BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN AM4 Motherboard Review

AMD AM4 by stefan @ 2017-08-19

With the X370GTN, BIOSTAR has succeeded to offer plenty of goodies, in a compact ITX format; due to a smaller VRM, the manufacturer does recommend CPUs with a maximum TDP of 95W, but if we do use it with a 65W SKU, we do also have some overclocking headroom. In our tests with the Ryzen 3 1300X, we have succeeded to achieve the same results as with the high-end Crosshair Hero VI from ASUS, by just setting up the multiplier and the voltage inside the UEFI interface, which is really easy to use.

Introduction

 

 

At first we would like to thank BIOSTAR for offering their RACING X370GTN AM4 Motherboard for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About BIOSTAR:

 

“In 1980, the IT industry was growing at a phenomenal rate. With wide experience in buying and selling electronic parts as well as researching on future demands for mainboards and add-on cards , the founder of BIOSTAR GROUP, established BIOSTAR MICROTECH INTERNATIONAL CORP in 1986.

 

In the early years, BIOSTAR concentrated on the manufacture of mainboards built for XT form factor. To maintain steady business growth, BIOSTAR managed to keep a large portion of its capital and manpower invested on the design and development of new products, which at the same time has enabled it to stay competitive in the rapid evolution of the computer industry.

 

BIOSTAR has enriched its competence in the design and manufacture of products such as add-on cards, multi-media and system products to develop the market and meet the demands of customers for more integrated solutions. In order to expand its capacity to meet customer demand globally, BIOSTAR was the first to establish a manufacturing facility in China in 1990. In 1998, its sales revenues exceeded US$130 million and it ranked 227th among the top 1000 enterprises in Taiwan. Furthermore, BIOSTAR obtained an ISO 9001 certification in 1999 and became a publicly listed company in the same year. BIOSTAR’s future has limitless possibilities.”

 

Product Features Part I

RACING to Light up Your Style for AMD RYZEN Motherboard Lineup


BIOSTAR is thrilled to welcome its latest entry in the 2nd-generation RACING series motherboard family, supporting the latest AMD RYZEN processors featuring AMD X370 and B350 chipsets. The users can enjoy the best of the new AMD platform together with the best of the BIOSTAR RACING series. The RACING series of AMD RYZEN features the superior gaming network optimization with BIOSTAR exclusive utility FLY.NET, which automatically detects the bandwidth of software and DRAGON LAN for an optimal online gaming experience. The other whole new feature enhances the degree of overclocking performance with Digital Power+ for further performance enhancements on unlocked AMD RYZEN CPUs for the extra performance boost, so you can get more out of your system, perfect for overclockers!

 

BIOSTAR Exclusive Utility FLY.NET with DRAGON Gaming LAN

 

FLY.NET : The utility will automatically detect the bandwidth of other software and increase the internet speed for online games.

 

DRAGON Gaming LAN : The gaming LAN, DRAGON, offers a smooth gaming user experience with low latency, ultra-stable network connection, and smooth video streaming to enthusiasts.

 

AMD AM4 RACING motherboards come with the whole new gaming LAN, DRAGON, and the exclusive utility FLY.NET.

 

VIVID LED DJ Fun, VIVID LED Lighting Style

 

The brand-new 5050 LED Fun Zone comes with two 5050 LED headers to bring more colorful lighting options to DIY lovers. They can fully enjoy the DIY fun of modding their PCs with uniquely personal style and LED strip or any kind of LED product to adjust the color of LED and change system color scheme by VIVID LED DJ application.

 

Hi-Fi

 

A combination of exclusive hardware & software design including "ground-isolation circuit design","an independent audio power", and "a built=on-board amplifier", with all these hardware features gives you the best audio quality and performance. As for software, we offer you a free bundle utility "Multi-Channel Calibration" which normally you'll find in high level sound systems; this feature allows you to auto detect your location; with a user-friendly interface, you can easily adjust the volume of every speakers to make a well balanced surround sound. And of course, the built-on-board amplifier always gives you a super powerful sound comparing to other motherboards.

 

Blu-ray Audio

 

Upgrading your Audio performance in the easiest way is choosing BIOSTAR ultimate Motherboard. It does support Blu-ray audio DRM (compatible driver/software) and provide the higher audio output of 24 bit/ 192KHz than the 16 bit/ 48KHz from the normal MB. You will experience the high quality sound effect with pure Blu-Ray Audio.

