Motherboard VRM Tier List v2 (currently AMD only)

[Jurrunio]

On 12/29/2019 at 8:25 PM, Satan_Prometheus said:

No, I mean the board itself has a backplate that interferes with the standoffs in this case. It's an issue where the case standoffs are actually bumps rather than pins, so the back of the board has to be flush with the top of the bumps. Unfortunately on the X570 Aorus Pro ITX, the holes for the screws are actually 3-4mm recessed from the back of the board, so it can't sit flush on the standoffs.

 

I'm trying to find a decent mATX or ITX board that doesn't have this kind of a backplate.

The aesthetics backplate? They could be held on with screws, see if you could find them

 

48 minutes ago, f0gpie said:

Ugh again i cant decide to get asus tuf or gigabyte elite x570 board

get the cheaper one then

[Satan_Prometheus]

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

The aesthetics backplate? They could be held on with screws, see if you could find them

 

 

The backplate isn't doing nothing, it's also holding thermal pads to the back of the mobo to cool the VRMs

 

https://bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/motherboards/gigabyte-x570-i-aorus-pro-wifi-review/1/

[Jurrunio]

12 minutes ago, Satan_Prometheus said:

The backplate isn't doing nothing, it's also holding thermal pads to the back of the mobo to cool the VRMs

 

https://bit-tech.net/reviews/tech/motherboards/gigabyte-x570-i-aorus-pro-wifi-review/1/

kudos for finding a picture showing its back, but no it doesn't help with VRM cooling. You can refer to backplate's effect on VRAM cooling on graphics cardsfor this since graphics cards start having backplates first. If they used a backplate full of fins then maybe it will help, but as flat as it is now it's just a heatsoak, soaking heat without actually getting rid of them.

 

Trying to cool something through I think a 6 layer if not more PCB is just ineffective.

[nyichiban]

Hey browsing the internet and came on this post. My thing right now is that II have a 3900X with an MSI MEG ACE. If I wanted the 3950X it is recommeneded to upgrade to the 3 Tier S+ motherboards?

[LogicWeasel]

39 minutes ago, nyichiban said:

If I wanted the 3950X it is recommeneded to upgrade to the 3 Tier S+ motherboards?

Only if you are planning on doing LN2 overclocking with a 3950x.  If you're planning on running it stock, or with mild overclock, or even with heavy overclock (and you have good case airflow and some air passes over your VRMs) than your current board is more than enough.

[nyichiban]

1 minute ago, LogicWeasel said:

Only if you are planning on doing LN2 overclocking with a 3950x.  If you're planning on running it stock, or with mild overclock, or even with heavy overclock (and you have good case airflow and some air passes over your VRMs) than your current board is more than enough.

Awesome! Thanks for the response. I really wanted to keep my current board as I have it filled the way I like with 3 nvme and 4 ssds attached. Would of wanted more SATA like other boards but I'll live.

[Ssmoosh]

On 12/23/2019 at 8:10 PM, Jurrunio said:

Credit to:@VegetableStu @GoldenLag @LukeSavenije

 

The following list is based on facts, ranked on power delivery and known problems. The list will include boards that support CPU overclocking available at retail from different brands. Currently only AMD boards are done because I don't have much interest on currently available Intel CPUs, also because there are a lot more Intel Z370/Z390 boards than B350/X370/B450/X470/X570 boards combined.

 

For advanced users: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Smj5dh97n32wJqm5dkdDcQt8ID7vH52-lKzaaXUUQx8/edit?usp=sharing

 

AMD

 

All current draw figures are based on Prime95 small FFT with AVX unless otherwise specified, in other words the worst case scenario. Only the top end SKU of CPUs in the same generation and core/thread count configuration is named, others share the same rating. Zen scales down frequency and voltage according to EDC (current limit) and TDC (thermal limit) settings of the motherboard so in theory you won’t cook the VRM of any board at stock, you just lose frequency.

