With barely a breath drawn, here we are again! In Phase I we took a look at the heart of the build - today we have the arterial system of our soon to be newborn.. the motherboard. After lots of scrambling, doodling, comparing, sizing, worn-out pencils, scrapping, tantrums and swearing I present to you the Asus Strix B350-F.
So why this one? I can't deny that it's probably one of the better looking boards out there, especially at this price bracket (£107), even if it sits in the mid-high range on the B350 spread. It's still a very reasonable price for a mainboard imho, especially when you look into it as much as I have. There have been plenty of opportunities to spurn choices of board as one might say spurn a rabid dog, but on paper this is not one which succumbed to such distain.
What else did you look at? Hmm.. To answer this one has to consider the project as a whole. As you may have guessed, given that I've been pouring over specs for the last three years or so it's a pretty sound bet that I'm not one for chopping and changing on a frequent basis. Both the cooker and fridge I own are an equal sixteen years old and still kicking, with no reason to change them. It's just how I roll.. So the same goes for my reasoning with this build - it's not something which is going to sprout change on a regular basis. With reasoning like that I can pretty much justify any form factor size, and it's true that I have come within a hairs breadth of landing in m-itx territory more than once, simply because whilst not necessary (and frequently more expensive in spite of less actual "product"!?) the itx form is cute, desk friendly and it's fun to have a lot of power packed into something which doesn't look capable. Having said that there's a lot to be said for managing case temperatures, and consideration for case purchases which could accommodate future motherboards has repeatedly crossed my mind, even if it isn't something I expect to consider frequently (an atx board will not fit in an itx case without the application of something like a saw). So in spite of all the above I found myself looking with more pragmatic eyes, which whittled it down to atx and m-atx, of which there were still many choices out there. In that respect the battle was won on reputation, and whilst none of the main competitors really fail by that measure ("except maybe Biostar" the fanboys cry), it came down to which company I ultimately felt I could trust, backed up by the sage advice and experience of the main tech You Tuber's whom I follow. Whilst they themselves are quite unbiased when it comes to throwing systems together, whether it be Jason (JayzTwoCents), Paul (Paul's Hardware) or Kyle/Wifeysauce (Bitwit), they do all seem to return to Asus a lot. That can't help but offer a helpful float when floundering amidst the choppy, salty depths of possibility.
Since the board is there for all to see then it's the worst kept secret that this is indeed a Ryzen build (the full circle irony I alluded to in Phase I), a choice which is better saved for discussion when the part itself drops through the letterbox. Given the dearth of itx boards (yes I did see the upcoming Strix itx, and behind its beauty I witnessed its expected price tag..) another choice which helped to narrow this was the subtext - X370, B350 and A320. To cut to the chase the X370 boards have the most features but not ones I'm likely to use, and the A320 shouldn't in my opinion exist at all since it's essentially a B350 with all the joy sucked out of it. So B350 it was to be! Justifiably cheaper than the X370 range and yet cheekily capable (which I think parallels the Intel/AMD competition as it presently stands). You get the usual plethora of paraphernalia; backplate (of the nice black, padded variety that isn't cheap enough to eat your fingers), SATA cables in straight and right angled flavours, M.2 screws, sticky labels (interestingly some of which are designed to be applied to your cables, to help trace which to where after installation. Very considerate Asus - have some brownie points), a nice but pretty much always redundant DVD and coaster (it's easy to get those mixed up, but the DVD will probably last longer). There was a much closer battle fought betwixt m-atx and atx form factors after that decision, even some skirmishes with dark vs white motherboards for reasons mostly no more complex than aesthetic, but ultimately on price, looks, reputation and technical merit (in no particular order) this bad boy couldn't help but float to the top. Also one cannot underestimate the sheer power of a product which comes with something called Overwolf.. Not just a wolf, and even beyond wolf plus.. I mean how can that fail!?
I wonder which part will be next?
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