Today we’re taking the Ryzen 7 5800X3D and putting in it on a couple of totally different B350 and X370 motherboards to see if it really works, and if it does, how nicely does it work? It’s a easy check, but it surely’s additionally form of a giant deal as these boards at the moment are 5 years outdated, so the flexibility to efficiently pair them with one of the highly effective gaming CPUs out there’s something fairly particular.
Earlier this 12 months we received phrase that AMD have been exploring the potential for increasing assist for Ryzen 5000 sequence processors to 300-series motherboards, which was thrilling information for these of you continue to rocking a B350 or X370 motherboard, particularly if it was a high-end board as having to spend more cash on a 400 or 500-series board simply to snag an reasonably priced half just like the Ryzen 5 5600 is not all that interesting.
This was a sensible transfer by AMD as a result of if first-gen Ryzen house owners have been confronted with having to purchase a brand new motherboard in an effort to purchase a present era CPU efficiency, they would definitely take into account going with Intel’s Alder Lake sequence which generally provides larger efficiency for roughly the identical value, and also you get a couple of new options as nicely corresponding to PCIe 5.0.
Initial assist for Ryzen 5000 processors on 300-series boards began popping up early on this 12 months, however oddly just for the finances A320 boards, which most of you would not have bought as, let’s be sincere, they have been all fairly rubbish.
Since then assist was sketchy, with some B350 and X370 boards supporting Ryzen 5000 CPUs, however then efficiency wasn’t all the time the place it ought to be. After probing AMD for details about a month in the past, they instructed us to take a seat tight and anticipate AGESA model 1.2.0.7 which was anticipated to be rolled out throughout all AM4 motherboards, and crucially it will add correct Ryzen 5000 sequence assist to B350 and X370 boards, together with the 5800X3D.
Ultimately it is as much as motherboard producers to roll out these updates for his or her varied AM4 merchandise, but it surely appears like all are on board and now we have fashions from MSI, Asus, and Gigabyte to check out which have public entry to AGESA 1.2.0.7. For updating every board, we put in a Ryzen 5 1600 as the unique BIOS on the older B350 and X370 boards would acknowledge that CPU, then flashed to the newest BIOS, eliminated the R5 1600 and put in the 5800X3D.
This was straightforward on the MSI and Gigabyte boards, the place I merely began with the newest BIOS supporting the 1.2.0.7 microcode, however for Asus a number of earlier BIOS revisions wanted to be put in first earlier than the board would settle for the newest microcode, so it was extra of an incremental replace course of.
MSI B350 Tomahawk [B350]
One of the B350 boards I’ve hung onto for future testing was the MSI B350 Tomahawk because it was one of many higher high quality B350 boards. Although it solely value ~$100 again in 2017, it is nonetheless a really usable product and it will be a disgrace to retire it as a consequence of BIOS assist. It handles 8-core/16-thread Ryzen 7 components with ease and might even keep away from throttling with the 16-core 3950X, particularly should you present the VRM heatsinks with a little bit airflow.
When in comparison with fashionable finances AMD B550 and Intel B660 boards, you are actually not lacking out on a lot. Sure it is PCIe 3.0 solely, however that is nonetheless fantastic for gaming and most players might be pleased with the USB 3.1 Gen 1 assist, there’s even a type-C and in complete the I/O panel options 6 USB ports. There’s a single M.2 slot, however once more, for players that is doubtless fantastic, so we’ll be very eager to see how this one handles the 5800X3D.
Asus ROG Strix B350-F Gaming [B350]
The Asus ROG Strix B350-F Gaming was one of many costlier B350 boards, we consider it set you again round $120. This is a superb trying board, the VRM most likely is not way more succesful than that of the MSI B350 Tomahawk, and you continue to solely received a single M.2 slot, however the board got here with a stable audio answer and much more USB ports. It’s nonetheless a really usable board in 2022 and would definitely be given a brand new lease on life with Ryzen 5000 sequence assist, which it now has.