 

MCC

 

Multi Channels Calibration (MCC) can transform any room into the ideal listening environment. With Multi Channels Calibration (MCC), audio performance is automatically calibrated according to the dimensions of your room. Simply place the speaker and setup the microphone at your usual listening spot, position the speakers and connect them. The users can set up the speaker settings easily by using a free bundle MCC software.

 

Hi-Fi Power

 

Audio power is an important factor in audio quality. Most AV equipment isolates the power supply for each analog and digital signal to gather high-quality sound reproduction. Equipped with BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Power technology, it will utilize audio components with independent power design for a significant reduction in electronic noise and superb sound quality.

 

Hi-Fi Ground

 

BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Ground ( Golden Line ) is noise-blocking multi-layer PCB design to isolates analog audio signals from digital sources. Unique PCB layout is ideal for exceptional clarity and high fidelity sound.

 

Hi-Fi Sound

 

BIOSTAR Hi-Fi series motherboards have a sampling rate of 192kHz/24-bit which delivers a high quality audio through an analog connection to your home theater system, multi-channel speakers and high-end headphone. You can enjoy real Blu-ray grade high-definition sound that you’ve never experienced before.

 

Hi-Fi AMP

 

The built-in amplifier can drive major high-end headphones with over 100dB loads and offer wide band-width, low noise, high slew rate and low distortion audio source from front panel I/O. Gaming enthusiasts can enjoy a fuller range of dynamic sound with crisper details and less distortion.

 

Smart Ear

 

Smart EAR is a windows-based audio utility which allows you to easily adjust system volume. With its user-friendly GUI, you can also increase or decrease impedance setting (Low/High Gain) to optimize your headphone performance. You can easily enjoy high-quality and awesome sound.


Hi-Fi Resistor

 

Metal-oxide film resistors are made of metal oxides such as tin oxide. The electric characteristics are greater stability and reliability than regular metal film resistors when operating in an extremely broad working temperature range. This special component is used in applications with high endurance audio demands.

 

Hi-Fi Cap

 

BIOSTAR Hi-Fi series motherboards come with high quality ‘Non-Polarized Electrolysis Electric audio capacitors’ for each audio channel circuit. The customized audio capacitors deliver low noise, low distortion, and wide bandwidth to achieve the highest sound resolution and sound expansion. The critical component will ensure the most realistic sound effects to gaming enthusiasts.

 

Hi-Fi 110dB+

 

Embrace exceptional sound quality for the win with 110dB SNR and stylish and efficient EMI shield blocks electromagnetic interference to help provide cleaner audio. It has achieved a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 110dB, yielding almost loss-less audio form rear audio connectors.

 

HDMI 4K2K

 

The new 4K2K resolution enables high-definition image display with four times the resolution of full HD ,4K2K display is faithfully express bright, highly detailed content that fills the entire screen with lifelike images. Connectivity with PCs via a single HDMI cable for displaying 4K2K data.

 

DVI

 

DVI is better than VGA for LCD displays since it is digital while VGA is analog. For LCD displays, the picture is digitized pixel per pixel. Through DVI, the panel gets data for each pixel, so the picture generated in the Graphics device matches the pixels on the panel itself.

 

DX12

 

DirectX 12 introduces the next version of Direct3D, the graphics API at the heart of DirectX. Direct3D is one of the most critical pieces of a game or game engine, and we've redesigned it to be faster and more efficient than ever before. Direct3D 12 enables richer scenes, more objects, and full utilization of modern GPU hardware.

 

Product Features Part II

USB 3.1 Type-C

 

USB 3.1 doubles the data transfer rate from 5Gbps to 10Gbps compared with USB3.0, and also is backward compatible with all existing USB3.0 & USB2.0 devices. The Type-C connector is fully reversible which makes it convenient, and it also can save your charging time on portable devices up to 50% compared with Type-A connector.

 

USB 3.1

 

USB 3.1 is a new standard known as SuperSpeed +, in order to highlight the improvement from USB3.0 (SuperSpeed) transmission speed. The new standard doubles data transfer rate from 5Gbps to 10Gbps. It is also backward compatible with existing USB3.0 connectors and all the USB 2.0 devices.


PCI-e M.2 32Gb/s

 

PCI-e M.2 32Gb/s is the latest storage interface, it delivers the highest bandwidth and lower latency. It's 3 times faster compared with PCI-e M.2 10Gb/s.

