Motherboard Incoming AM4 Mini-ITX boards

[TheHig]

It looks like the Biostar boards on Newegg are getting similar mixed reviews as most other manufacturers at the moment. So its probably fine really. I truly believe most of the 'bad' board reviews are either a lemon (which can happen) or people who aren't able to overcome some of the obstacles a new platform is sure to have. One good thing about Intel with their 10 year Core arch revisions is that, generally speaking, the setup is REALLY plug and play and super easy. My z97 Asus board has been a rock since go. I really have to work hard to mess things up with it!

Honestly if you aren't ok with troubleshooting possible compatibility issues with memory etc I would hold off on Ryzen for a month or two. I'm running a 1700 on Msi's Mortar mATX board and after some tinkering really love it but that being said the tinkering was mandatory not optional! SO if you like to tweak ,by all means, hop aboard asap.

Personally I am waiting on the teased Gigabyte B350 itx board since I have run and built on many Gigabyte boards in the past and have had good experiences overall.

 

[Phuncz]

The other day I read someone returning his Ryzen CPU because it downclocked due to overheating, but the cooler was cold to the touch.
Apparently it didn't occur to him that the cooler was mounted improperly...

 

[Jonny727272]

It looks like the Biostar boards on Newegg are getting similar mixed reviews as most other manufacturers at the moment. So its probably fine really. I truly believe most of the 'bad' board reviews are either a lemon (which can happen) or people who aren't able to overcome some of the obstacles a new platform is sure to have. One good thing about Intel with their 10 year Core arch revisions is that, generally speaking, the setup is REALLY plug and play and super easy. My z97 Asus board has been a rock since go. I really have to work hard to mess things up with it!

Honestly if you aren't ok with troubleshooting possible compatibility issues with memory etc I would hold off on Ryzen for a month or two. I'm running a 1700 on Msi's Mortar mATX board and after some tinkering really love it but that being said the tinkering was mandatory not optional! SO if you like to tweak ,by all means, hop aboard asap.

Personally I am waiting on the teased Gigabyte B350 itx board since I have run and built on many Gigabyte boards in the past and have had good experiences overall.

When you say tinkering, how much work are we talking about? I've overclocked in the bios before and changed ram frequencies as well as a few other options, but I wouldn't call myself a pro. Would I need a lot of knowledge or do you think I'd be able to manage it?

 

[Phryq]

4 DIMMs on an ITX? That'd be nice

A second M.2 slot could be doable. They would have to allocate all of the 4 GP PCI-e 3.0 lanes to it. However, bear in mind that these two M.2 slots would not be able to be put into a RAID...one is hanging directly off of the processor and the other through the chipset.

Also, with X300 chips (and I only came to this realization a few days back), the only I/O on that platform is the 16 PCI-e lanes for the GPU, 4 PCI-e lanes for either an M.2 or 2 SATA + crippled M.2, and 4 PCI-e lanes being passed through the chipset, which will be used for ethernet, possibly Wi-Fi, and probably hooked up to ASMedia chips for additional USB and/or SATA.

That would be good. The M.2 hanging from the CPU would get slightly better performance, and reduce South Bridge bottlenecks, right?

But basically X300 chips are not good if you want lots of disk-throughput. Does that mean it's better to just go Intel?

 

[Thehack]

That would be good. The M.2 hanging from the CPU would get slightly better performance, and reduce South Bridge bottlenecks, right?

But basically X300 chips are not good if you want lots of disk-throughput. Does that mean it's better to just go Intel?

For 99% users you wouldn't notice the difference. For number crunches or enterprise level of work, that's why there'll be a HEDT and Naples later on.

 

[TheHig]

When you say tinkering, how much work are we talking about? I've overclocked in the bios before and changed ram frequencies as well as a few other options, but I wouldn't call myself a pro. Would I need a lot of knowledge or do you think I'd be able to manage it?

If you have changed ram frequencies ,timings and have done Bios overclocking then you should be able to handle it.

The only challenge I have had so far is the slow post.. When I did my first power on the board repost 5-6 times and I had no video the whole time. Finally after about a minute or more of letting it happen I was in the bios. With everything on Auto the ram was clocked at 2133 with 1.2v which is default ddr4. My kit is 1.35v ddr4 3200. So far I have set manual ram voltage at 1.35 , changed the timings to match the sticker on the kit for Cas etc, and chose 2933 speed in the bios. Since then I have had no issues with the post loop or crashing. It still takes a bit to post the bios however but windows loads very fast. MSI clearly has some work to do Bios wise but I am stable running the second release for this board.

Also i have set a 24/7 OC on the 1700 at 1.25v 3.8Ghz. LLC set to 20% and the highest voltage I have seen when under full load is 1.34v according to HwInfo and OCCT. Pretty happy with it so far but need more robust cooling to run long workloads at this setting or actual OC stress testing for hours on end. Gaming and day to day this has been stable and peaking at 54c on the included Wraith Spire cooler. Value for miles on Ryzen!

 

[Jonny727272]

@TheHig that sounds awesome! I just helped my brother build a R5 1600 system this week and I'm surprised at how efficient and quiet the new coolers are, and they aren't that bad looking either. I was especially surprised to see it totally sleeved, so no ugly cables coming out.

I don't expect I'll be doing much overclocking in the Catz C-1 case, but it's still good to know I have the option in the future. Thanks for all the info and advice.

 

[cadiguno]

ASRock's incoming board looks like the best one so far. Please come to the market soon!!

