[RFC] What compromise I should make on my motherboard purchase?

I have been looking to upgrade my rig for the last 3 yrs or so. I have added/upgraded some of the components in the last few years.

I want to wait for AMD 7nm/Intel 10nm chip, but last week my system acted weird and deadlocked few times. So I think it's time and I think it will take more than a year for AMD to Intel to release their 7nm/10nm chip.

I am gonna use my existing components, PSU, monitor, case, dvd writer, ssd, hdd.

I have chosen AMD 2200G+4GB ram. It's an office/home rig. No overclocking, no serious gaming. Mostly browser, MS office applications, very rarely use image editing software like gimp, PS.

Now the reason I am here. I don't want to spend a lot of money for the motherboard. Something around 7k is fine, if I can't any decent board, probably I will to shell out more.

The two monitors I have - one uses VGA and another uses HDMI. Have been thinking about adding third one, but that's not gonna happen now. But I want to have a motherboard which supports the third monitor, preferably 4k 60p. So I need HDMI+VGA+DP/HDMI 2.0 in my motherboard, there is no relaxation in this criteria. I want more real estate in the board, don't want to buy mATX board again, I can relax this (or at least I should relax, coz there is no choice). I prefer to have USB 3.1 gen 2. I wanted to stick with Asus/Gigabyte. None of the B450 Gigabyte boards have VGA port and almost all B450 ASUS boards don't have VGA except two. And one of them don't have HDMI. Only option I have here is B450M A, but it doesn't have DP or two HDMI port with at least one supporting 2.0 version. Most of the B350 boards are either not available or over priced. Gigabyte B350M D3H is the perfect fit, but not available. If anyone knows where I can find, please let me know. Now I have to either compromise on 4k 60p support (displayport) and go with ASUS Prime B450M-A or I have check MSI/Asrock. Again most of the B450 MSI don't have VGA, the ones have lacks DP. Asrock B450 Pro4 has everything I ask for other than it's ASS/reliability and price. I don't know what compromise I should make. I am extremely confused, because of this I had two sleepless nights. Going by the availability,

Asus B450M A - Rs. 8300 - No DP
Asrock B450 Pro4 - Rs. 8800 - ASS/reliability and price
Something else?

One local shop said they would arrange the D3H board, but keep saying they are checking and as soon as they get it in stock, will let me know.

Searched online, could find about a handful of online sellers have the D3H board in stock. Other than itwares, none of the sellers I know or heard of. Some of them are overpriced and couple of them are reasonably priced and they are from Siliguri and Guwahati. But hesitate to order as they are new to me. Any digitian from Siliguri/Guwahati know these sellers? Sri rathi retails and luitstore.

W

Online reviews suggest asrock b350/450(ATX version not the mATX version) is one of the best mobo in its class with good VRMs & build quality.I am also thinking about ordering it if I decide to go the ryzen way. AB350 pro4 is similar to B450 but costs only 7.5k,it should be able to support 2nd gen ryzen but you can contact vedantcomputers to update the bios for you just to be sure.As for after sales support I too was initially hesitant but recently I found out the asrock has appointed F1 info solutions as their service centre & I had a good experience with them while RMA of asus laptop so I think this should take care of after sales support.
ASRock > Repair / RMA

Gigabyte has the worst ryzen boards as per online reviews so avoid them unless you absolutely have to buy them for some specific feature.

do the onboard video chipsets on these amd motherboards have the ability to drive multiple displays simulatenously?You should check it before you go ahead and buy an expensive mobo with all the display ports you require.

You could probably just reuse your existing gt 710 gpu and connect multiple monitors to it-that would obviate the need to get a motherboard with several display outputs.

W

^^There are no more "onboard video chipsets" for consumer level mobos,nowadays it is all decided by your processor integrated graphics or dedicated graphics card.

Asrock is fine reliability wise. Infact for the first generation Ryzen motherboards, they were perhaps the most reliable motherboard vendor. Asus and Gigabyte were not at all reliable. I can't comment on Asrock's Indian after-sales service.

quicky008 said:
do the onboard video chipsets on these amd motherboards have the ability to drive multiple displays simulatenously?You should check it before you go ahead and buy an expensive mobo with all the display ports you require.

