I remember buying a $3900 Packard Bell 486.. haha
Then Sound Blaster / CDROM Kit ($500).


AFAIK, the mainboard Manufacturers knew the 3rd was the release date.

However, they estimated the qty needed based off Previous AMD Launches of PileDriver and APUs...

$4500 in 1989 is $8800 today. If you ordered it earlier, that was even more.

Basically you paid used-car prices for that thing.



The Jedi Master

I save all my invoices from my build, last I checked, it was well over 9500. then another 4K in Accessories.

Somehow I missed it until today.

My ASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero handles BOTH AM3 and AM4 cooling solutions (has 4 holes drilled for AM3 and 4 holes drilled for AM4 = 8 total holes). So, my existing Swiftech water cooler did not need an AM3 to AM4 adapter. Another "plus" for the ASUS MB.

Still no telling when the motherboard will come.

I just noticed that too yesterday on their product page. Seems like it is recent information.

I had to change the motherboard to ASUS Prime X370-Pro AM4 because the original item shipping dates were delayed and are unknown. This motherboard does not support AM3 sockets.

Cancelled Amazon pre-order and purchased locally at Micro Center.

I modified earlier posts in the thread to reflect the different Motherboard.

I now have everything needed for the build. So, to work

Upon unboxing I noticed A STANDARD AM3 HEATSINK FITS the heatsink mounting. The mounting holes are in a different spot. But, one does not use the holes with a standard heat sink.

The AM4 heatsink mounting holes are located differently. So, heatsinks and water coolers that ask one to remove the standard mount may have issues.

the AMD Clip Coolers should work (Including most AIO Coolers Hxxx, etc etc), the ones you have to remove the AMD Retention Bracket are the problem ones

Scary first hour of power on operation with minimal system parts installed -- blank black screen -- no boot. Everything seemed to power up but no signal to monitor. Because many others have reported "dead on arrival", I thought maybe I got a bad part or damaged something (though I am very careful).

Seems it was the DDR4 memory sticks. They seemed to be set both visually and by feel -- but, they weren't. Upon setting, which took extra effort, I got boot.

I tried a minimal memory speed boost. No boot. Others have noted this too.

My BIOS is a February BIOS. A new BIOS just came out this last week that's supposed to improve memory compatibility.

All in all, it seems to be working. Now need to finish assembly. Just turn a few screws and route a few wires. Should go easily. Start again tomorrow.

Basic assembly, software installation, and tests done. In the end, there were no actual issues with the hardware -- just a couple connectors not pushed all the way in (looked and felt set but weren't -- had to push real hard). Still using the February BIOS. Running Windows 10 Pro 64bit.

My preliminary unofficial tests comparing my Ryzen 1800X (8 core/16 thread) at 3.6GHz to my FX9590 (8 core/8 thread) at 4.7GHz in Cinebench 15 CPU test:

Ryzen is 119 percent faster (2.19 times as fast) in multi thread. Ryzen is 35 percent faster in single thread.

Clock for clock Ryzen is 186 percent faster (2.86 times as fast) multi thread. Ryzen is 76 percent faster single thread.


My Samsung 960EVO m.2 SSD is slightly more than 3 times as fast as my Samsung 850EVO SSD. Indications in BIOS are it will function as C:\ system drive, but OS still on temporary HD.

Now to continue on with full assembly process.

Thumbs Up, Sounds Like Ryzen is not disappointing anyone that gives it a solid shot.

I'll try to finish loading/testing software today -- but, I have so much software and so little time I may not finish.

Only New Info:

During testing, air cooling is fine at standard clocks. I may go to less exotic water cooling because I don't need for the X1800 (95W) what I did for the FX9590 (220W).

The 500GB 960EVO SSD beats the 500GB 850EVO by the advertised amounts. 6x for sequential reads and 4x for other reads, writes.

Windows 10 is on the 960EVO. Clean install. No issues from the hardware.

Microsoft's Windows 10 installer unexpectedly changed the boot order in BIOS to an unexpected new sort of instant software-simulated-SSD (rather than hardware -- for tablets?? -- or maybe normal these days). This caused a scary hour because it skipped past normal boot screen and did not recognize any hard drives. After about an hour of trying to get into BIOS at start up, I finally succeeded. I changed it back to operating like a standard PC.

Into every life, a little rain must fall.

The special AURA lighting on my motherboard failed today. Not knowing if that was the start of something worse, I returned the motherboard to Micro Center for a replacement today. Just got back.

Everything else was installed and seemed to be working (including Steam and all my Steam games). So, I should have it running again tomorrow.

It took about 45min to carefully install and rewire the replacement motherboard and reconnect everything. Yes, I know, a fast builder can put an entire PC together in much less time

I turned it on -- and IT WORKED. All my software loads were there -- everything. I was not expecting it to be that easy. The AURA lighting that was the "problem" in the returned MB worked as it was supposed to.

FutureMark TimeSpy CPU test result: My Ryzen 1800X at 3.6GHz (standard settings -- no overclocks) was 103 percent faster (2.03 times as fast) than my FX9590 at 4.7GHz (standard settings -- no overclocks).

Clock-for-clock that makes my Ryzen 1800X 2.65 times as fast.as my FX9590. This correlates well with the CineBench 15 results reported previously.

Now to clean off my workbench and take a couple photos and bring the PC up to my home office. I'm typing this in the office on the now-old FX9590 PC.

Just saw this tidbit:

https://community.amd.com/community...s-for-building-a-better-amd-ryzen-system



The Jedi Master

Thanks. I skimmed it. Will read slower later.

Elsewhere I read do NOT flash the latest BIOS. Folks have had issues with it. So, I still use the older BIOS that came with the motherboard.

So far, I'm just running at the default settings I get with normal setup. Standard CPU clocks. Memory only 2166 at 15 CAS timing (versus nominal for this memory = 3200 at 14).

I just used CPU-Z to compare my Ryzen 1800X 3.6GHz single-thread to CPU-Z number for I7-7700K 4.2GHz single-thread. It was a virtual tie -- Ryzen = 2315, I7 = 2301. Multi-threaded Ryzen wins (of course): Ryzen = 19115, I7 = 9993. Again, these I7 numbers are the ones given by CPU-Z -- different systems will have different outcomes.

Swapping a Mainboard w/ Windows 10 should be easier than before, especially so if it's the same model/part# and even more so if it's the same BIOS Version.

Unplug everything, remove board, drop in new one, connect everything back up, enter the bios and set everything as it was, save, reboot, boom.

As far as windows is concerned, nothing has changed.

I've decided to run in the workshop for a couple days. Just in case something goes wrong, its easier to work there.

So, a couple pictures of where its at now in the workshop area. Fully working, Steam and all Steam Games installed, office applications not all installed.

Note: An old AM3 125W AMD CPU air-cooler. That's working well on the 95W Ryzen. I'll plan to upgrade to one of my water coolers before I take it upstairs.

Click to expand:

The AURA RGB lighting (visible along the left lower edge of MB above) failed again.

I've turned off the dead circuits in BIOS and using ASUS AURA App. I'll continue to use this MB -- unless more goes wrong.

Can't recommend ASUS PRIME motherboard

I remember when ASUS meant top quality and performance. Not always anymore.

Come to think of it, though, my current mobo might be an ASUS again, after many years of having Gigabytes and Asrocks and such.



The Jedi Master