Asus Prime X370-Pro [X370]
As for the X370 boards, now we have the Asus Prime X370-Pro which was round $160 again in 2017. Only a single M.2 slot, however you probably did get entrance panel USB 3.1 Type-C, 8 USB ports on the I/O panel (all of that are USB 3.0 or 3.1), first rate audio and loads of PCIe enlargement, so you possibly can embody extra M.2 storage on all of those boards utilizing PCIe playing cards.
Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero [X370]
Then now we have the Asus ROG Crosshair VI Hero, and I can let you know, if I purchased this factor again in 2017 I’d wish to use it for so long as potential. This board used to value $255, making it one of the costly first era AM4 motherboards. Frankly, it isn’t a board I’d have really useful, however should you did purchase it, it is most likely labored out fairly nicely given 5 years later you possibly can pair it with a Ryzen 5000 sequence processor.
It’s a critical board packing 10 USB 3.0 or higher ports on the I/O panel with a further 4 USB 2.0 ports, so 14 USB ports in complete. It additionally contains BIOS Flashback, top quality audio and loads of different bells and whistles.
Gigabyte GA-AX370 Gaming 5 [X370]
Finally, we have the Gigabyte GA-AX370 Gaming 5 to check out with the newest AGESA microcode and that is one other high-end X370 board which retailed for round $175. A extra sensibly priced choice when in comparison with the Crosshair, and that made it a well-liked alternative for Ryzen customers. It’s additionally one more nicely stocked X370 board with 10 USB ports on the I/O, twin Gigabit LAN, most likely the most effective onboard audio of any AM4 board of the time, twin BIOS assist, and extra.
Test System
Those are all of the B350 and X370 boards now we have readily available for testing and for comparability we have additionally up to date the MSI B450 Tomahawk Max, MSI MPG X570S Carbon Max WiFi, and the Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Extreme, all utilizing the newest AGESA 1.2.0.7 microcode, which within the case of those extra fashionable boards which already supported the 5000 sequence introduced improved system stability.
For testing we’re utilizing the 5800X3D, although the outcomes might be transferable for all Ryzen 5000 sequence processors, so if there isn’t any efficiency distinction between B350 and X570, for instance, with the 5800X3D, the identical may also be true for the Ryzen 5 5600.
For the reminiscence we have put in 4 DDR4-3200 modules into every board, leading to a dual-rank, dual-channel CL14 configuration and a Radeon RX 6900 XT was used with SAM enabled.
Benchmarks
Starting with Cinebench multi-core, we see that CPU efficiency is just about an identical throughout the B350, B450, X370 and X570 boards. From a 3-run common, the Gigabyte Gaming 5 produced the bottom rating with the Asus Crosshair hitting the very best, and between them we noticed a 5% efficiency discrepancy. The Gigabyte board apart, we’re taking a look at no noticeable efficiency distinction between the B350, X370 and X570 boards, which is nice to see.
The identical can also be true of single-thread efficiency, and right here the Gigabyte Gaming 5 did stack up higher, regardless of producing the bottom rating by a slim margin. We additionally see that the MSI B350 Tomahawk matched the a lot newer X570 boards with out a problem.
For an actual world software check we ran the Adobe Photoshop 2022 benchmark and located all boards produced principally the identical rating. The X570 fashions have been constantly “a couple of factors forward,” however we’re speaking not more than a 1% margin, which is negligible.
The 5800X3D is a beast within the Factorio benchmark and right here we see that X370 and B350 boards are able to the identical excessive efficiency seen on the newest and biggest X570 fashions.
The Gigabyte Gaming 5 did lag behind a little bit, this time trailing the Asus X370 boards by round 8%, so I’d say Gigabyte has a little bit optimization work to do right here. But the 5800X3D labored with out subject, so within the grand scheme of issues that is an incredible outcome on a 5 12 months outdated motherboard.
