OK, I swapped out my MSi X570 MPG Gaming Carbon Pro WiFi with the ASUS X570 Crosshair VIII Hero (non-WiFi). I just want to let you know what I experienced.
Just before the swap, i was experiencing multiple blue screens. After running SFD /scannow and Windows Memory test, I determined that one of my new Corsair DRAM modules went bad. I pulled out the two 8GB modules and was left with 16 GB RAM. As a precaution, I uninstalled any apps that were MSi specific (Nahimic Audio, MSi Dragon Utility, etc) and rebooted the PC.
After the reboot, Microsoft started downloading and installing Windows 10 1909 update. This update was excruciatingly slow. It took almost an hour before I could gain access to my PC.
After that, I uninstalled the MSi board and installed the ASUS board. I removed the Samsung Evo NVMe M.2 SSD and installed it in the M.2 port 1 on the ASUS, reconnected all four hard drives and the optical drive. Installed the MSi RTX2070 graphics card, installed the Corsair H115i RGB Platinum AIO cooler and double-checked all the connections and power lines and booted it up.
I was immediately confronted with a CPU Fan not detected error. The Corsair fans and water pump are connected via USB so this made sense. The problem was every time I booted I got the CPU fan error. I finally resolved that by going into the BIOS and disabled CPU fan monitor.
After a few minutes, Windows started installing all the new drivers for devices that the MSi did not have. So i thought everything was fine and dandy. Wrong... My Microsoft Office and Norton Security were deactivated because it discovered this was a new PC. I reinstalled Norton and had to reactivate MS Office over the phone. There might be other apps that were affected but I have not encountered any more yet.
I update the ASUS BIOS to the latest version (I noted that ASUS cannot be reverted to a previous BIOS version). I have to admit that the ASUS BIOS update is far too complicated compared to the MSi. The BIOS filename has to be renamed after downloading. After the BIOS is updated, the PC rebooted three times on its own before the BIOS was finally updated (this is normal, videos have shown the PC rebooting a few times when updating).
What have I noticed? The ASUS motherboard actually runs my AMD 3900X a bit faster than the MSi board. The ASUS peaked at 4.57 GHz, the MSi only hit 4.37 GHz. But the CPU could not sustain that clock speed, dropping to an average of 4.0-4.1 GHZ on the ASUS and 4.0 on the MSi.
The Windows Power Options respond slower on the ASUS board. When in Power Saver mode, the MSi board drops to 2.2 GHz after several seconds, but the ASUS board takes about a minute.
The MSi board had a lower base CPU temp, about 33-35 degrees C while the ASUS averages about 39 degrees C. I am not sure if reinstalling the Corsair cooler with new paste is the cause for this (I used Kryonaut).
I did notice that the CPU temps peaks a bit higher on the ASUS board, hitting 95 degrees quite often, I am thinking it's because of the higher clock speed of the CPU on the ASUS board. The MSi board usually peaked around 90-92 degrees.
I also noticed that the VRMs on the ASUS are a LOT cooler than the MSi. The MSi board would throttle the CPU when the VRMs hit 95+ degrees C. The VRMs on the ASUS barely registers 50 degrees under the same load, nearly half of the MSi board.
Overall, I like the ASUS board. It was irritating when the MSi board throttled the CPU speed in the middle of my work. I could see my video rendering times fluctuate up and down on the MSi board.
I know now that the MSi board would never be able to handle the AMD 9 3950X with its increased power demand. I was considering upgrading my 3900X but reviews have noted the 3950X is only 5-10% faster than my 3900X in the work I do. So dishing out $750 seems counter productive right now.
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