AMD has RYZEN!!

[NeoGen]

The new Ryzen processors are out for pre-order and shipping in March 2nd... unfortunately I blinked and the 1800X is already out of stock on most retailers. I may have to wait a little for re-stocking.
Oh well... I also have to pick a good X370 motherboard to go along with it :icon_lol:

Anyone here managed to snag one?

[vaughan]

Not yet, I'm looking at the tier 2 motherboards for example, Asus Prime B350M-A, as it is (1) cheaper and (2) I don't need fancy sound hardware for a cruncher.

[NeoGen]

I'm looking to replace my primary computer in which I work, play, listen to music, etc, as well as crunching, so I'm looking for a good X370 motherboard to last me a very long time. Fill it with 64Gb of RAM and an upcoming Vega GPU, and I should be set.

Will be eager to see what they have to offer once the server parts come out, especially the 32core Naples :icon_mrgreen:

[Dirk Broer]

There are at the moment few Ryzen CPU out, but what has been presented can be ompared to Intel's i7 line.
The main focus of the motherboards seems to be geared likewise.

Now when it comes to crunching there are different approaches.
One is to do it on a server with as many cores as possible, so that one (or two) PSU will be able to run all, making things economically affordable 24/7. Costs an arm and a leg though.
A mobo with two or four of those 32-cores is the best here, but I would even settle for a mobo with just one 32-core. So far these CPUs are not yet brought out, and what i've seen of them doesn't look like Socket AM4 will suit them (http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/amd-naples-32-core-zen-processors-photos.html).

The other end of the spectrum is to have CPUs that require very little power to run them, like the present AM1 platform. As this platform uses SOCs (having their chipset on the same silicon that also houses the CPU and the IGP), there seems nothing to prevent AMD from continuing to bring out Zen-based AM1 SOCs (or even ARM-based AM1 SOCs!). So far these CPUs have not been brought out either, and nothing indicates that they ever will.

What do we have?
https://cms-images.idgesg.net/images/article/2017/01/am4-chipset-100702364-orig.jpg

It looks like the X370 boards will best fit NeoGen's needs while Vaughan might settle for multiple boards with a lesser chipset, as long as they will house a 8-core/16-thread cruncher with 64 GB of RAM, a fast SSD and a GPU.

[Dirk Broer]

Asrock AM4 (http://www.asrock.com/mb/index.asp#AM4)

Asrock has two top models, the Fatal1ty X370 Professional Gaming (http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/Fatal1ty%20X370%20Professional%20Gaming/index.asp) being the most elaborate and expensive (329 Euro's here) one, specially meant for gamers.
The slightly less expensive (279 Euro's here) X370 Taichi (http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X370%20Taichi/index.asp) only misses out on the second 5 GB ethernet port of the X370 Professional Gaming.
Looking at the presently cheapest boards (those with the B350 chipset), I noticed that the AM-350M and AB350M-HDV are limited to CPUs with a TDP of respectively 95 and 65 Watt and both only support two sticks of RAM (up to 32 GB with two 16 GB modules), Asrock claiming that you may use DDR4 2400/2133 ECC & non-ECC, un-buffered memory in this case (ECC & non-ECC not at the same time I guess). The more expensive boards support up to 2667 MHz RAM, but not four sticks in all four slots at that speed.

[NeoGen]

Sounds like a very good motherboard but one the awkward things for me is that Aquantia 5Gbps ethernet, it probably requires a specialized router or switch, otherwise it will default to 1Gbps as the other port. I'm so sad it's 2017, 10+ years since IEEE certified 10Gbps ethernet and its still not widespread and affordable. :-(
I was looking through and I can't find anywhere where it says it will use the ECC feature on ECC RAM, several others I've looked into said they are compatible with ECC RAM but the ECC feature is disabled, ASUS doesn't say if it uses or not the ECC feature, not even on the manual, I'm inclined to believe that like others they will accept it but keep ECC feature disabled and just run as normal RAM. I find it sad that that's something not widespread on high end motherboards yet too.

