Details about overclocking cores and CPU bus, RAM, optimizing primary, secondary and tertiary timings.
This year is not the best time to collect computers. Yes, at the time of this writing, the rate of cryptocurrencies was slowly falling, but it is not a fact that it will not rise, and certainly not a fact that this will affect the insane price tags of video cards.
However, all this absolutely does not exclude situations when you need to start buying right here and now. Someone already has a video card on hand, someone needs a PC to work, and someone wants to prepare a base for a future platform: buy a processor, RAM, power supply, cooling and a motherboard. Let’s talk about the latter today.
Let’s say right away that we have compiled the list, relying not so much on price or technical characteristics, but on our personal experience of assembly and subsequent complex settings BIOS on each of them: overclocking of cores and CPU bus, RAM, optimization of primary, secondary and tertiary timings.
Well, we will consider models for processors AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and 5600X… These are the most interesting processors to date. Ryzen 5 3600 is relatively inexpensive and copes well with any games and moderately heavy multi-threaded tasks, but the 5600X is a top solution in its class. In general, six cores and twelve threads are a comfortable optimum for the average modern home PC.
BaboutMore power is needed already by professional gamers, streamers, content makers and those who just want to have the “best”. For the latter category, by the way, AM4 – this, again, is the optimal socket, which will accommodate at least a 16-core CPU.
ASRock B450M Pro4
Specifications
Socket: AM4
Chipset: AMD B450
Maximum DDR4 Memory: 64 GB
Expansion slots: 1x PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 x PCIe 3.0 x4, 1x PCIe 2.0 x1
Supply system: 3 + 3
I / O Panel: PS / 2, DVI-D, D-Sub (VGA), HDMI, 2x USB 2.0, 5x USB 3.1, 1x USB
Type-C
Sound: Realtek ALC892, ELNA capacitors
Net: Realtek 1Gbps LAN
Connectors M.2: 1x Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen 3 x4), 1x M.2 (SATA Rev.3)
Price June 2023: 5500 rubles ($ 75)
Opens the list ASRock b450 Pro4 – almost a legend among budget boards. The option has been verified by users, time and personally by us. What do we have? Form Factor microATX and three PCIe third generation slots. The first works in x1 mode, the second in x16 mode, and the third is limited to x4. There are also two storage slots M.2: one for NVMe disks, the second – for SATA…
The video is DVI-D, D-Sub (VGA) and HDMI, well, besides all this, there is a decent amount of USB 2.0 and 3.0 and a simple sound. Nothing fancy, but everything you need is in place.
The food is also in order. Firstly, it is adequately cooled; there are radiators with fins. Secondly, the controller is responsible for management. Intersil isl95712, which in this case works in the 3 + 3 mode. Three phases fall on the CPU, the rest fall on SoC VCC (System on Chip, responsible for integrated GPUs and memory controllers).
MOSFETs are soldered six pieces at 65A in the upper arm and six, but already at 55A, in the lower one. Under LinX 0.9.7 they heat up to 80 degrees, and the radiators rise to 55-60. Decent result.
The motherboard is also quite good with overclocking. In most cases, memory training is correct: the board correctly sets the signal termination parameters, but does not significantly underestimate the timings. Still, there are not enough metallization layers.
And, nevertheless, for a result of about 3600 CL16 with memory like Crucial Ballistix U4 3200 CL16 you can count. Real and 3600 CL14, but overpriced PROC ODT and voltage on memory modules. However, if you organize an effective blowdown in the case, it’s not a big deal.
Now about the cons. In BIOS from ASRock, power phases cannot be controlled, their control is completely given to automation. Works poorly and Load-Line Calibration (equalization of stress under intense load). The board is either supplying too much voltage to the CPU or too little to find the perfect balance.
As a result, it turns out that the processor is either unstable at low VCore, or it overheats due to its excess, but it is impossible to find something in the middle. Because of this, CPU overclocking is not the strong point of the ASRock B450 Pro4. You will rather run into the possibility of cooling than the possibility of a crystal.
Well, the sound is frankly bad. The onboard tract is susceptible to electromagnetic interference: background noise is clearly audible in the headphones, which intensifies, as soon as you move the mouse, and under load, a squeak appears cutting your ears. But what to do, none of the manufacturers will put a decent sound in the payment for that kind of money.
