ITX build: Choosing an AM4 B450 board - what's your experience in terms of reliability?

[AnitaPeterson]

Hello everyone,

This is a re-edit of my original post, to clarify what I'm asking for is reliability reports.

I'm getting ready to build my first ever ITX machine, and after deciding on this particular architecture (Am4, B450), I'm looking at a couple of boards... I figure they should be popular enough to have at least a couple of owners here. And I had another model brought to my attention by a mod whose opinion I can trust.

The machine will be a gaming computer, with no other primary functions. It will run a GTX 1660, and the CPU will be a Ryzen 5 2600X, with a Corsair liquid cooler, inside a Thermaltake Suppressor F1 case.

I have several options within a $20 price difference:

1) Gigabyte B450 I Aorus Pro Wifi - The Gigabyte has a nice M.2 shield and better audio (including a SPDIF header, next to the PCI slot), but I've seen many complaints about its reliability on Newegg.

2) MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC - The MSI seems to be better built (far fewer Newegg and Amazon complaints) but the audio chip is older and its USB 3.1 ports are slower than the Gigabyte. Also, I'm not too keen on the M.2 slot being underneath the motherboard.

The pictures I found on the 'net show that MSI has the better BIOS, while the Gigabyte BIOS seems much more primitive.

3) Asrock B450 Fatal1ty Gaming ITX/ac - suggested by Iron Woode already has his vote. It seems like a nice alternative to the Aorus (same audio chipset). But I've also seen reports of this model dying unexpectedly after several months of use.

4) Finally, another one that was suggested to me in a store: the ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming. Looks amazing, the reviews are glowing (and I liked it in person) but many Newegg people complain they receive a DOA.

Does anyone here have any experience with these boards? How pleased are you with yours?
I'm more concerned with reliability and other problems (like heat), than I am with RGB lighting or a fancy label.

 

[Iron Woode]

I went with the Asrock B450 Fatal1ty Gaming ITX/ac board for my HTPC. It is a great board. I used a Thermaltake Core V1 case.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I went with the Asrock B450 Fatal1ty Gaming ITX/ac board for my HTPC. It is a great board. I used a Thermaltake Core V1 case.

How does the M.2 slot fit under the board? does it have enough ventilation if a drive is attached to it?
I've been looking at this model as well, but once again I came across some bad reviews on Newegg...

There's also the ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming Motherboard, but much to my surprise its also got bad reviews...

 

[Iron Woode]

How does the M.2 slot fit under the board? does it have enough ventilation if a drive is attached to it?
I've been looking at this model as well, but once again I came across some bad reviews on Newegg...

There's also the ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming Motherboard, but much to my surprise its also got bad reviews...

I didn't use an M.2 drive so I have no idea.

Bad reviews on Newegg, etc... don't interest me. I check review sites and youtube reviewers for accurate opinions.

Go with the one that feels right for you.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Thank you for providing first-hand data about your board.

And you're right about knowing what you like, but that's not what I'm asking.

I guess I wasn't sufficiently clear in the first place:
Those reviews I mentioned were all from people saying the board died after a certain amount of time.

And this, in my mind, is where any reviews - on Youtube or elsewhere will always fall short: there's no way to actually guarantee the object reviewed will continue to function free of defects for a reasonable time beyond the duration of the review itself.

In other words, I'm talking about reliability.

I'd be much more grateful to hear from people who have had extensive experience with one board or another - whom I can trust as a member of this board - than go by statement from complete strangers online.

In the end, nobody wants to be the guy who bought the Ford Pinto.

 

[Iron Woode]

Thank you for providing first-hand data about your board.

And you're right about knowing what you like, but that's not what I'm asking.

I guess I wasn't sufficiently clear in the first place:
Those reviews I mentioned were all from people saying the board died after a certain amount of time.

And this, in my mind, is where any reviews - on Youtube or elsewhere will always fall short: there's no way to actually guarantee the object reviewed will continue to function free of defects for a reasonable time beyond the duration of the review itself.

In other words, I'm talking about reliability.

I'd be much more grateful to hear from people who have had extensive experience with one board or another - whom I can trust as a member of this board - than go by statement from complete strangers online.

In the end, nobody wants to be the guy who bought the Ford Pinto.

I understand. I went through the same nerve wracking experience. After checking numerous reviews, ratings and opinions it led me to deciding on the Asrock board. I wanted premium audio for my HTPC and most other boards didn't have that.

Of course the old adage applies: you pays your money and takes your chances.

 

[vailr]

Building a $1750 MINI-ITX Gaming PC in the Lian Li TU150!

The author uses the Gigabyte B450 I Aorus Pro Wifi.

 

[thigobr]

I have been using the Strix B450-I for almost an year and it has been stable and able to overclock better than my previous Prime X370. I got it over the Asrock because of the 2 M2 PCIe slots (using two M2 SSDs currently). I see BIOS updates for Ryzen 3K but I am not sure how stable the board is with the new gen so far... I will update later this year to a 3950X tough

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I have been using the Strix B450-I for almost an year [...] (using two M2 SSDs currently).