 

AM4 (Athlon 2xx, Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7, Ryzen 9)

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Tier S: 300A current draw on little ambient airflow (i.e below a big air cooler in a well-ventilated case), maxed out 3950X on liquid nitrogen (LN2) overclocking

Asus: X570 Hero

Gigabyte: X570 Aorus Xtreme

MSI: X570 Godlike

 

Tier S-: 250A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 3900X on liquid nitrogen (LN2) overclocking

Asus: X570 X570-E, Pro WS Ace, Impact, X570-I

Asrock: X570 Taichi, Phantom Gaming X, Creator

Gigabyte: X570 Aorus Master

MSI: X570 Creation, Ace, Unify

 

Tier A: 200A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 3950X on ambient cooling, 2700x on LN2

Asus: X570 X570-F, TUF Plus, Prime Pro, X570-P, X470 Crosshair VII Hero, X370 Crosshair VI Extreme

Asrock: X570 ITX/TB3, X470 Taichi (Ultimate), X370 Taichi, Professional Gaming

Gigabyte: X570 Aorus Ultra, Pro (ATX), X470 Gaming 7

MSI: X470 M7 AC

 

Tier B: 160A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 3900X, 3950x at 1.25V on ambient cooling, maxed out 1800X on LN2

Asus: X470 X470-F, X370 Crosshair VI Hero, X370-F

Asrock: X570

Biostar: X570 GT8, X470 GT8, X370 GT7

Gigabyte: X570 Aorus Elite, ITX

 

Tier C 125A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 2700X, 3900x at 1.25V on ambient cooling (P95)

Asus: X370 Prime Pro

Asrock: X570 Extreme4, Steel Legend, Pro4 (ATX & mATX), Phantom K4

Gigabyte: X570 UD, Gaming X, X370 Gaming K7, Gaming 5

MSI: X570 Gaming Pro Carbon, X470 Gaming Pro Carbon, Gaming Plus, B450 Gaming Pro Carbon, Tomahawk (& Max), Gaming Plus ATX (& Max), A Pro (& Max), Mortar (& Max), Gaming Plus mATX, Bazooka Plus, Gaming Plus ITX, X370 M7 ACK, XPower Titanium

 

Tier D 100A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 1800X and 3700X, a tad more than maxed out 2600X, maxed out 2700X in ambient cooling (Cinebench R15)

Asus: X470 Prime Pro, X470-I, B450 TUF Pro, B450-E, B450-I, X370 X370-I, B350 B350-I

Asrock: X470 Master SLI, K4, ITX, B450 K4, Steel Legend, ITX

Gigabyte: X470 Gaming 5, Ultra Gaming

MSI: X570 A-Pro, Gaming Plus, Edge, X470 Gaming Pro, B450 Pro-VDH (& Max & V2), Bazooka (& V2), X370 Gaming Pro Carbon, Krait Gaming, SLI Plus, Gaming Plus, Gaming Pro, B350 Gaming Pro Carbon, Krait Gaming

 

Tier E: 75A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 1600X and 3600X, a bit more than maxed out 2500X

Asus: X470 TUF Plus, B450 B450-F, TUF Plus, Prime Plus, X370 X370-A, B350 B350-F, Prime Plus, TUF Plus

Asrock: B450 Pro4, M/AC, HDV, X370 Gaming X, Killer SLI, mITX, K4, Pro4, B350 ITX, Pro4, K4, HDV, AB350M

Biostar: X470 GTA, GTQ, GTN, X370 GT5, GT3, B350 GT5, GT3, GTN

Gigabyte: B450 Aorus Pro (ATX), Aorus Elite, Aorus M, Gaming X, DS3H, ITX, X370 Gaming K5, K3, 3, Gaming, DS3H, B350 Gaming 3, Gaming, DASH, DS3H, AB350N Gaming-WiFi

MSI: B450 Pro-M2 (& Max), B350 Gaming Plus, Tomahawk, PC Mate, Bazooka, Mortar, Pro-VDH, Pro-VH Plus, Pro-VD Plus

 

Tier F: 50A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 1300X

Asus: B450 B450M-K, B450M-A, B350 B350M-A, B350M-E, B350M-K

Asrock: B450 HDV R4.0, B350 HDV R3.0, HDV R4.0

Biostar: X570GT, B350 B45M2, HiFi B350S1, ET2

Gigabyte: B350 D3H, D3V, HD3, DS2

MSI: B450 Pro-M2 V2, B350 Gaming Pro

 

Tier H2O: Liquid cooled only VRM, quite bad if cooled only with air, tier S if liquid cooled

Asus: X570 Crosshair VIII Formula

Asrock: X570 Aqua

 

Tier W: Workstation features, can appear here and above tiers

Asus: X570 Pro WS Ace (ECC certification) 

Asrock rack: X570 D2I, D4U-2L2T, D4I-2T, X470 D4U (ECC cert + KVM switch), D4U2-2T (ECC cert + KVM switch)

 

TR4 (Ryzen Threadripper 1xxx and 2xxx) X399

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Tier LN2: 700A current draw under mist of liquid nitrogen and high RPM fan (ambient air? unrealistic), maxed out 2990WX under an awful lot of liquid nitrogen

