MOBO upgrade and RGB questions

[JJBandit]

Hey folks,

Long story short, i have been buying Asus ROG STRIX everything (much to my eventual dismay)

I have had more issues with the Armoury Crate than most people have, and i vaguely recall contacting Asus for some advice, and they said they think i may have had a faulty MOBO, but at the time it was too much hassle to remove the board and send it back to them, so i never bothered. A few times AC has worked perfectly fine, so i managed to get a few nice looking RGB patterns going and just never really ended up changing it due to fear of loosing everything.

The AC simply says i have no AURA enabled devices connected (most of the time), but the AC sees them all connected in the update manager

I have tried using iCUE which does seem to pick up all of the devices, but can't control the RGB on them. And i have tried openRGB which scans, tries to see the MOBO for about 30 seconds, then ends the scan and nothing shows. I suspect its something to do with the motherboard, but i have no idea what. I have tried uninstalling, using removal tools, changing/deleting the registry objects.

I'm now at the point where i'm considering upgrading my MOBO, and i'm a bit worried/unsure about what to get. My main concerns are:

1) I would like it to be a significant upgrade if possible, if i'm going to have to pay for it, i want to get my moneys worth, but on the flip side, i could really do with keeping the RAM and processor for obvious financial reasons. But i understand that for a significant upgrade i'm going to have to consider a new CPU and DDR5 RAM. But i'm quite out of date with whats good and whats not these days. Without going overkill, can anyone recommend a MOBO, or MOBO + CPU + RAM bundle thats a decent step up from what i already have? I'll pop a wishlist below.

2) As i basically have everything already Asus ROG STRIX, i need something thats going to work with it all. I'm happy to get another ASUS ROG STRIX MOBO, IF its actually going to work with my hardware. But i would like to move away from the Armoury Crate where possible, as its not a great app. But if it actually worked, i would be quite happy to keep using it.

3) If i was to get, lets say a Corsair MOBO, would that mean i'm no longer forced to use armoury crate, and iCUE or openRGB would actually work? AC seems to force install at the point of booting up, and i cant find an easy way to stop it.

4) for anyone who has the armoury crate, do you think its my board that screwed and causing the AC to not pick up any of my devices (most of the time)? or it is really that bad?


So my current setup is:

Asus ROG STRIX z270E GAMING Motherboard
Asus ROG STRIX RTX 4080
Asus ROG Ryujin 270 AIO cooler (i think its the 270)
Asus ROG Helios Case
Asus ROG Flare Keyboard
Intel i7 7700k CPU
32GB Corsair DDR4 RAM
UTech MMO Mouse
Some other RGB case components

My Wishlist for a MOBO (bundle?):
At least a decent, preferably significant upgrade from what i currently have
Onboard RGB would be nice
ARGB headers (currently only have RGB)
Will be able to easily control my other Asus hardware and lighting
Hopefully under the £500 cost, but i can be a little flexible for a full bundle


Does anyone have any suggestions, answers, or at the very least, can point me in the right direction?
Any advice would be greatly welcomed.

Or is there anything i might need to know or may be missing?

Thanks in advance

 

[Defy Belief]

That poor 4080 won't be liking that 7700k anyway..

New platform time, most motherboards now have argb headers, if you don't want armory crate don't buy Asus. Don't have much other expierience with rgb, I turn it off.

B650 board with something like a 7800x3d set you back around £500 but then need ram too as Ddr5.

 

[Tetras]

1) I would like it to be a significant upgrade if possible, if i'm going to have to pay for it, i want to get my moneys worth, but on the flip side, i could really do with keeping the RAM and processor for obvious financial reasons. But i understand that for a significant upgrade i'm going to have to consider a new CPU and DDR5 RAM. But i'm quite out of date with whats good and whats not these days. Without going overkill, can anyone recommend a MOBO, or MOBO + CPU + RAM bundle thats a decent step up from what i already have? I'll pop a wishlist below.

From a 7700K, I'd look for a minimum of a 12400, but ideally at least a 13600K or Ryzen 7600.