 

FLY.NET

 

AMD AM4 RACING motherboards come with the whole new Gaming LAN-DRAGON, and the exclusive utility FLY.NET.

 

PCI-E Gen 3.0

 

PCI-E 3.0 is the next evolution of the ubiquitous and general-purpose PCI Express I/O standard. At 8GT/s bit rate, the interconnect performance bandwidth is doubled over PCI-E 2.0, while preserving compatibility with software and mechanical interfaces.


USB 3.0

 

Experience Fastest data transfers at 5 Gbps with USB 3.0--the new latest connectivity standard. Built to connect easily with next-generation components and peripherals, USB 3.0 transfers data 10X faster and backward compatible with previous USB 2.0 components.

 

Moistureproof PCB

 

The popularity of PC usage and working environment is getting deteriorating and moist(rural, coastal, etc.). The PCB will be oxidizing easily by damp or absorbed moisture, and ionic migration or CAF (Conductive Anodic Filament) will be generated. Moisture-proof PCB meets high density and high reliability requirements for moisture proof.

 

Low RdsOn P-Pak MOS

 

Low resistance design can significantly reduce the current out of energy loss.Low temperature, small size, excellent thermal conductivity.


Super Anti-Surge Protection

 

BIOSTAR exclusive Anti-Surge design provides the best protection of board and extends the product life. Having the latest model of "Transient Voltage Suppressor" on- board can effectively protect the board circuit, reducing the shocks caused by ESD as well as other damages arising from overvoltage transients to enhance system durability.

 

Super LAN Surge Protection

 

Super LAN Surge Protection, providing LAN port with more advanced antistatic protection capabilities by adding an integrated chip to strengthen electrical stability and prevent damage from lightning strikes and electrical surges. SLSP (Super LAN Surge Protection) series motherboard upgrades the existing system protection standards with maximum 4X protection comparing to other board makers.

 

ESD Protection

 

ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) is the major factor to destroy PC by electrical overstress(EOS) condition, ESD occurred by PC users when touch any devices connect to PC, which may result in damage to motherboard or parts .ESD protection is designed to protect the motherboard and equipment from damage by EOS

 

USB Polyswitch

 

On board dedicated power fuse to help prevent USB port failure. It prevents USB Port overcurrent and safeguard your system and device lifespan.


OC / OV / OH Protection

 

All BIOSTAR special circuit design detects overvoltage conditions and prevents voltage surges from spreading in real time. It also actively cuts off the overvoltage supply to protect your system. Over current protection, avoid motherboard from damage when doing overclock or an unusual current import. Over heat protection, avoid motherboard & CPU from burning when exceeding the temperature limitation.

 

Vivid LED DJ

 

Racing Series exclusively features on-board LED design. Via the creative Vivid LED DJ application, you can control and modify the colours of LED on MOS heatsink and on the edge of board. When you play music, it can perform LED light show, following melody. Moreover, Vivid LED DJ features options for designing LED visual effect, including Normal, Eco, and Sports mode on your own. Racing Series with Vivid LED DJ make your PC a coolest gaming base ever.

 

RACING UEFI BIOS

 

Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a brand new framework that provides a revolutionary interface. It is a modern clear and easy-to-use graphical user interface. The UEFI comes with a colorful easy-understand icons leads users into the setup layer directly.

 

Header Zone

 

Users can easily assemble their own computer, a simple-swap data discs and other accessories.

 

5050 LED Fun ZONE

 

The brand-new 5050 LED FUN ZONE comes with two 5050 LED headers to bring more colorful lighting options to DIY lovers. They can fully enjoy the DIY fun of modding their PCs with uniquely personal style and LED strip or any kind of LED product to adjust the color of LED and change system color scheme by VIVID LED DJ application. Vivid LED DJ fun, Vivid LED lighting style!

 

AMD X370 chipset

 

AMD X370 is the high-end chipset for overclockers and tweakers who need robust platforms. This chip provides the ultimate low-level control to its users and delivers ultimate graphics card bandwidth.

