Caporegime
The prologue!
I have been on socket 1155 since launch,so its served me well as has my Ivy Bridge based Xeon E3 1230 V2 mini-ITX system. However,as time progressed the motherboard has started to have various niggles,like on and off cold boot issues,a broken PCI-E card latch,audio bugs,etc and OFC the Intel security bugs,which caused issues in a game or two I played. However,more tellingly in some non-game workloads the system was also starting to struggle.
I had been hoping to hold off an upgrade until 2019,but ultimately throwing more money at the current system(let alone finding a new motherboard for not silly money) was probably an exercise in futility,so ultimately it was time for the first platform upgrade in 7 years.However,I can put up with the game issues,so ultimately for me any improvements are just incidental.
The story begins
I have not had anything other than a Shuttle form factor or mini-ITX system,since 2005,and going mATX didn't seem cost effective(I would need a new case),so again the system is a mini-ITX one. After looking at the relatively narrow range of AM4 mini-ITX motherboards which were available,I ended up with the Asus ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING being my choice,after a combination of the cheaper ones not being available,having gone up in price,or having design defiencies. Hence,this meant I waited a few weeks,to get a deal on one! Luckily at the same time I managed to bag a Ryzen 5 2600 for well under £140,and got a relatively good deal on some 3200MHZ RAM which I hoped was single ranked Samsung B-die stuff. No,I didn't use the Potato 2400MHZ set I had as that is being ditched.
So in the end this is what I settled on:
1.)Ryzen 5 2600
2.)Asus ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING
3.)16GB of T-FORCE VULCAN TUF Gaming Alliance 3200MHZ RAM.
The reason why I was aiming for single ranked Samsung B-die RAM is Ryzen is more finicky about RAM than Intel CPUs are,and also tends to perform better with faster RAM due to the memory-CCX latency issues. Modern BIOSes due seem more mature though as Hynix single ranked RAM seems OK too,but dual ranked is still more problematic.
Some Unbox Therapy?
Now for a picture of some boxes.
The motherboard gubbins and some interesting bumpf.
I made the Choice of Champions!! Yay! Go me! I didn't have the Breakfast of Champions today though!
Now some board pictures.
The colour scheme is not too OTT,although it does not escape having RGBness(more on that later).
A picture of the underside.
Unique amongst AM4 mini-ITX boards,this one has dual M.2 slots,the top one is PCI-E/SATA and the bottom is SATA only.
The heatsink looks actually useful - its probably needed for the 6 phase VRM!
If you are wondering,the audio ports have LEDs in them.
The backplate gets a special mention - its padded and silver!!
Its so Disco!! Probably fits in with the RGBness of the board!!
The CPU unboxed. The Ryzen 5 2600 comes with the slimline Wraith Spire cooler.
The fan shroud is taller than the actual heatsink!!
The RAM is branded "TUF" and to show it is military camo style. Don't mess with this RAM!!
Also I had to do a double take looking at the board connector - its the first RAM I have seen which has a curved one.
There is not much clearance between the RAM and the cooler shroud.
New cooler installed 10/10/2018
I managed to get hold of a Wraith Spire from the OcUK store to replace the Wraith Stealth as I was not too happy about the temperatures under heavy load(see the later tests).
I removed the Wraith Stealth to check if the cooler was making enough contact and yes it was.
The Wraith Spire is a much more substantial cooler overall.
Yay I got the copper core version of the Wraith Spire - AFAIK there is also a one with a different fan and just a normal aluminium base like the Wraith Spire.
There are definitely no clearance issues with the Wraith Spire!
I have been on socket 1155 since launch,so its served me well as has my Ivy Bridge based Xeon E3 1230 V2 mini-ITX system. However,as time progressed the motherboard has started to have various niggles,like on and off cold boot issues,a broken PCI-E card latch,audio bugs,etc and OFC the Intel security bugs,which caused issues in a game or two I played. However,more tellingly in some non-game workloads the system was also starting to struggle.
I had been hoping to hold off an upgrade until 2019,but ultimately throwing more money at the current system(let alone finding a new motherboard for not silly money) was probably an exercise in futility,so ultimately it was time for the first platform upgrade in 7 years.However,I can put up with the game issues,so ultimately for me any improvements are just incidental.
The story begins
I have not had anything other than a Shuttle form factor or mini-ITX system,since 2005,and going mATX didn't seem cost effective(I would need a new case),so again the system is a mini-ITX one. After looking at the relatively narrow range of AM4 mini-ITX motherboards which were available,I ended up with the Asus ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING being my choice,after a combination of the cheaper ones not being available,having gone up in price,or having design defiencies. Hence,this meant I waited a few weeks,to get a deal on one! Luckily at the same time I managed to bag a Ryzen 5 2600 for well under £140,and got a relatively good deal on some 3200MHZ RAM which I hoped was single ranked Samsung B-die stuff. No,I didn't use the Potato 2400MHZ set I had as that is being ditched.
So in the end this is what I settled on:
1.)Ryzen 5 2600
2.)Asus ROG STRIX B450-F GAMING
3.)16GB of T-FORCE VULCAN TUF Gaming Alliance 3200MHZ RAM.
The reason why I was aiming for single ranked Samsung B-die RAM is Ryzen is more finicky about RAM than Intel CPUs are,and also tends to perform better with faster RAM due to the memory-CCX latency issues. Modern BIOSes due seem more mature though as Hynix single ranked RAM seems OK too,but dual ranked is still more problematic.
Some Unbox Therapy?
Now for a picture of some boxes.
The motherboard gubbins and some interesting bumpf.
I made the Choice of Champions!! Yay! Go me! I didn't have the Breakfast of Champions today though!
Now some board pictures.
The colour scheme is not too OTT,although it does not escape having RGBness(more on that later).
A picture of the underside.
Unique amongst AM4 mini-ITX boards,this one has dual M.2 slots,the top one is PCI-E/SATA and the bottom is SATA only.
The heatsink looks actually useful - its probably needed for the 6 phase VRM!
If you are wondering,the audio ports have LEDs in them.
The backplate gets a special mention - its padded and silver!!
Its so Disco!! Probably fits in with the RGBness of the board!!
The CPU unboxed. The Ryzen 5 2600 comes with the slimline Wraith Spire cooler.
The fan shroud is taller than the actual heatsink!!
The RAM is branded "TUF" and to show it is military camo style. Don't mess with this RAM!!
Also I had to do a double take looking at the board connector - its the first RAM I have seen which has a curved one.
There is not much clearance between the RAM and the cooler shroud.
New cooler installed 10/10/2018
I managed to get hold of a Wraith Spire from the OcUK store to replace the Wraith Stealth as I was not too happy about the temperatures under heavy load(see the later tests).
I removed the Wraith Stealth to check if the cooler was making enough contact and yes it was.
The Wraith Spire is a much more substantial cooler overall.
Yay I got the copper core version of the Wraith Spire - AFAIK there is also a one with a different fan and just a normal aluminium base like the Wraith Spire.
There are definitely no clearance issues with the Wraith Spire!
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