Isn't it strange to have a whole series of reviews planned for this generation of AMD motherboards right now? A new motherboard (and processor) generation is expected to launch within the next 2 to 3 weeks. This ASRock AB350 should be forwards compatible (with a BIOS update), but wouldn't people buying a new motherboard be better off buying one with a newer chipset from the upcoming generation?
But, according to the first page of this article, there are four other motherboards from this same generation with reviews in the works. Just something I find interesting.
Welcome to AnandTech anno 2018 - so perpetually late with certain reviews that it's often a wonder they bother putting them up. I guess Purch, "The Future of Digital Publishing", can't afford to hire more writers (because they sure as hell can't afford editors worth a damn, as shown by the ever-increasing amount of basic grammar and spelling mistakes in the articles that do get put up).
I mean, it's certainly not like Purch bought AnandTech so that they can bleed it dry, then dump it once not even its name is worth anything. Nope. Not at all.
These days the only 2 reasons to come here are if you still have some sort of muscle memory (like going to the fridge even if you don't want anything), or pure mistake - you actually wanted ArsTechnica or something like that.
ArsTechnica over Anandtech? Is that a joke? The only thing they win in is timeliness. In everything else, especially CPU and smartphone reviews, Anandtech is WAY more thorough, especially on the benchmark side of things.
If you see any errors or typos, please by all means let us know.
Time is fleeting and Google cares more about who's first than who's best, so while I always strive to keep quality high, we do have to move quickly to stay relevant.
Here's a couple typos for a start: "it compounts the issue.", "controllers, which which is to be expected". This article ranges from rambling sentences with excessive comma splices to bordering on nonsensical. An example of the former:
"For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed."
And the latter:
"This would empty more thermal energy into the heatsinks"
I want to thank the author for starting to address WHY socket AM4 motherboard manufacturers do not promote/use/whatever the USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports that the AMD chipset supports.
However, I assume there's at least one typo in his statement "Despite the chipset supporting USB 3.1 (10 Gbps), ASRock saves some effort in the mode complicated traces by relying on USB 3.0 instead". I assume "mode complicated" should be "MORE complicated" traces. Or?
In addition, why do they plop Asmedia USB 3.1 Gen2 controllers on some of these motherboards to provide gen 2 speeds? I assume the Asmedia controllers require the same 10+ Gbps differential pair trace routing rules that the B350 chip does. Unless the B350 serdei are less forgiving? Or routing the 10+ Gbps pairs to the high ball count B350 requires more PCB layers?
"If you see any errors or typos, please by all means let us know."
LOL. I appreciate the articles, but you've got to be joking, right? You don't see them? They're legion. Besides those already pointed out, take a gander at this gem...
"In regards to the performance, there wasn’t any problems or..."
I'm surprised (and sadly appalled) that it has to be pointed out, but your statement
"Time is fleeting and Google cares more about who's first than who's best..."
is a weak excuse, and nothing more. Anyone can spend 5-10 minutes before publishing. What passes for writing today has me convinced we're ready to collapse into the second coming of the dark ages, where people can't form structured sentences, don't understand tenses, plurals and possessives, or the use of adjectives and adverbs.
If this was an article published on the day the media embargo expires for a new product launch I would understand the hurry to publish and lack of proper editing, but this board was launched to the market like a year ago. So why the hurry?
So a month later, and the editing staff and users haven't managed to catch this:
"but this means the onboard audio usese the Realtek RTL8111 networking chip and the Realtek ALC892 audio codec"
A) No, it means the onboard audio is the Realtek ALC892 chipset, and the networking chip is the Realtek RTL8111. We're in deep trouble if the onboard audio is using the RTL8111.
B) It doesn't usese anything. How did that pass basic spellcheck?
Purch generates income from catching and keeping an audience that regularly visits the sites it publishes. It's against the financial interests of the company to drain AnandTech and sell it off when it dies and it's silly to imply that's happening now.
In the case of this review, I'm glad to see there are mid-priced motherboards getting a little attention and it's really nice to see something other than a MSI x299 board for once since there's been quite a few of them rolling through of late.
I thought that must of been a mistake as well. The time for a consumer to research these motherboards that haven't been reviewed yet is nearly over so what is even the point? I had just assumed Anandtech has had a review of the ASRock X370 Taichi board for some time. I will be researching AMD 2000 cpus and 400 series boards in the next few months not older 300 series. /scratches head at Anandtech timeline
That's brilliant! (I've been strongly considering this board and a Ryzen 1700, but I've put it off long enough to wait and see what Ryzen 2xxx brings to the table (and for RAM to, like, not even bankrupt me.) Also I live near Microcenter where this board is just $50 w/ a Ryzen...
