Motherboard VRM Tier List v2 (currently AMD only)

[exat88]

Hi guys,

I'm new here so I've been reading most of the post abd finally i wanted to ask something. This is my setup:-

 

AMD RYZEN 5 3600 

ASROCK B450M STEEL LEGEND (it sucks they say)

MSI RTX3070 VENTUS 2X OC

KINGSTON HYPERX 2666MHZ 2X8GB

LIAN LI 240 AIO COOLER

SUPER FLOWER 600W 80+GOLD PSU

 

I've been thinking to upgrade and maybe do a bit of OC on my 3600 and Ram. So my question actually is:-

 

1) is the power supply good enough? Should i upgrade to a better / more watts?

 

2) should i maintain the board or should i upgrade to a better b550 board. I have Strix-A(my casing is white) Strix-F(WiFi, why not?), Carbon Wifi(MSI fan, but is it good?), Aorus Pro AC(cheaper), and Gaming edge on my mind. Or any recommendations? -+$200

 

3) should i get a better ram speed and OC or should i maintain and OC it? Will there be significant difference in terms of gaming?

 

4) Will the processor do good in OC?

 

5) Wi-Fi 6 built-in or using PCIE is better? Just asking since i have a WiFi 6 system currently at home

 

Thanks in advance!

[Modemiso]

Hello ! Sorry for the inconvenience and sorry for bothering you.I am currently thinking of buying some computer parts as my pc is very old and really need one.I m looking to use it for video editing, graphic design, pixel art, streaming, maybe some music creation and some gaming.Based on the current situation with the Graphics Cards I m thinking of buying a Ryzen 7 5700G and maybe in the future, when the prices of the GPUs will drop I m thinking of buying a 3070 Graphics Cards.But for now I just settled on buying this CPU.Right now, the bigger problem for me is the motherboard.I really want a good one with good VRM’s and I don t know if I should go for x570 or B550 as I m thinking of an upgrade in the future, who knows ? Maybe I will upgrade the CPU aswell.I thought of MSI B550 Tomahawk , or MSI B550 A Pro in terms of B550 motherboards.Related to x570 mobo’s haven t thought of any yet, because I don t know which one to pick as my budget is not that big (under 200 euros for the motherboard).So can you help me ? Will the x570 be better than B550? Will the AMD change the chipset in the future ? Thanks for your help ! It s really appreciated!

[Jurrunio]

9 hours ago, exat88 said:

Hi guys,

I'm new here so I've been reading most of the post abd finally i wanted to ask something. This is my setup:-

 

AMD RYZEN 5 3600 

ASROCK B450M STEEL LEGEND (it sucks they say)

MSI RTX3070 VENTUS 2X OC

KINGSTON HYPERX 2666MHZ 2X8GB

LIAN LI 240 AIO COOLER

SUPER FLOWER 600W 80+GOLD PSU

 

I've been thinking to upgrade and maybe do a bit of OC on my 3600 and Ram. So my question actually is:-

 

1) is the power supply good enough? Should i upgrade to a better / more watts?

 

2) should i maintain the board or should i upgrade to a better b550 board. I have Strix-A(my casing is white) Strix-F(WiFi, why not?), Carbon Wifi(MSI fan, but is it good?), Aorus Pro AC(cheaper), and Gaming edge on my mind. Or any recommendations? -+$200

 

3) should i get a better ram speed and OC or should i maintain and OC it? Will there be significant difference in terms of gaming?

 

4) Will the processor do good in OC?

 

5) Wi-Fi 6 built-in or using PCIE is better? Just asking since i have a WiFi 6 system currently at home

 

Thanks in advance!

B450 Steel Legend isnt terrible for an R5 3600, it draws so little power. 

 

1. No need to. Ventus 2X model of RTX 3070 doesnt let you increase the power limit in the first place, so overclocking doesnt lead to higher power draw.

 

2 and 3. Bigger problem is indeed the memory, not even 3200MHz is... I find it hard to understand. You can try OC the current kit, but today 3600MHz CL16 will perform much better and are not that expensive. Cheaper than a new motherboard most importantly. Even if the Steel Legend fails to run it at 3600MHz you can manually select a lower frequency while reducing the timings, since the point is to have low latency.

