How good are low end B350 motherboards?

[MyName13]

2 hours ago, KarathKasun said:

MSI B350M Pro Gaming is OK for R5 1400/1500X.  Wouldn't want to push very high clocks on 1600 or above though.

 

Currently using that board + R5 1400 + 8gb DDR4 2133 15-15-15-15-36.  I have been able to get the CPU up to 3.9ghz and the memory up to 3200.  Picked up the board on sale for ~$60 US, not disappointed.  Be aware that many lower end boards seem to have a 1.4v limit for VCore once you update the UEFI.  For memory overclocking over ~2933 I had to set every timing related option by hand, other than that it has worked fine.

Well that's the problem, these cheap OC boards are "disposable" boards, future zen CPUs will definitely have more cores (low end/low budget and overclocking don't go together even with Zen).

 

Anyway are you using wraith stealth?What are your temperatures?

[KarathKasun]

With the Wraith Stealth cooler I was able to do 3.6ghz/1.3v at ~65c.

 

Using a very old Scythe Katana II (100mm tower cooler) ATM, CPU @ 3.7ghz/~1.35v.  Temps are in the 60's under Prime95.

Same setup but @ 3.85ghz/1.4v gives temps in the 70's.

Fan profile prioritizes silence over temps.

[MyName13]

Bump

[asand1]

On 7/18/2017 at 3:09 PM, Princess Cadence said:

Apple and perform well in the same sentence?

Just don't try to use cheap, compatible, or convenient in that sentence.

[Biggerboot]

Most boards on the same chipset will be 'the same', give or take what features it has like front panel ports, i/o, cap quality, etc.  You can download the board's documentation to see more specifically what it's compatible with.

 

'Low-end' brand is kinda subjective.  Every brand can have a bad egg.  Look at the reviews and see if the manufacturer responds to said reviews.

[MyName13]

1 hour ago, Biggerboot said:

Most boards on the same chipset will be 'the same', give or take what features it has like front panel ports, i/o, cap quality, etc.  You can download the board's documentation to see more specifically what it's compatible with.

 

'Low-end' brand is kinda subjective.  Every brand can have a bad egg.  Look at the reviews and see if the manufacturer responds to said reviews.

I'm not sure if they are all the same, there are motherboards without vrm heatsinks from each manufacturer and more expensive ones do have heatsinks, then there is asrock's ab350m which is suspiciously close to A320 motherboards.Some b350s shouldn't be used for octa cores while some can be used (at least that's what I've heard).

[Biggerboot]

17 hours ago, MyName13 said:

I'm not sure if they are all the same, there are motherboards without vrm heatsinks from each manufacturer and more expensive ones do have heatsinks, then there is asrock's ab350m which is suspiciously close to A320 motherboards.Some b350s shouldn't be used for octa cores while some can be used (at least that's what I've heard).

My intended point is that they are suppose to be the same in regards to reliability and features.  Performance is also 'suppose' to be the same, but I'll elaborate on that.

 

A320's are locked, unless you're point is that they shouldn't have the same type of cooling.  If some Asrock boards are ill-equipped for overclocking due to overheating VRMs then it's their oversight (and it's their responsibility to fix their product description).  As for octa cores, they should work regardless.  It's a matter of power delivery, I've seen some boards only support up to 65w tdp - which is a board I wouldnt really consider for OC.  So there's no guessing there.  Mileage on RAM also varies on just about every board, and some aren't even R5 or R3 compatible out of the box.

 

I'm not completely up to date on the AM4 space, but the Ryzen ecosystem as a whole has some inconsistencies right now.  Do a fair bit of research on the board you buy even if it seems aesthetically better with vrm heatsinks.