AM4 Ryzen Motherboard & RAM - What Should I Buy?

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Flogger23m

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Looking to buy an AM4 Ryzen platform upgrade. I am looking at the Ryzen 5 1600 and will want 16GB of DDR4 RAM. I am trying to keep the motherboard in the low priced range ($80-100). Maybe I am asking too much given my lower budget, but these are the things I am looking for:

- B350 board. I assume this is suitable for OCing?

- Overclocking. I want to push the Ryzen 1600 to 3.8GHZ or so. I assume this will require adding some voltage?

- Stability & easy to use BIOS / UFEI.

- Two M.2 slots would be great, but I understand AM4 boards can't run both at full speed and often disable SATA slots when both are in use. Not a huge deal, but since I don't use a DVD drive anymore and I will be switching to M.2 SSDs in the future more than one M.2 can be useful...

- 8 USB ports on the rear.

- mATX or full size ATX. I will consider both form factors.

- Anything else I should keep in mind?

- What are good kits of RAM for AM4? I know this is very board dependent, though I was recommended CORSAIR Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000. But if you know of a good motherboard / RAM combo, please recommend both.

- Anything else I need to look for when it comes to AM4 motherboards?

Specs wise, this will be powered by an EVGA Super Nova 650 G3 and will be running a few SATA SSDs, HDDs and a GTX 1070.

Some motherboards I found with decent specs on the surface. Are these decent enough for my requirements (OCing, stability)? Or is there a better, more reliable board than these?

ASRock AB350M Pro 4 mATX:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod..._re=ASRock_AB350M_Pro4-_-13-157-762-_-Product

MSI B350M Bazooka:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...=MSI_B350M_BAZOOKA_AM4-_-13-144-027-_-Product

Any help would be appreciated!
 
Overclocking and pushing 6C12T on a B350 board is not going out work out on current boards.
 
Ram wise, gskill tridentz 14-14-14 3200 is the pick these days. There are 4 corsair vengeance revisions, each with different chips and it's difficult to find the right revision (4.2-4.4 from memory).

Motherboard wise, all the 350 boards have compromises. If you can spring for an Asus prime x370 pro, do.
 
I said the b350 boards have compromises:
They have Realtek nics
They have limited slots
Only one series (gigabyte gaming) has a modern audio chip
They often have 4-6 power phases (which will support 3.7ghz, but long term probably won't manage higher)
 
Keljian said:
I said the b350 boards have compromises:
They have Realtek nics
They have limited slots
Only one series (gigabyte gaming) has a modern audio chip
They often have 4-6 power phases (which will support 3.7ghz, but long term probably won't manage higher)
Click to expand...

Any noticeable, real world shortcomings with the Realtek NICS? I've always had Realtek, but wouldn't mind springing for a board with Intel if it is that much better.

Are the ASRock X370 boards, UFEI / BIOS fairly stable and easy to update?
 
Realtek nics traditionally have poor driver support, and rarely manage to keep line speed on big transfers, also have poor latency. Don't know if they still do, I prefer not to use them as a matter of course.

Re Brands of board, Gigabyte, Asrock and MSI seem to have the quickest bios releases ( as in they get releases before Asus). That said I am happy to wait for a new bios if it is going to be tested more/is going to be more stable.
 
Ended up purchasing the ASRock X370 Killer SLI/ac AM4 AMD Promontory. With luck it will be decent enough. Hopefully the board I receive has updated BIOS with EZ Flash already, otherwise I have do update via Rufus DOS or similar. If anyone has this board do let me know how it is working and what RAM you have.
 
Why not just do a USB flash in the bios? Haven't seen a modern board that can't do that.
 
Keljian said:
Why not just do a USB flash in the bios? Haven't seen a modern board that can't do that.
Click to expand...

It will run off of a USB, but it seems like the EZ Flash is not in the original BIOS. So depending on what BIOS version I get, there may be that extra step. I think starting in BIOS version 1.60 you can just flash via the utility in the UFEI. Odd, but clearly this and most other Ryzen boards were rushed out the door. The good news with this one is there are some frequent updates, so with luck, more RAM / stability settings in the future.
 
I have the asrock 370 killer ac, i bought it launch week and it came with 1.3 bios, i would think by now with how fast stock is going they are sending it out with new bios versions. TBH i flashed from windows from 1.3 >1.6 >1.63 > 2 >2.1 or so. i didnt bother with the newest since it said it only fixed up the agesa reporting string. Waiting for the next. I have trident z RGB 2x8gb cl14 and when i went to the 2.1 update i was able to boot in on the XMP profile, but it wasnt stable ive been running 2933 with cl16-18-18-36 timings until the next bios revision. At this I was not getting cold start issues. It has been a good board for me and with the next big bios (which i am waiting for) I hope to get my xmp of 3200.

