Colour theme sanity check (and why no B/X400 series KRAIT boards?)

[Barty1884]

Hi all,

Contemplating a system upgrade - mostly because I've found some pretty good used deals on a 2700X (not actually "used") and a 1070TI.

Trying to come up with a colour theme that matches what I have. I like the idea of Black/White, but that seems to be a struggle on an B450 or X470 motherboards.

The KRAIT B350 or X370 boards seem like they'd fit really well, but there's no 400 variants?


Black/White or Silver seems to be doable.

Thoughts??

What I have currently:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-4790K 4 GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $0.00)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler (Purchased For $0.00)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-Z97X-UD7 TH ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung - 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6 GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C TG ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit (Purchased For $0.00)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 55.0 CFM 120mm Fan (Purchased For $0.00)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.5 CFM 140mm Fan ($0.00)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.5 CFM 140mm Fan (Purchased For $0.00)
Other: Noctua Chromax.Swap.Black (Purchased)
Other: CableMod E-Series Basic Extensions Red/Black (Purchased)
Other: ASUS Hyper M.2 x4 Mini (Purchased)
Total: $0.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-06 10:09 EST-0500

Vs what I'm leaning towards:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor ($390.00)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler (Purchased For $0.00)
Motherboard: Asus - Prime X470-Pro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($209.00 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($182.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Samsung - 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8 GB Titanium Video Card ($340.00)
Case: Fractal Design - Meshify C TG ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $0.00)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit (Purchased For $0.00)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-F12 PWM chromax.black.swap 55.0 CFM 120mm Fan (Purchased For $0.00)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.5 CFM 140mm Fan (Purchased For $0.00)
Case Fan: Noctua - NF-A14 PWM chromax.black.swap 82.5 CFM 140mm Fan (Purchased For $0.00)
Other: EVGA 100-CW-1300-B9 Power Supply Cable Set ($118.00 @ Amazon Canada)
Other: Noctua NM-AM4 Mounting Kit for Noctua CPU coolers on AMD AM4 platforms ($9.95 @ Amazon Canada)
Other: Noctua NF-A15 HS-PWM chromax.black.swap premium-grade quiet 140mm fan ($33.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $1283.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-06 10:09 EST-0500

 

[Eximo]

I think the motherboard choice is pretty good for black/white black/silver. Oddly seems a lot of the 300 series boards were available in that color scheme, not so much the 400 series. RGB has had a big impact lately so I'm not sure why more boards aren't leaning towards white.

Are you dead set on re-using the Noctua fans? For black white builds I like Phanteks white blade fans. Bitfenix makes some white framed fans with black blades as I recall, that would match the GPU a little better.

 

[Vic 40]

If you can afford it does the Tai Chi also seem to be a nice choice color wise looking at it here with the leds set to white,
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/NGbwrH/asrock-x470-taichi-atx-am4-motherboard-x470-taichi
there's an "Ultimate" as well.

 

[Barty1884]

I think the motherboard choice is pretty good for black/white black/silver. Oddly seems a lot of the 300 series boards were available in that color scheme, not so much the 400 series. RGB has had a big impact lately so I'm not sure why more boards aren't leaning towards white.

Are you dead set on re-using the Noctua fans? For black white builds I like Phanteks white blade fans. Bitfenix makes some white framed fans with black blades as I recall, that would match the GPU a little better.

Yeah, fairly set on reusing the Noctua's. Not particularly into RGB, nor do I really need anything from the X470 chipset specifically.... so I'm thinking a mostly black B450 board could work, with maybe white DIMMs.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: Asus - ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard ($164.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($183.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $348.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-11-06 11:29 EST-0500

OR, I may have a contact with a 1st Gen R7. Might see if I could borrow the chip to update the BIOS on an older B350 or X370 board....

At that point, I could have an X370 (or B350) KRAIT for ~B450-F money.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/X9dFf7/msi-x370-krait-gaming-atx-am4-motherboard-x370-krait-gaming
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/nvM323/msi-b350-krait-gaming-atx-am4-motherboard-b350-krait-gaming

.....Although I have no hands-on experience with MSI boards in the past.

If you can afford it does the Tai Chi also seem to be a nice choice color wise looking at it here with the leds set to white,
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/NGbwrH/asrock-x470-taichi-atx-am4-motherboard-x470-taichi
there's an "Ultimate" as well.

I had MiR disabled, so didn't see the TaiChi at such a (relatively) low price.
Not convinced it's going to bring much to the table beyond other options though, other than colour scheme....... and, white I think it's a nice looking board, I don't think it's +$100 nice :lol:

Thanks for the suggestion though. At $250 after MiR it's certainly more appealing than ~$300


UPDATE.
Waiting for Vuugo.com to come back up (under maintenance).
Supposedly the X370 Taichi is $85 CAD :lol:
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/fZKhP6/asrock-x370-taichi-atx-am4-motherboard-x370-taichi
At that kind of price, I'll find a way to update the BIOS.