Except...one critical thing is missing in the article in the discussion of the 2200g or 2400G. That is that if you buy this motherboard, or any other existing motherboard you are taking a crap shoot on weather you will get a board that has a bios that will support the newer processor. I was considering a 2200g build for my wife until I realized that to make it work, I'd probably have to pull the R51600 out of my system and put it in the new board just so I could update the bios...or give her the motherboard from my system since that's already updated. I decided it would be easier for me to just wait a bit for the newer motherboards to come out.
I understand, but why review with chips that are a year old and about to be replaced, if anything why not wait til 2xxx?? fwiw I bought this motherboard last year and everything I see in this review I saw already in other.punlished reviews
I just want a motherboard that dispenses with all the useless bells and whistles like LEDs, a bajillion PCIe slots, useless "reinforcement" on the PCIe slots, half a bajillion M.2 slots, pretty-but-useless VRM heatsinks, and "armour" over the IO panel.
Instead I want ONE PCIe x16 slot, ONE M.2 slot, heatsinks that actually dissipate heat, a beefy VRM, a good BIOS, at least 6 SATA ports, and a TON of USB 3.1 gen 1 and 3.1 gen 2 ports and headers. And all of it can be whatever goddamn mish-mash of primary colours the manufacturer deigns, AS LONG AS IT GOD DAMN PERFORMS AND IS PRICED RIGHT.
1 pcie m.2 slot. 1 reinforced pcie x16 slot. sli and crossfire are dead. Realtek 1150 Audio is fine. Intel gigabit lan no killer shit. excellent vrm cooling and a good bios. Is that to much to ask mb manufacturers?
There are already plenty of options, even mini-ITX ones, that are bare bones basic and affordable with those features from various generations. But it seems like that isn't obvious enough. So what we do end up having plenty of constantly is people who moan about what makes the PC world great in the first place, options, because the market doesn't exclusively build products for them and only them because anything else is just superfluous. They pretend to be enthusiasts but they're really just loud casuals.
This isn't one of those "Delay'ed reviews". It's practically already in a retirement home. It's well over a year since this chipset launched. I was wondering since there had been a decent amount of Z370 and X299 reviews, I was left wondering where the AMD board reviews are, but not this, I mean we are less than a week for a new chipset on the platform with new CPU's, specially for such a milquetoast selection.
It's worth noting in the specs box on page two that there are the additional two SATA ports mentioned elsewhere above the base B350. That's one of the main reasons I'm considering this board.
Although at this point, I'm going to wait for the next-gen to launch next week.
both major players offer non-overclockable mid-range CPUs?? i WAS under the impression that ALL ryzens were o/c able .. Not all mid range chipsex offer overclocking tho ab320
Usually cheaper motherboards could lead to a variety of overclocking issues. For example, the power delivery could use cheaper components, resulting in a lower overall efficiency.
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coder543 - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
Isn't it strange to have a whole series of reviews planned for this generation of AMD motherboards right now? A new motherboard (and processor) generation is expected to launch within the next 2 to 3 weeks. This ASRock AB350 should be forwards compatible (with a BIOS update), but wouldn't people buying a new motherboard be better off buying one with a newer chipset from the upcoming generation?But, according to the first page of this article, there are four other motherboards from this same generation with reviews in the works. Just something I find interesting.
The_Assimilator - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
Welcome to AnandTech anno 2018 - so perpetually late with certain reviews that it's often a wonder they bother putting them up. I guess Purch, "The Future of Digital Publishing", can't afford to hire more writers (because they sure as hell can't afford editors worth a damn, as shown by the ever-increasing amount of basic grammar and spelling mistakes in the articles that do get put up).I mean, it's certainly not like Purch bought AnandTech so that they can bleed it dry, then dump it once not even its name is worth anything. Nope. Not at all.
