ASUS X370 Open Letter/Feedback Status Log

I was a bit surprised when the beta AGESA Combo PI V1 1.0.0.6 landed, for the ROG Crosshair VII Hero a few weeks ago. It came out of the blue as BIOS version 3103. A week or so later, it was officially released on their website.
Total shocker ... especially sine the last BIOS was dated DEC 27th 2019.

 

Sorry fellas I didn't mean to ignore anyone - just kept forgetting to check in/post back here. Man I couldn't be happier on ASUS's official change of heart on this issue. They have a very loyal customer base, one that loves and has often time supported & helped troubleshoot their products - it's great to see them acknowledge that great technical service especially on items still under Warranty is the way to go! I am happy to buy ASUS again (I'll be adding more to that end on another thread in a bit)

 

So Asus just released a new BIOS for this board, with AGESA 1006.
It's quite surprising that they did this....

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/ROG-STRIX-X370-F-GAMING/HelpDesk_BIOS/

 

Asus is all well and good (for the most part), but when I built this machine to budget, I wasn't keen on paying 2~3x what I should pay for an 'other brand' motherboard VS what I'd pay on an Asus.
@K.S.
There's no denying that Asus DOES make a solid product, that they do - credit where credit's due. Sure, some companies, even Asus, can put out a stinker or two now and then, deliberately or accidentally, but they usually make decent to good/great stuff. However, after spending a ton on a k-series intel chip and fancy motherboard with a big heatsink and all in 2014, and not being able to take it anything over stock turbo speeds without a crash, I said enough is enough.
No. More. Overclocking. Computer. Stuff. Done with it! Spend that extra money on a better processor or a better video card, it'll get you further!
So last summer when I put this together, I narrowed my selection to the newest tech, the X570 chipset, and bought THE cheapest board off the shelf at Micro Center last summer that had X570 chipset. It's not great, but it's good, it's got 8 sata ports AND an intel gigabit NIC, which is plenty more than I'll need. It's not got any LED's except maybe an 'im broken / you messed up' light that'll come on red if you mess up. Heck there's not even a window in the case!
That said, I'm thrilled with it. Would I have been as thrilled if I paid 1.5x~2x for it VS what I did? Absolutely not! But it's okay to not spend a TON on your motherboard, especially if you won't be overclocking, pushing it to it's engineered limits and so-forth.
Now I know you didn't buy the board for great overclocking capability, you bought it because you trust Asus. Well, for the longest time, Asus was the best. At the very top of the spectrum, they may as well still be - but I wouldn't know from experience as of the last few years. So while I wouldn't take you for a fool (or be one myself) and say 'just grab any brand right off the shelf', I would also be only as good as a liar if I failed to say that 'Even brands like Biostar have come a long way now'.
So seriously, if you're feeling burned by it, go ahead, grab any brand off that shelf next time you go get a motherboard. If this is what happens when you buy an Asus brand, and this is how you're treated, then you might just as well.
Just don't spend a ton of money on it* and you won't feel so much remorse when whatever-brand stops supporting it short of it's 3 year warranty period, if that should be the case again.
*I mean of course if you're going to run it in a 90F (not C) room all day, or wish to overclock to the hill, I'd still lean toward a high-end Asus or Gigabyte. The power substation exploded in an 8~12 second long arcing of death firework show. Took out a lot of things, and even injured my Seasonic power supply (which still ran, but the 3.3v line got oddly low for some reason after that - Kudos to Seasonic for still replacing it no-questions-asked 3 months before the end of the 5 year warranty period). The asus motherboard I had still survived, less secondary sata controller and some front usb functions, was otherwise stable.
Clarification: I have an Asrock Phantom Gaming 4 x570 board. It's really ho-hum, it's nothing fancy, but it absolutely has everything I need to keep content creation and games running smoothly. I wouldn't waste a split second trying to overclock on this, period, as I'd likely cause a fire with my 3950x (yes, that'd redefine living dangerously). Sure it's not the Asus Workstation Pro x570 I would have loved to buy, but that wouldn't make the computer *FASTER* without overclocking things. I'm almost 40, I'm doing mostly content creation but some older and cutting-edge games too now and then, no overclocking allowed here, for stability and hardware longetivity reasons. Can't afford to let out the magic smoke when I'm trying to model a 2-million-poly surface tunnel in BeamNG Drive for my Los Injurus City Map project mod.
Just keep your wits / common sense about you and just don't plunk too much money down for a motherboard, if this is how you're treated in the long run for doing so. When reaching for that box with the fancy motherboard in it - or buying online - just say to yourself 'I'm spending XX amount extra on this fancy motherboard, how will it make my computer faster, better in some way, or easier to work on and maintain, VS a cheaper motherboard from a different brand?'.
If you spent 100$ extra on that fancy motherboard, vs a regular Asrock, MSI, or similar tier brand, in-stead of spending it on the CPU, GPU to get the next one better model, or a little of both, will you be happy 1, 2, or 3 years down the road. You might not need to upgrade as soon, especially if you aren't that sure if you'll be able to upgrade anyways, if there's no BIOS support for the new stuff. Hindsight is always 20.20, so don't feel bad now; just feel forewarned this time (by your own experiences you mentioned if anything).
Just make sure you're happy with your purchase, because it's your money, and you have to use the thing for years. Vote with your dollar!