 

4. Not really. AMD's Zen2 and Zen3 CPUs are pretty maxed out from the box, expect around 5% gain from CPU OC alone.

 

5. They are the same if they both support Wifi 6.

[Jurrunio]

3 hours ago, Modemiso said:

buying a Ryzen 7 5700G and maybe in the future, when the prices of the GPUs will drop I m thinking of buying a 3070 Graphics Cards.But for now I just settled on buying this CPU.Right now, the bigger problem for me is the motherboard.I really want a good one with good VRM’s and I don t know if I should go for x570 or B550 as I m thinking of an upgrade in the future, who knows ? Maybe I will upgrade the CPU aswell.I thought of MSI B550 Tomahawk , or MSI B550 A Pro in terms of B550 motherboards.Related to x570 mobo’s haven t thought of any yet, because I don t know which one to pick as my budget is not that big (under 200 euros for the motherboard).So can you help me ? Will the x570 be better than B550? Will the AMD change the chipset in the future ? Thanks for your help ! It s really appreciated!

AMD is changing socket along with memory to DDR5 for their next gen, same for Intel. A board and RAM you buy today will at best be upgraded to CPUs we already have such as the R9 5950X. For this reason, just tier A or above motherboard will do.

 

x570 is not better than b550 all round. It just upgrades PCIe 3.0 lanes from chipset on B550 to PCIe 4.0 on X570. CPU's PCIe 4.0 lanes are not affected. If you have a lot of NVMe storage or PCIe cards X570 has a reason, otherwise you'll have to look for board independent differences.

[exat88]

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

B450 Steel Legend isnt terrible for an R5 3600, it draws so little power. 

 

1. No need to. Ventus 2X model of RTX 3070 doesnt let you increase the power limit in the first place, so overclocking doesnt lead to higher power draw.

 

2 and 3. Bigger problem is indeed the memory, not even 3200MHz is... I find it hard to understand. You can try OC the current kit, but today 3600MHz CL16 will perform much better and are not that expensive. Cheaper than a new motherboard most importantly. Even if the Steel Legend fails to run it at 3600MHz you can manually select a lower frequency while reducing the timings, since the point is to have low latency.

 

4. Not really. AMD's Zen2 and Zen3 CPUs are pretty maxed out from the box, expect around 5% gain from CPU OC alone.

 

5. They are the same if they both support Wifi 6.

Great explanation..so I'm gonna go with the  RAM upgrade then..will the 3200Mhz 14-14-14-34 ($120) do good? Or should i go with 3600Mhz with 18-20-20-40 ($99) ? That's the only RAM i have available in my place at a good price. I could get the 3600Mhz cheaper but at the cost of CL19 or maybe 20.

 

Thanks for the help

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, exat88 said:

Great explanation..so I'm gonna go with the  RAM upgrade then..will the 3200Mhz 14-14-14-34 ($120) do good? Or should i go with 3600Mhz with 18-20-20-40 ($99) ? That's the only RAM i have available in my place at a good price. I could get the 3600Mhz cheaper but at the cost of CL19 or maybe 20.

 

Thanks for the help

3200 CL14 is much better even for 20% more. Samsung B-die is very tunable

[MachP]

Great list. Managed to find used x570 Unify for $160 Usd

[iNoira]

On 6/2/2021 at 6:00 AM, iNoira said:

Hi

I appreciate your effort in making this whole list. I love it! 

also i have a question

I saw B550 GB Vision D is on Tier S-

but i saw its has only 8 pin CPU power. This confuses me a bit, but to put it simply, can I run it with my 5950x CPU with 1.35Volt All core 4.7GHZ stable with this motherboard?

(i have AIO for CPU)

Hello everyone! I'm back again with news, after x570s announces i decided to waiting, and it did worth. 