 

Product Specifications

 

Packaging, A Closer Look Part I

Another BIOSTAR motherboard has recently reached our labs, and it’s built on the compact Mini ITX form factor, in order to also accommodate smaller systems. Despite the small size, it packs the fully-fledged X370 PCH, can accommodate up to two DDR4 RAM modules with speeds up to 3200MHz (OC), has four SATA3 connectors with RAID 0,1, 10 support, a M.2 slot on the back of the motherboard for connecting additional storage and more! The product is shipped inside a cardboard enclosure which does feature the RACING theme we have seen before with other SKUs; we will also learn of a limited offer regarding World of Tanks on the top area of the box:

 

 

 

Some of the product features are described on the bottom box area, along with a photo with explanations regarding the main board features:

 

 

 

After lifting the top cover, we will get to see that the motherboard is secured inside an additional cardboard layer, but is also wrapped inside a semi-transparent plastic bag:

 

 

 

As a bundle, we are getting the usual I/O shield, but also four SATA cables:

 

 

 

Regarding the documentation, we are receiving a leaflet, one disk which does contain the user manual in electronic format, drivers and utilities but also a multi-language User’s Manual:

 

 

 

The previously mentioned leaflet does contain instructions on how to use the Vivid LED DJ feature, but also Hi-Fi Audio and Smart Ear:

 

 

 

 

From the manual, we can lean on how to perform the installation quickly in order to have the system up and running in no-time!

 

 

 

Compared to the other AM4 motherboards we have tested so far, this one is really tiny, measuring 17x17cm; despite its size, the manufacturer succeeded to include all the essentials and as an extra, we do also have the VRM cooling system RGB-lighting enabled:

 

 

 

 

The motherboard does come with a seven-phase VRM, controlled by an Intersil ISL95712, while the MOSFETs are NIKOS PK612DZ; as with any other Ryzen motherboard, we have different numbers of phases allocated for the CPU and SOC -> X370GTN does have four phases for the CPU and three for the SOC:

 

 

 

In the top left corner, we will be able to find a 4-pin 12V power header:

 

 

 

A Closer Look Part II

The CPU VRM area is covered by a thin aluminum heatsink, which is also RGB-enabled:

 

 

 

The RGB header for the VRM is placed nearby:

 

 

 

In order to conserve space, the CMOS battery is capsulated and placed between the I/O connectors:

 

 

 

The ELAN eKTF5832 microprocessor is in charge of the VRM LED lighting but also of the dual RGB headers, also located on the board:

 

 

 

Nearby, we do have the ASMedia ASM1543 switch that does provide the USB Type-C interface:

 

 

 

A Realtek RTL811AS (Realtek Dragon Ethernet) controller is also available on the board:

 

 

 

The audio PCB area is shielded from the rest of the components, in order to eliminate noise; in this area we will be able to spot the F_AUDIO header along with the ALC892 CODEC from Realtek. This CODEC model is quite old, and we were really expecting to see a more recent ALC1150 version here:

 

 

 

A full-sized PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot is available in the lower PCB area, in order to accommodate a video card; above it there are two SATA 3.0 ports:

 

 

 

Between the PCI-E 3.0 slot and the PCH heatsink, we did spot am USB 2.0 header:

 

 

 

Speaking of the PCH, this is covered by a tiny aluminum heatsink, that does sport the RACING color scheme:

 

 

 

Moving further, we will get to see one USB 3.0 header, but also two additional SATA 3.0 ports:

 

 

 

A Closer Look Part III

The Frontal Panel header is placed between the SATA ports and the 24-pin ATX power connector:

 

 

 

The top right corner does accommodate a SYS_FAN header:

 

 

 

The top socket area comes with one CPU_FAN header, but also two RGB LED headers:

 

 

 

The memory slots are placed quite close to the socket, so we may have some difficulties fitting larger CPU heatsinks if the RAM comes with thick heatspreaders:

 

 

 

The AM4 CPU socket does sport the same color as the PCB:

 

 

 

On the bottom PCB area, we will get to see the stock AM4 backplate, but also a M.2 32Gb/s connector with support for 2260/2280 SSDs:

 

 

 

 

Here we do also have the ITE IT8613E SuperIO chip:

 

 

 

On the I/O, we do have a combo PS/2 mouse/keyboard port, four USB 3.1 Gen1 ports, a USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A plus one Type-C, one DVI-D, a HDMI port but also the usual audio ports (which do also include an Optical S/PDIF output):

 

 

 

The UEFI Interface Part I

The X370GTN board does ship with the RACING themed UEFI BIOS, which features a clean design; on the left side we can spot the widgets that report live system parameters such as voltages, speeds, fan RPMs, but also temperatures, while the bottom area is occupied by the main menus. In the Main menu, we can see some more details regarding the installed BIOS, total installed memory quantity, but we can also adjust the current date/time:

 

 

