Motherboard A320: A Pleasant Surprise

[ChinStrap]

After my R5 3600 / X370 Heartburn, I started playing around with the cheapest A320 on Newegg. I originally purchased this board for testing the 3600 on, but the bios here (F42a) is still not what I would call ready for Ryzen 3xxx series. that's fine! I have a 2600X I can play around with.

Gigabyte A320M-S2H @ $55.
Limited Bios. F32 is imho best for the Ryzen 2xxx series chips.
PBO only lists 'AUTO' or 'Disable', XMP will load (B Die), and you can adjust base clock (102 tested). I have the 2600X running over 4.3Ghz on Stock Spire HSF
I have a 512g HP EX920 as boot.

R15
Single: 180 -

Multi: 1421 -

R20
Single: 432 -

Multi: 3161 -

This is fast little machine for $405 (If all Newegg)
HP EX920 - $65
RYZEN 5 2600X - $160
F4-3200C14D-16GVK - $124
GIGABYTE GA-A320M-S2H - $55

Granted you could save some $$ on the SSD/RAM.

Overall, I'm impressed w/ A320.

 

[Scott]

the bios here (F42a) is still not what I would call ready for Ryzen 3xxx series. that's fine! I have a 2600X I can play around with.

Could you elaborate on this? A320 boards do not have planned support for Ryzen 3000 series from AMD, so I wouldn't expect any 3000 series chips to work now or in the future, but then again board vendors sometimes do unsupported things.

 

[ChinStrap]

Per bios support page for GA-A320M-S2H:
1.F42 Update AGESA 1.0.0.3 ABB
2.Improve Destiny 2 gaming compatibility
3.Due to AGESA 1.0.0.3 ABB, PCIe Gen4 support has removed when using a 3rd Gen Ryzen (Matisse) CPU

This board actually has 3 bios released that ‘Support Ryzen 3xxx’

I’m still getting PCI WHEA Code 17 Errors on F42. Event Viewer string indicates Realtek Ethernet controller as cause. Updating driver manually for the Ethernet controller does not fix issue. This is with fresh 1903 / AMD Drivers. I’m okay with the 3600 not working correctly right now, I will try again when the next bios is updated/released. Honestly, I bought the A320 due to youtube reviewers claiming everything was working correctly. Looking back at those reviews, no one talks about logged error MSGs or random blue screen issues it’s causing. Just my sample? Who knows. If they keep supporting Ryzen 3xxx on A320, 3600/A320 is going to be some killer bang for the buck.

 

[Phuncz]

Remarkable as the A320 isn't officially supporting Ryzen 3000-series, thanks for reporting !

 

[ChinStrap]

@Scott brought something up that made me look at my notes again. When I tested my 3600 on the A320, F42a was the latest bios. F42a is no longer listed and has been replaced by F42. So I downloaded F42 tonight and loaded up a fresh install (Windows/Drivers) on a spare Adata SX8200. I want to report, I made it through an hour of Fortnite and testing all 4 (Single/Multi, R15/20) in the Cinebench series. No PCI WHEA Code 17 Errors. Whatever they had wrong w/ F42a, they fixed w/ F42. I'm going to be playing with base clock adjustments, i'm hoping for 103 Error free. Fingers Crossed.

3600 (4192 MHz) R15 Single - 195 | - 2600X (4334 MHz) 180
3600 (4192 MHz) R15 Multi - 1619 | - 2600X (4334 MHz) 1421
3600 (4192 MHz) R20 Single - 485 | - 2600X (4334 MHz) 432
3600 (4192 MHz) R20 Multi - 3691 | - 2600X (4334 MHz) 3161

I have to get 103 base clock to work in order for it to be a closer MHz v. MHz. I'll work on that. Overall, title still stands. A320: A Pleasant Surprise

R15 Single

R15 Multi

R20 Single

R20 Multi

 

[ChinStrap]

AS SSD and CPUz.


I also have a couple more B-Die kits I'm going to play with.

 

[ChinStrap]

3600 @ 103 base clock ~4326 MHz. (3200CL14 B-Die, will be testing vs. 3600CL16 soon. also 104 base clock)

R15 Single
2600X (4334 MHz) 180
3600 (4192 MHz) 195
3600 (4326 MHz) 201

R15 Multi
2600X (4334 MHz) 1421
3600 (4192 MHz) 1619
3600 (4326 MHz) 1664

R20 Single
2600X (4334 MHz) 432
3600 (4192 MHz) 485
3600 (4326 MHz) 502

R20 Multi
2600X (4334 MHz) 3161
3600 (4192 MHz) 3691
3600 (4326 MHz) 3790

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[ChinStrap]

I'm honestly considering taking some OT this weekend so I can buy a 3700X, to see if it will do 4400 MHz boost.

think, a $55 A320 Board running the 3700X @ 103 BCLK for 4532 MHz. unreal.

 

[Scott]

Oh, nice. I'm pleasantly surprised to see that Ryzen 3000 is working. I had only been going off of AMD's presentation slides that show A320 being the only chipset to not support it, not based off of any actual real-world testing. This does look like a great budget option, especially if it still works with Zen 2 APUs whenever those are released.

 

[Lone]

I'm also debating ordering the Ryzen 3700X, and noticed the ASUS Prime A320I-K Mini-ITX board lists the 3700X as being supported. Not nearly as inexpensive as the board your talking about though.

PRIME A320I-K｜Motherboards｜ASUS Global

ASUS Prime series is expertly engineered to unleash the full potential of AMD and Intel processors. Boasting a robust power design, comprehensive cooling solutions and intelligent tuning options, Prime series motherboards provide daily users and DIY PC builders a range of performance tuning...

www.asus.com

 

[ChinStrap]

Asus PRIME A320I-K
BIOS: 1816
- 2019/09/09
- 1.0.0.3 Patch ABB

This is the version of AGESA my boards' good BIOS is using.

(wow, 4 fan headers and 90* Sata. Support also lists memory OC, so XMP profiles should work.)