Looking at Threadripper motherboards. Need input.

[Ethan_NLHW]

I recently "upgraded" my system to the X399 platform and the Threadripper 1950x. The reason that upgraded is in quotations is because I have been having nothing but issues, mainly with hard shutdowns and blue screen errors which were documented elsewhere on the forums here in search of answers. I had originally purchased the MSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon, as I have had good luck with MSI in the past. However, lately I have been starting to move away from them as it seems their quality and customer service have been slowly taking a downturn. After two motherboards with the exact same issue, I fought with Newegg to get a refund on the motherboard so I may purchase something from a different manufacturer. Wound up costing me over $50 in a restocking fee, but I digress. In any case, I am down to two motherboards, both from Asus. The first one I am looking at is the Asus RoG Zenith Extreme X399 which is priced at $549.99, and the second is the Asus Strix Gaming X399-E priced at $399.99. 

 

My reservations with these choices start at the fact that I have heard that Asus customer support is some of the worst in the business. My second concern is that the reviews on the Zenith are sitting at three stars (eggs?) on Newegg, with the highest number of users submitting one star reviews, but the second highest number is five stars. The Strix just came out the other day, there aren't any on that board. Almost every professional review I have read on the Zenith rates it as the best X399 board out there, but user reviews are saying it is terrible. My RAM modules are on the QVL list for both of the boards I have listed here, and I just sent them back to Corsair for a warranty replacement just in case they were in fact the issue. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

[Enderman]

I had no issues with asus support.

Quick and easy RMA.

[Jumper118]

the asrock boards are great these dayz. 

[DXMember]

heard the Asrock Taichi board is great

[just_dave]

I am hearing bad things about the MSI one.

I would pick Zenith, Prime or Strix because i have the best experience with Asus so far

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

i would pick donkeystone asrock

[dexT]

1 hour ago, Pohernori said:

i would pick donkeystone asrock

BurroBoulder

[Marinatall_Ironside]

I would go for the Zenith Extreme simply because with the Ryzen Threadripper, that board will let you have access to all 60 PCIe lanes. Plus it's a baller board which I plan on picking up around holiday once I sell off my CPU, motherboard, and case, and help out my brother with his upgrade because mine is going to need some specialized cooling (I mean a cooler with proper TR4 support and I'm not going to blow USD $80 on a cooler that I'm only going to use for a week or two when I make the jump to custom watercooling)

 

The PRIME and the ROG Strix options are not terrible either, and I would recommend those if you're looking for a more value-oriented option, and if you're going for the 1900X since the Zenith Extreme does not support that CPU.

Edited September 18, 2017 by JurunceNK

[Ethan_NLHW]

29 minutes ago, JurunceNK said:

I would go for the Zenith Extreme simply because with the Ryzen Threadripper, that board will let you have access to all 60 PCIe lanes. Plus it's a baller board which I plan on picking up around holiday once I sell off my CPU, motherboard, and case, and help out my brother with his upgrade because mine is going to need some specialized cooling (I mean a cooler with proper TR4 support and I'm not going to blow USD $80 on a cooler that I'm only going to use for a week or two when I make the jump to custom watercooling)

 

The PRIME and the ROG Strix options are not terrible either, and I would recommend those if you're looking for a more value-oriented option, and if you're going for the 1900X since the Zenith Extreme does not support that CPU.

Nope, no 1900X. I've already got my 1950X, just trying to eliminate as many avenues of problems I may encounter. The MSI board on paper was a great value for the money, but terrible in its execution. I'm swearing off of MSI for good at this point.