--Best regards
--The Bob

P.S. Just read the part where they decided to fix that for you on your Asus board - good on them - but I'd still be cautious on spending a ton on a motherboard these days, especially if you aren't overclocking and plan to leave it run within specification.

 

Hey Bob, thanks man -

Yeah *sigh - hah - well I hoped this thread might help log my efforts with ASUS customer support / and subsequently dealing with their engineering team in my attempts to convince them to support it longer and not EOL it before Warranty's end. Who know's maybe it contributed, personally I think it was more likely AMD's end (something probably happened AMD side like "hey let's have support for X370 guys") and then the AIBs were like "oh ok". But anyhoo I hope ASUS made the decision themselves.

That's dope; I like Seasonic. Never had a negative experience with them. Have owned (wanna say) 3 PSUs from them and all have had great experiences; one failed, got great service no questions asked just like you said! Great people.

Yeah I tend to think you're right here. Although this time around I did need Thunderbolt so that made things a little more difficult but besides that it didn't matter what I chose. (besides AMD/AM4) (I had already had a 3900X)

That's a nice board. I actually went from a Gigabyte motherboard, the one mentioned earlier in this thread to a ASRock Fatality B450 Itx/AC that was just great and even ran my 3900X. That last bit shocked me the most. That tiny board running that 12 core chip. But yeah so I went from that B450 to your board at first thinking I'd bought the ASRock X570 Creator instead (bit of a mishap at B&H on my part there) still it was great but yeah no TB compatibility. B&H was sold out of the Creator and said they'd be back ordered anyway so I looked at Gigabyte which had a similar option but it was also back ordered into oblivion. That board doesn't need to be a "Workstation Pro x570" it's a great dang board (my opinion). It's a beast... anyhoo I ended up back at ASUS with a ROG Strix B550-E (compatible with Thunderbolt) I purchased their add-on TB card. It works great so far with my other TB devices. Some Apple devices & a Dell 7285 touchpad capable TB unit I use for my drawing.

Hey that's great. I hear ya I really do. That's why I did what I did with my machine. I'm hitting 30 now after 10 years in IT and I'm finding myself back in University studying Animation & Game Design of all things because well the world is changing I guess. Not to sound unconvincing. Plus it's creative and I want to do something creative! I've got a long way with a lot of the tools and assets on my machine and learning how to use most of them but I'm having fun; it is different doing most of everything online with COVID but it is nice to do things at my own pace being at home workin from home.

Yeah. True. I.. hope I didn't do that again. I kept trying to tell myself this one would be some school/career-related investment.

I hope this one lasts years. Not overclocking squat. Need it to last, need it stable as you wrote yourself for practical reasons especially & at stock, it is more than sufficient.

 

Just noticed ASUS released a new BIOS for the Prime X370 Pro (version 5601) which also has AGESA 1.0.0.6

That's really nice + unexpected

 

same here for Strix 370-F:

https://www.asus.com/de/Motherboards/ROG-STRIX-X370-F-GAMING/HelpDesk_Download/

Version 5601
2020/07/27
10.2 MBytes
ROG STRIX X370-F GAMING BIOS 5601

Improve system performance
Improve DRAM stability
Improve system stability
Improve system compatibility

 

Even the A320 , gets some lovin
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/PRIME-A320M-K/HelpDesk_BIOS/

 

I Haven't upgraded yet

Maybe i'll later ^^

anyone tried a 1006 bios for the 300series asus boards yet?

 

yep, just with Ryzen 1st gen.
I tend to think ram is more stable, besides they all say it doesnt do anything for 1st gen ...

 

I'll try today after gym with my 1700x and Hynix Memory i couldn't get it stable when going above 2933 with recent bios versions, with some older versions i had it running at 3066 MHz

Maybe something changed

 

Yup , 5601 seems a downgrade as well, 3400 cl 14-15-15-15/4x8 vs 3400 cl 14-15-14-14/4x8 , maybe need a new DRAM Calculator.

 

Hynix AFR?? I used to camp the BiOS updates back on my 1600X and my Hynix AFR. Never did get it to run at the rated 3200 was stuck at 2933.

 

Yah AFR it's a Cheap Corsair (vengeance lpx) kit i got with my components back then

 

Uhm what CPU do you have? i never reached 3400 with my ryzen 1700x even with the older bios which allowed me to run 3066


(sorry for double posting and not using one reply, i messed up with the quotes )

 

2700x, look under profile page , info for spec's

 

I tried but :

The 2000 series has a better memory controller than 1000 series or? ^^

 

The MB Asus x470 Prime -2700x CPU , and Trident Z 3600 B-die helps on my system will do 3600 cl14 with 2x8 fast preset , safe preset ,plus loose timing 4x8 will do 3400cl14 with no errors

 

Nice! I tried to get b-dies about 2 years ago for cheap but that was impossible + i spent the money then for other stuff :/

I'll upgrade my bios now and test, i'll write my results