 

[panton]

a guy on reddit translated this pic: https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/commen...herboard_coming_soon/?st=j1jyeimn&sh=3876bb25

it says:

• Supports Ryzen and A series APU
  
  
• DDR-4 memory (dual channel / ECC & non-ECC / unbuffered supported)
  
  
• Steel slot PCI-E
  
  
• Creative Sound Blaster Cinema 3 and 120 dB SNR HD Audio
  
  
• Intel 1211 AT Gigabit LAN
  
  
• 2x2 802.11ac Wi-Fi / BT 4.2 module standard installed
  
  
• Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x 4)
  
  
• 2 x HDMI video output
  
  
• ASRock RGB LED header
  

 

[panton]

I think I'll go for a Ryzen mini ITX build, after all, https://www.ncases.com/ seems like a very cool case option, a bit pricy, however.
As Node 202 seems like a bad idea for an AMD build combined with the fact that I don't know if it's possible to get a cooler for Ryzen that will fit 56mm clearance of node 202, I think my main case candidates right now are FD Node 304 and FD Core 500.
Node 304 looks much nice then Core 500, but seems that Core 500 is more wisely made case (seems like a 304 updated).

And other small (travel ready) cases suggestions are veery welcome

 

[Boil]

ASRock's incoming board looks like the best one so far. Please come to the market soon!!

REALLY hope it is laid out like their H270 / Z270 Intel boards; with the M.2 SSD slot on the FRONT of the MB…!

 

[TheHig]

REALLY hope it is laid out like their H270 / Z270 Intel boards; with the M.2 SSD slot on the FRONT of the MB…!

Absolutely. This board is checking a lot of the right boxes so far.

 

[Jonny727272]

I love this, but I was just about to settle on Intel. Ugh this is becoming such a hard decision...

 

[panton]

I love this, but I was just about to settle on Intel. Ugh this is becoming such a hard decision...

I'm also really close to settle on Intel because of the timing, but I'll try to wait for a proper AM4 board

 

[panton]

I think I'll go for a Ryzen mini ITX build, after all, https://www.ncases.com/ seems like a very cool case option, a bit pricy, however.
As Node 202 seems like a bad idea for an AMD build combined with the fact that I don't know if it's possible to get a cooler for Ryzen that will fit 56mm clearance of node 202, I think my main case candidates right now are FD Node 304 and FD Core 500.
Node 304 looks much nice then Core 500, but seems that Core 500 is more wisely made case (seems like a 304 updated).

And other small (travel ready) cases suggestions are veery welcome

damn, I'm really leaning towards building a system with ncase m1, seems like a perfect case for me.

 

[dbjungle]

Turns out that official Japanese Biostar partner, aiuto, announced that both X370GTN & B350GTN are going to be available for pre-order on 21st, shipping on 28th. Prices are also listed:
X370GTN 14,980円 ~ $138
B350GTN 12,800円 ~ $118
http://www.aiuto-jp.co.jp/information/entry_458.php

Rakuten already have them listed, but not available for purchase:
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/akiba-eshop/4712960680852/
http://item.rakuten.co.jp/akiba-eshop/4712960680845/

TY, was getting really annoyed with searching for info every morning. I'm planning to use a Ryzen 1700 in a Cougar QBX. I currently have an ITX APU system in there and I've just been planning the cooling. I think the 65W chip would be better for a smaller ITX case in terms of cooling. Especially considering these seem to all OC to about 3.9GHz atleast anyway.

 

[Thehack]

TY, was getting really annoyed with searching for info every morning. I'm planning to use a Ryzen 1700 in a Cougar QBX. I currently have an ITX APU system in there and I've just been planning the cooling. I think the 65W chip would be better for a smaller ITX case in terms of cooling. Especially considering these seem to all OC to about 3.9GHz atleast anyway.

You guys are over depending on TDP. All these chips are unlocked so it doesn't matter which one you get. A 1600X can be a 1600 if you want it to.

Main difference is stock power consumption and the 1600X is binned for lower voltage for the same clocks, silicon lottery applies. Means you may be able to get better power consumption off the 1600X.

 

[LocoMoto]

You guys are over depending on TDP. All these chips are unlocked so it doesn't matter which one you get. A 1600X can be a 1600 if you want it to.

Main difference is stock power consumption and the 1600X is binned for lower voltage for the same clocks, silicon lottery applies. Means you may be able to get better power consumption off the 1600X.

I was just about to write about the 1800x being able to get the better (lower) power consumption over the 1700 and why... You got the message across in less rows than what I would've.

 

[zovc]

Can you guys explain that a little more, actually? I don't doubt it, I just don't quite understand it.

 

[LocoMoto]

Well, what AMD is doing is selling chips that can hit a target frequency at a lower or higher price depending on if it can hit a certain voltage range for that speed.

An 1800x could hit say 4.00 ghz at generally the best voltage range, while a 1700x needed a bit more and the 1700 even a bit more than that.

That is the very simplified version, factors like DRAM OC, stability and resilience may also come into affect.
Then there's also the silicon lottery at play which can sometimes be in or against your favour. Variances in the silicon wafer that affects performance.
There also exists people who might buy several of these chips as a 3rd Party to bin them and find whichever has the best silicon and then sell them onto overclockers looking for the best of the best.

TL;DR An 1800x could be manually underclocked to hit a power target at say 50 watts, and would have a better chance at reaching higher clock speeds/performance for that power target than a 1700.