I love it. Would give it all 5 stars had it not been for issues 7 thru 9 that I listed below.
However, It does take some work to get it stable.
Make sure if it does not come with BIOS version 0902 or newer that you update BIOS before doing anything else. After waiting almost a month mine arrived with the version of BIOS that was known to brick the motherboard if flashed while overclocked.
New BIOS are flowing in every couple of weeks check the ROG forums and the ASUS product page for updated and beta BIOSes from RAJA and ELMORE, these guys know there stuff and work with ASUS on their BIOSes so there is always a communication between the manufacturer and it's customers.
Benefits of this board are as follows:
1. My 1800X RYZEN far exceeds all of expectations on the board.
2. This board with the easy tuning feature in bios keeps me overclocked on all cores at around 4.1 GHz with no problems. And this is with the Auto overclocking functions of the board. Tweaks can be made to the BIOS settings to achieve even higher over-clocks if you know what you are doing.
3. The NVMe drive running at 3.0X4 mode will blow away any other storage media in performance. My old system had raid 10 on 8 hard drives and just barely kept up with a SSD. These NVMe drives far exceed this. It is great to finally get modern technology into the AMD arena.
4. DDR4 Support upto 64 GB (once the ugs are worked out). Much faster than the old DDR3 that I had with my FX-9590. I just hope when the newer DDR5 memory becomes available in the next few years, that AMD will not wait so long to jump on the memory bandwaggon.
5. PCIe 3.0 support. This is a big Improvement over the 2.0 of my old CrossHair V Formula Z. Again finally modern technology in the AMD arena.
6. A plethora of USB ports on the back IO. Just wish some had been reserved for internal headers.
7. ASUS is constantly working on updated BIOS in an effort to make this the best board for the AM4 platform.
That being said the only issues that I experienced are as follows:
1. Issues with M.2 NVMe 3.0X4 OCZ/Toshiba RD400 512G Drive and using SATA ports 1 and 2 caused my system to just flat reboot without any warning, No BSODs just reboot as if the rest button had been pressed.
2. Could not get my RAID10 do be recognized as UEFI using the latest drivers.
3. PCIe X1 and X4 slots are pickyas hell. My inatek USB card was not detected in any slot exept for PCIe 2_8 preventing the possibility of Crossfire or SLI. My PCIe 1x Roswill Dual Gigabit Network card worked but made system unstable and caused the NVMe drive to revert to 2.0x4 mode even though the x1 PCIe lots come from the X370 chipset and the NVMe 3.0x4 comes from the Ryzen proccessor.
4. Still have issues with some memory configurations operating at the rated speed. My TridentZ RGB 3200 MHz was able to get 2666 on Bios 0902 and only 2400 on Bios 1002. Due to having HYNIX SK chips as opposed to the SAMSUNG B die version that appearantly is usable at the rated speed if you know what youare dooing when seting up the BIOS. I was able to get the same memory and processor setup on a prime X370-pro motherboard to operate at 2996.
5. ASUS needs to publish a UEFI/BIOS for Dummys edition to help explain the expansive settings in the BIOS to help all of us who don't know what half of these settings even do.
6. ASUS AURA doesn't play nice with the Thermaltake software. However, I blame Thermaltake for this as the software for the Plus Premium Edition of the RGB fans, if you can get it to even run, crashes the AURA SYNC stored settings, the NZXT CAM Software, CorsairLink, and the G.Skill TridentZ RGB LEDs and causes BSODs in Win10.
7. Would have liked see more USB 2.0 headers on Motherboard. One just isn't enough for the case front panel IO, the Kraken X62 AIO, and the HUE+.
8.USB 3.1 (GEN2) Header needs to be replaced with the 19-pin GEN1 header, as there are not really any devices that connect to this header currently. Even Case support is extremely limited, the ones that are available are just your basic box that hold components, there is no reason to have LEDs in them as they do not even have windows to see the inside of the computer.
9. Needs a PLX chip to expand on the limited PCIe 3.0 lanes that are available.
As items 7 and 8 are actually due to the design, I have to ask where the Designers heads were here? The majority of liquid cooling systems in use are AIOs which use a header for software control, most cases still have Front USB 2.0 ports, and with the advent RGB lighting inside of the cases, people will not only want lighting strips but also RGB fans as well.
As for the USB 3.0 Gen2 header, I understand the idea to make the motherboard future proof but I think ASUS is just a little bit too far ahead of its time on this right now.
As a motherboard this thing rocks with all of its issues it is apparent that ASUS is working hard to resolve them.
I think that the days of the rushed product are about over. AMD really threw a curve ball when they released RYZEN as they did. All motherboard manufacturers were caught unprepared for what was to be and I think will be the hopefully resurrection of AMD. By which all PC users not just enthusiast will be winners, both AMD Fans as well as Intel. With competition comes better PC innovation. Just remember back when these two companies fought it out for the the best product. Prices were better. We went from 32 processors to 64 bit to multi-core processors. I feel those days might be coming again and with this board we can get our feet back in the door.
| Processor | athlon |
|---|---|
| RAM | DDR4 |
| Memory Speed | 2400 MHz |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 4 |