Also another hope I had for this new set of motherboards would be for them to have a thunderbolt 3 port, so that we could plug in one of those external GPU housings. May just have to see if some of those PCIe thunderbolt 3 internal cards would do it. Would be great to have a couple of GPUs housed outside the case as I have difficulty keeping the temperature inside my old mid-ATX case cool enough. I just keep it running open pretty much the whole time, summer temperatures especially used to cause blue screens.

[Dirk Broer]

As the 5GB ethernet port looks to me like a real LAN-party gamer gadget, I'd go for their Taichi if I'd want to buy Asrock,
though their far cheaper X370 Killer SLI and X370 Killer SLI/ac (with WiFi) are still very capable boards and also support ECC (http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X370%20Killer%20SLIac/index.asp#Specification).
I will try to find out whether the Asrock boards will also use the ECC feature.

On our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/AMDUsersTeam/?fref=ts) I've placed links to all AM4 board manufacturers.

[Dirk Broer]

ASUS AM4

When I compare the most expensive ASUS board, the ROG Crosshair VI Hero, with the cheapest (so far), the Prime B350M-A (https://www.asus.com/Product-Compare/?products=9Oqma9QnyUhnd0YT,ghtVfXqMRP7gHFkj&b=0)
I can actually 'hear' Vaughan saying "I'm looking at the tier 2 motherboards for example, Asus Prime B350M-A, as it is (1) cheaper and (2) I don't need fancy sound hardware for a cruncher.",
as the Prime B350M-A has all you need to crunch and for a good deal less money than the gamer-oriented ROG Crosshair (which seems -here- the cheapest 'X370 Gamer board' at 269 Euro's).
No mentioning of support for ECC RAM with ASUS.

[vaughan]

I'm tempted to buy a Ryzen next week but the DDR4 ram prices, even for only 2x16GB sticks, are pretty steep.
CPU = dear
mobo = cheap
ram = crazy prices
case for uATX mobo - cheap (sub $100)
p/s = acceptable (depends what Wattage you get)
GPU = optional (could wait for GTX1080 Ti)
replacing a Q6600 that is 10 years old and too power inefficient now.

[Dirk Broer]

My plan is to re-use case and PSU, possibly even GPU.
Costs for mobo+8 core+DDR4 are staggering though.

[NeoGen]

Did anyone read about AMD's "Capsaicin and Cream" event? They showcased Vega and revealed that the official name will be... Vega! :icon_lol: :icon_lol:

http://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-rx-vega-gpu-architecture-features/

[Dirk Broer]

So first the evergreens (Cedar, Redwood, Juniper and Cypress) and after a visit to the islands (Caïcos, Turks, Barts, Cayman, Antilles, etc.) we're off to space now!

[NeoGen]

The more reviews I read about the Ryzen CPUs the more I see them clobbering Intel's processors that cost almost twice the price. :icon_mrgreen:

I'm still waiting a little bit and watching, there seems to be a bit of motherboard short supply as well as RAM vendors getting validated, and plenty of BIOS bugs being ironed out because it's a brand new platform and architecture. There is even a rumor about a Windows 10 issue that is causing Ryzen CPUs to have lower performance than on similar tests in Windows 7.

But all in all AMD hit the nail in the head! They are selling like hotcakes and performing like monsters! Can't wait to prepare myself a list of components, order it, and build me a next generation crunching machine!

[Dirk Broer]

Prices here in the Netherlands now are 359 (1700) - 439 (1700X) - 559 (1800X) Euro's

This makes the 1700 comparable to the Xeon E5-2609 v4 in both price and cores/threads, the 1700X to the Xeon E5-2620 v4 and the 1800X to the Xeon E5-2630 v4.
As these are all quite hefty Socket 2011-3 Xeon CPUs that require an Intel C612 chipset to be fully functionable (e.g. use of ECC RAM), you should compare the AMD AM4 boards
with C612 boards as well. Cheapest Intel Socket 2011-3 mobo with C612 Chipset is (here) the Supermicro X10SRL-F at 289 Euro and when we limit ourselves to the traditional suppliers (ASUS, Asrock, MSI and Gigabyte) that rises to 312 Euros for the Asus Z10PA-U8. This makes the prices for the high-end X370 boards a bit more palatable, the MSI X370 XPower Gaming Titanium weighing in at 315 Euro's here. Only the ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Professional Gaming is more expensive: 325 Euro.

