Motherboard AM4 mITX Chipset

Which Chipset would you want?


  • Total voters
    20

Thestarkiller32

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Aug 13, 2017
152
102
Hi,

I'm planning a Build in a RVZ02 and the question is:

[X370/B350] OR [X300/A300]

because the 4 now available Mainboards are mostly junk in terms of Vcore temps, layout and specs....:(

So sould we simply take a bag of SoonTM and wait for the holiday launch of Raven Ridge + X300?
 

Boil

SFF Guru
Nov 11, 2015
1,253
1,094
There is the hope that the forthcoming ASUS AM4 ITX motherboard will give us a quality (come on Strix...) motherboard...

If they can do dual M.2s like the H270 / Z270 1151 ITX Strix motherboards, that would be nice...

I could give up using the onboard SATA ports if given the chance to use those lanes for a second M.2 NVMe x4 SSD...
 
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Cycle Guy

Efficiency Noob
Jun 19, 2017
5
3
because the 4 now available Mainboards are mostly junk in terms of Vcore temps, layout and specs....:(
So sould we simply take a bag of SoonTM and wait for the holiday launch of Raven Ridge + X300?
Are we even sure there will be any X300 boards coming out? I have the gigabyte board and while the layout might not be to everyone's taste, I am not having any issues with high temps. I have a top down draft air cooler and it seems to keeps the VRM's happy. So long as you're not planning on overclocking an eight core cpu with a water block to within an inch of it's life, I'd pick one of the boards out now (or wait for the Asus one) and plan your build with proper cooling with an understanding of what these little boards can handle.
 

Thestarkiller32

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Aug 13, 2017
152
102
Are we even sure there will be any X300 boards coming out? I have the gigabyte board and while the layout might not be to everyone's taste, I am not having any issues with high temps. I have a top down draft air cooler and it seems to keeps the VRM's happy. So long as you're not planning on overclocking an eight core cpu with a water block to within an inch of it's life, I'd pick one of the boards out now (or wait for the Asus one) and plan your build with proper cooling with an understanding of what these little boards can handle.

In the OC3D Review of the AB350n, he talked about the VRM temps he got and something like that in a case with no active airflow gets me nerves... :oops:

...but the board has only high-end components from IR and APAQ which are rated for 125+c in operation... so yeah, not that big of a dealbreaker.:thumb:
 
Last edited:

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,935
I don't really see the point of going for X370 over B350 in SFF builds at this point. Bifurcation isn't something most people are going to use and for most people 1 x4 NVMe and 2 SATA should be adequate. Considering the B350 boards look to be about 75% of the cost of an X370 board, might as well put that money into something else (Samsung B-Die 3600 MHz).
 

stree

Airflow Optimizer
Dec 10, 2016
307
177
B350 all day long, if only ASRock would get some AB350 Gaming ITX/ac into stock in UK...........................Might have to get from Mindfactory.DE, but that would not be nice if RMA needed at anytime............Plus any import tax that might get added.
 

Thestarkiller32

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Aug 13, 2017
152
102
B350 all day long, if only ASRock would get some AB350 Gaming ITX/ac into stock in UK...........................Might have to get from Mindfactory.DE, but that would not be nice if RMA needed at anytime............Plus any import tax that might get added.


...if you haven't seen.

Mindfactory is for my right around the corner :) I'm from lower saxony, Germany ;)
 

Cycle Guy

Efficiency Noob
Jun 19, 2017
5
3
Those heatsinks are a real turn-off :(
I was leaning towards the ASRock board but then I heard\read about those heatsinks, so I went with the gigabyte board. The gigabyte board still has a small heatsink but at least it's a bigger piece of aluminum with a thin thermal pad contacting the board.
As most reviews have said, a top down cooler is a must!
 

Boil

SFF Guru
Nov 11, 2015
1,253
1,094
Rumor is that if one has the 'fat pad' heat sink, an email to ASRock tech support will get the proper heat sink assembly sent out...?
 

JERRYHZE

Chassis Packer
Jul 12, 2017
14
13
well at least ASUS is planning an AM4 ITX presumably under ROG branding...don't know how long it will take though...
 

Tyki

Chassis Packer
Sep 29, 2016
15
6
Will ASUS have weird mounting points for coolers though like it does with the Z270 Strix? I hope not. It's just weird how hard it seems for these companies to make a solid itx board.
 
Last edited:

Boil

SFF Guru
Nov 11, 2015
1,253
1,094
Will ASUS have weird mounting points for coolers though like it does with the Z270 Strix? I hope not. It's just weird how hard it seems for these companies to make a solid itx board.

Not understanding what you mean by "weird mounting points", the CPU cooler mounting pattern is standard across all Socket 1151 motherboards...
 

Tyki

Chassis Packer
Sep 29, 2016
15
6
I may be recalling incorrectly and have used bad wording, sorry. If I remember right, there were some compatibility issues with the Strix that aren't present on other Z270 issues due to the location of other modules on the board.