DigitalFreak - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
I really miss Anand.close - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
These days the only 2 reasons to come here are if you still have some sort of muscle memory (like going to the fridge even if you don't want anything), or pure mistake - you actually wanted ArsTechnica or something like that.Dr. Swag - Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - link
ArsTechnica over Anandtech? Is that a joke? The only thing they win in is timeliness. In everything else, especially CPU and smartphone reviews, Anandtech is WAY more thorough, especially on the benchmark side of things.NesteaZen - Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - link
Oh? He sold the website? I'm not an uber active anandtech readerDr. Swag - Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - link
He sold it to Purch in 2014Lolimaster - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
They make a intel propaganda site, that's the goal.Ryan Smith - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
If you see any errors or typos, please by all means let us know.Time is fleeting and Google cares more about who's first than who's best, so while I always strive to keep quality high, we do have to move quickly to stay relevant.
SlyNine - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
"A mid-range GPU, no overclock, a discrete graphics card"Not sure if this is an error or not. But it seems a tad redundant to mention GPU and discrete graphics card.
jhensjh - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
Here's a couple typos for a start: "it compounts the issue.", "controllers, which which is to be expected". This article ranges from rambling sentences with excessive comma splices to bordering on nonsensical. An example of the former:"For manual overclocks, based on the information gathered from previous testing, starts off at a nominal voltage and CPU multiplier, and the multiplier is increased until the stability tests are failed."
And the latter:
"This would empty more thermal energy into the heatsinks"
vkristof - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
I want to thank the author for starting to address WHY socket AM4 motherboard manufacturers do not promote/use/whatever the USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports that the AMD chipset supports.However, I assume there's at least one typo in his statement "Despite the chipset supporting USB 3.1 (10 Gbps), ASRock saves some effort in the mode complicated traces by relying on USB 3.0 instead". I assume "mode complicated" should be "MORE complicated" traces. Or?
In addition, why do they plop Asmedia USB 3.1 Gen2 controllers on some of these motherboards to provide gen 2 speeds?
I assume the Asmedia controllers require the same 10+ Gbps differential pair trace routing rules that the B350 chip does. Unless the B350 serdei are less forgiving? Or routing the 10+ Gbps pairs to the high ball count B350 requires more PCB layers?
Anyway, thanks.
Round - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
"If you see any errors or typos, please by all means let us know."LOL. I appreciate the articles, but you've got to be joking, right? You don't see them? They're legion. Besides those already pointed out, take a gander at this gem...
"In regards to the performance, there wasn’t any problems or..."
I'm surprised (and sadly appalled) that it has to be pointed out, but your statement
"Time is fleeting and Google cares more about who's first than who's best..."
is a weak excuse, and nothing more. Anyone can spend 5-10 minutes before publishing. What passes for writing today has me convinced we're ready to collapse into the second coming of the dark ages, where people can't form structured sentences, don't understand tenses, plurals and possessives, or the use of adjectives and adverbs.
Glock24 - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
If this was an article published on the day the media embargo expires for a new product launch I would understand the hurry to publish and lack of proper editing, but this board was launched to the market like a year ago. So why the hurry?Aspernari - Tuesday, May 8, 2018 - link
So a month later, and the editing staff and users haven't managed to catch this:"but this means the onboard audio usese the Realtek RTL8111 networking chip and the Realtek ALC892 audio codec"
A) No, it means the onboard audio is the Realtek ALC892 chipset, and the networking chip is the Realtek RTL8111. We're in deep trouble if the onboard audio is using the RTL8111.
B) It doesn't usese anything. How did that pass basic spellcheck?
PeachNCream - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
Purch generates income from catching and keeping an audience that regularly visits the sites it publishes. It's against the financial interests of the company to drain AnandTech and sell it off when it dies and it's silly to imply that's happening now.In the case of this review, I'm glad to see there are mid-priced motherboards getting a little attention and it's really nice to see something other than a MSI x299 board for once since there's been quite a few of them rolling through of late.
Tewt - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
I thought that must of been a mistake as well. The time for a consumer to research these motherboards that haven't been reviewed yet is nearly over so what is even the point? I had just assumed Anandtech has had a review of the ASRock X370 Taichi board for some time. I will be researching AMD 2000 cpus and 400 series boards in the next few months not older 300 series. /scratches head at Anandtech timelineRyan Smith - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
Let me put things this way: we wouldn't have taken the time to review this board if we didn't think it would be relevant in the future...neogodless - Tuesday, April 10, 2018 - link
That's brilliant! (I've been strongly considering this board and a Ryzen 1700, but I've put it off long enough to wait and see what Ryzen 2xxx brings to the table (and for RAM to, like, not even bankrupt me.) Also I live near Microcenter where this board is just $50 w/ a Ryzen...Ratman6161 - Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - link
Except...one critical thing is missing in the article in the discussion of the 2200g or 2400G. That is that if you buy this motherboard, or any other existing motherboard you are taking a crap shoot on weather you will get a board that has a bios that will support the newer processor. I was considering a 2200g build for my wife until I realized that to make it work, I'd probably have to pull the R51600 out of my system and put it in the new board just so I could update the bios...or give her the motherboard from my system since that's already updated. I decided it would be easier for me to just wait a bit for the newer motherboards to come out.I too live near a Microcenter...gotta love it!