Overall, the ASRock B450 Pro4 is a great option for an ultra-budget PC. Low price, full stability under moderate overclocking and an excellent set of all the necessary inputs and outputs. Support Zen 3 allows you to build a machine with Ryzen 5 5600X or even Ryzen 7 5800X… Just don’t forget about good airflow inside the case and the current BIOS. If you have Zen, Zen + or Zen 2, then you just need to download and flash the required version yourself. If not, you will have to clarify whether the staff of the store where you plan to purchase the board can do this. Otherwise, the system will not start.
MSI B450 Mortar Max
Specifications
Socket: AM4
Chipset: AMD B450
Maximum DDR4 Memory: 64 GB
Expansion slots: 1x PCIe 3.0 x16, 2x PCIe 3.0 x1, 1x PCIe 2.0 x16
Supply system: 4 + 2
I / O Panel: PS / 2, HDMI, DisplayPort, 2x USB 2.0, 5x USB 3.1, 1x USB Type-C
Sound: Realtek ALC892, Nichicon Capacitors, S / PDIF Out
Net: Realtek 1Gbps LAN
M.2 connectors: 1x Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen. 3 x4), 1x M.2 (SATA3)
Features of the: BIOS Flashback
Price June 2023: 6800 rubles ($ 91)
Next on our list – MSI B450 Mortar Max… Although it is slightly more expensive than the previous one, it is not fundamentally different from it. The form factor is the same – microATX. Roughly the same price range and a seemingly similar power system. However, in the smallest detail, the board is better in almost everything.
Let’s start with the fact that it has a button BIOS Flashback, so don’t worry about the BIOS version when buying Zen 3. You can update the firmware without a processor and memory: just power the board with a 24-pin ATX connector from a power supply.
Much more decent sound. Same codec as ASRock, Realtek ALC892, but the harness is better and the path does not fonit.
There are also more PCIe slots here, however, one of the PCIe x1 slots is located so close to the first x16 that it will be almost impossible to use it if there is a discrete video card in the system.
But these are trifles. The main thing is that the Mortar Max has four phases of CPU power, and two more are reserved for the SoC VCC. MOSFET wired from the company Sinopower: 55A in the upper arm and 80A in the lower. The controller manages the whole thing Richtek RT8894A, and the radiator for cooling is slightly more massive.
Let’s add a correctly working LLC here and we get a board that is already capable of normal processor overclocking. Together with it, we were able to heat up the Ryzen 5 3600 to an impressive 4450 MHz across all cores, its bus (FCLK) – up to 1800 MHz, and a set of memory on chips Samsung B-Die conquered 3600 MHz with primary timings 14-14-14-28 and CR1. Yes, of course, we came across a rather successful R5 3600 then, but for this article it is not so important. The main thing is that the board itself did not limit its capabilities.
With regards to Zen 3 support, the model has it, like the ASRock, so the 5600X gets up without any problems, and considering the power subsystem, you can swing at the 5800X. Note that in the same price range, attention can still be paid to ASUS TUF B450-Pro Gaming…
Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite V2
Specifications
Socket: AM4
Chipset: AMD B550
Maximum DDR4 Memory: 128 GB
Expansion slots: 1x PCIe 4.0 x16, 1x PCIe 3.0 x2, 2x PCIe 3.0 x1
Supply system: 6 phases for CPU, 2 phases for SoC
I / O Panel: HDMI, DisplayPort, 2x USB 2.0, 5x USB 3.2
Sound: Realtek ALC1200, Nichicon Capacitors, S / PDIF Out
Net: Realtek 2.5Gbps LAN
M.2 connectors: 1x Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen 4 x4), 1x M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4, SATA3)
Features of the: BIOS Flashback
Price June 2023: 12,000 rubles ($ 160)
Let’s move on to more serious boards. Gigabyte aorus elite v2 – this is a different class. Options, which in the previous two cases were perceived as something outstanding, are included here as standard.
Available: BIOS flashing button without CPU and memory, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 large set, 2.5 GBit LAN, quite good sound based on the codec Realtek ALC1200 and strapping in the form of capacitors Nichicon Fine Gold, and of a completely different level of power supply system.
Aorus Elite V2 has a controller Intersil RAA229004operating according to the 6 + 2 scheme. The board uses a parallel power architecture, so there are fourteen MOSFETs: SIC641A 55A each.
A massive radiator cools the power section and does it, I must say, perfectly. After stress testing for half an hour in LinX 0.9.7 VRM our motherboards have warmed up to 60 degrees. This is not a record, but a very good result.
The heatsink for cooling M.2 drives is also present, unlike previous models. The slot itself for drives, by the way, is already in the PCIe 4.0 version and supports the highest-speed SSD for today. The second M.2, however, is more modest and only works with SATA and PCIe 3.0. As for the expansion slots, there are four of them, and three of them are full-size x16. True, you shouldn’t flatter yourself: only the top slot works at full speed, the rest are PCIe 3.0 with one or two connected lanes. The large number of pads for connecting case fans is also good news: five pieces.
