Asus Strix B350-i vs X370-i

[LigTasm]

I know these boards are identical in terms of physical specifications, but does anyone know if the X370 version includes more voltage control options? I haven't been able to find anything concrete on this and I need to choose one pretty quickly here if I ever want to finish my build (I specifically need one of these due to 2x m.2 ports).

 

[Jayy88]

yeah my understanding the x boards are pretty feature rich compared to any of the B boards.

 

[LigTasm]

yeah my understanding the x boards are pretty feature rich compared to any of the B boards.

Yeah but there two are 100% identical except the chipset and a $50 price difference. They're literally the same board. I just need to know if the X370 has granular voltage control because a lot of the B350 only have offset.

 

[Darksieg]

I got the Strix X370-F. It has the offset option plus the option to type in whatever voltage you want.

 

[CyberJunk]

i had to buy the asus Rog strix x370 I-gaming motherboard because the B350 version was sold out everywhere is there any difference between the boards? i plan on oc a R5 1600x to 4ghz i got the ddr4 3200 gskill flare ram for AMD

 

[xLegendary]

If you want a good overclocking motherboard with tons of overclocking options, the B350 Fatal1ty is pretty much the best on the B350 chipset picks.
The VRMs are the best and the bios is quite good for such mid range motherboard.

 

[LigTasm]

If you want a good overclocking motherboard with tons of overclocking options, the B350 Fatal1ty is pretty much the best on the B350 chipset picks.
The VRMs are the best and the bios is quite good for such mid range motherboard.

I needed two m.2 slots, this is the only board that has them in AM4 ITX right now. Plus the Asus has a true 6+1 VRM because there is no onboard video outputs, while the ASRocks only have a 3+2 (it isn't actually doubled, much like the ASRock B350 Pro4 I have). If you want to OC an 1800X on it like I do this is your best bet.

Actually just got the machine booted up, my heatsink hasn't arrived yet so I've got my 1800X under a stock FX 4300 heatsink.... it actually works fine in windows but I'm not going to try stressing it.

 

[Nobu]

I needed two m.2 slots, this is the only board that has them in AM4 ITX right now. Plus the Asus has a true 6+1 VRM because there is no onboard video outputs, while the ASRocks only have a 3+2 (it isn't actually doubled, much like the ASRock B350 Pro4 I have). If you want to OC an 1800X on it like I do this is your best bet.

Actually just got the machine booted up, my heatsink hasn't arrived yet so I've got my 1800X under a stock FX 4300 heatsink.... it actually works fine in windows but I'm not going to try stressing it.

Did you read that somewhere (bold, underlined in quote), or just assuming based on lack of video outputs? The SoC still needs power for the memory controller, and various other on-chip features, even without the ports. It would be cool if true, but I have my doubts.

 

[Jayy88]

Yeah Asrock Killer would be wayyy better board, it's 12 phase too, probably awesome overclocking board and features.

 

[LigTasm]

Yeah Asrock Killer would be wayyy better board, it's 12 phase too, probably awesome overclocking board and features.

There are no true 12-phase AM4 boards, and certainly none in the ITX form factor. Although some of the full size ASRock boards do have very good power delivery and nice features, I almost ended up with the Taichi (same as the killer) before I got the Gigabyte K7 on sale. However, I've been itching to use the Phanteks Evolv Shift I've had for some time after gutting a Haswell rig out of it, the case is so nice. I decided to just buy a new SFX power supply and ITX board and move everything over.

Did you read that somewhere (bold, underlined in quote), or just assuming based on lack of video outputs? The SoC still needs power for the memory controller, and various other on-chip features, even without the ports. It would be cool if true, but I have my doubts.

There are several sites detailing the VRM on these boards. I didn't really care tbh as I only have room for a low profile cooler so overclocking heavily is out, I just needed two m.2 slots to use the drives I already own. My first preference was to have a board with no WIFI built in as I never use it and just disable it but it seems like they all have it, I guess it makes sense for the form factor as people like it to be more flexible for location.

