Looking for the cheapest half-way decent AM4 board

[-iSynthesis]

So I'll be building a Ryzen 3200G or 3400G build (not sure on which one yet) and I'm looking for the cheapest motherboard that won't just break down basically.
No overclocking, no heavy usage, just a plain office pc. 

I'm planning on going with a single 8GB stick of G.Skill Aegis, so I'll be able to upgrade if needed also on a board with just two slots.

The only requirements I have are basically front USB 3.0 + 2.0, an M.2 slot and good video out (must have HDMI) and maybe a PCIe x16 and another PCIe, can be x2 or whatever).

I saw there's some in the 40-50€ range and I'd guess that basically any motherboard should do alright with such a low power CPU, but is there anything to stay away from? The one's I've looked at are:

- ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 (49.00€)

- Asus PRIME A320M-K (41.90€)

- ASRock A320M-HDV R4.0 (54.70€)

 

I'm thankful for any reccomendations and help!

[Mateyyy]

How much can you get a B450M DS3H or S2H for?

[Haro]

as for a320, only acceptable  board i would go with is the s2h. 

as for b450, ds3h, s2h, pro 4, pro vdh max. 

there's also an a320 board made by asus, which uses 4 sic 639's surprisingly iirc, but i can't and couldn't find one in stock any where.  

edit, i remembered the name, it's called the a320I-K, if you can find it, this is one of the better a320 boards out there. 

Edited August 2, 2020 by TofuHaroto

[Tristerin]

Plain office PC?  Cheapest AM4 board you can get with that CPU.  

[-iSynthesis]

2 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

How much can you get a B450M DS3H or S2H for?

The DS3H is around 63€, the S2H is around 56€. Is there any huge difference between the two except for the additional ram/pcie slots? 

[Haro]

10 hours ago, -iSynthesis said:

the S2H is around 56€.

yea, that's a decent price for it. vrm wise, it's decent and will be more than enough for an apu. 

[Mateyyy]

1 minute ago, -iSynthesis said:

The DS3H is around 63€, the S2H is around 56€. Is there any huge difference between the two except for the additional ram/pcie slots? 

Not really, other than that they're very similar to my knowledge.

The B450M S2H is an infinitely better deal at €56 than any of the boards you picked. The B450 HDV from Asrock is pretty much A320-level of quality, btw.

 

Now, to be frank, even an A320 will work with a 3200G. The question is whether you plan on maybe throwing in a 6-core with a dedicated GPU or something later on down the line, because in that case I'd definitely spend the extra €10-15 for an acceptable B450 board.

[-iSynthesis]

1 minute ago, Mateyyy said:

Not really, other than that they're very similar to my knowledge.

The B450M S2H is an infinitely better deal at €56 than any of the boards you picked. The B450 HDV from Asrock is pretty much A320-level of quality, btw.

 

Now, to be frank, even an A320 will work with a 3200G. The question is whether you plan on maybe throwing in a 6-core with a dedicated GPU or something later on down the line, because in that case I'd definitely spend the extra €10-15 for an acceptable B450 board.

I doubt it'll see much of an upgrade on this platform as the PC it's replacing is rocking a dual core Athlon from 2008, but I do appreciate a higher quality board for the few bucks extra, so I think I'll go with that^^ Thanks a ton

[-iSynthesis]

One question I do have would be on the bios updates required for the 3000 series chips, is it to be expected to get a board delivered that has a new enough bios for them to run?

@Mateyyy @TofuHaroto

[Haro]

10 hours ago, -iSynthesis said:

I do have would be on the bios updates required for the 3000 series chips, is it to be expected to get a board delivered that has a new enough bios for them to run?

most b450 boards ship with the new bios at this point, if the box says ryzen 3000 ready then it is, if by any chance your board shipped with the old bios, you can ask the vendor or any computer store to update it for you, but as i said, most b450 boards ship with the new bios at this point. 