There are of course Socket 1151 mobo's with the Intel C236 chipset that support Socket 1151 Xeon's. These are limited to four cores/eight threads however and have just four RAM slots (like the better present AM4 boards)

Can't wait for the first Naples boards and CPUs......and boards that offer more than four RAM slots to feed those 16 -or more- threads.

[Dirk Broer]

After the Ryzen 7-series -that can be compared to Intel's Socket 2011-3 offerings- AMD introduced the Ryzen 5-series that take on Intel's Socket 1151 i7-line, having either 4 cores/8 threads or 6 cores/12 threads at a price that makes you smile, compared to the i7 prices.

[vaughan]

My Ryzen 1700 build parts have arrived.

358

[Dirk Broer]

So you went for the 65 Watt TDP variant with 8-cores/16-threads -perhaps the most interesting Ryzen, cruncherwise- Can't wait for the first user review here...

[vaughan]

Yes Dirk. It is replacing a Q6600 that is 10 years old and pumps out too much heat.
I hope to build it this weekend. Will let you know how it goes crunching, from what I saw at Primegrid they appear to excel at Sieve but are not so strong at LLR tasks. I'll see for myself soon enough.

[Dirk Broer]

Good at sieving and not so strong at LLR is such an often stated fact with AMD CPU performance that I am beginning to suspect that the PrimeGrid developers still use Intel compilers with 'cripple non-Intel (http://www.osnews.com/story/22683/Intel_Forced_to_Remove_quot_Cripple_AMD_quot_Funct ion_from_Compiler_)' code. It can also mean that the performance under Linux is more equal -as there are no Intel compilers for the Linux OS.

Compared to the Q6600, the AMD Ryzen 7 1700 has SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX, AVX2, F16C and FMA3 instructions enabled. It would be interesting to run the LLR code in debugger mode, so we can see which instructions are actually used by the code.

[Jason1478963]

I put mine together in a rosewill case then decided to swap cases to put a corsair liquid cooler on it from an am2 system :P I wasn't happy with the stock cooler performance on mine. It now seems to be running much cooler then the stock cooler. I also like the approximate 120 WCG SmashChildhoodCancer work units its doing a day.

Ryzen R7 1700
Statistics Date Total Run Time
(y:d:h:m:s) Points Generated Results Returned
03/25/2017 0:016:16:45:49 85,594 334
03/24/2017 0:016:17:39:01 42,796 127
03/23/2017 0:015:07:30:37 54,829 110
03/22/2017 0:015:17:48:14 71,741 109
03/21/2017 0:014:15:28:32 66,170 102
03/20/2017 0:015:10:07:52 75,012 107
03/19/2017 0:016:03:31:55 74,120 119
03/18/2017 0:009:20:35:43 47,517 71
03/17/2017 0:013:05:41:04 62,361 95

vs fx8350 running same project but also pushing 2 GPU
Statistics Date Total Run Time
(y:d:h:m:s) Points Generated Results Returned
03/25/2017 0:006:11:12:06 17,071 80
03/24/2017 0:007:08:39:54 18,124 55
03/23/2017 0:007:02:50:17 20,070 49
03/22/2017 0:007:14:37:47 29,778 51
03/21/2017 0:007:05:38:59 27,798 46
03/20/2017 0:006:17:17:48 25,491 44
03/19/2017 0:006:12:47:41 25,873 43
03/18/2017 0:006:21:57:22 29,295 47
03/17/2017 0:006:02:30:13 27,715 43
03/16/2017 0:005:16:12:26 25,739 44
03/15/2017 0:006:17:10:37 31,389 47
03/14/2017 0:007:07:57:04 29,598 59
03/13/2017 0:007:06:44:04 29,959 61
03/12/2017 0:006:10:36:21 28,393 61

[NeoGen]

Wow... that's an impressive difference there, especially taking into account that BIOSes, Operating Systems, and applications are all still being tweaked to better perform with it as we speak.