 

[Nobu]

There are several sites detailing the VRM on these boards. I didn't really care tbh as I only have room for a low profile cooler so overclocking heavily is out, I just needed two m.2 slots to use the drives I already own. My first preference was to have a board with no WIFI built in as I never use it and just disable it but it seems like they all have it, I guess it makes sense for the form factor as people like it to be more flexible for location.

Fair enough, just curious personally.

 

[Jayy88]

There are no true 12-phase AM4 boards, and certainly none in the ITX form factor. Although some of the full size ASRock boards do have very good power delivery and nice features, I almost ended up with the Taichi (same as the killer) before I got the Gigabyte K7 on sale. However, I've been itching to use the Phanteks Evolv Shift I've had for some time after gutting a Haswell rig out of it, the case is so nice. I decided to just buy a new SFX power supply and ITX board and move everything over.



There are several sites detailing the VRM on these boards. I didn't really care tbh as I only have room for a low profile cooler so overclocking heavily is out, I just needed two m.2 slots to use the drives I already own. My first preference was to have a board with no WIFI built in as I never use it and just disable it but it seems like they all have it, I guess it makes sense for the form factor as people like it to be more flexible for location.

Well their saying on there it's a 12 phase or 10+2 I have no idea but I take it as something stronger and ok suited for a good Oc. idk get about any good 370 board and the ryzen 1600x like to see how good it is and could get a good clock out of one.

Probably fun to play around with.

 

[LigTasm]

Well their saying on there it's a 12 phase or 10+2 I have no idea but I take it as something stronger and ok suited for a good Oc. idk get about any good 370 board and the ryzen 1600x like to see how good it is and could get a good clock out of one.

Probably fun to play around with.

We aren't talking about the same thing here. I'm talking about Mini ITX. Small form factor. The two boards I started this thread about are ITX. My specific concern was that Asus made these two boards physically identical, 100% except for the chipset itself. I wanted to be able to control voltage incrementally though and fine tune as much as possible because I'm using an 1800X with a wraith max cooler, and B350 typically doesn't have manual voltage options and only allows offset changes.

There are no 12-phase or even 10-phase AM4 boards though. Every single one uses some version of an IR 8-phase controller which means you're either going with a true 6-phase +SOC/iGPU or a doubled 3 or 4 phase. In ASRocks case, the B350 boards aren't even doubled, they're parallel 3-phase setups which are slightly different to doubled (they are basically the best among the B350's in the lower price bracket though, good VRM heatsink and parallel components means good heat dissipation).

If you really want to know about this stuff, look up buildzoids videos about AM4 VRM design on youtube, it will be very informative for you. They all work fine, and its not like you're going to get any different results unless you're overclocking on LN2. Memory compatibility and features are more of a worry than the VRM design on this platform.

 

[Jayy88]

We aren't talking about the same thing here. I'm talking about Mini ITX. Small form factor. The two boards I started this thread about are ITX. My specific concern was that Asus made these two boards physically identical, 100% except for the chipset itself. I wanted to be able to control voltage incrementally though and fine tune as much as possible because I'm using an 1800X with a wraith max cooler, and B350 typically doesn't have manual voltage options and only allows offset changes.

There are no 12-phase or even 10-phase AM4 boards though. Every single one uses some version of an IR 8-phase controller which means you're either going with a true 6-phase +SOC/iGPU or a doubled 3 or 4 phase. In ASRocks case, the B350 boards aren't even doubled, they're parallel 3-phase setups which are slightly different to doubled (they are basically the best among the B350's in the lower price bracket though, good VRM heatsink and parallel components means good heat dissipation).

If you really want to know about this stuff, look up buildzoids videos about AM4 VRM design on youtube, it will be very informative for you. They all work fine, and its not like you're going to get any different results unless you're overclocking on LN2. Memory compatibility and features are more of a worry than the VRM design on this platform.