Now about overclocking. Everything is on the level here. The motherboard has a full BIOS, like that of top solutions.
There is complete control over the power supply system and all required voltages. As a result, the Aorus Elite V2 perfectly drives both processors and memory. We did not test it in tandem with the Ryzen 5 3600, but with the Ryzen 5 5600X we took 4570 MHz across all cores with FCLK 1900. The RAM frequency was then 3800 MHz with the timings 14-15-14-14-28 and CR1.
Perhaps the only thing we didn’t like about the board was a system like Dual BIOS, although in fact there is only one BIOS chip on the body of the board. In the process of selecting the minimum stable timings, situations often arise when the PC refuses to pass POST (is not downloading). Say when you squeeze too hard tRFC… In this case, most motherboards try to complete memory training three times, and then offer to reset the settings to the factory settings. If this does not happen, and the system “hangs” tightly, you can revive it by closing two contacts with a screwdriver CLRCMS on the board or by removing the battery. In the case of Gigabyte, you do not need to do this, the computer will start in any case, but all settings can return to Auto values. Yes, and saved ones too.
Why? And because the board switches to the “spare” BIOS as a precautionary measure. And it can do this at the most unpredictable moment, but manually force it to return to the old BIOS is in no way possible. All that remains is to drive in all the parameters over a new one, or to drive in knowingly non-working ones in the hope that the board will “freeze” again and, perhaps, load the previous BIOS. In short, it is as inconvenient and ill-conceived as possible, but this is the only significant drawback of the model.
ASUS ROG STRIX B550-E Gaming
Specifications
Socket: AM4
Chipset: B550
Maximum DDR4 Memory: 128 GB
Expansion slots: 2x PCIe 4.0 x16, 1x PCIe 3.0 x16, 1x PCIe 3.0 x1
Supply system: 7 + 1 (14 + 2)
I / O Panel: HDMI, DisplayPort, 4x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.2, 1x USB Type-C, 1x USB 2.0 Type-C for audio
Sound: Realtek ALC1200, Nichicon Capacitors, S / PDIF Out
Net: Intel 2.5Gbps LAN, Intel Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax
M.2 connectors: 1x Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen 4 x4), 1x M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4, SATA3)
Features of the: BIOS Flashback, Bluetooth 5.1, VRM zone heatsink illumination, POST indicator, Troubleshoot LED
Price June 2023: 21,000 rubles ($ 280)
So we got to the top segment, well ASUS ROG Strix B550-E Gaming Is a workhorse that has been working for me 24 hours a day since its release AMD Ryzen 9 5900X…
And there are no complaints about her.
Let’s start with nutrition. It is implemented through the controller ASP2006… According to the passport, it works with a maximum of eight phases, however, there are 16 MOSFETs on the body of the board: Monolithic Power Systems MP86992… Fourteen are dedicated to the needs of the CPU VCC and the remaining two serve as the SoC VCC. Thus, ASUS engineers use seven real phases to power the CPU. And this is enough with a large margin.
See for yourself. Our system is assembled in an extremely compact housing Fractal Design Meshify C, two hot memory modules with Samsung B-Die chips are installed next to the processor, to which 1.55 V is supplied in 24/7 mode, just below the smoke EVGA RTX 2080 Superand it all withstood endless cycles of stress testing in LinX, Prime95 and TestMem 5…
The VRM heatsinks are warm, but not hot at all, they could be heated up to 50-52 degrees as much as possible.
In terms of overclocking, there are also no restrictions. All necessary voltages are available, control over the supply phases is given. There are five fan pads, LLC working correctly and predictably, and a POST indicator: LED sirens that show exactly what the problem is. The BIOS itself, as always, at ASUS is extremely logical and easy to use.
As a result, paired with the 5900X, we got the following as much as possible: 5075 MHz in single-threaded modes, 4600 MHz in LinX on all cores, 2000 MHz in FCLK, and the memory frequency was 4000 MHz with timings 14-16-14-14-28 and CR1 … The only thing that limited the computer from stable operation with such settings was the CPU itself, or rather its FCLK bus. Errors appeared periodically WHEA, but the board itself has nothing to do with it: questions about the quality of a particular crystal. As a result, we had to cool down a bit and lower the FCLK frequency to 1866 MHz, and the memory to 3866 MHz with timings of 14-14-14-14-28 and CR1.