I do also have my cpu at 3.8 on a 1.3 vcore for the last month or so. Been stable. I can tell you though that ever since my last bios update i think the 2.1 or so the power saving while manual OC stopped working. it no longer downclocks and sits at 3.8 all cores 24/7 at 1.3. Was working prior to that update so hopefully they will fix it up along with the mem support. Best bet is still the flarex kit at 3200
 
Keljian said:
I said the b350 boards have compromises:
They have Realtek nics
They have limited slots
Only one series (gigabyte gaming) has a modern audio chip
They often have 4-6 power phases (which will support 3.7ghz, but long term probably won't manage higher)
Click to expand...
4 phases is more than enough to power a 6 core on 4.0 ghz oc!!!!
 
I have a 1600 on an msi b350 that Ive been running at 3.9Ghz since I got it.

lol at this silly shit.

I'm also running geil evo x 3200. It runs great at 3200, just has cold boot issues so I run 2966 with tighter timings. Hopefully next bios fixes it.
 
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I just built a Ryzen 1700 with the ASRock AB350M Pro 4 mATX and it is working ok. My Ryzen 1700 can easily reach 3800 Mhz with stock voltage but I use a higher 1.3v to be safe. 1.37v is stable up to 3950 Mhz. I can't get 4GHz even with increased voltage.

Can anyone provide their B350 VRM temps? Using HWINFO, my VRM temps is 98C even with stock voltage and no OC. VRM temps increased to 100-101C when overclocked. The VRMs are not hot to the touch. I don't think they are at that high temperature.
 
SCSI said:
I just built a Ryzen 1700 with the ASRock AB350M Pro 4 mATX and it is working ok. My Ryzen 1700 can easily reach 3800 Mhz with stock voltage but I use a higher 1.3v to be safe. 1.37v is stable up to 3950 Mhz. I can't get 4GHz even with increased voltage.

Can anyone provide their B350 VRM temps? Using HWINFO, my VRM temps is 98C even with stock voltage and no OC. VRM temps increased to 100-101C when overclocked. The VRMs are not hot to the touch. I don't think they are at that high temperature.
Click to expand...

Doesn't HWINFO give a +20 degrees variance...? Or is that just for the CPU temps (versus temp readings from Ryzen Master)...?!?
 
Boil said:
Doesn't HWINFO give a +20 degrees variance...? Or is that just for the CPU temps (versus temp readings from Ryzen Master)...?!?
Click to expand...

CPU temp are the same in HWINFO and Ryzen Master. Motherboard VRM temperature is not present in Ryzen Master. Sorry for hijacking this thread.

Flogger23m, how is your build going?

upload_2017-6-8_23-14-32.png
 

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SCSI said:
CPU temp are the same in HWINFO and Ryzen Master. Motherboard VRM temperature is not present in Ryzen Master. Sorry for hijacking this thread.

Flogger23m, how is your build going?

View attachment 27226
Click to expand...

Was going good until I just updated the BIOS to version 2.50. Recap on my specs:

ASRock X370 Killer/AC SLI
16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000
Ryzen 1600


Running at 1.35v, the CPU ran a stable 3.8GHZ fine. RAM at 2667 MHZ. CAS settings here:

http://i.imgur.com/GpfTbmM.jpg

92.5F ambient tempts, Wraith cooler to. 3-4 hours of non-stop ArmA 3 and you can see the temps were fairly good.

My issues with the new BIOS, copy / paste from another forum:

Updated and I must say I am not a fan. First of all, I cannot seem to get my CPU to a stable 3.8GHZ anymore on my Ryzen 1600. Same 1.35 voltage, but in Windows it runs at 3.4 GHZ with spikes to 3.7. I disabled Cool And Quiet in the BIOS, which seems to have made zero effect.

RAM wise I cannot seem to change the settings to 2667 anymore. No matter what I try, I only get 2133. So speed wise, both the CPU and RAM suffered with this update.

My board arrived four days before BIOS version 2.40. I am assuming I was on 2.30, but I seem unable to download such a version. Is there anyway to revert to it? Or is there anyway to make these BIOS run the same settings I had previously?

Previously, there were my settings and the only things I had bothered to change in the BIOS: http://i.imgur.com/bKm0ipN.jpg
 
I think I have the same RAM as you except that I have the 2x4GB kit. After upgrading my AB350M Pro4 to BIOS 2.50, my Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz (CMK8GX4M2B3000C15) can now run with its XMP Profile of 15-17-17-35 @ 2933. You can try reloading the defaults and try the settings again. What memory slots are you using? I am using slot 2 and 4.

I followed the following overclocking.
I am using 1.36v on my 1700 to be stable at 3850. I need 1.37v to be stable at 3950. For some reason, it is not stable beyond 3975. I also disabled C6 mode as per the video.
 
All right, quick update. I could not get the BIOS to disable Cool N Quiet. Saving an exiting would go to a black screen and do nothing, so I had to shut down the PC. Upon booting into the BIOS again, I reset to default settings. Restart, then disabled Cool n Quiet. This worked. I am running at previous settings. I tried 2933 which worked, but that was before I disabled Cool N Quiet. Now I am back to 2667 to see if it is stable, and will try 2933 later. Are you able to get the RAM higher than 2933? I am doubtful and never bothered with OCing RAM before, but I am just curious.

Is 1.37v safe for long term use? I am using a Wraith right now which is sufficient for me as far as I can tell. But I'd think bumping the voltage will require a better cooler.
 
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