Upgrade to X370 from B350

[HizzleBizzle]

Hi all, I have an R5 1600x on an Asus B350 Prime-Plus motherboard and a full custom Waterloop. I've managed to get it rock stable at 3.9GHZ but (I admit mostly for epeen reasons) I'd like to get it to at least the big 4.0 stable. It will boot at 4ghz and run Aida64 for around 10 minutes before crashing, so I can practically taste that stable OC. I'm currently running four ram sticks which I don't think is helping, going to buy a pair of 8gb 3000mhz sticks anyway, but I'm also considering upgrading my motherboard to an X370 one with some nicer VRMs. My question is realistically is better VRMs actually going to make enough of a difference to get me stable at 4ghz or is it just a waste of money? 

Thanks for your help, 

Harry

[wildgg]

you're not going to notice the 100 mhz difference.

i would stick with what you have

[Colexd]

waste of money for that 100mhz

[HizzleBizzle]

Just now, wildthing said:

you're not going to notice the 100 mhz difference.

i would stick with what you have

The thing is I can Boot and run semi-stable at that clock speed. If it was an absolute non starter I'd agree, but since it is close-ish to stable I'm not sure. An X370 board would also give me finer voltage control than using f*cking offsets, so I could stick it slightly closer to the 1.45v I'm comfortable with on my liquid loop without risking it over shooting. 

[HizzleBizzle]

1 minute ago, Colexd said:

waste of money for that 100mhz

I 100% agree, but I have the money to burn and am pretty desperate to hit 4ghz. If I can be 70% sure it'll get me stable I'll probably do it. 

[Jurrunio]

Just now, HizzleBizzle said:

The thing is I can Boot and run semi-stable at that clock speed. If it was an absolute non starter I'd agree, but since it is close-ish to stable I'm not sure. An X370 board would also give me finer voltage control than using f*cking offsets, so I could stick it slightly closer to the 1.45v I'm comfortable with on my liquid loop without risking it over shooting. 

If you are happy with it then go for it. Based on what you said I dont think you really care on spending money wisely anyway.

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

If you are happy with it then go for it. Based on what you said I dont think you really care on spending money wisely anyway.

But X370 boards look cooler too, so they're a necessity, not an unwise purchase. 

[HizzleBizzle]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

If you are happy with it then go for it. Based on what you said I dont think you really care on spending money wisely anyway.

I'm not going to spend the money if there's no chance in hell it'll happen, but I'm not overly concerned about the money going down the drain either. I'll probably go R7 when Ryzen 2 hits so I'll probably end up buying a better board at some point anyway 

[HizzleBizzle]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

But X370 boards look cooler too, so they're a necessity. 

I like your style

[Zando_]

Just now, HizzleBizzle said:

I like your style

Literally. Style = looks cooler. And I've been thinking about X370 boards for my maybe if I ever save some money Ryzen build, since; 1. They look nicer, 2. They have more features (AND MOAR RGB!!!), and 3. They are better, somehow. If you've got the money, I'd say to go for it. The best of the best is the ASUS ROG Crosshair, and the STRIX X370-F looks pretty good as well. I really like Gigabyte's boards, but I heard they have lower end B350 VRMs, so that wouldn't help. Or just scrap the 1600X and go Threadripper .

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

I'd still buy x370, for the epeen.

[HizzleBizzle]

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Literally. Style = looks cooler. And I've been thinking about X370 boards for my maybe if I ever save some money Ryzen build, since; 1. They look nicer, 2. They have more features (AND MOAR RGB!!!), and 3. They are better, somehow. If you've got the money, I'd say to go for it. The best of the best is the ASUS ROG Crosshair, and the STRIX X370-F looks pretty good as well. I really like Gigabyte's boards, but I heard they have lower end B350 VRMs, so that wouldn't help. Or just scrap the 1600X and go Threadripper .

As the HD120s may have given away, I'm a bit of a sucker for that RGB. You make a good point though. They look cool enough that even if it does literally nothing for my clocks I probably won't be sad for too long

1 minute ago, Pohernori said:

I'd still buy x370, for the epeen.

Its all about the Epeen. 

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, HizzleBizzle said:

As the HD120s may have given away, I'm a bit of a sucker for that RGB. You make a good point though. They look cool enough that even if it does literally nothing for my clocks I probably won't be sad for too long

Yeah, I think the joy of an awesome looking rig will make up for the damage to your wallet...

[HizzleBizzle]

5 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Yeah, I think the joy of an awesome looking rig will make up for the damage to your wallet...

I'm pretty convinced. Thanks guys

 

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, HizzleBizzle said:

I'm pretty convinced. Thanks guys

 

Dew it. And post pics, I wanna see how awesome it looks!

