News ASUS STRIX B350I GAMING

elimy

Case Bender
Jan 10, 2018
2
0
I'm building one of these now and am having trouble installing my Samsung 960 into the M2 slot.

First it was difficult to find the right stand-off for the left side of the slot - there are two and I spent a long time trying to use the too-short one before noticing the other longer one.

Then after inserting the 960 I had trouble placing the screw over the left edge of the 960 and into the top of the stand-off - again there are two different sizes and the screw that was packaged with the correct-length stand-off has too big a head to fit under the heatsink mount, so I used the other sized one.

Now, I am having trouble affixing the heatsink back on top. It plugs and screws in snugly on the right side, but on the left side the screw never tightens and so the heatsink is not being affixed fimly to the 960. I've tried pressing as firm as I dare with no success. Have others had this problem? What did you do about it? I am considering just zip-tying the heatsink to the SSD on that side to ensure good contact, but surely I shouldn't have to do this on a fancy new motherboard?

In general this M2 slot doesn't seem to have been very carefully thought through =/
 

djcostcosamples

Chassis Packer
Jul 14, 2017
19
10
I'm building one of these now and am having trouble installing my Samsung 960 into the M2 slot.

First it was difficult to find the right stand-off for the left side of the slot - there are two and I spent a long time trying to use the too-short one before noticing the other longer one.

Then after inserting the 960 I had trouble placing the screw over the left edge of the 960 and into the top of the stand-off - again there are two different sizes and the screw that was packaged with the correct-length stand-off has too big a head to fit under the heatsink mount, so I used the other sized one.

Now, I am having trouble affixing the heatsink back on top. It plugs and screws in snugly on the right side, but on the left side the screw never tightens and so the heatsink is not being affixed fimly to the 960. I've tried pressing as firm as I dare with no success. Have others had this problem? What did you do about it? I am considering just zip-tying the heatsink to the SSD on that side to ensure good contact, but surely I shouldn't have to do this on a fancy new motherboard?

In general this M2 slot doesn't seem to have been very carefully thought through =/

Don't have the board yet, but how big is the clearance between the heatsink and the SSD? Enough space for a non permanent thermal pad (.5mm, 1mm)?
 

Sean Crees

Airflow Optimizer
Jan 1, 2017
352
316
Mine just arrived today from Newegg. Looks pretty amazing. Still need the skywire cables from Josh, and then just RAM/M.2/CPU to finish this build.
 

elimy

Case Bender
Jan 10, 2018
2
0
Don't have the board yet, but how big is the clearance between the heatsink and the SSD? Enough space for a non permanent thermal pad (.5mm, 1mm)?
There's a pretty thick, squishy thermal pad on there now. Maybe 2mm?

I gave up on getting that screw in and zip-tied it - not great =/ The screw just falls out, it doesn't seem long enough.
 

jonathan

Cable Smoosher
Jan 1, 2018
12
4
This is my first build, so please excuse all my noob questions. XD

What drivers do you guys recommend I install? Can I update the bios after I install windows instead of usb flashing? Do you guys recommend I turn off windows automatic driver updates? For the amd chipset drivers, I’m confused if I should just download the balanced plan all the way st the top when I search my hardware. At the bottom of it, it has raid drivers that I can download. I don’t know if that comes with the amd balanced plan or what.

I’m trying to get this pc up and running. Thank you so much guys!!!!
 

Thestarkiller32

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Aug 13, 2017
152
102
Anybody know where I can find the latest drivers? I can’t seem to find it on asus website.
This is my first build, so please excuse all my noob questions. XD

What drivers do you guys recommend I install? Can I update the bios after I install windows instead of usb flashing? Do you guys recommend I turn off windows automatic driver updates? For the amd chipset drivers, I’m confused if I should just download the balanced plan all the way st the top when I search my hardware. At the bottom of it, it has raid drivers that I can download. I don’t know if that comes with the amd balanced plan or what.

I’m trying to get this pc up and running. Thank you so much guys!!!!

Just install Windows 10, loade the driver from the websight and then let Windows update do its thing
 
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jonathan

Cable Smoosher
Jan 1, 2018
12
4
Just install Windows 10, loade the driver from the websight and then let Windows update do its thing

I’m so overwhelmed. Do I just download the driver at the way top for each section or do I have to download them all?

From what I can see, it doesn’t look like I’ll need qualified vendor list and declaration of deformity. I’m trying to limit the amount of bloatware I install.
 
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Choidebu

"Banned"
Aug 16, 2017
1,196
1,204
Qualified vendor list and declaration of conformity is just documents.

Windows 10 just works without installing drivers from asus website. If you don't have any problem hardware wise and overwhelmed by this, just don't install any.

But if you want to,

1. AMD Chipset drivers (this installs radeon utility and ez update - to keep drivers current)
2. Audio/Sound card (this installs sonic studio and sonic radar software)
3. Wifi
4. Sata/AHCI drivers are not self-install and generally windows ones are good enough so don't bother.

If you consider ez update, sonic radar and sonic studio as bloatwares, you can remove them after installation in windows' settings.
 

jonathan

Cable Smoosher
Jan 1, 2018
12
4
Can I download drivers and update my bios all over the internet without having to use a usb flash drive after I’ve installed windows?

My graphics card finally comes in this afternoon and I can finally finish everything up. Thank you so much guys!

Edit: From the comments, I see bios and windows is separate. How about drivers?
 
Last edited:

Thestarkiller32

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Aug 13, 2017
152
102
Can I download drivers and update my bios all over the internet without having to use a usb flash drive after I’ve installed windows?

My graphics card finally comes in this afternoon and I can finally finish everything up. Thank you so much guys!

Edit: From the comments, I see bios and windows is separate. How about drivers?
you can flash your bios while operating in Windows, its just like a driver installation and the USB-thing is needed if you Brick your Board.
 

Choidebu

"Banned"
Aug 16, 2017
1,196
1,204
You can control it in windows using the aura lighting in the downloads link above.
Edit: it's under utilities>show all>Aura
 

kittysox

Cable-Tie Ninja
Aug 8, 2017
156
195
If you want the rgb to stay off you either have to only put the pc to sleep or turn everything off and uninstall aura. At least that’s the only way on the z370 version. Anytime the pc is shut down it will all default to on and no sleep will he had if the pc is in a bedroom.