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Thread: Best Motherboards Q3 2019

  1. #1
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    Best Motherboards Q3-Q4 2019

    The various hardware sites have their quarterly mobo specials and -apart from Tom's Hardware, that I can't take seriously anymore- some have some interesting choices.

    Take AnandTech, it comes with

    Motherboard Recommendations: Q4 2019

    Motherboard Amazon Newegg
    "Money Is No Objection"
    ASUS ROG Dominus Extreme
    $1800
    $1800
    Gaming and/or Performance
    GIGABYTE X570 Aorus Pro WIFI
    $270
    $270
    Best Value for Money
    MSI B450 Tomahawk
    -
    $115
    Mini-ITX
    ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming-ITX/ac
    $186
    $186

    Note that political correctness by now has extended to hardware reviews!
    All four tier one mbo brands are evenly spread here, and the four mobos are also evenly divided among AMD and Intel.
    But Gavin Bonshor at least states "Our recommendations for motherboards are based entirely on my personal and professional opinion...so I selected my top four picks based on the four segments, regardless of chipset.",
    while the earlier mentioned Tom's Hardware gives no clue as to why a mobo is the best in its class. They just seem to take an at random model, and in doing so giving even BioStar a place to shine.

    But personal and professional opinion aside, if "Money Is No Objection" and you're willing to part with $1,800 for a LGA 3647 mobo to be able to house a Intel Xeon 8180 $10,000 28-core CPU, you might reconsider when you know that a 32-core Threadripper 2990WX costs a mere $1,600 and that an ASUS ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha X399 -almost the most expensive possible X399 mobo- to be able to house it goes for $600. I'm just saying....

    In the next category, Gaming and/or Performance, my personal favorite is the ASUS AM4 PRO WS X570-Ace, by virtue of its absence of RGB and its workstation features. Gaming? not for me, it's crunching performance I'm after. The WS X570-Ace might be the best X570 mobo for that, and it keeps the computer room darker at night than the Coney Island boards.

    When it come to Value, I would personally go for a newer edition of the MSI B450 Tomahawk, the MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX, to be able to house future CPUs/APUs by virtue of its double-sized BIOS chip.

    iTX-wise I am of the opinion that it makes no sense to use high-end (SLI/Crossfire capable) chipsets on an Mini-iTX mobo.
    Keep it simple, use a low end chipset and a CPU with internal graphics, so you're able to build two systems for the same amount of money.
    But the local Asrock agent won't import the A320 iTX....
    You can of course buy a MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC Mini-iTX mobo and use a Ryzen 9 together with a RX 5700 card, but then invest is a case like the Phanteks Enthoo Evolv ITX in order to keep it cool.
    Last edited by Dirk Broer; 09-10-2019 at 07:26 AM.


  2. #2
    NeoGen's Avatar
    NeoGen is offline AMD Users Alchemist Moderator
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    Indeed, reviews sites tend to be attracted by the shining bells and whistles... it's sad. I'm also always looking for non-RGB, etc, etc, components because it gets ridiculous and it's just more expensive. Plus wouldn't do a thing for me, almost all my cases are enclosed metal, no windows, just fans. (Plain old Noctuas at that... no shining bells there either)

    Interestingly I bought not too long ago an Asrock AB350 Pro4 which I saw recommended in cryptomining sites, paired with a cheap AMD A6-9500 (planning to upgrade later to a Ryzen) and I'm thinking if they can make it work with 6 GPUs, I should be able to as well. It'll be my future mega-cruncher!
    Only got 1 GPU in it yet as I'm testing, and on a low budget, but it's working nicely I think.
    https://www.primegrid.com/show_host_...?hostid=972818
    Last edited by NeoGen; 09-09-2019 at 11:22 PM.

  3. #3
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    AMD Users Motherboard Guide Q4 2019

    So let's react with a real AMD-oriented recommendation -which is easier done than doing so for Intel, because of their myriad number of sockets/chipset combination in use.

    AMD Motherboard Recommendations: Q4 2019

    AM4 TR4 SP3
    "Money Is No Objection"
    Asrock X570 Aqua Asus ROG Zenith Extreme Alpha X399 Gigabyte MZ31-AR0
    Performance
    ASUS AM4 PRO WS X570-Ace ASRock Rack X399D8A-2T Supermicro H11DSi-NT
    Best Value for Money
    MSI B450 Tomahawk MAX ASRock X399 Taichi Supermicro H11DSi
    Mini-ITX
    MSI B450I Gaming Plus AC - -


  4. #4
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    SP3 motherboards?

    Did I just made an overview with SP3 motherboards? Yep, I sure did.
    But...where can you buy them?
    Well, say you live in the UK, you can go to e.g. Scan Computers.
    They offer four SP3 boards, two single socket Gigabyte ones and two dual-socket Supermicro ones.
    If you live in the USA there is Newegg -yup, from the banner above- that even stocks nine (eleven counting the out-of-stocks) SP3 boards -ten from Supermicro and one from Gigabyte.
    Seven of the single socket Supermicro boards already have an EPYC installed -making prices soar up from $756.99 for an 8-core EPYC 7251/Supermicro MBDH11SSL-I combo to $5,051.99 for a 64-core EPYC 7702P MBDH11SSL-NC combo. Even one of their three dual socket mobos already is filled with CPUs: the Supermicro MBDH11DSI comes with two 24-core EPYC 7401's for $3,079.99

    You can of course also contact the local agent of e.g. Gigabyte. Gigabyte Germany has no less than six EPYC 7001 mobos -and a EPYC 7002 mobo, bo so does Gigabyte Netherlands. There's no doubt that Tyan offers a likewise portfolio.

    We already saw that Newegg has more-or-less affordable EPYC/mobo combos for sale, they have CPUs too and the same holds for Scan Computers and Alternate.de


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    looking strictly at VRMs, the B450M Mortar is good (oh, also one more m.2 and a couple more USB in the back), but rarely in stock, let alone at $80 which i got mine for. so i guess scratch that one.

    the best "cheap" X570s seem to be the Asus X570-P and TUF Gaming

    and the best "money is no object" one might be argued to be the Aorus Xtreme because of its passive chipset (connected to the cooler VRMs at the top and its heatsink as well). the Aqua's VRM is so overpowered, it doesn't need cooling. plus it's 6 phases doubled whereas the Aorus Xtreme is true 14 phases with the XDPE132G5C. there's also the X570 Creator which is one of two? AM4 board with Thunderbolt

    i DO agree with the ITX board ... seems the X570-I, while it has an insane VRM and optimal RAM setup, there's a pretty important RAM setting you can't set for the more extreme RAM OCing (like not reaching 2.1v (it's 1.8v max) and VTTDR)
    Last edited by plonk420; 02-14-2020 at 10:40 AM.

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