Finally decided to X570S Aero G instead of B550 VISION D. I'm game programmer so more nvme's is more good space for me. plus the aesthetic white design. (thats why i decided to wait and change the mind)

so if B550 vision D is Tier S- what would be x570s aero g rated? 

at the google I found some reviews, details. it looks 60A DRMOS with 12+2 phase 8+4 Pin enough to kill(!) my 5950x well

What do you think?

[Jurrunio]

9 minutes ago, iNoira said:

Hello everyone! I'm back again with news, after x570s announces i decided to waiting, and it did worth. 

Finally decided to X570S Aero G instead of B550 VISION D. I'm game programmer so more nvme's is more good space for me. plus the aesthetic white design. (thats why i decided to wait and change the mind)

so if B550 vision D is Tier S- what would be x570s aero g rated? 

at the google I found some reviews, details. it looks 60A DRMOS with 12+2 phase 8+4 Pin enough to kill(!) my 5950x well

What do you think?

yeah you can reference the b550 vision d for now.

[Zoostation]

On 9/4/2021 at 5:33 PM, Jurrunio said:

3200 CL14 is much better even for 20% more. Samsung B-die is very tunable

I have a G-Skill Trident Z 3600 CL16-16-16-36 kit that's also B-die.  I've only spent a limited amount of time attempting to go higher speed and/or tighter with the timings. Currently I'm at 3733mhz (going to 1867 FLCK at 1:1 was not a problem but I haven't tried further.  I've also been able to keep the same timings as I had at 3600 with no errors.  I know there's always a YMMV component to this with the silicon lottery, but what do you think I can reasonably  expect to achieve if I want to try and tighten my timings further? Or am I better off just trying to increase FLCK and ram mhz?

[Jurrunio]

12 hours ago, Zoostation said:

I have a G-Skill Trident Z 3600 CL16-16-16-36 kit that's also B-die.  I've only spent a limited amount of time attempting to go higher speed and/or tighter with the timings. Currently I'm at 3733mhz (going to 1867 FLCK at 1:1 was not a problem but I haven't tried further.  I've also been able to keep the same timings as I had at 3600 with no errors.  I know there's always a YMMV component to this with the silicon lottery, but what do you think I can reasonably  expect to achieve if I want to try and tighten my timings further? Or am I better off just trying to increase FLCK and ram mhz?

I typically keep timings loose and do a max FCLK run first, so if the CPU's good with 1933MHz but not more I'll start tuning timings at 1866

[Syaoran]

In tier A, is the MSI Gaming Plus the same as the MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081ZKN8HG
 

I'm trying to buy a motherboard but there seems to be a shortage, so I'm just trying to find something decent. I was able to buy the one that I linked which was sold by amazon warehouse, just want to make sure it's the one on the list so I know whether or not I should cancel the order lol

EDIT: Just saw the it was an ATX, I can't fit an ATX in my current case. Back to searching I go..

[Satan_Prometheus]

14 hours ago, Syaoran said:

In tier A, is the MSI Gaming Plus the same as the MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081ZKN8HG
 

I'm trying to buy a motherboard but there seems to be a shortage, so I'm just trying to find something decent. I was able to buy the one that I linked which was sold by amazon warehouse, just want to make sure it's the one on the list so I know whether or not I should cancel the order lol

EDIT: Just saw the it was an ATX, I can't fit an ATX in my current case. Back to searching I go..

 

What's your budget, what CPU and case are you wanting to use, and what other hardware requirements do you have (i.e., wifi, number of SATA drives, etc.)?

[BlazeWingbreaker]

On 9/29/2021 at 7:02 AM, Syaoran said:

In tier A, is the MSI Gaming Plus the same as the MSI MPG X570 Gaming Plus? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B081ZKN8HG
 

I'm trying to buy a motherboard but there seems to be a shortage, so I'm just trying to find something decent. I was able to buy the one that I linked which was sold by amazon warehouse, just want to make sure it's the one on the list so I know whether or not I should cancel the order lol

EDIT: Just saw the it was an ATX, I can't fit an ATX in my current case. Back to searching I go..

no that gaming plus is the B550, which is miles better than their disastrous X570 budget boards

[afterburn999]

Was able to get my hands on a 5950x and a EVGA 3080 FTW, would that be a good pairing with the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero?  The Dark Hero seems like it has everything I want, a ton of usb ports and decent audio chipset for my headphones. Plus wifi 6 if I ever go wireless. 