From what I read, using the second M2 slot (under the board) results in the PCIe slot dropping to 8x instead of 16x. Doesn't this affect your videocard? I see in your sig that's it's an 1080...

 

[Brainonska511]

From what I read, using the second M2 slot (under the board) results in the PCIe slot dropping to 8x instead of 16x. Doesn't this affect your videocard? I see in your sig that's it's an 1080...

From what I've read, a drop in the speed of the x16 slot to x8 is basically negligible, and you only see a tiny difference on the highest end cards at resolutions over 1080p.

Anyway, this has been a useful thread, as I've been in the process of picking parts for a midrange mITX gaming build for my fiance.

 

[thigobr]

That's true, the main PCIe will have half of the lanes redirected (even though the M2 only uses 4 of those lanes). But the performance impact is negligible (~2%, margin of error?)
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080-ti-pci-express-scaling/6.html
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-pci-express-scaling/24.html

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

Thread is a bit old now, but I also have the ASRock B450 Fatality. Have been using it since December 2018 with a 2700X and RTX2080. I have a 970 Evo M2 and Micron 1100 SATA SSD for storage. No issues with heating. Been very happy with the setup.

-AG

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Thread is a bit old now, but I also have the ASRock B450 Fatality. [...] Been very happy with the setup.

-AG

Thread was created a week ago, surely that's not too old... besides which, I still haven't got the motherboard...
But I've narrowed the choice between Asus and Gigabyte.

 

[matheusber]

I have the gigabyte board but my setup is younger, has afew more then two weeks. I have no GPU card for now and I run it on Sharkoon C10 case using Seasonic 620W PSU. Ubuntu 19.04 is really fast on it, boot time never cross the 20s mark. Have 32GB of not so fast DDR4 2666 from vengeance corsair line, and I use a M2 1TB Intel ssd. Glad to say I have no problems so far, even the 3400G never needed to have the bios updated.

All I can say is that the prime95 torture test makes the temp get to 80°C really quick. I use the stock cooler and I live where the ambient temperature is around 30°C.

If wanna ask something ...

matheus

 

[JustMe21]

I bought the Asrock Fatal1ty board back in June and it's still working fine, but it's mainly just used for web browsing. I got it because it had the Realtek 1220 autio and an Intel NIC. I just bought another one to set up a PFSense box, since once again, it's the only ITX board with an Intel NIC. Sure it might be overkill for for PFSense, but the board is on sale every so often for $109 or $99, so I couldn't pass it up.

 

[Kyron71]

I used a A320 AsRock for a home server with Ryzen 1200 and 2300mhz ECC Ram

Had a 710 for gpu

 

[Kyron71]

If you don't mind micro atx or micro Itx
Ryzen Pro CPU 2200 or 2400GE can be had from eBay (Has ECC Support).

Combine with AsRock Pro board with will take 2400mhz ECC DDR 4 Ram (AsRock can supply a list of all supported ram).

The GE means integrated graphics and Energy Saver.

 

[Kyron71]

For gaming I prefer x470 board over B450

 

[Lanyap]

Let us know what you pick. I'm planning on building a medium-end gaming rig based on the mini-ITX platform also. I want to get back into gaming but don't want to spend a lot of money. It's been 5+ years since I built a system. I want a small footprint but be able to use standard size GPU and PSU. I've narrowed the CPU down to Ryzen 5 2600 but i'm still looking at some of the same motherboards you are. I've narrowed cases to a Thermaltake or Cooler Master.

 

[Kyron71]

Beautiful B450

 

[Iron Woode]

I still give thumbs up to the Asrock B450 mITX board as it is working fantastic with my R3 2200G.

 

[legolas_tk]

You should get ROG STRIX B450-I GAMING. It is awesome product

 

[StrangerGuy]

Bad reviews on Newegg, etc... don't interest me. I check review sites and youtube reviewers for accurate opinions.

There seems to some serious PEKBAC with low-end mobos at America, when me and countless others on the other side of the Pacific never have any problems using them. My 4790K is still kicking strong with an Asus H81i after 5 years with no signs of degradation.

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

I currently use the ASRock B450 fatality board and in the past used the Gigabyte ITX one. I prefer the ASRock for a few reasons. It has a better firmware interface, better RAM support, a PS/2 port, and compared to the MSI board it has an Intel NIC. The only thing that I can complain about with this board is the bugs with Ryzen 3000 chips. I had to disable global C-state support otherwise the system would randomly freeze on idle among other shenanigins with the earlier AGESAs.

 

[Iron Woode]

I currently use the ASRock B450 fatality board and in the past used the Gigabyte ITX one. I prefer the ASRock for a few reasons. It has a better firmware interface, better RAM support, a PS/2 port, and compared to the MSI board it has an Intel NIC. The only thing that I can complain about with this board is the bugs with Ryzen 3000 chips. I had to disable global C-state support otherwise the system would randomly freeze on idle among other shenanigins with the earlier AGESAs.

That is part of the reason I like the board. So many features in one ITX board.

I am sticking with BIOS 3.20 for now and I won't be upgrading the CPU.

As much as I want to upgrade the system in my sig, I will wait for the B550 boards to show up.