jimandroidpc - Thursday, April 12, 2018 - link
I understand, but why review with chips that are a year old and about to be replaced, if anything why not wait til 2xxx?? fwiw I bought this motherboard last year and everything I see in this review I saw already in other.punlished reviewsThe_Assimilator - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
I just want a motherboard that dispenses with all the useless bells and whistles like LEDs, a bajillion PCIe slots, useless "reinforcement" on the PCIe slots, half a bajillion M.2 slots, pretty-but-useless VRM heatsinks, and "armour" over the IO panel.Instead I want ONE PCIe x16 slot, ONE M.2 slot, heatsinks that actually dissipate heat, a beefy VRM, a good BIOS, at least 6 SATA ports, and a TON of USB 3.1 gen 1 and 3.1 gen 2 ports and headers. And all of it can be whatever goddamn mish-mash of primary colours the manufacturer deigns, AS LONG AS IT GOD DAMN PERFORMS AND IS PRICED RIGHT.
svan1971 - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
1 pcie m.2 slot.1 reinforced pcie x16 slot. sli and crossfire are dead.
Realtek 1150 Audio is fine.
Intel gigabit lan no killer shit.
excellent vrm cooling and a good bios. Is that to much to ask mb manufacturers?
Cygni - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
Sorry, manufacturers aren't responsible for meeting your specific corner case needs.joos2000 - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
If they want me to buy their product, they bloody well are.CheapSushi - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
So go buy some cheap as shit Foxconn board already or something from Tyan and SuperMicro and quit bitching.CheapSushi - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
There are already plenty of options, even mini-ITX ones, that are bare bones basic and affordable with those features from various generations. But it seems like that isn't obvious enough. So what we do end up having plenty of constantly is people who moan about what makes the PC world great in the first place, options, because the market doesn't exclusively build products for them and only them because anything else is just superfluous. They pretend to be enthusiasts but they're really just loud casuals.wagui - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
You should be using SATA3_1 to reduce boot time, can you test that and with Full Screen Logo disabled?ZolaIII - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
Thanks but no thanks. I would rather spent additional 10$ (20$ on common $80 MB) for better Realtek audio solution than waist it for a second M2 slot.Lord of the Bored - Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - link
A SATA-ONLY m.2 slot, at that.Topweasel - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
This isn't one of those "Delay'ed reviews". It's practically already in a retirement home. It's well over a year since this chipset launched. I was wondering since there had been a decent amount of Z370 and X299 reviews, I was left wondering where the AMD board reviews are, but not this, I mean we are less than a week for a new chipset on the platform with new CPU's, specially for such a milquetoast selection.IBM760XL - Monday, April 9, 2018 - link
It's worth noting in the specs box on page two that there are the additional two SATA ports mentioned elsewhere above the base B350. That's one of the main reasons I'm considering this board.Although at this point, I'm going to wait for the next-gen to launch next week.
dromoxen - Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - link
both major players offer non-overclockable mid-range CPUs?? i WAS under the impression that ALL ryzens were o/c able .. Not all mid range chipsex offer overclocking tho ab320hammerang - Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - link
Sorry but shouln't a proper gaming motherboard test include mobo components thermal data with and without OC?hammerang - Wednesday, April 11, 2018 - link
Regarding the ALC892, i so budget i gonna buy an additional pcie sound card for another $80.jimandroidpc - Thursday, April 12, 2018 - link
Up next : Review of Athlon XP 1800+cnxzlf - Friday, April 13, 2018 - link
Excellent！！！
cnxzlf - Friday, April 13, 2018 - link
Excellent
James_Whatson - Monday, May 7, 2018 - link
Usually cheaper motherboards could lead to a variety of overclocking issues. For example, the power delivery could use cheaper components, resulting in a lower overall efficiency.These features make SnapTube a must have Android app. So, follow these easy steps to download Snaptube apk.
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