[Jurrunio]

8 hours ago, afterburn999 said:

Was able to get my hands on a 5950x and a EVGA 3080 FTW, would that be a good pairing with the ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero?  The Dark Hero seems like it has everything I want, a ton of usb ports and decent audio chipset for my headphones. Plus wifi 6 if I ever go wireless. 

Calling one of the most expensive AM4 boards "having everything you want" is hardly a praise lol, that's a must for its price tag.

 

To me paying a lot more over the X570-E for 4 USB ports in the back seems excessive. It's the same audio codec (Realtek S1220A) too which is not that high end if you're really hard on audio.

[Motaz]

So I should be fine to get a 5600x on b450 Aorus M ? And do I need a really good Airflow ? because right now I just have 1 case fan.

[Gogito]

Gigabyte X570S UD and X570S Gaming X

So I'm debating between these 2 boards, they seem like the same board to me but are they good enough for running a 5900X with a Noctua D15 and a Lian Li Lancool 2 Mesh? Will pair it with 2TB Silicon Power US70 Gen 4 and a Trinity 3080Ti.

[Jurrunio]

14 hours ago, Motaz said:

So I should be fine to get a 5600x on b450 Aorus M ? And do I need a really good Airflow ? because right now I just have 1 case fan.

the board will be okay with a downdraft cooler (i.e. fan blowing down), just buy some fans because if you can afford a 5600x, case fans should be within budget too.

 

Or you could just leave the side panel open and deal with extra dust instead, worse than a good airflow case but much better than just having one fan.

 

24 minutes ago, Gogito said:

Gigabyte X570S UD and X570S Gaming X

So I'm debating between these 2 boards, they seem like the same board to me but are they good enough for running a 5900X with a Noctua D15 and a Lian Li Lancool 2 Mesh? Will pair it with 2TB Silicon Power US70 Gen 4 and a Trinity 3080Ti.

Yeah they have the VRM from an X570 Aorus Elite. Cant tell if the heatsinks are as good or worse or better, but should be enough for tier B which already satisfies the 5900X

[PeterFisch]

Hello guys hope you all doing fine.
 

My name is Peter and i have a question regarding B550 mainboards.

First thing, i am driving a 5900x and 3080ti with 32GB and 1 SSD.
I mainly made my decesions and with the features, the budget and usecase which i have it came down to the Gigabyte Aorus Elite AX V2 or the Gigabyte PRO V2.
Was hard to decide between them cause one hase a bit better VRM incl. WIFI and the other is a better board with better ram oc and more features.
Then the B550 Asus ROG Strix Gaming-E poped up for 170€. Normally it is a 200€+ board and it has WIFI, more VRM and more features than the Gigabyte PRO V2.
I just cant find it in any tier list.
Can some one give me a advice if it is a good idea to go for the Asus board when its just 11-13€ more?Also i am willing to answer the question to myself if someone can give me something to read or vids where the board is comperd to others.
I just pulled the triggerd in fear of dont getting it for that price anymore. It looks better on paper but feeling unconfident cause i dindt really found any comparisons to others until now. Also i bought without really doing a research on it. Will invest the night for this.
Please help me 

[Jurrunio]

1 hour ago, PeterFisch said:

Hello guys hope you all doing fine.
 

My name is Peter and i have a question regarding B550 mainboards.

First thing, i am driving a 5900x and 3080ti with 32GB and 1 SSD.
I mainly made my decesions and with the features, the budget and usecase which i have it came down to the Gigabyte Aorus Elite AX V2 or the Gigabyte PRO V2.
Was hard to decide between them cause one hase a bit better VRAM incl. WIFI and the other is a better board with better ram oc and more features.
Then the B550 Asus ROG Strix Gaming-E poped up for 170€. Normally it is a 200€+ board and it has WIFI, more VRAM and more features than the Gigabyte PRO V2.
I just cant find it in any tier list.
Can some one give me a advice if it is a good idea to go for the Asus board when its just 11-13€ more?Also i am willing to answer the question to myself if someone can give me something to read or vids where the board is comperd to others?
I just pulled the triggerd in fear of dont getting it for that price anymore. It looks better on paper but feeling unconfident cause i dindt really found any comparisons to others until now. Also i bought without really doing a research on it. Will invest the night for this.
Please help me 

Im not sure how hard you are on memory overclocking but B550-E is unlikely to be that good when the B550-XE is below average

 

And the bigger VRM doesnt help when it gets to overkill territory. 

