Looking for a good AM4 Ryzen motherboard

[Rehmanpa]

as the title states I'm looking for a good AM4 Ryzen motherboard.

As for my needs, I will be running a Ryzen 1700 and 32gb ram (2 16gb sticks). I have 8 hard drives, plus a CD drive and any kind of case e-sata ports, so I know I need a lot of sata slots. These are the two motherboard I found:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...BYTE_GA-AX370-GAMING_5-_-13-128-992-_-Product
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813145001

I really like these two motherboards. They seem to have enough Sata ports for my need. Also, what is the real difference between these two? Is it just the dual ethernet ports? Is it worth the extra money? What do you guys think of these motherboards? Thanks for your input.

Edit: I would like to be able to overclock the processor to at least 3.9 gh/z.

 

[infrared]

I don't have any experience with those motherboards, but I know there's quite a few users here who have them. Hopefully someone who owns one will drop in and give their opinion. You could always have a read through the AMD Ryzen Discussion thread while you're waiting, lots of overclocking talk in there so you can see who's struggling/winning and what hardware they're using.

Either one of those motherboards should do what you want tbh. You might have trouble with the 2x 16GB ram, it should work but be prepared to not reach it's rated speeds. I think some of the latest bios updates have helped a lot with ram compatability so hopefully you won't experience any problems.

 

[Rehmanpa]

I don't have any experience with those motherboards, but I know there's quite a few users here who have them. Hopefully someone who owns one will drop in and give their opinion. You could always have a read through the AMD Ryzen Discussion thread while you're waiting, lots of overclocking talk in there so you can see who's struggling/winning and what hardware they're using.

Either one of those motherboards should do what you want tbh. You might have trouble with the 2x 16GB ram, it should work but be prepared to not reach it's rated speeds. I think some of the latest bios updates have helped a lot with ram compatability so hopefully you won't experience any problems.

Yeah I'm curious about seeing who has had encounters with 2x16gb ram. I was reading on energy and some reviews said that the gaming k5 I believe does not support BLCK? Does this make any kind of chip overclock impossible? Also hopefully others will comment on this post.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

This could be a bad time to buy a new board, well, atleast thru most of July. All AM4 boards are still in the "trial and error" phase, meaning there will a lots of BIOS updates(and prolly a lot more to come) that will improve stability and performance. Some manufacturers make it easy to update the BIOS so if you are adept at update a BIOS it should be issue. So take your time and prioritize a couple boards that really fulfills all your needs. The 1700 will OC depending on your ability to keep it cool enough. Your board choices should match the CPU (based on speculation) which would be of the (B)350 level for 1600/1700. 370 (is) more for 1800/1800X/1700x chips.

 

[lukart]

If your looking to overclock, you should perhaps take a look at Taichi X370, one of the best out there.

 

[Rehmanpa]

If your looking to overclock, you should perhaps take a look at Taichi X370, one of the best out there.

Looking at the gigabyte gaming k5 revision 1 because it's got all the sata ports I need and it has 10 usb 3.1 ports which is a huge plus vs the taichi

 

[R-T-B]

Does this make any kind of chip overclock impossible? Also hopefully others will comment on this post.

Nope, you are just limited to multiplier OC. Which isn't bad, you get nearly nothing from BCLK OCs anyhow.

I have a Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 5, which other than sucking at p-state control (power saving breaks when you OC) I have found excellent for the money. I also have an experimental bios that may fix the p-state issue, will test it later tonight.

 

[Rehmanpa]

Nope, you are just limited to multiplier OC. Which isn't bad, you get nearly nothing from BCLK OCs anyhow.

I have a Gigabyte Aorus Gaming 5, which other than sucking at p-state control (power saving breaks when you OC) I have found excellent for the money. I also have an experimental bios that may fix the p-state issue, will test it later tonight.

Please let me know how it goes, I'm really looking at the Gigabyte one because it's such a good looking motherboard for that $160ish price-tag.

 

[R-T-B]

Please let me know how it goes, I'm really looking at the Gigabyte one because it's such a good looking motherboard for that $160ish price-tag.

Sadly, my mod-bios's P-state control appears completely broken.

So yeah, other than c-states, you aren't getting any power savings on the Gigabyte if you overclock. C-states still do pretty good though, for running at full clocks all the time the wattage is surprisingly low.

Weight that into your decision. I'm sure it'll be fixed someday, just not today.

 

[Rehmanpa]

Sadly, my mod-bios's P-state control appears completely broken.

