ajohnson94

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Nov 18, 2017
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Hi,

I'm looking for a motherboard for MINI-ITX build on the AMD Ryzen platform. Unfortunately this does not leave me with many options in terms of what motherboards best to get/for my budget.

I was looking at potentially the ASUS ROG B450 or the X470 board. Overkill is always nice but I don't want to be silly and just spend money unnecessarily.

I'm not interested in over clocking, but I would like to get good performance out of games like 1080p or 1440p at at least 60fps. I appreciate that other components such as the CPU and GPU are going to be contributing factors in terms of performance and so therefore lets assume I have the best CPU/GPU and was comparing performance with the B450/X470. What would I get from the X470 that I wouldn't from the B450?

I may be coming across as very ignorant and im sure its more complicated lol, buy any help/advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!
 
Solution
X470 has a couple more features and usually the boards have better "build quality" (shielded pcie slots ect)
but all that is kind of baloney if you ask me. overclocking can be done on b450 too and lots of b450 boards have nice robust vrms for that
I wouldn't buy x470 unless I had more money on the side and nothing to put it on.
the only feature I can see being really useful from a x470 board is dual bios or no cpu bios updating
which you actually probably dont need.
X470 has a couple more features and usually the boards have better "build quality" (shielded pcie slots ect)
but all that is kind of baloney if you ask me. overclocking can be done on b450 too and lots of b450 boards have nice robust vrms for that
I wouldn't buy x470 unless I had more money on the side and nothing to put it on.
the only feature I can see being really useful from a x470 board is dual bios or no cpu bios updating
which you actually probably dont need.
 
Solution

ajohnson94

Reputable
Nov 18, 2017
32
1
4,535
X470 has a couple more features and usually the boards have better "build quality" (shielded pcie slots ect)
but all that is kind of baloney if you ask me. overclocking can be done on b450 too and lots of b450 boards have nice robust vrms for that
I wouldn't buy x470 unless I had more money on the side and nothing to put it on.
the only feature I can see being really useful from a x470 board is dual bios or no cpu bios updating
which you actually probably dont need.

Hey, thanks for getting back so fast!

Your information has been helpful, when it comes to the CPU bios updating, what does that actually mean haha?

Cheers
 
Hey, thanks for getting back so fast!

Your information has been helpful, when it comes to the CPU bios updating, what does that actually mean haha?

Cheers
your uefi bios, is the firmware of the pc, the thing that boots before windows and says the name of the mobo manufacturer.
it is something you need to update regularly, as it sometimes adds stability, security, and even compatibility at times. have seen even a little 5% performance bump at times.
it is pretty easy to update but you need a usb stick.

some motherboards, like b450/x470/b350/x370 boards, need to be bios updated to actually use 3rd gen ryzen and if the mobo doesn't already have that updated, or has no cpu bios updating
you will need a 2ND GEN cpu or another cpu that does work, update the bios, then switch to the new 3rd gen. most stores can do that right then and there but if not, oof for you.

go for the b450 board and put any ryzen in it, BUT PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL LIVING CREATURES ASK THE STORE TO UPDATE YOUR BIOS FIRST

its a bad time building the entire pc only to realize it doesn't work and the cooler needs to be taken out, go back to the store BUY A WHOLE NEW CPU (honestly a 30$ Athlon will work. but its still 30$ wasted.)
because if you go home and build the pc they wont update your bios like that
 

ajohnson94

Reputable
Nov 18, 2017
32
1
4,535
your uefi bios, is the firmware of the pc, the thing that boots before windows and says the name of the mobo manufacturer.
it is something you need to update regularly, as it sometimes adds stability, security, and even compatibility at times. have seen even a little 5% performance bump at times.
it is pretty easy to update but you need a usb stick.

some motherboards, like b450/x470/b350/x370 boards, need to be bios updated to actually use 3rd gen ryzen and if the mobo doesn't already have that updated, or has no cpu bios updating
you will need a 2ND GEN cpu or another cpu that does work, update the bios, then switch to the new 3rd gen. most stores can do that right then and there but if not, oof for you.

go for the b450 board and put any ryzen in it, BUT PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL LIVING CREATURES ASK THE STORE TO UPDATE YOUR BIOS FIRST

its a bad time building the entire pc only to realize it doesn't work and the cooler needs to be taken out, go back to the store BUY A WHOLE NEW CPU (honestly a 30$ Athlon will work. but its still 30$ wasted.)
because if you go home and build the pc they wont update your bios like that

Thanks mate.

So to confirm, if a motherboard doesn't have the BIOS updating function would that mean if you had a B450 board with the current gen chip installed, if you were to put a new chip in would it not work, because you can update it?

I hope you get my logic lol. Or would it mean because I've had the previous one it would work fine.