3) If i was to get, lets say a Corsair MOBO, would that mean i'm no longer forced to use armoury crate, and iCUE or openRGB would actually work? AC seems to force install at the point of booting up, and i cant find an easy way to stop it.

The problem with RGB is that each manufacturer has their own software and while motherboards have RGB headers now that can make things simpler, getting all your hardware to sync is still not simple and prone to bugs/buggy software.

 

[Noughtboy]

Here are two options:

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Asus ROG Strix B650-A Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JY-AS) = £209.99
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DG-AM) = £199.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB EXPO 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-00997) = £119.99
1 x Asus ROG Strix B760-A Gaming WIFI D4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6KE-AS) = £189.99
1 x Intel Core i5-13400 (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6BC-IN) = £230.00

Total: £957.95 (includes delivery: £7.99)​
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The AMD setup is more expensive (£530) as it uses DDR5. You can cut the cost by £10 is you chose the same RAM in non RGB and a further £5 by using the 7600. THE ASUS ROG tax in this instance is about £10 over my preferred MB which is the MSI Tomahawk although this only has 2 ARGB ports.

The Intel option is £420 as it uses you current RAM.

Both use ASUS ROG Strix and both have at least 3 ARGB headers and 1 AURA one.

My recommendation is for the AMD kit as you will be able to upgrade at least another 2 generations (upto 9XXX) whilst the Intel does not offer much extra - 14th gen but this is a negligible increase over 13th Gen (apart from being able to go up the stack).

In both cases, you will likely need to get a new mounting bracket for your AIO.

If you want to move away from ROG, the ASUS B650 TUF gaming is available for £150 saving you £60 bringing the AMD spec down to £470. It also has three ARGB so you can decide whether the ROG is worth it to you in that instance. This is a much better option compared to the Intel one as you get the ability to upgrade just a CPU for only £50 extra saving you a lot of hassle and expense in the future.

 

[pastymuncher]

With regards to ARGB just don't bother with the manufacturers buggy software and download OpenRGB instead. Fire it up, select the items you want synced, the colour and pattern and click apply. Then forget about it as you only need to do this once, it just works. I have been using this for some time now as I was fed up with multiple apps and bloatware just to do the same thing. I read about it on here, looked it up, downloaded it and never looked back. I have never had any problems with it.

 

[JJBandit]

Hi Guys appreciate the advice so far, Its really helpful!

In both cases, you will likely need to get a new mounting bracket for your AIO.

With regards to the additional mounting bracket for the AIO, is this due to AMD CPUs being taller? Or will this be the case with Intel CPU's also? Are they just taller now so need a higher mount?

With regards to ARGB just don't bother with the manufacturers buggy software and download OpenRGB instead.

Well, this is kinda the issue i'm having, I tried OpenRGB, and it doesn't pick up any of my hardware either. It seems to get stuck on SMBus (i think) then gives up. So i'm guessing this is something to do with a faulty chip on the board that controls the RGB or hardware identification. But iCue seemed to sometimes eventually pick up most of the hardware except the AIO and Mobo.

Is there much of a difference between Intel and AMD these days? I have pretty much always had Intel CPUs in the past. But have heard/read AMD are as good, if not better, especially if well cooled.

I'm not into overclocking, so don't need anything that is uncapped/unlocked as such. Is that still a thing? or is everything unlocked these days?

 

[Noughtboy]

Hi Guys appreciate the advice so far, Its really helpful!



With regards to the additional mounting bracket for the AIO, is this due to AMD CPUs being taller? Or will this be the case with Intel CPU's also? Are they just taller now so need a higher mount?

I am not certain of whether 8th gen to 13th Gen WILL need a diferent mounting bracket but it is likely. I would just google it. The AMD will certainly need one. Many manufacturers do send one out for P&P or a nominal fee though.

Is there much of a difference between Intel and AMD these days? I have pretty much always had Intel CPUs in the past. But have heard/read AMD are as good, if not better, especially if well cooled.

Fundamental architecture yes (beyond the scope of this conversation) and they tend to leap each other in performance but more recently, Intel tends to perform better in single thread and AMD is better for multithread. There can be a large difference in applications depending on whether they prefer ST or take advantage of MT. However, in the case of games, I would say it is generally on a case by case basis but AMD are certainly more power efficient, usually by a significant amount.

