Motherboard VRM Tier List v2 (currently AMD only)

[Neymus]

Silly question, but since tier E can max out 1600X and 3600X, will it max out a 2600 ?

[Jurrunio]

25 minutes ago, Neymus said:

Silly question, but since tier E can max out 1600X and 3600X, will it max out a 2600 ?

No it wont because 2nd gen takes more current to max out. At the same 4GHz target though 1st gen draws the most power.

 

4 hours ago, WeeemRCB said:

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

Ta

The B450-F, B450-E, X470-F are in the list, any more of them missing?

[komi1997]

What are some inexpensive x570 boards (maybe even b450, x470 if you can update BIOS without older CPU) that will run stock r9 3950x(with aircooler in good vented airflow focused case) and support ECC memory in ECC mode? Something like X570 Prime-P, just I don't know which ones support ECC memory in ECC mode. Building a system for a friend in 3-4 months, most stores here in Serbia don't have any X570 boards on shelves need to order from importer to get them in enxt round which can take up to 2 months sometimes so would like to have a clear vision of what parts to use before end of February

[Jurrunio]

23 minutes ago, komi1997 said:

What are some inexpensive x570 boards (maybe even b450, x470 if you can update BIOS without older CPU) that will run stock r9 3950x(with aircooler in good vented airflow focused case) and support ECC memory in ECC mode? Something like X570 Prime-P, just I don't know which ones support ECC memory in ECC mode. Building a system for a friend in 3-4 months, most stores here in Serbia don't have any X570 boards on shelves need to order from importer to get them in enxt round which can take up to 2 months sometimes so would like to have a clear vision of what parts to use before end of February

Only Asrock and Gigabyte make it clear that their boards support ECC mode, MSI doesn't and Asus is being somewhat unclear. Stock 3950X with decent cooling... I'd say minimum will be the Asrock Extreme4 and Steel Legend, preferably the Gigabyte Aorus Elite/Pro. Sometimes even the Aorus boards are cheaper, dont know what's happening there.

[gameeee]

i live india where its not easy to find cheap computer parts can you suggest a mobo under 60 dollars or in under 4000 inr which is not easy want to use r3 1200

 Sorry for my bad english

[Vejnemojnen]

1 hour ago, gameeee said:

i live india where its not easy to find cheap computer parts can you suggest a mobo under 60 dollars or in under 4000 inr which is not easy want to use r3 1200

 Sorry for my bad english

basically, the two cheapest B450 boards are: Gigabyte B450M S2H, DS3H and Asrock B450M HDV. I strongly recommend against the B450M HDV R4.0, which is a board without VRM heatsink (the "plain" HDV is perfectly fine for a 4core CPU). And I also suggest, to stay away from A320 motherboards.

[NoOneIsHome]

I have an  X570 Aorus Master with my 3950x and Ryzen Master says it is at 62% of 600 amps on my current clock with the vrms at mid 40s.

What is going on??? Curious for an explanation?

[Jurrunio]

3 minutes ago, NoOneIsHome said:

I have an  X570 Aorus Master with my 3950x and Ryzen Master says it is at 62% of 600 amps on my current clock with the vrms at mid 40s.

What is going on??? Curious for an explanation?

just buggy software, try update BIOS and chipset driver.

[lafrente]

So on B450 boards, there is factually no difference between Tomahawk and Gaming Plus. Can someone tell me why people are going apeshit over Tomahawk on B450 boards?

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, lafrente said:

So on B450 boards, there is factually no difference between Tomahawk and Gaming Plus. Can someone tell me why people are going apeshit over Tomahawk on B450 boards?

you're not the first to ask

 

[lafrente]

@Jurrunio So the only thing is that gaming plus max variant has slight red accent even less than that of non-max variant. First 2 rams will cover the red ram slots, gpu will cover top PCI and shade the bottom one. 

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, lafrente said:

So the only thing is that gaming plus max variant has slight red accent even less than that of non-max variant.

Still counts as having visible red accents though, people can be really anal

 

Also Tomahawk Max has a single Type C port at the back while the port in the same position is a Type A on the Gaming Plus Max

[lafrente]

12 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

Still counts as having visible red accents though, people can be really anal

 

Also Tomahawk Max has a single Type C port at the back while the port in the same position is a Type A on the Gaming Plus Max

I already said that (Though In my case I wanted to see that red, but was disappointed when stuff covered most of it up.) Those anal people are really anal. Lol

 

What's interesting is Mortar max as a mATX board has 2 m.2 slots, while big brothers have one each. Now if toma had the second m.2 slot, maybe small percent of that price difference could be justifiable.