The Advanced menu contains plenty of sub-sections:

 

 

First, we do have the AMD CBS menu, that houses plenty of AM4-specific options:

 

 

The Trusted Computing menu comes with TPM-related options:

 

 

The Power Management options are available inside the ACPI Settings/WakeUp Event Control Menu:

 

 

From the SATA configuration menu, we can enable/disable the controller, but also choose the operating mode; here we will also see the list of connected devices:

 

 

Promontory Common Options are available from the next menu:

 

 

The Smart Fan Control area does allow the user to select fan operating modes for both headers:

 

 

From the Hardware Monitor menu, we can see the live SuperIO chip reports, but we can also set a shutdown temperature:

 

 

The CPU Configuration menu does allow the user to check out some processor-specific details, but also enable some functions such as SMT or SVM:

 

 

The PCI Subsystem Settings menu does include some miscellaneous options; here we will also find the PCI Express Settings menu:

 

 

The UEFI Interface Part II

Network Stack can be enabled or disabled from the next menu:

 

 

Moving further, we’ve got the CSM Configuration menu, which does also hold some boot-specific options:

 

 

If attached, the NVMe drives will be shown in the next menu:

 

 

Same goes for PCIe SATA controllers:

 

 

From the USB Configuration menu, we can change some of the specific interface options:

 

 

The Chipset menu holds some sub-menus of its own:

 

 

The South Bridge sub-section does contain a secondary menu, but this one is left empty for an unknown reason:

 

 

The North Bridge area does come with another set of miscellaneous options:

 

 

The UEFI Interface Part III

The Onboard Device menu allows the user to enable or disable the LAN interface (but also enable/disable the LAN Option ROM):

 

 

The Boot Menu allows the user to select the boot sequence, along with some other options:

 

 

The Security menu allows us to specify Admin/User passwords, but also adjust Secure Boot properties:

 

 

The O.N.E. area is available for system performance tuning; the voltages can be adjusted with increments, while the CPU Ratio can be easily set:

 

 

Since the board does also come with an Agesa 1.0.0.6 BIOS, we will see the whole set of timings available for adjustment:

 

 

Information regarding the installed RAM can be checked out inside the Memory Insight menu:

 

 

RGB LED options can be also adjusted from inside the UEFI interface, via the Vivid LED Control menu:

 

 

Finally, we’ve got the Save & Exit menu, that allows the user to save, discard, load factory defaults or save the settings to specific slots:

 

 

Test Setup and Extra Info

Before actually starting the testing procedure, we made sure that the board was flashed with the latest available UEFI version; we went ahead and updated to the X37AK623 version from the BIOSTAR website:

 

 

The system did incorporate a Ryzen 7 1300X quad-core CPU, a GEIL PC4 25600 3200MHz CL16 8GBx2 Samsung B-die based kit running at 2133Mhz (15-15-15-36 timings), one KFA2 GTX 1060 OC 6GB video card, a Cooler Master 850 PSU but also an OCZ Vector 150 240GB SSD for storage purposes/boot. During testing, the system was running on a fresh Windows 10 Creators Edition installation, while all hardware was mounted inside a Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower case.

 

With the help of the AIDA64 system reporting/benchmarking utility, we have extracted some more information regarding the system:

 

Motherboard



IMC



Chipset



Southbridge


 

Extra Applications Part I

The eHot-Line application does pick up system information and sends it to BIOSTAR in case we are encountering issues:

 

 

The Realtek RTL8118AS Gigabit LAN controller is paired with the FLY.NET utility that automatically detects the bandwidth consumption of other programs and increases the connection speed for online games (traffic shaping):

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we do have the BIOScreen utility, which allows the user to replace the intro logo upon boot-up:

 

 

Another useful feature is the BIOS Update utility, which can search for the latest BIOS version and update the ROM chip on the board accordingly; we can also supply the file manually to the utility:

 

 

 

Extra Applications Part II

RACING GT is the multifunctional application from BIOSTAR, and with its help we can further customize the system; please keep in mind that the current version of RACING GT does also revert the Power profile to “Balanced” upon start-up, so we do need to adjust it manually to High Performance if needed, after we have exited the application. The System Information tab does display the current information regarding the system components:

 

 

 

The Smart Ear tab does simply allow modification of the audio volume:

 

 

From the Vivid LED DJ tab, we can make modifications to the LED lighting system, which does include the LED effects of the board, but also of the devices connected to the 5050 RGB ports:

 

 

The HW Monitor tab does display the current system temperatures, fan speeds, voltages, but also integrates the Fan Control system:

 

 

OC/OV takes care of OverClocking and OverVoltage tasks, in order to fine-tune the system performances:

 

 

 

 

Video Exemplification of LED Lighting System

Overclocking Stage

Overclocking with the RACING X370GTN board is considerably easier than the process we have found with the X370GT7; we only needed to adjust the multiplier to the desired value, set the voltage with the supplied increments and that is about it! Considering the smaller VRM, we were surprised to see that the board could keep up with the ASUS C6H while having the Ryzen 1300X CPU running at 4GHz.