Keep a close eye on the motherboard manufacturers pages, it seems the Ryzen mobo BIOSes are still under heavy tweaking and getting better. :)

[Dirk Broer]

Gigabyte just has released two boards featuring the A320 Chipset (http://techreport.com/news/31640/gigabyte-has-two-a320-boards-for-bread-and-butter-ryzen-builds), making (stock speed) Ryzen computing even more affordable:
http://techreport.com/r.x/2017_1_5_AMD_shows_off_Ryzenready_motherboards_at_ CES/ryzen_chipsets.jpg

[Nflight]

That is a serious increase there Jason, nice job with the improvement!

[NeoGen]

Has anyone read the rumors about the possible upcoming X390 chipset (http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/amd-x390-and-x399-chipsets-diagrams-reveal-hedt-information.html)?

Oh man.. now that's the stuff I want! Full on Dual CPU mobos, up to 16-core/32-thread Ryzens, Quad channel ECC memory support and a whoooole lot of RAM slots! :icon_mrgreen:

And then the new Ryzen beasts with up to 16 cores may run at 3.1GHz (also rumor) (http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/16-core-ryzen-part-would-reportedly-run-at-3-1-ghz-base-and-3-6-ghz-turbo.html):icon_mrgreen: (but the TDP is brutal.. between 150W and 180W) :shocked:

[Dirk Broer]

As far as I read up about it the X390 chipset will support a single 'Naples' CPU with 12-cores/24 threads or more and quad-channel RAM, while the X399 chipset is to be found on dual 'Naples boards' with up to two 32-core/64-threads CPUs and octo-channel RAM. If all is well, these two chipset/board combos share the AM44 LGA Socket.

[Jason1478963]

I think it may be time to scrap the dual cores and quad cores :P
The power savings may add up enough if this can replace 3 to 4 computers a guy typically runs.

[Nflight]

Please heart be still, as it is quaking and shuttering in its holder in my chest. Oh My, Intel just might be running in circles when this RZ4700 come's out! Holy Cow I am excited, all this news and colorful dramatic descriptions are awesome to project visually. I want to hold it in my hand though, when will that happen I ask? :blob3:

[vaughan]

My Ryzen 1700 system has failed to launch. It won't boot. Next weekend further troubleshooting required. The cheap ASUS motherboard doesn't have any boot indicator LEDs so we don't get any feedback as to what is wrong. Should have bought a more informative motherboard.

[Dirk Broer]

No beep, nothing? From what I read is that you should update the BIOS first before installing any OS and install updated chipset drivers immediately afterwards...
It seems like some Ryzen boards have gotten a BIOS meant for APUs:

two different BIOS being shipped. A ver. 0404 and ver. 0502. The ver. 0404 is for the upcoming 7th Gen. APU’s and does not support the Ryzen CPU’s.
Latest BIOS on the ASUS support site is 0509 (http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM4/PRIME_B350M-A/PRIME-B350M-A-ASUS-0509.zip?_ga=1.177239973.1435744524.1483929069) for the PRIME B350M-A

This is the list of officially supported DDR4 RAM modules (http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/SocketAM4/PRIME_B350M-A/PRIME_B350M-A_Memory_QVL_20170327.pdf?_ga=1.88356507.143574452 4.1483929069)
https://tweakers.net/ext/f/YiAUTvYqGdNtVHtjSHUv6dSj/full.jpg

[NeoGen]

Sorry to hear vaughan. I hope it's something easy to fix. Sometimes the simplest things are the ones that we don't think of.