[Jurrunio]

10 hours ago, lafrente said:

What's interesting is Mortar max as a mATX board has 2 m.2 slots, while big brothers have one each. Now if toma had the second m.2 slot, maybe small percent of that price difference could be justifiable.

Nah, that's just because there's still the Carbon above the Tomahawk

[Inyerbones]

Sorry, I don't really understand how the current draw thing works but I was wondering if the Strix B450-F being in Tier E handle a R5 3600 or R7 3700X running just PBO and no manual overclocking fine? Roughly what kind of VRM temps would I be expecting? CPU Cooling is between using the stock cooler or a 360mm aio in the PC O-11 with all fan slots populated. Also how much difference is there exactly between something in Tier E and Tier D? I'm passing my B450M Steel Legend to my brother for his build and I've been considering trying out the Strix B450-F for my own.

 

On another note, I'd really appreciate if somebody would know how different the memory overclocking experience is on the Strix B450-F compared to the B450M Steel Legend, I have a 2x8 GB 3600MHz CL17 B-Die kit but my B450M Steel Legend isn't letting me go above 3400MHz CL14 without losing stability. I'm hoping if the difference in VRM performance between the Strix and the Steel Legend is negligible for a 3600/3700x then i'd totally pull the trigger on the Strix if I can run at like 3600 to 3733 MHz CL14 of the sorts. 
Not sure if this question is silly or not, but before this current build of mine which was done in August last year the last time I had a new build was in like 2010 or something and I bought that pc, so i'm still a bit clueless when it comes to these things

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, Inyerbones said:

just PBO and no manual overclocking fine?

PBO is a kind of overclocking, so not even that

 

1 hour ago, Inyerbones said:

Roughly what kind of VRM temps would I be expecting?

Around 80C? I've seen it run a 2700X at stock and get above 100C

 

1 hour ago, Inyerbones said:

Also how much difference is there exactly between something in Tier E and Tier D?

From 6 core to 8 core

 

1 hour ago, Inyerbones said:

On another note, I'd really appreciate if somebody would know how different the memory overclocking experience is on the Strix B450-F compared to the B450M Steel Legend, I have a 2x8 GB 3600MHz CL17 B-Die kit but my B450M Steel Legend isn't letting me go above 3400MHz CL14 without losing stability. I'm hoping if the difference in VRM performance between the Strix and the Steel Legend is negligible for a 3600/3700x then i'd totally pull the trigger on the Strix if I can run at like 3600 to 3733 MHz CL14 of the sorts

Asus should let you overclock memory better, but since they want you to buy X470 and X570 don't expect it to go further than XMP settings

[Satan_Prometheus]

I don't see a compelling reason to buy the Strix B450-F at its current US PCPP price of ~$120 when something like the B450 Gaming Plus Max is a better board and is $20 cheaper. 

[Inyerbones]

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

PBO is a kind of overclocking, so not even that

Thanks for the quick reply!

Does this mean activating PBO will barely do anything if at all with a tier E board? 

 

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

Around 80C? I've seen it run a 2700X at stock and get above 100C

Is there anything inherently wrong or bad about running VRMs at 80C? I know that's relatively high but is it at a temperature where any problems could possibly come up? Is the 80C estimate on load or at its peak? Assuming I'm either sticking with my R5 3600 or I might upgrade to an R7 3700X if I let my brother use the R5 3600 instead.

 

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

Asus should let you overclock memory better, but since they want you to buy X470 and X570 don't expect it to go further than XMP settings

In your opinion, is it worth trading the VRM performance for the potentially better memory OC support? 

 

1 hour ago, Satan_Prometheus said:

I don't see a compelling reason to buy the Strix B450-F at its current US PCPP price of ~$120 when something like the B450 Gaming Plus Max is a better board and is $20 cheaper. 

I don't live in the States, and where I live retailers have seemed to have stop restocking MSI parts for some reason, and the motherboards are the ones that are hardest to find at the moment because I think most people buying into the platform here have done their research and kinda took all the MSI B450s off the shelves. 

 

ASRock doesn't seem to have much else to offer for B450 and Gigabyte's B450 options are all in tier E anyway, alongside with the Strix so I figured since I like the way the Strix looks more I'd be considering that one.

 

The B450 TUF models are available here as well, but the rear I/O they offer aren't enough for me and I also hate the way the TUF boards look. 