Actually, the X470 Taichi Ultimate is listed as $85 with a $50 MiR ..... I think their site is broken.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/LkWfrH/asrock-x470-taichi-ultimate-atx-am4-motherboard-x470-taichi-ultimate

 

[Vic 40]

Actually, the X470 Taichi Ultimate is listed as $85 with a $50 MiR ..... I think their site is broken.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/LkWfrH/asrock-x470-taichi-ultimate-atx-am4-motherboard-x470-taichi-ultimate

Yeah saw that Worth a try though,don't know if in Canada they can be kept to these prices since online.
Checked again and that was the normal X370 Tai Chi at Price: $39.46 .

It's hard to say,in the end are things very personal so asking about advice looking at motherboard personal is what you get. I also like this one,
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/nQc48d/asrock-x470-master-sliac-atx-am4-motherboard-x470-master-sliac
again soem small led which should be able to be set to white,but again darker than your own choice,but that's hwat i like.

 

[Barty1884]

Yeah, there were quite a few threads elsewhere this morning (RedFlagDeals, Reddit etc) with people jumping on deals, everything was at $39.46
All that I've seen were refunded. Oh well, that would've been fun!

Thinking I'll just pick up the B450-F Gaming. Not finding any great deals, and I do like ASUS' BIOS, so I guess it will work.

Buying the 2700X tonight and hopefully memory. Found some Corsair Vengeance RGB in Black, 3000MHz, locally. They want retail less tax, so trying to get them down a little bit to make it worthwhile. Saving the tax is not hte kind of used deal I like! :lol:

 

[Barty1884]

Picked up the 2700X, B450-F Gaming and 2x8GB Corsair Vengeance 3200MHz.

PSU cables & AM4 bracket for the NH-D15 to be delivered Thurs/Fri - and still haven't heard definitively on the deal for the 1070TI.

Guess I know what I'm doing this weekend!

 

[Vic 40]

Guess I know what I'm doing this weekend!

Looks good! See you went for none rgb ram,looked at it myself as well or my Ryzen system and then thought nope,think it can be quite in the face at times.

 

[Barty1884]

I did, yeah. I'm not an RGB fan, so the little on the board is probably acceptable. The RAM will be hidden by the NH-D15 anyway..... but the white stuff was $1 more expensive than the black (and I got a price-beat on it), so figured it just made sense.

 

[Vic 40]

Am not really into rgb myself as well,got the Phantek P400S which comes with a small rgb strip which is just enough for my liking,sometimes even switch it off.

not the prettiest picture (really bright),but it will do. This as far as my cable management goes for myself.

 

[Barty1884]

This system is driving me crazy.

So far:
1. Windows wont activate. Let's me select the old system from the MS account and tell it that's what in using.... Nope. "Cannot activate, try again later".

And the more pressing issue:
2. Random programs wont run. CPU-z doesny respond after loading to 70%, GPU-z's render test wont start. RyzenMaster wont open, despite appearing in talk bar. HwMonitor goes not responding, and aida64 will run/stress, but all the monitoring stats, including fan speed are blank.

 

[Vic 40]

Have the latest bios? "Version 1001 2018/10/19"
You did truly reinstall windows?
Maybe ram is less compatibel?

 

[Barty1884]

Yeah, BIOS is updated & Windows clean installed.

Even disabling DOCP and running 2133MHz the problem persists....

 

[Vic 40]

Thought you're old motherboard may not have uefi,but turned out it did. Thought maybe gpu might not play well with that uefi. Maybe still try with another if having a spare.
Maybe has to do with the "Windows won't activate",might need resolving first.

 

[Barty1884]

Yeah, I thought the lack of activation might have something to do with it - however odd that might be.
BUT, looking at it closer, the system doesn't restart or shutdown properly either. Not 100% sure what that would indicate, but I'm leaning towards a hardware issue.

Thinking of returning the board & RAM, and picking up the ASUS X470-PRO and some QVL certified RAM. The stuff I have is Hynix SS, so might be the cause (although 2nd Gen should handle it better).
https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX71505

Problem is, I'm struggling to find QVL certified RAM locally ..... and would really rather not wait for an online order.

 

[Vic 40]

And?

Returned board? Got better/more compatible ram?

I have Hynix ram as well btw,still doesn't run truly good at 3200mhz. Maybe the latest bios will fix that,but at the moment don't really care.My ram just runs short of 3200mhz=3066mhz at some lower timings which makes it perform great.

Strange problem,maybe it's just the motherboard and has nothing to do with the ram.

 

[Barty1884]

Returned the B450-F Gaming, picked up the X470-Pro, and all seems to be running as expected.

 

[Vic 40]

Sounds good.

Performance as expected?

 

[Barty1884]

Haven't had much of a chance to benchmark just yet, as I work on it too - no obvious hiccups thus far though :lol:

I'll be benchmarking tonight & check things out in some more detail.

AM4 bracket just arrived too, so that'll be getting done tonight aswell.

 

[Barty1884]

CB seems to perform as expected (for stock, anyway).


And playing around with the GPU. Superposition:

 

[Vic 40]

Not bad that Cinebench,looked abit online but pretty decent.Jay (Jayz2cents) has a nice vid about overclocking (abit crude overclocking) and what you maybe can expect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZRjoeyz4Z0