pocket knife.

Good luck. Can't help further.

 

[Anomaly_76]

That sounds like you were highly frustrated by the experience so far.

Computer hardware reliability is more of a crapshoot than any of us would like to admit.

New hardware from a highly reliable source is X degree of a crapshoot.

Your source is X plus Y.

You can avoid Y if you spend more than you'd like.

I don't know where you draw the line. Likelihood of even more frustration versus spending more than you'd like.

A brand new Aorus is not going to be as reliable as a random new pocket knife.

Good luck. Can't help further.

So you're saying the Aorus could be worse than what I already have?

 

[Lafong]

So you're saying the Aorus could be worse than what I already have?

Why not?

It may be fabulous.

It may be horrible.

How could anybody know?

It's a leap of faith any time you buy something..used, new, online, in person, coffee, Fords, or locomotives.

 

[Anomaly_76]

UPDATE: Got the Gigabyte yesterday, and after a hard fight updating the BIOS, the machine is running with the new board.

However, I have discovered probably the dumbest thing I have ever seen.

This new board, even with the board-specific drivers installed, exhibited the same no audio output on the rear speaker output, while Windows showed audio was playing.

However, after some more testing, I discovered that I have audio output on the rear line out (and Windows, of course, defaults to calling it "Speaker" as well as the dedicated rear speaker out. So I'm thinking, "Is someone at Realteak really that dumb to confuse inputs in the software logic?" I can't seem to include images of each board's respective rear audio ports for reference, but they're laid out identically.

But after thinking about it, most modern motherboards support 5.1 audio, some even 7.1. So, if the Windows sound settings are set for standard stereo, perhaps that is why so many have this issue with no audio on the rear speaker out, because it's a rear surround channel, not a standard stereo output? Mystery solved, perhaps.

However, if that is the case, it begs the question... Why are there no outputs for front surround speakers?

However, the Asus board did have some other issues though, and even with the Asus board, I once had audio on the rear speaker output. I'm pretty sure I've never had Windows set up for surround sound either.