You could probably just reuse your existing gt 710 gpu and connect multiple monitors to it-that would obviate the need to get a motherboard with several display outputs.

I guess you mean iGPU. Yes, it's capable even Haswell Pentium can do that.

It happened again, today. System froze and I had to hard reset/shutdown. Even before I switch on I had this feeling that the system is gonna hang, and it did.

Two weeks ago when this happened for the first time, it was rainy and cold. Two days later when it was sunny and normal, I remembered people mentioning that they used to blow hot air at the motherboard to fix the issue. So I suspected that could be issue with my case as well. It rained yesterday, so I kinda expected this to happen. Now I don't think I can wait anymore. "Winter is coming"

I better get the new one up and running before this one dies.

Dropping the idea of getting the D3H model. Tried for two weeks in about dozen places, none of them have in stock or not replied.

Shortlisted these models. Models at the bottom end of the list costs more than the processor.

*i.imgur.com/8Gj63uE.png
B450 Pro4
Has all the things I want, but pricey and have concern about its ASS.

Prime B450M A
Second best for my use case. It's a kinda basic board, but price doesn't reflect that.

A320M HD2
One way or other I have to compromise, with this I don't have to spend more. But too many reds/oranges.

B450M Pro VDH and B350M Gaming 3
It's kinda balanced. Both price wise and feature wise. Gaming 3 is pretty much not available anywhere online, only in local store and costs higher than it was a month or two ago.

I am kinda leaning towards Gaming 3 and B450 PRO4. If they say it's Ryzen 2000 ready, probability of me buying that is high. If not, I think I will go for B450 Pro4.
Have been butting my head over deciding the board, either today or tomorrow I finalize one of these and will get it.

Any comments are welcome.

W

Don't buy gigabyte B350 mobo,better go with msi b450 mobo.I still suggest asrock though,have you checked that service centre list I posted above.It is pointless to buy B450M-A when price difference between it & asrock is very low.Don't get 320M as it may be cheap now but good chances that you will regret it in future.

You missed the asrock AB350 pro 4(was available on vedant) & X370 pro 4(rehashed version of ab350 pro 4,was available on mdcomputers).You could ask for bios update for ryzen support(assuming their manufacturing date was quite old because all bios version since march 2018 support ryzen 2nd gen on AB350 pro 4 while X370 pro 4 support 2nd gen ryzen out of box).

if the prices of intel cpus had not gone through the roof in recent months,then perhaps an intel g4560+h110 mobo+8gb ram would have been better suited for your requirements.

Will you be reusing your gt 710 gpu in your new build?

W

No need to buy even a H110M as B250M mobos from MSI & gigabyte are even available now for 4k.The prices of intel processors though are not expected to come down even in next 3-4 months.

With 2200G,GT710 is irrelevant.

whitestar_999 said:
Don't buy gigabyte B350 mobo,better go with msi b450 mobo.I still suggest asrock though,have you checked that service centre list I posted above.

You missed the asrock AB350 pro 4(was available on vedant) & X370 pro 4(rehashed version of ab350 pro 4,was available on mdcomputers).You could ask for bios update for ryzen support(assuming their manufacturing date was quite old because all bios version since march 2018 support ryzen 2nd gen on AB350 pro 4 while X370 pro 4 support 2nd gen ryzen out of box).

The concern I have with MSI and Asrock other than the brand/ass that their BIOS implementation wrt XFR boost is not as good as Asus or Gigabyte. Though I got interested (thanks to your video links :-x

), I am not overclocking. So whatever I get with PBO is fine for me, which ASUS and Gigabyte offers better.
When many around are saying MSI and Asrock are better, I can't let go of Asus and Gigabyte. Seems like I am brand biased.

