AM4 motherboards - what are the differences in chipsets?

Scougar · 15 Mar 2017 at 19:06

So I'm looking at getting a Ryzen setup, and I notice there is a lot of whohar about the motherboards, and getting a 'cheap' one doesn't play well with memory OC's yet.

What are the differences in the chipsets etc (350/370/any others?) and what is the recommended board right now that isn't the crosshair?

I really don't want to be paying out 300 for a board tbh. 150 would be much more reasonable as I simply don't need all the bells and whistles, but I wouldn't mind good overclocking.

HeX · 15 Mar 2017 at 21:15

Seems to be that they all OC well, to the limits of Ryzen (~4GHz), it's the memory OC that the lower end boards have problems with as they don't have clock generators, and as such can't change the base clock to enable high RAM speeds. The only boards with this are the CH6, Taichi, and K7. If you want a mid range board then the ASUS Prime, MSI Carbon for X370, and the Gaming 3 and MSI Tomahawk seem to be doing well on the B350 front.

Scougar · 16 Mar 2017 at 01:43

What are the differences between the chipsets themselves?

steve258 · 16 Mar 2017 at 06:13

less PCI-E lanes, less USB, no SLI support. Otherwise it performs the same as X370. B350 can also oc ram but can only do so via mem divider. Choose a board, download their QVL list then pick the ones that can actually achieve its rated speed. Otherwise anything else is just lottery at the moment whether it will run stable at its rated speed, or even the default 2133mhz.

The relatively trouble free motherboard at the moment seems to be the AB350/m gaming 3 or the B350 tomahawk. Prime B350-M/ Plus is a bit hit and miss at the moment. Not seen a lot of X370 boards around due to limited stock, but the Gigabyte Aorus AX370 seems nice.

Scougar · 16 Mar 2017 at 12:49

PCI-E Gen 2 ? As in it isn't PCI-E 3.0 ?

steve258 · 16 Mar 2017 at 12:57

8/6 lanes PCI-E 2.0 in addition to the 16 PCI-E 3.0 from Rysen CPU, yes.

Scougar · 16 Mar 2017 at 13:06

Ah... d'oh!! I somehow didn't see that column RIGHT NEXT TO IT !! lol.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious to me steve258

(I must be blind)

-----

If a 350 motherboard came with a clock gen, I would probably be sold on it.