I'm not into overclocking, so don't need anything that is uncapped/unlocked as such. Is that still a thing? or is everything unlocked these days?

AMD is all unlocked, Intel is only unlocked on a "K" SKU. Additionally, from memory, only certain Intel motherboards can actually overclock (certainly was the case previously with the H-series chipsets but I stand to correction). Whilst Overclocking is still a thing, a lot of people are into undervolting nowdays (essentially a corollary to overclocking in that you try to get the highest performance at the lowest voltage for improved energy efficiency and lower temps)

 

[Wing-Man]

From a 7700K, I'd look for a minimum of a 12400, but ideally at least a 13600K or Ryzen 7600.

normally i agree with everything you say, but as a minimum now you want 12600k because of the E cores every CPU after the 12600k as E cores.
in games going 12400 to 13400 give a good boost in performance and not just the generational 5% but a really good step and its down to the E cores and extra threads

@Noughtboy dose your message really have to be in red, when the stock forum background its not very nice to view

I am not certain of whether 8th gen to 13th Gen WILL need a diferent mounting bracket but it is likely. I would just google it. The AMD will certainly need one. Many manufacturers do send one out for P&P or a nominal fee though.

yes intel is a different bracket, and no most AMD will fit am5

 

[Noughtboy]

normally i agree with everything you say, but as a minimum now you want 12600k because of the E cores every CPU after the 12600k as E cores.
in games going 12400 to 13400 give a good boost in performance and not just the generational 5% but a really good step and its down to the E cores and extra threads

@Noughtboy dose your message really have to be in red, when the stock forum background its not very nice to view



yes intel is a different bracket, and no most AMD will fit am5

Using red noted and slap on the wrist applied. Most AMD will fit but he is running an Intel system and I assume his AIO was purchased at that time so an AMD spare bracket may not have been produced for AM1 at that point.

 

[Craig_d1]

any reason you showed just white mobo's? the z270e is a black board isn't it? or did i miss something reading thread(quite possible )
If amd the other choices are the B650e-f or b650e-e(though £60 more)....both these boards have pcie gen5 gpu as well as a gen 5 nvme slot whereas the b650-A only has a gen 5 on the primary nvme slot(don't know why)..not that it matters. If you really want more rgb then you have to go up to the X670E-F though you wont have a budget left after buying even this one
as a ref i have b550-e and b650e-e boards and icue software controls both boards no problem. @pastymuncher nice about OPenRGB..will give a go with the b650 setup as am using uni fans and arctic air cooler so would be nice to use 1 set of controls than 3.
With the intel boards, only the z boards allow cpu overclocking( k sku as @Noughtboy says above)

Paired the board with 6000C30 ram just so you can see diff in price with the 6000C36 above....everything still on offer and although the f board is more expensive than the a board by £20 you get a free copy of starfield

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B650E-F Gaming WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6JX-AS) = £229.99
• 1 x Powered By Asus - Starfield Promotion (SKU: DIG-ASU-01320) = £0.00
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-01124) = £134.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DG-AM) = £199.99

Total: £572.96 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

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[Craig_d1]

If you want to save a bit of cash, just go tuf board though...though no real rgb on it so to speak(and no starfield either)

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-01124) = £134.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DG-AM) = £199.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6K0-AS) = £149.99

Total: £488.96 (includes delivery: £3.99)​

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[Defy Belief]

If you want to save a bit of cash, just go tuf board though...though no real rgb on it so to speak(and no starfield either)

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C30 6000MHz Dual Channel (SKU: MEM-CRS-01124) = £134.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Six Core 5.30GHz (Socket AM5) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3DG-AM) = £199.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B650-Plus WIFI (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-6K0-AS) = £149.99

Total: £488.96 (includes delivery: £3.99)​

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Agree, I have this board and it's running a 7900x3D flawlessly, the £80 saving on the motherboard can put you on a 7800x3D with only an extra £50 total cost (When the 7800x3D drops again which i'm sure it will to the £330 figure)