[Mateyyy]

1 minute ago, -iSynthesis said:

One question I do have would be on the bios updates required for the 3000 series chips, is it to be expected to get a board delivered that has a new enough bios for them to run?

@Mateyyy @TofuHaroto

If the board you're getting is part of a recent batch, it'll likely come with a recent enough BIOS version to run Ryzen 3000, but it's not guaranteed.

I would ask the retailer whether it's ready for Ryzen 3000, and if not, I'd try to ask them or a local computer store to flash the BIOS for you. They might even do it for free if you ask nicely.

[mariushm]

That Asus Prime board at 42 euro is fine. Not sure it's worth spending 10+ euro more for another A320 board.

 

You can hit eBay or local auction/sale sites for a Ryzen 1200 or something similar for around 50 euro, for example: https://www.ebay.de/itm/Ryzen-3-1200-CPU-Sockel-AM4/264815665412?epid=17032163751&hash=item3da83e6104:g:8FUAAOSwaXVe-gIA

 

You can find some basic video card for around 10 euro or reuse whatever you currently have (if it wasn't integrated)

 

 

 

[-iSynthesis]

11 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

If the board you're getting is part of a recent batch, it'll likely come with a recent enough BIOS version to run Ryzen 3000, but it's not guaranteed.

I would ask the retailer whether it's ready for Ryzen 3000, and if not, I'd try to ask them or a local computer store to flash the BIOS for you. They might even do it for free if you ask nicely.

Sadly, mindfactory (best site for tech stuff here basically) advertises bios updates for 35€ so I really damn hope I won't need that service of them^^. (Kinda a ridiculous amount to charge for that if you ask me...)...

Thanks for your help!

[-iSynthesis]

9 minutes ago, mariushm said:

That Asus Prime board at 42 euro is fine. Not sure it's worth spending 10+ euro more for another A320 board.

 

You can hit eBay or local auction/sale sites for a Ryzen 1200 or something similar for around 50 euro, for example: https://www.ebay.de/itm/Ryzen-3-1200-CPU-Sockel-AM4/264815665412?epid=17032163751&hash=item3da83e6104:g:8FUAAOSwaXVe-gIA

 

You can find some basic video card for around 10 euro or reuse whatever you currently have (if it wasn't integrated)

 

 

 

Thanks! I'll go to hell and back trying to explain getting a used one for my mom sadly ^^ but definitely a good option!

[Mateyyy]

Just now, -iSynthesis said:

Sadly, mindfactory (best site for tech stuff here basically) advertises bios updates for 35€ so I really damn hope I won't need that service of them^^. (Kinda a ridiculous amount to charge for that if you ask me...)...

Thanks for your help!

Oof, €35 is rough for just a BIOS update. You could probably just find a used Athlon 200GE for that price and flash the BIOS yourself.

[-iSynthesis]

13 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

Oof, €35 is rough for just a BIOS update. You could probably just find a used Athlon 200GE for that price and flash the BIOS yourself.

It's not far off  40 new, 30 used

 

Edit: Last question for today, do you think it's worth the extra 50€ for a 3400G over the 3200G?

[Mateyyy]

Just now, -iSynthesis said:

It's not far off  40 new, 30 used

AMD would actually send you a temporary 200GE exactly for this use, then after you were done they'd ask you to send it back, but I'm not sure whether they still do that.

Regardless, maybe you're in luck and the motherboard gets shipped with a recent enough BIOS from the get-go.

[Haro]

10 hours ago, -iSynthesis said:

do you think it's worth the extra 50€ for a 3400G over the 3200G?

i mean depends, if it's just an office pc/ a casual one, a 3200g is more then enough, the 3400g has a slightly bettter igpu and SMT. 

 

10 hours ago, Mateyyy said:

AMD would actually send you a temporary 200GE exactly for this use,

afaik, they sadly stopped doing that. 

Edited August 2, 2020 by TofuHaroto