 

Here are the details during the 4GHz @ 1.372V system run:

 

 

 

CPU-Z

 

Validation

 

 

 

 

Test Results Part I

 

AIDA64


Memory


CPU Queen


CPU PhotoWorxx


CPU Zlib


CPU AES


CPU Hash


FPU Julia


FPU Mandel


FPU SinJulia


FP32 Ray-Trace


FP64 Ray-Trace

Test Results Part II

 

 

CineBench R11.5

CineBench R15

Blender Ryzen Render

PCMark Vantage

PCMark 7

PCMark 8

 

Test Results Part III

 

SuperPI XS 32M

X265 Benchmark (HWBOT)

1080P 64-bit Normal

3DMark Vantage

3DMark 11

3DMark 2013

Unigine Valley

Ultra AA Off DX11 1920X1080

Ashes of the Singularity DX12

CPU Focused

 

Memory Bandwidth Difference

The GEIL PC4 25600 3200MHz CL16 8GBx2 Samsung B-die kit we have used did operate correctly even at 3200MHz, thanks to the AGESA improvements.

With the help of the AIDA64 utility, we have been able to check out the memory bandwidth differences at 2133MHz, 2400MHz, 2666MHz, 2933MHz but also 3200MHz.

2133MHz

2400MHz

2666MHz

2933MHz

3200MHz

RMAA Test Results

In our RMAA test, the BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN does come with decent scores, but is no match for the high-end ATX boards such as the MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium, which does also use the newer Realtek CODEC.

Supermicro C7Z170-OCE 16/44

GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-SOC FORCE 16/44

GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming K3 16/44

GIGABYTE Z270X-Ultra Gaming 16/44

MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium 16/44

BIOSTAR RACING X370GT7 16/44

BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN 16/44

 

 

 

 

Supermicro C7Z170-OCE 24/96

GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-SOC FORCE 24/96

GIGABYTE Z170X-Gaming K3 24/96

GIGABYTE Z270X-Ultra Gaming 24/96

MSI X370 Xpower Gaming Titanium 24/96

BIOSTAR RACING X370GT7 24/96

BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN 24/96

 

Conclusive Thoughts

With the X370GTN, BIOSTAR has succeeded to offer plenty of goodies, in a compact ITX format; due to a smaller VRM, the manufacturer does recommend CPUs with a maximum TDP of 95W, but if we do use it with a 65W SKU, we do also have some overclocking headroom. In our tests with the Ryzen 3 1300X, we have succeeded to achieve the same results as with the high-end Crosshair Hero VI from ASUS, by just setting up the multiplier and the voltage inside the UEFI interface, which is really easy to use.

 

X370GTN has also received the most recent AGESA 1.0.0.6 update, so we had no issues running our dual-channel GEIL 3200MHz memory kit at its stock clocks either. Plenty of other settings can be adjusted from inside the RACING-themed UEFI interface, as we have seen with the X370GT7 flagship from BIOSTAR.

 

If the four SATA ports provided on the front are not enough for our storage preferences, we do also have a M.2 slot on the back side for fitting a 2260/2280 SATA 6Gb/s & PCI-E Storage. The bandwidth offered by this slot depends on the CPU used: in the case of Ryzen it is 32Gb/s, while when using APUs & NPUs we get 16Gb/s.

 

The only downside we have observed with this board is the fact that the memory slots are a bit closer to the CPU AM4 socket than we would have liked, so RAM with thicker heatspreaders may hit the CPU heatsink or even make the AIO pump installation a bit difficult.

 

The BIOSTAR X370GTN board can be found online for about 115 Euros, which is a competitive price considering what we are getting with the whole package!

BIOSTAR RACING X370GTN AM4 Motherboard is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank BIOSTAR for making this review possible!

 

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