Now for some FPS benchmark marks, we’ll begin with Rainbow Six Extraction. It’s value noting that after a 3-run common we did see a 4% efficiency variation between the MSI and Asus X570 boards with Asus delivering the most effective outcome.
Most of the 300-series boards have been according to the MSI X570S Carbon Max WiFi although oddly the Gigabyte Gaming 5 was a little bit quicker, principally matching the Asus ROG Crossfire VIII Extreme, in order that contradicts what was discovered within the Factorio benchmark.
We additionally fired up Death Stranding and this recreation is closely GPU restricted, which is fascinating as all boards examined delivering the very same efficiency. The proven fact that 300-series boards are restricted to PCIe 3.0 is not a problem for this title, although worst-case we have been anticipating not more than a ~5% hit to efficiency.
Watch Dogs: Legion efficiency was related whatever the board used, with at most a 4% efficiency margin seen between the assorted AM4 motherboards.
Finally, now we have Horizon Zero Dawn, the place beforehand we discovered this title to be barely delicate to PCIe bandwidth, which might clarify why the 300 sequence boards are barely slower, although the B450 Tomahawk can also be a PCIe 3.0 board and it was barely quicker than the 300-series fashions. Either manner, the distinction is at most 5% between the slowest and quickest AM4 motherboards right here.
Flawless Victory
There you’ve gotten it. Pretty a lot all AMD 300-series motherboards ought to now assist Ryzen 5000 sequence processors and whereas it was nice to see finances B350 fashions getting probably the most out of the 5800X3D, the actual worth might be in pairing these older boards with cheaper and extra broadly out there Ryzen 5 5600 and Ryzen 5 5700X components.
Basically, should you nonetheless have a B350 or X370 board working a Zen and even Zen+ processor, swapping it out for a 5600 for simply $175 is a critically whole lot as it is going to enhance CPU-bound gaming by leaps and bounds. Our Ryzen GPU scaling characteristic confirmed on common a 60% efficiency enchancment for CPU restricted gaming, with peak features past 100%.
Our Ryzen GPU scaling characteristic confirmed on common a 60% efficiency enchancment for CPU restricted gaming, with peak features past 100%.
As a aspect notice, Ryzen 5 1600 processors are often promoting on eBay for $60 to $80, which means you possibly can improve to a Ryzen 5 5600 for round a $100 changeover charge, whereas Ryzen 7 1700 house owners will do even higher. It’s a no brainer at this level, there’s merely no higher transfer for these nonetheless utilizing a 300-series motherboard.
AMD ought to be recommended for respiratory new life into these outdated motherboards, and whereas we consider it is of their greatest curiosity to take action, it stays a giant win for shoppers. It’s additionally nice to see how nicely the AM4 platform has matured. All these B350 and X370 boards ran flawlessly with the brand new microcode, all accepted 4 DDR4-3200 fashions, and ran XMP and not using a hitch. Not solely that, however AMD’s new Smart Access Memory expertise labored as nicely.
There does look like a bug with Radeon drivers as they have been unable to detect the supply of SAM on 300-series boards, as a substitute reporting that the characteristic was unavailable. However, it was potential to allow it on the BIOS degree and the anticipated efficiency uplift was achieved nonetheless, so it’s working regardless of what the Radeon Adrenaline drivers are reporting.
Bottom line, 300-series boards all look to have improved reminiscence assist with Ryzen 5000 CPUs, the flexibility to make the most of SAM for a efficiency increase, and most significantly, mirror the efficiency of a lot newer X570 motherboards.
As a observe as much as final week’s opinion characteristic “Why Ryzen Was Amazing and the Haters Were All Wrong,” this evaluation goes to show simply how superior the AM4 platform is. During Computex 2022, AMD introduced their dedication to AM4 for not less than the subsequent few years, so you possibly can anticipate the platform to enhance past 2022. Now we simply hope AMD manages to do the identical with AM5, and even higher, Intel smartens up and follows swimsuit.
