Need a compatible board for Ryzen 7 2700x

[josh.chaospvp]

Upgrading my entire pc and i’ve decided to go with the ryzen 7 2700x but i’d like some suggestions on a good motherboard to go along with it.

Budget: $100 - $200 (I’d like a decent quality board, but nothing crazy)

I’m currently thinking about buying a MSI X370 GAMING PRO CARBON from newegg, but i’d like a second opinion on it.

 

[CountMike]

Please consider an MB with x470 chipset, that brings second gen Ryzen to it's best. I would recommend https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Prime-X470-Pro-Ryzen-Motherboard/dp/B07C57Q1XH

 

[Lumpus]

Since you're buying both the new 2700X proc and need a MB, absolutely get the new X470 series boards. If you had a legacy B3xx board, then you could update the BIOS and be ok (if you're careful and only buy b-die DDR memory), but there are distinct benefits to starting new - especially with the 2700X. Nearly all of the X470 series boards are pretty good - most reviewers and 'Best' Youtubes agree that it's really hard to go wrong with any of them. It all comes down to features... do you want wi-fi, need two M.2 slots, USB 3.1 vs 3.0, etc.

Personally, for a budget 'mid-range' MB, I'd also agree with 1st reply above and get the ASUS X470 Prime
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813119100&cm_re=x470_motherboard-_-13-119-100-_-Product
(It won "Best Midrange X470 Board" - Hardware Unboxed https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=71TtWwbWP-g) Prime review at 2:05 minutes

Alternatively, ASRock makes excellent AMD boards:
ASRock board < $200, sorted by rating - https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=50001944%204017&IsNodeId=1&Description=x470%20motherboard&bop=And&Order=RATING&PageSize=36

I've been hearing and reading complaints about Gigabyte & MSI's quality control lately and both have inferior BIOS's and config software compared to ASUS, so I'm avoiding them. If you're angry at ASUS for being a willing part of nVidea's GPP conspiracy, then buy ASRock.

For me (also buying 2700X), I decided to stretch the budget (@$225) and go nearer top of the line:
Tachi (jr) - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157835&cm_re=x470_motherboard-_-13-157-835-_-Product (Hardware Unboxed "Best Budget-Extreme X470 Board" https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=71TtWwbWP-g
or
ASUS Strix - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813119099&cm_re=x470_motherboard-_-13-119-099-_-Product
or (now too expensive 🙁 )
ASUS Crosshair Hero - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813119098&cm_re=x470_motherboard-_-13-119-098-_-Product
(I liked the Jr version of the Hero for it's far better memory overclocking handling, but it's too expensive compared with Tachi)

If budget is your single-most important price/performance feature - then keep the 2700X proc Wishlisted at NewEgg and check every day to see if there is a good featured Combo Deal paired with an X470 board (so far for me, not one I want)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113499

Also if you live near a good MicroCenter (mine is dodgy) they're offering $50 off any 2700X/X470 MB combo

 

[CountMike]

Asrock is "baby Asus" from same family so it doesn't matter much. I like my Asus x370 Prime so much that I ordered x470 version, coming mid next week.

 

[josh.chaospvp]

Thank you both for your suggestions, i’ve decided to go with the ASUS X470 Prime. Now I just need some RAM.

 

[CountMike]

Up to 3200MHz there's no problem at all, over that you might want to go with RAM with Samsung b-die chips. I have Kingston HyperX KHX3600C17D4/8GX but is running at 3200MHz and Cl14 right now on x370, X470 MBs supposedly can push RAM at that speed and more.

 

[Lumpus]

Conventional Wisdom is to only buy Samsung b-die DDR4's... anything else can be trouble or Your Mileage Might Vary issues.
Here is the official list of b-dies: https://benzhaomin.github.io/bdiefinder/

Note (and this is a perplexing issue) it does NOT include any of the recent G.Skill "X470 Certified" memory - https://www.tomshardware.com/news/gskill-memory-2nd-gen-ryzen-x470,36922.html

Most Overclockers seem to be using G.Skill Sniper X -3400 (not b-die), but it seems to OC well with fast timings
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232727 (16-16-16-36)

If you're conservative about OC - go G.Skill TridentZ -3200 (b-die) with the lowest latencies that you can afford
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232649 (14-14-14-36)
A good ASUS BIOS (flashed to latest ver) should auto-load this speed fine, without tweeking

If you are skilled at manually OC'ing (or have a higher end ASUS board (like Prime) with many memory OC settings already preset in BIOS) you can try these bleeding edge TridentZ's -3600's (15-15-15-35)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232306

There is some fine dancing in Ryzen between the importance of a balance between both higher frequency AND lower latencies. For 2700X the 'sweet spot' might be at about -3400 with 16-16-16-35 (+/-) timings... or lower, if you can afford them.

Me? I'll wait for the first one of the above to go on a good sale :/

 

[josh.chaospvp]

I enjoy the looks of G-Skill, i’ll most likely get this: https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16820232476, unless something else comes on sale, I just want to get my pc built, doing stuff on mobile is a pain. Thank you Mike and Lumpus for your deatailed replies.

 

[Lumpus]

That's decent stuff... if you can afford it (or it goes on sale) look for tighter timings (14 or 15's)
I do like the RGB look