As for everything else, from the pleasant bonuses we would note the presence of BIOS Flashback (BIOS firmware without CPU and memory), Wi-Fi 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.0, efficient heatsinks for M.2 drives (our Samsung 970 Evo Plus when stress testing with CrystalDiskMark warmed up to only 72 degrees), well-realized sound based on the Realtek ALC1200 codec and audio-oriented Nichicon Fine Gold capacitors.
In general, a serious model for absolutely any processor up to Ryzen 5950X and it is clear that the 5600X is not a problem for her. You can safely take and upgrade later to the top CPUs in the line.
The only question for which is ASUS’s decision not to solder the BIOS reset button to factory settings on the board. It is clear that the company’s management so avoids internal competition with their own more expensive products on X570-chipsets, but for such an overclocking-focused motherboard, this is a terrible flaw. You constantly have to get inside the case with a screwdriver and in this antediluvian way bring the board back to life after the next No POST.
MSI B550 UNIFY
Specifications
Socket: AM4
Chipset: B550
Maximum DDR4 Memory: 128 GB
Expansion slots: 2x PCIe 4.0 x16, 1x PCIe 3.0 x16, 2x PCIe 3.0 x1
Supply system: 14 + 2
I / O Panel: DisplayPort, 4x USB 2.0, 3x USB 3.2, 1x USB 3.2 Type-C
Sound: Realtek ALC1200P, Nichicon Capacitors, S / PDIF Out
Net: Realtek 2.5Gbps LAN, Intel Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax
M.2 connectors: 3x Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen 4 x4), 1x M.2 (PCIe 3.0 x4, SATA Rev.3),
Features of the: BIOS Flashback, Clear CMOS, POST indicator, Troubleshoot LED, no backlight
Price June 2023: 25,000 rubles ($ 330)
As the cherry on the cake with us MSI B550 UNIFY… Best of the best, uncompromising and very expensive.
Let’s say right away that its target audience is overclocking enthusiasts or simply those who want to assemble a system for themselves from the most top-end components. What makes it special? Let’s sort it out in order.
First, the power supply system. If ASUS B550-E Gaming had it very good, then here it is prohibitively good and is suitable even for overclocking the CPU under liquid nitrogen. A 16-phase controller is used as a controller. Infineon XDPE132G5Cthat drives sixteen MOSFETs Infineon TDA21490 90A each.
Secondly, there are no doublers and parallel power supply. Honest 14 phases on the CPU VCC and two on the SoC VCC. Needless to say, it is impossible to warm up all this to any tangible temperatures during normal, domestic use? We think that it is not necessary. Moreover, most likely, nothing much will change, even if you remove the radiator from the VRM. And he, by the way, already has a heat pipe, which was not the case with any of the previous models.
In addition to the extraordinary power supply, the model offers the same extraordinary possibilities in terms of connecting M.2 drives. There are as many as four slots for them, however, if you use everything, then a number of restrictions will come into force. In particular, the PCIe x16 slot for the video card will go into x8 mode. There are four PCIe slots themselves, and the first, of course, with support for PCIe 4.0, like any other model with the B550 chipset.
There is also onboard Wi-Fi 802.11ax, USB 2.0, 3.0, excellent sound based on Realtek ALC1200P and Nichicon Fine Gold capacitors, BIOS reset buttons, board reboot, BIOS flashing without CPU and RAM, POST indicator, LED indication of startup problems, six pads for connecting case fans and two more for connecting a pump or classic air cooling.
But the most important thing here is the BIOS. It is licked to perfection, simple, clear and convenient. There are ready-made overclocking presets from leading overclockers, and, of course, the board allows you to manually control everything that is possible: phase operation, all voltages and timings in asynchronous mode. Plus, Unify rarely falls into No POST, so it is very convenient to configure the system.
Да, достиг таких страшных цифр он в асинхронном с контроллером режиме. Да, такие частоты доступны только самым отборным модулям Micron E-Die и Samsung B-Die и да, конечно, в бытовом режиме всё это абсолютно не нужно. Как, собственно, и сама плата.
Покупать её стоит только в том случае, если вы всерьез планируете покорять рекорды разгона, хотите, чтобы плата выдержала любые издевательства над ней, ну или просто захотите посмотреть, на что способно ваше железо в пике. А еще у Unify нет подсветки. И на наш взгляд это совсем не минус.
На этом всё. Надеемся, что после прочтения проблема выбора материнской платы для процессоров AMD отойдет на второй план, и у вас созреют новые вопросы. Их и будем ждать в комментариях.