Also the Strix B450-F is the only Strix model available here for some reason, I've never seen the B450-E for sale anywhere at all. I'd be considering the B450-E instead of the B450-F if it were available here since it's also on tier D as the Steel Legend but oh well. 

[Jurrunio]

19 minutes ago, Inyerbones said:

Thanks for the quick reply! Does this mean activating PBO will barely do anything if at all with a tier E board? 

it will push up the voltage and power draw noticeably, but only minor performance improvement

 

21 minutes ago, Inyerbones said:

Is there anything inherently wrong or bad about running VRMs at 80C? I know that's relatively high but is it at a temperature where any problems could possibly come up? Is the 80C estimate on load or at its peak? Assuming I'm either sticking with my R5 3600 or I might upgrade to an R7 3700X if I let my brother use the R5 3600 instead.

80C's fine, 100C's problem is degrading the capacitors. Those are average temperature, it could peak even higher depending on the workload, also assumes 30-35C case temperature

 

28 minutes ago, Inyerbones said:

In your opinion, is it worth trading the VRM performance for the potentially better memory OC support? 

For gaming 6 cores is already enough, so sure?

[Guest]

 

On 1/17/2020 at 6:06 AM, WeeemRCB said:

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

Ta

Model	Controller	Phase	Doppler	highside MOSFET	lowside  MOSFET	Controller	Phase	Doppler	highside MOSFET	lowside MOSFET
X470 TUF Plus Gaming	ASP1106GGQW (4+2)	4	-	4C10B	2x 4C06B	= CPU VCC	2	-	2x 4C10B	2x 4C06B
B450-I ROG Strix Gaming	ASP1405I (6+1)	6	-	IR3553	= CPU VCC	1	-	IR3555

[Inyerbones]

16 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

it will push up the voltage and power draw noticeably, but only minor performance improvement

I see, around what tier of motherboard would it start being worth it to activate PBO?

 

I just managed to find a X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming for literally 8 USD more than the Strix B450-F, I think I'll go with that instead  

 

[Jurrunio]

10 minutes ago, Inyerbones said:

see, around what tier of motherboard would it start being worth it to activate PBO?

tier D, for the Ryzen 7.

 

11 minutes ago, Inyerbones said:

I just managed to find a X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming for literally 8 USD more than the Strix B450-F, I think I'll go with that instead  

Ultra gaming and Gaming 5 has terrible memory OC, as they struggle to do more than 3466MHz

[Inyerbones]

1 hour ago, Jurrunio said:

Ultra gaming and Gaming 5 has terrible memory OC, as they struggle to do more than 3466MHz

Crap. Could you recommend me a B450 or X470 that has can do between 3600mhz to 3733mhz, has a decent vrm, has at least 6 USB ports in the rear i/o or something that at least has some of these feats?

 

The highest end I would even consider going is either the X570 TUF or X570 Aorus Elite but the TUF is around 245 USD where I live at SRP and the Elite is 265 USD after conversions. 

 

Would be even better if it has an internal Type-C, as the case i'm getting will have one on the front I/O but I'd rather prioritize the features mentioned earlier.

 

If there's not really an option I think I'll just stick with the X470 Aorus Ultra Gaming and just live with the 3466MHz memory since its VRM is in tier D and it does have internal type-c, 9 type-As and another type-c at the rear I/O and for some reason 9 fan headers for about 140 to 145 USD.

[Jurrunio]

3 hours ago, Inyerbones said:

Crap. Could you recommend me a B450 or X470 that has can do between 3600mhz to 3733mhz, has a decent vrm, has at least 6 USB ports in the rear i/o or something that at least has some of these feats?

now that the MSI B450 boards are out, check for older high end boards like the asus X470-F, MSI X470 Carbon then? They probably need BIOS update before workig with 3rd gen so it should be more available, if you can do it then that's a good way to get a good board.

[GoldenLag]

 

On 12/24/2019 at 3:10 AM, Jurrunio said:

Asrock: X570 Taichi, Phantom Gaming X

On 12/24/2019 at 3:10 AM, Jurrunio said:

Asus: X570 X570-F, TUF Plus, Prime Pro, X570-P,

On 12/24/2019 at 3:10 AM, Jurrunio said:

Gigabyte: X570 Aorus Elite

 

why are these in 3 diffrent tiers while carrying essentially the same VRM and rather similar heatsinks? (some having a heatpipe bridging the gap between them)

 

because looking at VRM component wise they are identical outside of the controller  which differs. and i cant find a major difference between the auros elite and taichi to call for 90a difference in rating. 

 

im assuming its based on heatsink then?