Will know if I go with the brands or reviews/suggested ones in a day.
B350 Pro4 was in the list, but not available online seller (from popular ones). Come on!!! Vedant is asking too much for shipping. For motherboard they are charging about 300+ for shipping. X370 Pro4 found in the homepage of mdc, but it's out of stock too. Didn't check in any other place. Local store had X370M Gaming 3 which is Ryzen 2000 ready, but costs 8500/-.
Yeah, I checked that link, they have few service points other than Chennai which is little surprising. MSI has only one in Chennai, no other cities/towns. Asus has more service points. Gigabyte has only one in Chennai, but collection points in few other cities.

quicky008 said:
if the prices of intel cpus had not gone through the roof in recent months,then perhaps an intel g4560+h110 mobo+8gb ram would have been better suited for your requirements.
Will you be reusing your gt 710 gpu in your new build?

I wouldn't have gone for H110 board, but B250. Couple of months back, it would have costed me about 15k (G4560+B250+4GB), at the same time 2200G+B350+4GB costed about 17k. For 2k more, 50% more performance.
NO, why would anyone would want to use GT710 with the new rig?

do keep us posted about the components you finally decide to get-i was planning to perform a similar low cost upgrade on one of my rigs earlier this year,but had to postpone it due to the atrocious ram prices,with the overly inflated prices of cpus that the market is plagued with right now.

W

Well it is your money so whatever you are comfortable with.If you think asus & gigabyte will be better then go for that.X370 pro 4 was recently launched so initial stock might not be enough.Send an enquiry to mdcomputers,as they are official distributors of asrock mobos in India their estimate should be pretty accurate.

W

quicky008 said:
do keep us posted about the components you finally decide to get-i was planning to perform a similar low cost upgrade on one of my rigs earlier this year,but had to postpone it due to the atrocious ram prices,with the overly inflated prices of cpus that the market is plagued with right now.

Only intel cpu prices are inflated.As for ram if you can make with 4gb of ram at ~3.3k then wait for few months for drop in ram price.Else 8gb ram is already start to sell at ~5.5k.In fact primeabgb just launched 8gb RGB hyperx 3200mhz ram for 6.2k & 3600mhz ram for ~6.3k

quicky008 said:
do keep us posted about the components you finally decide to get-i was planning to perform a similar low cost upgrade on one of my rigs earlier this year,but had to postpone it due to the atrocious ram prices,with the overly inflated prices of cpus that the market is plagued with right now.

Only motherboard is yet to be finalized.
CPU - Ryzen 3 2200G
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 4GB 2400mhz
MB - ???

whitestar_999 said:
X370 pro 4 was recently launched so initial stock might not be enough.Send an enquiry to mdcomputers,as they are official distributors of asrock mobos in India their estimate should be pretty accurate.

I don't think I can wait for them to restock. And there goes B450 Pro4 out of stock. My options are narrowing down on it's own.

W

Just enquire anyway,since they are asrock distributors the wait might be a few days/week only.Also ryzen igpu performance depends heavily on ram frequency & being dual channel.At least get 2*4gb 2400mhz ram because igpu itself will take ~1gb ram leaving just 3gb for windows which is really not enough nowadays.

whitestar_999 said:
Just enquire anyway,since they are asrock distributors the wait might be a few days/week only.Also ryzen igpu performance depends heavily on ram frequency & being dual channel.At least get 2*4gb 2400mhz ram because igpu itself will take ~1gb ram leaving just 3gb for windows which is really not enough nowadays.

I will add one more 4 gigs later as already things are overshooting my budget. All iGPU gonna do is, getting the display out. I am not gonna do anything to stress iGPU.
I have a feeling that for now 4 gigs will do. I am running my current system with just 1GB ram.

W

Then it's fine.However do remember to get another 4gb stick later(same model as much as possible) because not just igpu but cpu performance of ryzen too depends on system ram performance(though not as much as igpu).

G

quicky008 said:
if the prices of intel cpus had not gone through the roof in recent months,then perhaps an intel g4560+h110 mobo+8gb ram would have been better suited for your requirements.

There is also Athlon 200GE (Rs 5000 at md , offline probably cheaper at 4700 or so ) as an alternative btw if cost is bigger priority or if you want to use it as temporary solution or usage/requirement is low

AMD Athlon 200GE 3.2 GHz Review

W

Its only good if one is not going to upgrade at all/office pc or was planning on building a g4560 rig to begin with.Why spend ~4.8k on this when by spending 7.8k you can get 2200G which is much better cpu as well as igpu wise plus can be overclocked as well.