[Princess Luna]

25 minutes ago, Colexd said:

waste of money for that 100mhz

waste of money completely, there will be no more overclocking headroom since Asus Prime already has all the features needed to reach the silicon limit, this is the classical over spending on motherboard for a weak processor, if it was he 1700 then it'd make a bit more sense... but the way it is now this is a completely senseless thing, even from the aesthetic standpoint as the rig looks pretty nice as it is already.

 

reminds me all those people who over spend on z170 high end boards and expensive cooling and then slapped an i5 6600k on it only to see my i7 6700 on the cheapest h110m board ever outperform it all

 

Real though motherboards does not affect performance, there is no sense on this replacement.

[HizzleBizzle]

4 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Dew it. And post pics, I wanna see how awesome it looks!

Will do! 

[Colexd]

1 minute ago, Princess Cadence said:

waste of money completely

totally agree, better off spending that where there is an actual increase in performance.

[Princess Luna]

Just now, Colexd said:

totally agree, better off spending that where there is an actual increase in performance.

Yeah and OP saying "I got money either ways lulz" just leads me to think why not buying a better processor that'd justify the motherboard in the first place then? ?

[HizzleBizzle]

1 minute ago, Princess Cadence said:

waste of money completely, there will be no more overclocking headroom since Asus Prime already has all the features needed to reach the silicon limit, this is the classical over spending on motherboard for a weak processor, if it was he 1700 then it'd make a bit more sense... but the way it is now this is a completely senseless thing, even from the aesthetic standpoint as the rig looks pretty nice as it is already.

 

reminds me all those people who over spend on z170 high end boards and expensive cooling and then slapped an i5 6600k on it only to see my i7 6700 on the cheapest h110m board ever outperform it all

 

Real though motherboards does not affect performance, there is no sense on this replacement.

Thanks for the compliment as far as I know while for Intel the difference made by a motherboard is tiny, for AMD I believe it actually does matter somewhat. The only reason I'm really floating this is because the chip is somewhat stable already. With finer control and better power delivery I reckon it might get there 

[HizzleBizzle]

3 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Yeah and OP saying "I got money either ways lulz" just leads me to think why not buying a better processor that'd justify the motherboard in the first place then? ?

Couldnt afford an 1800x but wanted the higher clockspeeds. Probably should have bought a 1700, but considering my luck in the silicon lottery I didn't want to risk it

[Princess Luna]

1 minute ago, HizzleBizzle said:

believe it actually does matter somewhat

It actually goes like this.... Avoid MSi boards at all cost, get an Asus or AsRock and you're pretty much done, BIOS and VRM wise are a nightmare for MSi, but you already got like the best b350 motherboard out there, I'd even throw the R7 1800x on it for the matter, so trust me performance wise you already done you homework, change stuff now won't lead you any where but where you already stand.

 

1 minute ago, HizzleBizzle said:

Couldnt afford an 1800x but wanted the higher clockspeeds. Probably should have bought a 1700. 

My brother bought the 1800x thanks to a promotional pre-sale, he did get a x370 variant of the Prime-PRO  and is terrifically satisfied... He had been waiting forever to upgrade his workstation (he's a professional video editor) from an old locked i7 3770 but the prices for the i7 6900k were ludicrous.

 

The Ryzen system fit like a glove, I do think since you had the means and interest, even if you don't use the CPU to 100%, the r7 1700 was justifiable.

 

Now my true tip is, don't mess around much with this rig, maybe do get Samsung B-Die RAM (3000~3200mhz) because that it sure pays off but aside from that just save your $$$ and remake an entire system by the time we have Ice Lake 10nm Intel processors on the horizon, it'll be much worthier "upgrade path".

[HizzleBizzle]

1 minute ago, Princess Cadence said:

It actually goes like this.... Avoid MSi boards at all cost, get an Asus or AsRock and you're pretty much done, BIOS and VRM wise are a nightmare for MSi, but you already got like the best b350 motherboard out there, I'd even throw the R7 1800x on it for the matter, so trust me performance wise you already done you homework, change stuff now won't lead you any where but where you already stand.

 

My brother bought the 1800x thanks to a promotional pre-sale, he did get a x370 variant of the Prime-PRO  and is terrifically satisfied... He had been waiting forever to upgrade his workstation (he's a professional video editor) from an old locked i7 3770 but the prices for the i7 6900k were ludicrous.

 

The Ryzen system fit like a glove, I do think since you had the means and interest, even if you don't use the CPU to 100%, the r7 1700 was justifiable.

 

Now my true tip is, don't mess around much with this rig, maybe do get Samsung B-Die RAM (3000~3200mhz) because that it sure pays off but aside from that just save your $$$ and remake an entire system by the time we have Ice Lake 10nm Intel processors on the horizon, it'll be much worthier "upgrade path".

Actually very good advice, thanks very much.