Best sub $160 AM4 mobo

[JammyCreedog]

As the title suggests, I want to upgrade my gaming system to Ryzen and I want to overclock my cpu.  I was looking at the 2600x, it seems like the best all around cpu for under $200.  I know that i'm going to want to push the frequency up a bit, but I don't really trust the vrm's on sub $120 boards.  At the same time I don't want to put out over $200 for a motherboard.  Can you guys help me sort out which models are best for OC, Pcpartpicker really doesn't have that sort of information.

[Guest]

MSI B450-A PRO and Gigabyte B450 AORUS PRO, for $94 and $98 respectively, are the cheapest B450 ATX boards you'll find (I didn't count ASRock because of its trash BIOS, even though the VRMs and VRM heatsink on the pro4 are more than sufficient for an overclock on the 2600). These are also the boards you'll want for overclocking. (Just a warning, the B450-A PRO is coloured brown which could turn some people away.)

 

As for 

 

16 minutes ago, JammyCreedog said:

I don't really trust the vrm's on sub $120 boards.  

 

 

Take a look at this. You've been misinformed; all B450 boards have sufficient VRMs and VRM heatsinks for a 2600, with the exception of those with two DIMM slots. 

 

Besides, better VRMs will not correspond to higher clocks, as Ryzen reaches a voltage wall of 1.5V on 4.2/4.3ghz depending on the silicon lottery. The voltage required to keep an overclock stable increases almost exponentially after 1.35V or so. Don't be fooled.

 

One more thing: there's no point getting a 2600X when the 2600 puts out the same or similar clocks. The better cooler isn't worth it, a $20 CRYORIG m9a or a $17 Deepcool Gammaxx 400 (although slightly noisy) can take the 2600 to maximum overclock.

[Crunchy Dragon]

23 minutes ago, ears_ears said:

MSI B450-A PRO; all B450 boards have sufficient VRMs and VRM heatsinks for a 2600

Basically every MSI B-series board that isn't a Tomahawk is known to have garbage VRMs.

 

Pro4 is a basically the best in that price point.

 

Given the budget though, I'd aim for a B350 or B450 Strix.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Basically every MSI B-series board that isn't a Tomahawk is known to have garbage VRMs.

 

Pro4 is a basically the best in that price point.

 

Given the budget though, I'd aim for a B350 or B450 Strix.

The B450-A PRO has the same VRMs as the B450 Tomahawk, the tomahawk just has larger heatsinks (26%) and better aesthetics (and the heatsinks don't even matter when VRM temps are always below 60 C on the 2600). 

 

https://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f12/pga-am4-mainboard-vrm-liste-1155146.html

 

Nice try though.

 

 

 

[-rascal-]

The lower priced motherboards are not as good this time around for the 400 series chipset.

Most of them are really 4 ( x2 ) + 2 VRM systems.

 

ASUS Prime X470-PRO uses a true 6+2 VRM, but you lose some feature to keep the price down.

This includes motherboard debug LEDs, no dual BIOS / BIOS recovery -- which is usually found on PRIME tier motherboards.

Priced at $160.

 

Gigabyte Aorus X470 Ultra Gaming is going for $114 right now (usually ~$140).

It is a 4 (x2) + 3 VRM, but is fairly well implemented.

It should be enough to handle a 2600X, and WITH BCLK overclocking.

 

 

[Guest]

30 minutes ago, -rascal- said:

The lower priced motherboards are not as good this time around for the 400 series chipset.

Most of them are really 4 ( x2 ) + 2 VRM systems.

 

ASUS Prime X470-PRO uses a true 6+2 VRM, but you lose some feature to keep the price down.

This includes motherboard debug LEDs, no dual BIOS / BIOS recovery -- which is usually found on PRIME tier motherboards.

Priced at $160.

 

Gigabyte Aorus X470 Ultra Gaming is going for $114 right now (usually ~$140).

It is a 3 (x2) +2 VRM, but is fairly well implemented.

It should be enough to handle a 2600X, and WITH BCLK overclocking.

 

 

 

It's not like higher phase VRMs are going to make a 2600 achieve higher clocks. (Ryzen hits a voltage wall quickly after 1.35V around 4.2-4.3ghz). 

[-rascal-]

3 minutes ago, ears_ears said:

It's not like higher phase VRMs are going to make a 2600 achieve higher clocks. (Ryzen hits a voltage wall quickly after 1.35V around 4.2-4.3ghz). I'm starting to get a bit annoyed with the amount of misinformation people are spreading on the forums.

 

Yes, but it helps with temperatures, where the heat is spread across more components, and more surface area.

As I mentioned, if you are going with a combination of CPU multiplier, and BCLK overclocking, you will need the extra VRMs.

 

Buildzoid also mentions this in the video I linked (including the proper time stamp).

