ASUS X299 - Strix or TUF Mark 1?

[Deleted member 72990]

I'm having a hard time picking between these two motherboards.

I currently have a Sabertooth motherboard, so I was naturally leaning towards the TUF version, but I don't really like the new aesthetic that much, and I really hate that there is a fan on the motherboard that you can't take off - seems kind of gimmicky and those little motherboard fans always get whinny and die. However, since i cram a full SLI ATX system into a small HTPC case, I do like the armor on the board because it prevents cables and cooling hoses from abrading on the circuits on the board. Also I upgrade motherboards about every 5 years so I do like the robustness.

I think the Strix board looks really nice but doesn't have thermal armor, but also doesn't have that fan. Cooling might actually work better for me with this board since my fans will blow directly down on the board.

From a capability standpoint they seem similar and cost about the same.

Which do you think I should get? I plan on running 4000 MHz memory and overclocking the snot out of a 7800x.

Here's a pic of my current system internals to get an idea for how I need to fit stuff in there:

 

[David-Duc]

Tuf Mark 1 has a slightly better VRM & the back plate does help a little bit with VRM cooling too. I'd go for the Mk 1.

 

[Deleted member 72990]

Tuf Mark 1 has a slightly better VRM & the back plate does help a little bit with VRM cooling too. I'd go for the Mk 1.

Thanks for the input. I will have the two fans from my H100 basically blowing straight down on the VRM (see pic below) - that ought to help me out quite a bit with that right?

 

[David-Duc]

Should have no problem with the VRM. However, I've never fond of the 7800X on X299 since you're paying a premium for nothing ($399 CPU, $350 Mobo vs $300 CPU, $200 Mobo for intel 8xxx i7 or Ryzen). I'd say 7820X is the lowest CPU I would use on X299 platform.

 

[Deleted member 72990]

Should have no problem with the VRM. However, I've never fond of the 7800X on X299 since you're paying a premium for nothing ($399 CPU, $350 Mobo vs $300 CPU, $200 Mobo for intel 8xxx i7 or Ryzen). I'd say 7820X is the lowest CPU I would use on X299 platform.

I ended up buying a binned 4.9 GHz @ 1.25v 7800x from Silicon Lottery with the hopes of bumping it up to 5.0 GHz. I think that will be a nice combo of clock speed and cores, and will give me a good platform for future 2066 CPU's down the road.