MSI X370 Carbon vs Gigabyte X370 Gaming 5

ltron

ltron

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Hi,
I'm looking at AM4 motherboards between 150 and 200 pounds. I've narrowed things down to the MSI Carbon and Gigabyte Gaming 5.

Now, from my research, the MSI seems to be more stable with a bug-free BIOS whereas the Gigabyte has more features like dual bios and a CLR CMOS button (which I love), but some people have reported massive stability issues and BIOS bugs. I can't find any reviews by big sites of the Carbon while the reviews of the Gigabyte are mixed: some had no issues at all while others were absolutely plagued by them.

I only intend to do moderate overclocking so the VRMs themselves are not massively important in terms of power output. However, VRM cooling, longevity, reliability and stability are priorities which is why I'm leaning towards the Carbon over the Gigabyte.

Has anyone got any experience with these boards?
 

Dervious

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I was undecided between Asrock K4 and Gigabyte 5, but eventually chose the MSI X370 Pro Carbon. So far so good. I'm pleased with this motherboard.
 

orbitalwalsh

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ltron said:
Hi,
I'm looking at AM4 motherboards between 150 and 200 pounds. I've narrowed things down to the MSI Carbon and Gigabyte Gaming 5.

Now, from my research, the MSI seems to be more stable with a bug-free BIOS whereas the Gigabyte has more features like dual bios and a CLR CMOS button (which I love), but some people have reported massive stability issues and BIOS bugs. I can't find any reviews by big sites of the Carbon while the reviews of the Gigabyte are mixed: some had no issues at all while others were absolutely plagued by them.

I only intend to do moderate overclocking so the VRMs themselves are not massively important in terms of power output. However, VRM cooling, longevity, reliability and stability are priorities which is why I'm leaning towards the Carbon over the Gigabyte.

Has anyone got any experience with these boards?
Click to expand...

both boards have their issues, actually ever brand but hopefully AMD is in full swing. have used the 5 but have the K5 with a 1600 and XMP runs fine on a non confirmed 16GB Corsair LXP 3000mhz without increase VSoc which is sweet. Running 3.8Ghz with Vcore @ 1.308 , hoping to push lower.

Advantage support wise with Gigabyte over MSI is that they regularly Post Bios Beta Updates and issues on the US Gigabyte forum and have been the only vendor stating that they will include AGESA Mays update in Beta Bios for testing - not sure if other brands will release the AGESA update once Bios Version is complete.
Gigabyte Reps are active on here which does help and only Vendor to have testing and repair center for Mobo's in the UK. But OCUK does have a sweet RMA policy anyways .

For me it would be Gigabyte or Asus from a personal point of view- although never had to deal with ASUS RMA as of yet. some say its bad others say its good. New Strix does look good, B350 version with its pricing looks highly tempting over the x370 one

some's usage on here with the gaming 5
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/30768198/

as of cooling, i'd avoid MSI's M.2 heat oven cooling plate haha . I hope Aorus has paid attention to this when they release theirs, but no ETA :(
 

ltron

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I've had bad experiences with Asus, probably bad luck I know, but feel like trying another brand. I did have a Gigabyte X58 board which had very bad Bios bugs initially such as it refusing to boot and then restoring from backup bios as well as turning itself on again after shutdown. These were all fixed after around 2 months. Board developed a random restart issue after 4-5 years of problem-free operation which is an okay lifespan, but could have been better.

Never tried MSI, but stepfather and friend have them and very pleased, early days though. I like MSI's Bios and presentation. However I like Gigabyte's features and that they are at the forefront in fixing issues.
 

ubersonic

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Got the Gigabyte AX370 Gaming 5 on Ryzen launch, fantastic board with amazing spec and loads of great features, been rock solid since day one and the speed at which Gigabyte release new BIOS updates is highly impressive.

