I was wondering which of the Asrock and Gigabyte boards may be suitable for a 3900X / 3950X or the 5000 series equivalent. I need thunderbolt so its between AsRock and Gigabyte. The Taichi is $500 here so a bit much, the Gigabyte Ultra is about $450, then the Steel Legend is about $330 and the Phantom Gaming 4 is about $270. I’ve read about the VRM issues with the Phantom Gaming 4 so what about the Steel Legend or Ultra ?
There is transparency issues with which Gigabyte board actually has thunderbolt so I may be left getting a Taichi if the VRM on the other boards wont be good enough. Even if I dont need a board with Wifi.
The Asrock X570 Phantom Gaming 4 is indeed not a great board for a Ryzen 9 cpu.
The vrm on that board just isn’t really good enough.
The vrm on this particular board is only a 4+2 phase design with doubled up components per phase.
Not that there is much wrong with that, however they use a discrete mosfet setup,
with not such great mosfets, namely 2x Sino power SM4337’s on the highside,
and 2x SM4336’s on the low side.
This setup would work well with something like a Ryzen 3 or 5 cpu.
But if won’t really be great for a Ryzen 9 cpu really.
I just cannot recommend that board in this case.
The Asrock X570 Steel legend has a little bit of a better vrm.
This board has an isl implementation, 4+2 phase design doubled to 8+2.
And for the powerstages they use the same Sic634’s from Vishay as on the Taichi.
However this vrm is a significant upgrade from the Phantom Gaming 4,
it still won’t be the most ideal board for a Ryzen9 cpu when overclocking.
The Gigabyte X570 Aorus Ultra and Pro alike, (share the same vrm, just a different heatsink.)
They have a 6+2 phase design doubled to 12+2 with IR3553 powerstages.
Those boards should be totally fine for a Ryzen 9 cpu.
However i’m not fully sure if both boards support thunderbolt,
actually i kinda have my doubts on that.
Asrock does has the X570 Creator board with a great vrm, 10G Aquantia Nic,
and TB3 ports at the back.
However that board is likely too expensive i guess?
Thanks for you insight. These components cost a few cents at most. Why not just use the same ones. It’s like using non Nichicon caps to make it a cheap board.
So I may have better luck with a steel legend ? I will get the Phantom Gaming 4 for a Ryzen 5 build or a Asus Prime-P.
So my ONLY safe bet with AsRock that won’t get hot is the Taichi then ? I will have to contact Gigabyte to get a better understanding of which revisions sold in AU have the thunderbolt header. I can prob budget for an Ultra at $450. An Aorus Pro is $429. Elite doesn’t have thunderbolt.
Aorus master is $539. Taichi is $525. Prob the max I can go, but not sure which one is better. People are finding the master has no thunderbolt. If that is the case Taichi is my only safe choice right ?
I won’t be overclocking though. Is all this info about the VRM in regards to non-stock ? It will be for gaming, development especially VR and music.
It says here the V 1.1 ultra and pro have thunderbolt. But a tough gig making sure the stock is the right one, not transparent. Asrock has them by default. Which is why I was starting to look there first and a user was directing me to phantom gaming 4 but he has a Ryzen 5 I think. AsRock creator is $900 !
I am waiting on the 5000’s to come out to complete build so choosing the mobo first. I’m hoping to get the 12 or 16 core.
I had a quick look and indeed needle in the haystack finding rev 1.1 boards, no local stock. May have to be imported if going Gigabyte. I haven’t heard bad things about the Steel Legend so running stock, is that the lowest I could go ?
I am open to having to fork out more for Gigabyte it looks like a good board, design and good components.
If this Gigabyte Rev 1.1 thing is hard to source I may have to get a Steel Legend or Taichi then. People have been burnt getting rev 1.0 boards already it seems.
Seems like the temps for the Steel Legend are within range, but the pcb temp is high, because its using a bit of metal for show and no heatsink on the components ? Is that right ?
Still researching hard. The Taichi checks out as suitable. But then it has a chipset cooling design problem causing severe noise. The chipset fans is a concern for me trying to build a silent rig.
Might have to try my luck with Gigabyte. It seems to have good components and more solid cooling designs ? Assuming their chipset fan is less noisy.
So my possible options if I can’t use Asrock at all is Pro, Ultra and Master. Is this the better way to go for my needs , the Gigabyte boards ?
I’m sorry one more question. Gigabyte came back with vague responses about stock for rev 1.1. Its a needle in the haystack. The Taichi is the same price as the Master. If its too difficult to find a rev 1.1 board. Would I be better off with a Taichi and keep the same VRM thermal performance and hopefully a quite chipset fan ?
Of course idk what you gonna use the system for exactly?
But if you are not going to do anything with pci-e passtrough in virtualization.
Then maybe a B550 board might be a cheaper alternative?
Need to check which B550 boards have an official thunderbolt certification.
I know that the Gigabyte B550 Vision D does has thunderbolt 3 certification,
and ports at the back.
But that board is also slightly expensive i believe.
it also has a good vrm doe.
So when available in your region, it might be a good option to consider,
if the price is reasonable enough to you.
B550 boards are just not really that great for pci-e passtrough generally.
This is because of the situations on the iommu groupings.
Although this could vary per board.
But if you don’t really do anything like that, then it won’t matter.
Are you doing anything in regards to pci-e passtrough?
I’m just scanning trough the B550 boards.
And there are a couple of board with thunderbolt 3 headers onboard.
But of course idk what your local stock is on B550?
might be a cheaper more interesting alternative maybe?
of course there is a bandwith limitation between the chipset and cpu link,
in comparison to a x570 board.
But that might not really be an issue that much i guess.
Im not pro enough to know what pci-e passthrough is sorry ! I have to get a thunderbolt card for one of the small pci slots. And maybe I will get a 10gbe card eventually. The 2gbe on the Master might come handy. That is all I need the slots for. Im trying to stick with X570 for the 5000 16 core.
All the AsRock come with thunderbolt AIC. But now focussed on the Gigabyte boards at more cost due to thermal features. Another review I saw sees the Taichi pull more power on load. So I think the Gigabyte is more suited to my needs running at stock, and hopefully more cooler, quieter with Noctua fans and energy efficient. My GPU needs is average not pro for now also.
Which B550 board has thunderbolt ? It will be no different to getting a Phantom Gaming 4 right ?
The Gigabyte B550 Vision D has onboard intel thunderbolt 3,
with two type C ports at the back.
The vrm on this board is more then fine for a 3950X and the 59xx series.
B550 and X570 boards going to be compatible with the Ryzen 5000 series cpu’s,
with a bios update basically.
But i suppose this board is likely not cheap.
In regards to Asrock the X570 Taichi would pretty much be your best option,
if you need that TB add in connector.
The vrm is good enough for the Ryzen 9 cpu’s also the for the upcoming 59xx series.
The Asrock X570 Steel legend could basically work with a Ryzen 9 cpu.
But the vrm will run a bit hot when really pushing those chips.
I would definitely pick one of the Gigabyte x570 option below over the x570 steel legend.
Because they have a better vrm.
I also looked over other Gigabyte X570 boards specs,
and cheapest options.
Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro wifi.
Gigabyte X570 Aorus ultra.
Those also look to have a Thunderbolt add in connector,
and a good enough vrm for the Ryzen 9 series.
In fact the vrm’s on both the X570 Aorus pro and ultra are similar to the Asrock x570 Taichi.
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master also lists the TB add in connector on the spec sheet.
But again not really a cheap board either.