Dirk, that is really strange, how can they ship the board with a BIOS that's not compatible? Or worse yet, how are people supposed to know which one they are getting when they buy it? :-(

[Dirk Broer]

I can only hope that the presently offered BIOs-es at ASUS.com all support both APUs and Ryzen.

[NeoGen]

I was just reading an article where they say that DDR4 training can take anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds (http://www.pcgamer.com/amd-ryzen-state-of-the-union-address/) on the Ryzen motherboards... I wonder if that's time where the power is on but nothing happens on screen? Could that be what you are experiencing vaughan?

But even if your memory works properly, the initial DDR4 training cycle can take a very long time, especially after a cold boot (or a failed overclock). On all the boards we've tested, we've seen the memory training and POST process take anywhere from 30-60 seconds, sometimes with a couple of clear restarts in between.

Imagine that for a moment: your PC can boot to the Windows desktop in less than ten seconds, but just getting to the boot process in the first place might take over a minute. And for an enthusiast looking to finetune performance, almost every time you restart the PC you can expect an extra 10-15 second delay—that's in addition to the more typical 15-20 second POST times. On most motherboards, a cold boot takes at least 40 seconds to complete the DDR4 training and POST, sometimes 75 seconds.

[NeoGen]

And wow... updating your BIOS is really important in these first few months. AMD released a microcode update (https://www.dvhardware.net/article66300.html) that among other things fixes a system hang issue and reduces memory latency!

Look out for Ryzen motherboard BIOS updates coming soon!

[NeoGen]

And not only that but simple updates to existing software seem to bring out great performance boosts from the Ryzen architecture... This game was updated specifically for Ryzen and just saw a really good boost of performance.
http://www.legitreviews.com/amd-ryzen-performance-update-released-ashes-singularity_193137

Those results are impressive seeing that the test bench is equal for both before and after (same CPU, RAM, GPU, OS, etc) with only the game update being the variable.

One thing I can see is that the FPS at all three resolutions does not change that much, usually it's significantly higher at 1080p and much lower at 4k, but if the numbers don't vary much across resolutions then the CPU must be the bottleneck in this game. And look at what a simple update to a new CPU architecture can make! :)

[vaughan]

I'm not sure Dirk. We tried taking the motherboard out of the case so there was no risk of any metal to metal contact causing a short circuit. It still is dead.
This week I'll buy another motherboard; most likely from Gigabyte as the first one that failed was an ASUS. Looking at a higher quality one ie with BIOS / boot progress numerals or LEDs. Dirk we tried lots of DDR4 ram sticks, nothing worked. We replaced power supply, GPU and HDD with hardware we knew worked in Intel based computers. Thus the only variables not swapped are CPU and mobo.

Neogen I wonder if the manufacturers update the BIOS to the latest releases as the AM4 boards seem to sell out quickly, so lots of turnover in the shops. I guess they do.

[NeoGen]

Hmmm.... 6 cores/12 threads vs 4 cores/4 threads for about the same price (http://www.anandtech.com/show/11244/the-amd-ryzen-5-1600x-vs-core-i5-review-twelve-threads-vs-four)... which would I choose? :icon_lol: :icon_mrgreen:

[Dirk Broer]

Hmmm.... 6 cores/12 threads vs 4 cores/4 threads for about the same price (http://www.anandtech.com/show/11244/the-amd-ryzen-5-1600x-vs-core-i5-review-twelve-threads-vs-four)... which would I choose? :icon_lol: :icon_mrgreen:
Crunching-wise a no-brainer, I'd say:icon_lol::icon_mrgreen:

[vaughan]

We purchased another motherboard, this one from Gigabyte. AX370-GAMING K7 Ryzen AM4 ATX MB. Will see how it goes as the build is planned over Easter.

[Dirk Broer]

That's quite a jump in price/feature level. Gigabyte does not cater better at the moment for the AM4 platform than the (RGB LED decorated) AX370-GAMING K7.
I hope for you there's a 'lights off' mode too, to be honest.
http://www.eteknix.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Screenshot_8-1-800x519.jpghttp://www.startlr.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/1488282028_326_fee-aorus-ga-ax370-gaming-k7-headed-lineup-gigabyte-am4.jpg

[Nflight]

I put sun glasses on to view the last post by Dirk, way to brightly colored for my tastes!