 

Also, if the each individual VRMs phases are rated at lower currents and operating temperatures, you will need more of them.

A 4+2 running 30A inductors, is fairly different from a 4+2 running 40A or 60A inductors.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, -rascal- said:

 

Yes, but it helps with temperatures, where the heat is spread across more components, and more surface area.

As I mentioned, if you are going with a combination of CPU multiplier, and BCLK overclocking, you will need the extra VRMs.

 

Buildzoid also mentions this in the video I linked (including the proper time stamp).

When voltages --> temps rise so fast more VRM phases will only do so much (you probably won't even find a 50mhz improvement with 6+2 over 4+2). 

 

Besides, his results don't correlate with Guru3D's, who reported that VRMs did get a bit toasty under a 2700X (77.1 C max) and max die temp was 85 C. However, 77.1 C isn't even close to dangerous VRM temps. Guru3D was able to overclock the 2700X to 4.3ghz. 

 

https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_x470_aorus_ultra_gaming_review,18.html

 

And I don't know about you, but I'm trusting the source with the thermal imaging camera.

[Herman Mcpootis]

11 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Basically every MSI B-series board that isn't a Tomahawk is known to have garbage VRMs.

their B450 boards got alot better with their VRMs and heatsinks, the B450-A Pro looks like it has the same VRM with a different heatsink than the tomahawk. the asus B450 prime plus is much worse than the B450 tomahawk and K4.

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, -rascal- said:

 

Yes, but it helps with temperatures, where the heat is spread across more components, and more surface area.

As I mentioned, if you are going with a combination of CPU multiplier, and BCLK overclocking, you will need the extra VRMs.

 

Buildzoid also mentions this in the video I linked (including the proper time stamp).

 

Also, if the each individual VRMs phases are rated at lower currents and operating temperatures, you will need more of them.

A 4+2 running 30A inductors, is fairly different from a 4+2 running 40A or 60A inductors.

I finally might have figured out why Buildzoid's VRMs got throttled. He, being an extreme overclocker, probably used a custom loop or AIO, which left the VRMs without much needed airflow from a regular air cooler. However, Buildzoid didn't specify on the airflow, so I can't be 100% sure this was the case. 

 

Moral of the story is make sure you have case fans blowing air over the VRMs in case you have an AIO / custom loop. 

[-rascal-]

5 minutes ago, ears_ears said:

I finally might have figured out why Buildzoid's VRMs got throttled. He, being an extreme overclocker, probably used a custom loop or AIO, which left the VRMs without much needed airflow from a regular air cooler. However, Buildzoid didn't specify on the airflow, so I can't be 100% sure this was the case. 

 

Moral of the story is make sure you have case fans blowing air over the VRMs in case you have an AIO / custom loop. 

 

Ah, I see...

Hardware Unboxed also did some analysis on a few B450 boards as well.

He was getting temperatures like 104*C, 109*C, and 121*C with an open test bench.

 

This is the problem; you lose airflow over the VRMs when using an AIO / custom loop -- and people don't consider that until after.

We've got a few of those threads.

 

Well, it will depend on what cooling the solution @JammyCreedog is going to be using, I guess.

[JammyCreedog]

3 hours ago, -rascal- said:

 

Ah, I see...

Hardware Unboxed also did some analysis on a few B450 boards as well.

He was getting temperatures like 104*C, 109*C, and 121*C with an open test bench.

 

This is the problem; you lose airflow over the VRMs when using an AIO / custom loop -- and people don't consider that until after.

We've got a few of those threads.

 

Well, it will depend on what cooling the solution @JammyCreedog is going to be using, I guess.

I have a Cryorig H7 but i'd need to grab a AM4 bracket to make it work.

 

I'm liking the look of the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming, especially as it includes a 3.1 gen 2 type c header for the front panel. How is the Gigabyte bios to work with? 

 

So you guyz are saying that I should get the ryzen 5 2600 and shoot for 4.2Ghz?

[-rascal-]

2 hours ago, JammyCreedog said:

I have a Cryorig H7 but i'd need to grab a AM4 bracket to make it work.

 

I'm liking the look of the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming, especially as it includes a 3.1 gen 2 type c header for the front panel. How is the Gigabyte bios to work with? 

 

So you guyz are saying that I should get the ryzen 5 2600 and shoot for 4.2Ghz?

 

Gigabyte's UI for the their BIOS has come a long way. That said, IMO, ASUS' BIOS is still the best -- Gigabyte being a close second or third.

 

I literally helped s friend build a Ryzen system with a Gigabyte Aorus B450 Pro M motherboard (he has no plans to do any overclocking), and it was pretty easy to go through the BIOS and get everything set-up.

 

2600X or 2600 will overclock about the same. You might get a little higher max overclock with the 'X' variant, but that's a out it.