Asus: Zenith Extreme Alpha

MSI: Creation

 

Tier S: 500A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out (1.35v) 2990WX on ambient cooling (P95), 2970WX on liquid nitrogen

Asus: Zenith Extreme Alpha

MSI: Creation

 

Tier A: 400A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 2990WX on ambient cooling (Cinebench R20) or 1.2V in Prime95

Someone occupy here plz

 

Tier B: 350A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 2970WX on ambient cooling (P95), 2990WX limited to 1.175v (P95)

Gigabyte: Aorus Xtreme

 

Tier C 300A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 2970WX on ambient cooling (Cinebench R20) or 1.2V in Prime95

Asus: Zenith Extreme with cooling kit

 

Tier D 250A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 2950X on ambient cooling, 2970WX limited to 1.15v (P95)

Asus: Zenith Extreme

MSI: Gaming Pro Carbon AC, SLI Plus

 

Tier E: 200A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 2920X and 1950X on ambient cooling

Asus: X399-E, X399-A

Asrock: Taichi (mATX & ATX), Professional Gaming

Gigabyte: Gaming 7, Designare EX, Aorus Pro

 

Tier F: 150A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 1920X on ambient cooling

Asrock: Phantom 6

 

Tier G: 100A current draw on little ambient airflow, maxed out 1900X on ambient cooling

Thank god nothing is here

 

sTRX4 (Ryzen Threadripper 3xxx) TRX40

TBD - until the 64 core comes out. The 32 core 3970X doesn't really challenge any one of them's VRM.

 

Sources:

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Hardwareluxx.de: VRM parts table (AM4 B350/X370/B450/X470)

 

/u/CR1318 on reddit: Motherboard Tier List

 

Tweaktown: biostar x370gt7; biostar x370gtn gaming; biostar a320mh pro gaming

 

Buildzoid: Gigabyte's Z390 lineup; Asrock X470 Master SLI; Asrock AB350M Pro 4, AB350 Pro 4 and AB350 Gaming K4; ASUS Prime X470-Pro; Asrock X370 Taichi; MSI X470 Gaming Plus; MSI B450M Mortar Titanium; Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Xtreme; ASUS Maximus XI Apex; Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Ultra; MSI MEG X399 Creation; Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro Wifi; ASUS TUF B450M-Pro Gaming; ASUS TUF B450M-Pro Gaming; Asrock X470 Master SLI / Gaming K4; "Asrock X470 Master SLI VRM temperature sensing is broken"; EVGA Z370 Micro; Gigabyte B450M Gaming; EVGA Z390 FTW; Gigabyte X370 Gaming K5; Asrock X570 Pro4; Asus X570 Strix-E; Gigabyte x570; MSI x570; Asrock x570; Asus x570; Asus X570 Prime-P; Asus X570 Strix-F; Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra; Gigabyte X570 Gaming X;

 

GN (Buidzoid): Best Motherboards for AMD Ryzen 2018 - AM4 X470 & B450; Best Z390 Motherboards for VRMs, 10Gb LAN, Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX (2018); Best AM4 Motherboards for Overclocking (X370 & B350); EVGA X299 DARK; MSI Z390 Godlike; ASUS Maximus XI Hero; ASUS Crosshair VI Hero X370; ASUS X399 Zenith Extreme; EVGA X299 DARK

 

Bitwit: Biostar Racing X370 GTN

 

Sebelas Hardware: Biostar Racing X370 GT3

 

hardwareinside.de: biostar-racing x370gt5

 

play3r.net: biostar racing x370gt5

 

back2gaming.com: biostar racing b350gt5

 

Proclockers: biostar h310mhd pro

Legacy list thread:

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Hey, what do you think of this build with this motherboard? 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$322.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard	Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard	$149.99 @ B&H
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$72.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$114.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB Video Card	$499.99 @ Best Buy
Case	NZXT H500 ATX Mid Tower Case	$89.98 @ NZXT
Power Supply	EVGA 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$91.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1362.90
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1342.90
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-02 19:49 EST-0500

 

[LogicWeasel]

33 minutes ago, Ssmoosh said:

Hey, what do you think of this build with this motherboard? 

It's in Tier A, all you gotta do is look.