[Dirk Broer]

In the end we're all plain jealous, of course....:icon_biggrin:

[NeoGen]

I'm still waiting for the server options and Vega to be launched to see the whole ecosystem, but so far its really promising!

Come on Vaughan, tell us how it went :)

[vaughan]

Sorry. No time to build it yet, maybe this weekend.

[Dirk Broer]

Feature
ASRock Fatal1ty X370
Professional Gaming
Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero
Biostar Racing X370GT7
Gigabyte Aorus GA-AX370
Gaming K7
MSI X370 XPower
Gaming Titanium


M2
1x PCI-e 2.0 x4
1x S600/Pcie3.0x4
1x S600/Pcie3.0x4
1x S600/Pcie3.0x4
1x PCI-e 3.0 x4
1x S600/Pcie3.0x4


U2
-
-
-
Gen3, 32Gb/s
Gen3, 32Gb/s


SATA-600
10x
8x
6x
8x
6x


SATA Express
-
-
-
2x Gen3, 16Gb/s
-


USB 2.0
4x
6x
4x
4x
7x


USB 3.1
10x USB 3.1 (Gen1, 5Gb/s),
1x USB 3.1 (Gen2, 10Gb/s),
1x USB 3.1 (TypeC, 10Gb/s)
10x USB 3.1 (Gen1, 5Gb/s),
2x USB 3.1 (Gen2, 10Gb/s),
1x USB 3.1 (TypeC, 10Gb/s)
8x USB 3.1 (Gen1, 5Gb/s),
1x USB 3.1 (Gen2, 10Gb/s),
1x USB 3.1 (TypeC, 10Gb/s)
10x USB 3.1 (Gen1, 5Gb/s),
3x USB 3.1 (Gen2, 10Gb/s),
1x USB 3.1 (TypeC, 10Gb/s)
8x USB 3.1 (Gen1, 5Gb/s),
1x USB 3.1 (Gen2, 10Gb/s),
2x USB 3.1 (TypeC, 5Gb/s)


WiFi
Yes
-
-
-
-


Bluetooth
4.2
-
-
-
-


Video out
-
-
DVI-D, HDMI 2.0
HDMI 1.4
DisplayPort, HDMI 2.0


PS/2
1x
-
1x
1x
1x


NIC
Intel I211AT
Aquantia AQC108 (5Gb/s)
Intel I211AT
Realtek RTL8118AS
Intel
Killer E2500
Intel I211AT


Audio
Realtek ALC1220
Realtek ALC1220
Realtek ALC1220
Realtek ALC1220
Realtek ALC1220


Case Fan Headers
2x 4-pin
1x 4-pin water pump
3x 4-pin
2x 4-pin water pump
3x 4-pin
4x 4-pin
2x 4-pin water pump
4x 4-pin
1x 4-pin water pump


CPU Fan Headers
1x 4-pin
1x 4-pin cpu opt/water pump
2x 4-pin
2x 4-pin
2x 4-pin
1x 4-pin


Power design
16-Phase
12-Phase
14-phase
10-Phase
10-Phase



Each board has something to say for it. Asrock can boost about the beefiest power design, support for ECC RAM -in a gaming board?- and the onboard WiFi and Bluetooth. From a crunching point of view the 16-Phase is a minor virtue, as is the ECC RAM. Bluetooth and WiFi are nice-to-haves. Gamers will fall for the 5 Gb/s NIC. Asus can boost about the most software extra's, but you must be a WIndows User to be able to enjoy it. Biostar is the cheapest, but also the only one without fan headers with a higher amperage for water cooling. Gigabyte offers the best cooling and has as only one SATA Express, while MSI has the most expensive board of them all. And as with the Asus board, it comes with lots of extra's. Most of the boards are quite luxurious if fact, with the Biostar perhaps the least, as reflected in the price. Luckily for Biostar the Power Phase design is only second to that of the ASRock Fatal1ty X370 Professional Gaming and the Asrock X370 Taichi, the Asrock runner-up board that is still more expensive than the Biostar board.