So yeah, other than c-states, you aren't getting any power savings on the Gigabyte if you overclock. C-states still do pretty good though, for running at full clocks all the time the wattage is surprisingly low.

Weight that into your decision. I'm sure it'll be fixed someday, just not today.

I don't know what P-state or C-states are. How high can you overclock on the motherboard as it is already? I'm not looking for anything that high, I'd be happy with a 4.0ghz oc.

 

[R-T-B]

I don't know what P-state or C-states are. How high can you overclock on the motherboard as it is already? I'm not looking for anything that high, I'd be happy with a 4.0ghz oc.

They are power saving functions.

P-States means it reduces frequency when not in use.

C-states don't reduce frequency when not in use, they simply are a form of telling the cpu "we're running at full Ghz, but still, nothing to do so cool your jets a bit." Less effective than p-states but still surprisingly effective. They work on this board. P-states also work until you overclock (then they break and you run at full speed all the time)

I got 4.0Ghz out of mine, and can run 4x8GB DDR3200 ram as in my specs no prob. But my chip is an 1800X, so YMMV.

 

[Rehmanpa]

They are power saving functions.

P-States means it reduces frequency when not in use.

C-states don't reduce frequency when not in use, they simply are a form of telling the cpu "we're running at full Ghz, but still, nothing to do so cool your jets a bit." Less effective than p-states but still surprisingly effective. They work on this board. P-states also work until you overclock (then they break and you run at full speed all the time)

I got 4.0Ghz out of mine, and can run 4x8GB DDR3200 ram as in my specs no prob. But my chip is an 1800X, so YMMV.

What ram kit did you buy? I'm looking at getting 32gb and had been thinking about 2 16gb sticks but then I saw they had performance issues.

 

[R-T-B]

This is my exact kit, originally bought for z170 but works fine for Ryzen:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232207

You will need XMP support for them to work automatically though. The gigabyte board I linked has that, as do most higher end X370 boards.

Oh, and yes, they are pricey as hell. They weren't always that bad.

 

[Rehmanpa]

This is my exact kit, originally bought for z170 but works fine for Ryzen:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232207

You will need XMP support for them to work automatically though. The gigabyte board I linked has that, as do most higher end X370 boards.

Damn. I'm not spending $361 on that ram when I could get 2 16gb sticks for around $200. is there any ram that's good but is cheaper? Also this is the motherboard you were talking about I presume:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813145001&ignorebbr=1

 

[R-T-B]

Damn. I'm not spending $361 on that ram when I could get 2 16gb sticks for around $200. is there any ram that's good but is cheaper? Also this is the motherboard you were talking about I presume:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813145001&ignorebbr=1

Yeah, I edited that in, they are way too expensive. You basically want single-sided Samsung B-die ram if possible (you will likely have to accept double sided for 16GB though). Here's a good guide, see what you can dig up:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/62vp2g/clearing_up_any_samsung_bdie_confusion_eg_on/

This is actually the mobo I meant. It looks lower end because it lacks the BCLK generator, but you'll actually get a better OC on this (if not on Ryzen today then future ones) I think because the VRM is really better built than the K5:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...m_re=GA-AX370-Gaming_5-_-13-128-992-_-Product

 

[Rehmanpa]

Yeah, I edited that in, they are way too expensive. You basically want single-sided Samsung B-die ram if possible (you will likely have to accept double sided for 16GB though). Here's a good guide, see what you can dig up:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/62vp2g/clearing_up_any_samsung_bdie_confusion_eg_on/

This is actually the mobo I meant. It looks lower end because it lacks the BCLK generator, but you'll actually get a better OC on this (if not on Ryzen today then future ones) I think because the VRM is really better built than the K5:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...m_re=GA-AX370-Gaming_5-_-13-128-992-_-Product

Is the performance difference even that noticeable? Also, will ram that says works on an Intel platform work with Ryzen?

 

[R-T-B]

Is the performance difference even that noticeable? Also, will ram that says works on an Intel platform work with Ryzen?

Yeah, intel ram will work fine if you have a board that supports Intel XMP (many do), or punch in the timings manually.

If you want surefire Ryzen ready ram though, it's hard to beat ram kit that is actually on a QVL for the motherboard you are buying.

Samsung B-die just tends to work well and fast, whether it's on the QVL or not.

Faster (higher mhz) ram on Ryzen is a benefit though, as it increases the speed at which the two quad core complexes can communicate, thus improving overall performance.