[Jurrunio]

35 minutes ago, Ssmoosh said:

Hey, what do you think of this build with this motherboard? 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor	$322.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard	Asus PRIME X570-P ATX AM4 Motherboard	$149.99 @ B&H
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (1 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$72.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$114.99 @ Newegg
Video Card	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB Video Card	$499.99 @ Best Buy
Case	NZXT H500 ATX Mid Tower Case	$89.98 @ NZXT
Power Supply	EVGA 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$91.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$1362.90
	Mail-in rebates	-$20.00
	Total	$1342.90
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-02 19:49 EST-0500

 

board's fine apart from the I/O, but single channel memory is catastrophic.

[Ssmoosh]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

board's fine apart from the I/O, but single channel memory is catastrophic.

What would you recommend instead? 

[LogicWeasel]

1 minute ago, Ssmoosh said:

What would you recommend instead? 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jBZzK8/gskill-ripjaws-v-16-gb-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-f4-3600c16d-16gvkc
 

 

Oh look, 600 Mhz faster, CL16, and it's on 2 dimms properly for a dual-channel kit.

[LogicWeasel]

45 minutes ago, Ssmoosh said:

Power Supply EVGA 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply $91.98 @ Newegg

That's too much for an EVGA GQ.  This is a much better PSU for the money: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Y3bCmG/phanteks-amp-550-w-80-gold-certified-fully-modular-atx-power-supply-ph-p550g_us01

[mr mans]

I'm a little confused about how this tiering works. Is a motherboard lower tier simply because of that current draw value?

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, vukos said:

I'm a little confused about how this tiering works. Is a motherboard lower tier simply because of that current draw value?

Yes.

[mr mans]

29 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Yes.

Can you give me a TL:DR on why that is the case?

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, vukos said:

Can you give me a TL:DR on why that is the case?

Ehm... so the board can power your CPU well and it can reach its max potential? This is not the only factor for getting the highest performance through overclocking (i.e. memory tuning) but that needs actual testing, would be great if I'm sponsored to do so but so far I'm not.

[TahoeDust]

Could have atleast left the intel list up.....

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, TahoeDust said:

Could have atleast left the intel list up.....

Link to legacy list is there, now with a sentence that tells Intel buyers to go there

[Vejnemojnen]

Came across a Biostar X470 ITX board, ~ 100 USD locally, so, cheaper than other AM4 ITX boards (the asus A320 itx is even more expensive, than this Biostar X470..)

 

https://invisioncommunity.co.uk/biostar-launches-the-new-mini-itx-x470nh-motherboard/

 

Do I assume it correctly, that it is recommendable up to 6-8 cores, without OC, or with slight undervolting? I was unable to find any reports on the board on reputable sites. But I guess, it must be okay-ish for a 2600x-2700x.

[Jurrunio]

6 hours ago, Vejnemojnen said:

Came across a Biostar X470 ITX board, ~ 100 USD locally, so, cheaper than other AM4 ITX boards (the asus A320 itx is even more expensive, than this Biostar X470..)

 

https://invisioncommunity.co.uk/biostar-launches-the-new-mini-itx-x470nh-motherboard/

 

Do I assume it correctly, that it is recommendable up to 6-8 cores, without OC, or with slight undervolting? I was unable to find any reports on the board on reputable sites. But I guess, it must be okay-ish for a 2600x-2700x.

It's even worse than the Gigabyte B450 ITX board due to weaker powerstages and smaller heatsink. Expect a lot of undervolting with a 2nd gen Ryzen 7 (if not even underclocking) and some for Ryzen 5.

[rx590overclocker]

oof...

my gigabyte ultra gaming x470 is in D

[Talwren]

Where would the ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 fall on this tier list? If it's performance is comparable at all to the Phantom Gaming X PCPartPicker has the 4 for under half the cost as the X.

 

Edit: Looking more closely at the list I'm going to guess that the Phantom Gaming 4 is the same as the PhantomK4 in the C tier

[Jurrunio]

26 minutes ago, Talwren said:

 

Edit: Looking more closely at the list I'm going to guess that the Phantom Gaming 4 is the same as the PhantomK4 in the C tier

yup, accidentally mispelled the name there

 

the X is more related to the Taichi

[wanakamura]

I bought ASUS TUF GAMING X570 PLUS WIFI for my 3900x max EDC is 240A and it is quite sufficient. But for WC could not be enought. 
I have Dark Rock Pro 4 cooler. Cinebench R20 max temp = 74-77C and EDC around 80-95% @ 4.3GHz @ 1.304V so if some of you consider higher voltage IMHO you should get 300A EDC.

[WeeemRCB]

Could the ASUS ROG Strix B450 (+X470) Gaming mobos be added to the list plz?

Ta