 

Not saying there's no reason to buy the E (say, Gigabyte's BIOS layout or regional customer service), but I wont pay more than the Aorus Pro for it.

[PeterFisch]

13 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

Im not sure how hard you are on memory overclocking but B550-E is unlikely to be that good when the B550-XE is below average

 

And the bigger VRM doesnt help when it gets to overkill territory. 

 

Not saying there's no reason to buy the E (say, Gigabyte's BIOS layout or regional customer service), but I wont pay more than the Aorus Pro for it.

Thank you for taking time to answer me.

I never overclocked anything in my life, but with todays stuff it seems much easier.
As i wrote i would run 32GB(2x16) and starting small steps into oc would be nice, but the board gets destroyed in that video. Even for a normal setup.
 

Not really into OC and the system would be mostly for gaming. I only do a bit of programming and working with GUI based schedulers, but having trouble as soon as i get into the theme of oc or using the board as daily driver with memory bottlenecked by the board  seems like pain in the a.. for me.
Really dont want that to happen. 
Would i even recognize a difference if i overclock my 3600mhz cl16 to 4000mhz+ in my very basic  usecase?
 

I really liked the Elite AX V2, then i learned about the importance of PCB layers and got unconfident. The Pro V2 has slightly worse VRM and no wifi. I couldnt decide between them. Worse VRM+ no WIFI or worse memory capability+ less features(which i probably wont use), whats worse?
So this board combined all the features plus i have a usb c front panel header. 
Should it be fine if i am not hardcore overclocking and its about 6€(8,64CAD)more than the Elite AX V2, right? Or is it really that bad to even return it?

 

From the comment section:
User: why should anyone care about 4600 on ryzen?

BZ:Geekbench memory scores

But if it is really that bad i save the 10 bugs and go for the Aorus Elite AX V2 or the PRO V2....i really dont know 

[Blitz22]

How would you rate the x570 Tuf "Pro"? Not the "plus" version.

[Haro]

9 hours ago, Blitz22 said:

How would you rate the x570 Tuf "Pro"? Not the "plus" version.

The TUF Pro is essentially the same as the Plus with a BIOS Flashback button on the back and a slightly different -but not necessarily superior- heatsink, so in the context of this list, it'd be in the same tier as the Plus, so Tier A (200A). 

[Jurrunio]

On 10/12/2021 at 5:07 AM, PeterFisch said:

Not really into OC and the system would be mostly for gaming. I only do a bit of programming and working with GUI based schedulers, but having trouble as soon as i get into the theme of oc or using the board as daily driver with memory bottlenecked by the board  seems like pain in the a.. for me.
Really dont want that to happen. 
Would i even recognize a difference if i overclock my 3600mhz cl16 to 4000mhz+ in my very basic  usecase?

Not at all

 

On 10/12/2021 at 5:07 AM, PeterFisch said:

I really liked the Elite AX V2, then i learned about the importance of PCB layers and got unconfident. The Pro V2 has slightly worse VRM and no wifi. I couldnt decide between them. Worse VRM+ no WIFI or worse memory capability+ less features(which i probably wont use), whats worse?
So this board combined all the features plus i have a usb c front panel header. 
Should it be fine if i am not hardcore overclocking and its about 6€(8,64CAD)more than the Elite AX V2, right? Or is it really that bad to even return it?

How do you tell the Elite has worse memory capability? PCB layers is only one point of the whole thing, the B550 XE shown before has 6 layers but that didnt make it competitive.

 

Pro AX is also a thing, not available?