NB: The Carbon isn't really in the same league as the G5, it's more of a competitor to the K5, if you're after an MSI board on par with the G5 you would be better looking at the Titanium.
 

orbitalwalsh

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both have their flaws, MSI does look nicer and easier to Use if your new to Bios tuning with easy 11 click overclocking solution, but fan control lacks over Gigabyte and Asus.
Z270 carbon i couldn't manually fine tune non PWM fans unlike the other two.
but as mentioned above, anything goes

Plus dealing with MSI customer service is a pain. Feel sorry MSI laptop owners after the MXM upgrade
 
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ltron

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Thanks for the info everyone. I'll probably wait a month or two before making my mind up and buying when new BIOSes are out that incorporate the May Agesa update.

I'll just add that a youtuber I watch, Joker Productions, said in his latest podcast that he had a black screen crash on his Gigabyte gaming 5 while testing a Ryzen quad core at 3.8GHz and 1.35V and that this bricked his motherboard. He tried a different CPU, cleared the CMOS, switching BIOS etc. and nothing fixed it. That's not very good, but probably bad luck on his part. Not many people have the MSI, but I've only heard positive things. Both really look like nice boards though.
 

Dervious

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I`ve had my Pro Carbon for a couple of weeks now, and have just recieved the brackets for my "proper" cooler which had enabled my R5 1600 to reach 3900Mhz @ 1.375.

Corsair LPX 3200 can run at 3200, but once in a while it fails at switch on. The board tries to resart up to 5 times. If it fails on the 5th attempt it automatically sets the memory speed to 2133 which allows it to boot and prevents having to clear the CMOS.

Having said that it's been solid @2933.

I like the board. The BIOS is reasonably easy to navigate and offers enough features for overclocking. Previous board I owned was a Gigabyte Z77 which was also decent. I doubt I'd have been happier going for a Gigabyte X370, but time will tell.
 

orbitalwalsh

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ltron said:
Thanks for the info everyone. I'll probably wait a month or two before making my mind up and buying when new BIOSes are out that incorporate the May Agesa update.

I'll just add that a youtuber I watch, Joker Productions, said in his latest podcast that he had a black screen crash on his Gigabyte gaming 5 while testing a Ryzen quad core at 3.8GHz and 1.35V and that this bricked his motherboard. He tried a different CPU, cleared the CMOS, switching BIOS etc. and nothing fixed it. That's not very good, but probably bad luck on his part. Not many people have the MSI, but I've only heard positive things. Both really look like nice boa
Click to expand...

My 1600 hits 4Ghz with the k5 and XMP @2933 with unsupported 16GB corsair on their list :)
Will say is k5 lacks some of the Bios settings of the 5 and K7 but hoping beta bios changes this. Speaking of which May AGESA Beta BIOS is out for K7 and seems to be helping a lot of others. Not sure if MSI posts up beta's to try , might be worth a look
Beta looks promising :)
 

jiw2033

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Apparently the Gigabyte K5 has the same VRM as the top of the line K7 so if overclocking is what you want then go for that. I bought the Msi Carbon and sent it back without testing it. I bought the Asus Crosshair instead. At the time MSI boards were slow to boot (around 45 seconds) when using the Samsung 960 Evo M.2 Drive. However i hear the latest bios updates have resolved that.

Of course if you're not looking to use two graphics cards then go with a B350 board. You can still expect the same levels of overclocking but save yourself some money that you can put towards a better graphics card.

 
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Dervious

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jiw2033 said:
Apparently the Gigabyte K5 has the same VRM as the top of the line K7 so if overclocking is what you want then go for that.

Of course if you're not looking to use two graphics cards then go with a B350 board. You can still expect the same levels of overclocking but save yourself some money that you can put towards a better graphics card.
Click to expand...

Are VRMs important for overclocking or not ?

From what I`ve read, for Ryzen CPU overclocking VRMs don't seem to make much difference on overclocking speed. What may be different is VRM temperature and possible long term reliability. Also, the next generation of AMDs may benefit from having more/better VRM phases, in which case an X370 board may be a better bet than a B350.
 
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