X370 or B450 for reliability

[mv73gt]

Hey there! I have a ryzen 5 2600 and 8GB of g.skill aegis f4-3000c16s-8gisb. I'm trying to find which motherboard to get for my system and I'm torn between the msi x370 gaming pro carbon and the msi b450 tomahawk, both of which I can get for the same amount of money. I see that the x370 board has many more fancy feautures but I'm worried if it is going to be stable enough for daily use(is the tomahawk any better?). Should I go for the tomahawk which is newer or not? I don't plan on overclocking, I just want to be able to run my ram at its rated speed without problems and have a reliable computer.

 

[jojesa]

With the Ryzen 5 2600 you should go with 400 series motherboard like the MSI B450.
Its about compatibility, since both motherboards are reliable.
With a 300 series motherboard your 2nd generation might not work until you update the BIOS and that requires to have a compatible CPU.

Now about the RAM.
Usually you select a motherboard and then look at the compatible RAM for such motherboard...not the other way around.
400 series motherboard are compatible with more RAM models, so your RAM has a better chance running at rate speed with a 400 series motherboard. In case it doesn't happen automatically, you may have to set it manually.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Either board would most likely be equally reliable operating any current AM4 processor. What's hard to say is how each will operate with future processors, assuming an upgrade path is important to you, but it's intuitive to me that the B450-based board has a higher chance to operate better with a Zen2 processor once it's released.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Whilst I agree with both other posters, the B450 would be best. On the B350/X370, you can't enable the XFR2 on the Ryzen 2nd gen. Given you don't plan on OC'ing the B450 is the best option. It will allow the CPU to boost to it's maximum, whereas the X370 won't.

 

[mv73gt]

Thanks for your answers guys. I would also like to mention that the x370 will come with out of the box support for the 2nd gen ryzen. One more thing to mention is that the ram I have is on both boards' qvl. Should I still go for the tomahawk?

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Thanks for your answers guys. I would also like to mention that the x370 will come with out of the box support for the 2nd gen ryzen. One more thing to mention is that the ram I have is on both boards' qvl. Should I still go for the tomahawk?

Depends on which X370. Some don't/can't use the XFR2, Presicion boost 2 feature. Like i said given you're not gonna OC, getting the B450 ensures both features will work as expected.

Yes, all B350/X370 will work with a Ryzen 2.0 CPU (existing mobo's with a bios update, and others that will come with the bios already installed) , but not all allow the XFR2/PB2 to work.

Make sure which ever one you choose does

 

[jojesa]

...I would also like to mention that the x370 will come with out of the box support for the 2nd gen ryzen.

I hope you are sure about that one if you go with the 300 series. I have got more than a dozen, the last one two weeks ago, and none has come with BIOS support for 2nd gen Ryzen. That 's why I keep a cheap A6-9500 for the purpose of upgrading them.

One more thing to mention is that the ram I have is on both boards' qvl. Should I still go for the tomahawk?

That memory model that you listed is not found on any of those two motherboards with the Pinnacle Ridge QVL.
Memory that is not listed on the motherboard QVL, works better with 400 series motherboard...since it has better compatibility with more RAM models.