buildzoid

My first impressions of the MSI X470 Gaming Plus

Added 2018-05-04 20:30:19 +0000 UTC

I hate keeping information to myself but as of right now I don't know how best to present it for the YT channel so you all get some early access to what I think after messing with the MSI X470 Gaming Plus for a couple hours.

The Good
The board has LEDs to indicate occupied RAM slots
There's an indicator LED for the top PCI-e X16 slot too
RAM OC seems very solid 3600 12-12-12-1T for benchmarking is a first for my R7 1700
The BIOS is snappy when just messing with overclocking
Working VRM temperature sensors
Voltage readings seem accurate
Current and power readings are also accurate. Which is a first. All the other boards I've used report way higher power and current draw than reality.

The Bad
The VRM gets too hot running Prime 95 with 1.42V on the R7 1700. 107C on the FETs at 27C ambient and 98C on the capacitors is not OK. This is a 0 airflow test though. I need to figure out some way to make a "standardized" VRM test scenario that's realistic
Plugging an AIO into anything but the pump header is a terrible idea

Honestly I'm rather pleased with the board. The VRM thermals aren't great and I imagine they would be even worse if I had a 2700X to test with but since the board has working VRM temp sensors I'd say that anyone building with this board should just take some time when OCing to get the VRM temps under control by messing with their cooling setup.
LLC set to auto seems to be really well configured at least if the software is to be believed. I'm trying to figure out a way to make the modification process of adding voltage read lines into an intresting video. I've technically already done that with the X370 taichi before but this time around I want to show why measuring Vcore of say the inductors or legs for bulk caps sitting right next to them is a terrible idea.