It seems your MOBO might not be working properly. Would you like advice on whether to switch to another one?
It seems your MOBO might not be working properly. Would you like advice on whether to switch to another one?
I purchased an Asus TUF Gaming B850-Plus WiFi board for my recent build during Black Friday. In short, it doesn’t support more than one memory stick. I see the orange DRAM indicator when trying to boot with multiple sticks. I verified each stick functions properly. Occasionally, the red CPU light appears during startup; a few resets resolve the issue. While assembling, one pin on the CPU connector seemed misaligned or damaged. I wish I had a flashlight to inspect it closely and capture a photo. Probably I should have stopped at that point, thinking maybe it was just an optical trick. Still, I paid $189 for the board, but Amazon only allows returns, not exchanges. That means I’m now paying the full $218. It’s not the end of the world, but I’m wondering if there are better options available at this price. Considering what I spent, it seemed like a solid match for my Ryzen 7 9700X, RTX 5070 TI, DDR5 6000 CL30, and Corsair RM750e PSU. Any advice?
It's a solid match, you're right. Would I order another? Some say it's too much of a hit, but realistically, having two boards in a row isn't common—so adding another isn't too risky. I usually go with Gigabyte boards; they've worked well for me for over 15 years, especially when I got one in an Intel e4300 bundle a long time ago. A good budget pick from PCPartPicker: Gigabyte B850 GAMING X WIFI6E ATX AM5 ($159.99 on Amazon). Total comes to $159.99, including shipping and taxes. This was generated by PCPartPicker on Dec 5, 2025.
Questioning if a brand-new board often arrives with defective pins (though this might not be significant) Edited December 5, 2025 by leclod
I chose the ASUS TUF Gaming X870-PLUS WiFi just a bit more than before. @Dedayog Appreciate your advice and feedback. I was really hoping for WiFi 7, though. Even if I plan to connect my office via Ethernet and use Wi-Fi 6, I was in a hurry when assembling it. I’m not saying I made a mistake, but it’s possible.
I have a gigabit connection, so that's fine. It really works well.
My new MOBO came. My old motherboard was definitely the issue. I can boot with both sticks of RAM now and no longer get a red CPU light every other boot. System is pretty much put together. I still have a couple tweaks I want to do with cable management but I need some extension cables. I'm working on getting everything set up and doing benchmarks now. I'll probably make a full post on it later with some pictures. But here is a sneak peek of it. The glass protector is still on lol.