[Brucifer]

I have to agree with Vaughan's perspective on this stuff as all I do is crunch, no audio, games, etc. Just crunch. :-) So will wait a while for the dust to settle and then see what's what. lol

[NeoGen]

I agree with you Brucifer, these high end motherboards have way too many bells and whistles that we don't need for pure crunching.
Server boards that don't have any of those bells and whistles, and probably cost the same or less to manufacture per unit, are sold at much higher prices. :-(

Maybe someday automation processes get to a point where we can "3D print" our own motherboards just by selecting a few checkboxes like "Socket type", "number of RAM slots", "number of PCIe slots", etc.

[Dirk Broer]

I have to agree with Vaughan's perspective on this stuff as all I do is crunch, no audio, games, etc. Just crunch.

'Vaughan's perspective' has bought him the best cooling solution AM4 boards yet provide, with -as added feature- the whole shebang on bells and whistles.
Name me one AM4 board feature the K7 Aorus does NOT have.:icon_eek:

[vaughan]

Finally we got the Ryzen 7 running. My son installed Linux on it as I wasn't going to fork out approx AUD265 for a copy of Win 10 Pro 64. What a price gouge!
The Gigabyte motherboard was described by my son as "Typical rice". Over the top bling with glowing LEDs everywhere, next to the RAM sticks, all around the edges of the mobo. That with the red ring on the AMD cooler with its neat little AMD lettering and the whole thing is a light show. Fortunately you can turn off the mobo lightshow. Its all wasted as the box is sitting in a shelf rack so nobody can see the silly bling.

In terms of performance - it is MUCH slower than the Xeons at LLR. At sieving, as expected, it is reasonable.

[Dirk Broer]

Are you using the F2 BIOS or the F3? The F3 has an update CPU AGESA 1004a (http://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-AX370-Gaming-K7-rev-10#support-dl)

[NeoGen]

Now this was unexpected... Biostar launched a couple of Ryzen motherboards supposedly specific to cryptocoin mining...

Biostar TA320-BTC (http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=883) (A320 chipset)
Biostar TB350-BTC (http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=882) (B350 chipset)

The interesting thing is that it has very few bells and whistles (yay!), and lots of PCIE x1 slots (I suppose with PCIe adapters from x16 to x1 one can plug in a bunch of GPUs?)
These might be ideal for building cheap Ryzen crunchers. :icon_mrgreen:

[Nflight]

Thanks NeoGen, I see you can't sleep either!

Are there any other Motherboard manufacturers we have not yet from or know about?

Has anyone ever seen this Web Site? http://gpuopen.com/professional-compute/ and after you have read through the contents what do you think?

[Dirk Broer]

Now this was unexpected... Biostar launched a couple of Ryzen motherboards supposedly specific to cryptocoin mining...

Does it still pay, cryptocoin mining with the help of GPUs? I thought cryptocoin mining had gone the ASIC way. Bitcoin Utopia has stopped with CPU mining and GPU mining is on the way out too.

[NeoGen]

I think it doesn't pay anything for the more established ones anymore, but probably for the new ones that pop up every now and then one can try and grab some and hope they launch and raise value.

NFlight, that looks like a great website with all the tools, libraries and frameworks for programmers to take advantage of GPU processing. There's lots of stuff there I had never heard about.

[Nflight]

I am glad you liked my find of that website NeoGen, I knew one person would find the site worthy!

[NeoGen]

A new AGESA update 1.0.0.6 (https://www.overclock3d.net/news/cpu_mainboard/am4_motherboards_will_soon_be_receiving_a_new_ages a_microcode_update/1) is in the pipeline... get ready to update your BIOSes in the coming weeks! :icon_mrgreen:
(Especially if you are running a Ryzen rig with overclocked memory)