Yeah I'll check it out...I don't know just seen some found and said some of the B boards were alittle featureless and weaker, idk saying the 370s were a lot nicer.

 

[LigTasm]

Yeah I'll check it out...I don't know just seen some found and said some of the B boards were alittle featureless and weaker, idk saying the 370s were a lot nicer.

Yeah the B-series is more budget oriented, but I'm really happy with the ASRock B350 Pro4 and B350M Pro4, very nice boards for under $80. I used both several times, they overclock well and have excellent features for the price. Not to mention ASRock seems to be the only brand smart enough to put multiple m.2 slots on the full size boards (and they don't put it directly under the hot GPU to boot).

 

[Jayy88]

Yeah the B-series is more budget oriented, but I'm really happy with the ASRock B350 Pro4 and B350M Pro4, very nice boards for under $80. I used both several times, they overclock well and have excellent features for the price. Not to mention ASRock seems to be the only brand smart enough to put multiple m.2 slots on the full size boards (and they don't put it directly under the hot GPU to boot).

Yeah I trust Asrock did awesome job on the old piledriver board. That's why I said the killer 370 and like the 1600x I think would be a lot fun to play around with and Learn Ryzen. And apparently stuff is a lot better now in gaming and stuff, but even that cpu is multithreaded alittle better. or it's just go ahead and get a 1700/1800x etc.

I think they did an awesome job really but people won't buy the shit because of bulldozer/piledriver.

 

[LigTasm]

Yeah I trust Asrock did awesome job on the old piledriver board. That's why I said the killer 370 and like the 1600x I think would be a lot fun to play around with and Learn Ryzen. And apparently stuff is a lot better now in gaming and stuff, but even that cpu is multithreaded alittle better. or it's just go ahead and get a 1700/1800x etc.

I think they did an awesome job really but people won't buy the shit because of bulldozer/piledriver.

I got my 1800X for an insane deal at microcenter, $299 with the B350 board and $60 off, I walked out the door with both for like $312 after tax. So now I'm going to keep it until the 2700X shows up.

 

[Jayy88]

I got my 1800X for an insane deal at microcenter, $299 with the B350 board and $60 off, I walked out the door with both for like $312 after tax. So now I'm going to keep it until the 2700X shows up.

Yeah they got some good deals. I don't really need anything else though. decided to go with Team Blue for awhile and been happy with the performance.

Need some more tims to try, Haswell block is slightly hotter maybe, but not really enough to matter. And mounted it wrong twice and didn't figure out the standoff lol, it's right now. a few times starting to see it go to 80c at 4.8ghz...a little hot for that.

 

[LigTasm]

Yeah they got some good deals. I don't really need anything else though. decided to go with Team Blue for awhile and been happy with the performance.

Need some more tims to try, Haswell block is slightly hotter maybe, but not really enough to matter. And mounted it wrong twice and didn't figure out the standoff lol, it's right now. a few times starting to see it go to 80c at 4.8ghz...a little hot for that.

Delid that thing, works wonders. I got the rockit cool kit and its super easy to do with that.

 

[Jayy88]

Delid that thing, works wonders. I got the rockit cool kit and its super easy to do with that.

Yeah I'm looking at a tool. delid it and put liquid metal on it, then relid with silicone/clamp let it dry. thought about lapping it too. but idk. Like I said it's more cruzer mode 4.8ghz at 1.23v. for now.

 

[LigTasm]

Well it seems as if my $200 was in vain anyways, this board doesn't support SATA m.2 drives at all on either port apparently. Fucking Asus.

 

[BoiseTech]

Well it seems as if my $200 was in vain anyways, this board doesn't support SATA m.2 drives at all on either port apparently. Fucking Asus.

I have a sata m.2 on my top slot (with the audio)

The bottom is labeled as nvme only.