Decided to go with B350M Gaming 3 board and went to buy it. Local store guy started searching for the motherboard in the racks and couldn't find it and said it's not available.

What's the choice I have now? Don't like B450M A, B450 Pro4 is not available and it's probably gonna take a month to restock, prefer not to settle with A320, and now Gaming 3 too not available. I can get X370M Gaming 3 for 8500/-, it's Ryzen 2000 ready, but decided to go with B450M Pro VDH.
I think I have compromised on every front. No DP, not an ATX board, no Gen 2 USB, only 4 SATA, brand.

When people trying to get something cheapest possible, every rupee matters. They have to be the judge of what they want/afford. I made this comparo, with rough pricing and cpu scores. It's Pentium vs others. Decide which way you wanna lean.

*i.imgur.com/Iae9J4S.png

have you already bought the processor?

W

450M pro VDH is a decent mobo & as for sata ports you can always get one of these:
4 Ports SATA 6G PCI Express Controller Card PCI e to SATA III 3.0 converter with Heat Sink Expansion Adapter Board for PC-in Add On Cards from Computer & Office on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Gen2 usb is just a gimmick for now at least in India where pc components prices are always much higher than US.It is only good for those who have 500gb ssd lying around in usb gen2 cases & daily moves 100s of GB of data.

quicky008 said:
have you already bought the processor?

Bought everything. I mean, placed order. Now it's waiting time. Hopefully, it will arrive within 3-5 days provided if they process the order right away. If not, it will get delayed. Hoping the rig will be up and running before Diwali.

whitestar_999 said:
450M pro VDH is a decent mobo & as for sata ports you can always get one of these:
4 Ports SATA 6G PCI Express Controller Card PCI e to SATA III 3.0 converter with Heat Sink Expansion Adapter Board for PC-in Add On Cards from Computer & Office on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Gen2 usb is just a gimmick for now at least in India where pc components prices are always much higher than US.It is only good for those who have 500gb ssd lying around in usb gen2 cases & daily moves 100s of GB of data.

Better I don't get to that point. Currently 3 SATA ports are filled and it's likely to remain there for foreseeable future.

I am not moving 100s of GB but 10s. With 3.0 I don't find it's fast enough. They say it's 5Gbps, but I don't see that speed. May be it's because too many small files.

W

^^Small files will always move with much smaller speeds compared to large files.That is why sequential speeds of any storage device is much higher than random 4k speeds.Also if you meant usb 3.0 pen drives are not fast enough then they indeed are quite slow.It is better to purchase a 120gb ssd like kingston A400 for 1.7k & use that in a usb 3 enclosure(like orico transparent,~650) than getting a 64gb/128gb usb 3 pen drive.

Received CPU and memory. Motherboard is still in processing stage. I don't know how long it will stay there, contacted the seller and it's yet to be shipped

Ryzen 2200G & Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR4 2400 mHz C14
*i.imgur.com/GRlvlOT.png *i.imgur.com/ZVquwdO.png

Still waiting for motherboard.

Board arrived. Assembled and installed. Posting this from new rig.

nac said:
Board arrived. Assembled and installed. Posting this from new rig.

Wow, how much did you spend in total? Which motherboard did you get?

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

W

What are the temps,run some benchmarks & check it.

quicky008 said:
Wow, how much did you spend in total? Which motherboard did you get?

~18k for CPU+MB+RAM. This is the one I bought B450M Pro VDH
And spent about 3k for case.

whitestar_999 said:
What are the temps,run some benchmarks & check it.

Idle around 40 C. I did bench using CPU Z, the one came with MSI driver CD. CPU temp shot up to 63 C, and this is the score I got in that.

*i.imgur.com/NKy8EAt.png

HW info is not reading any temp. Only with MSI supplied utilities I am getting temperature readings. My usual work load, CPU hits around 50 C, memory usage hits around 75%. With bluestack running usage goes about 85%. When running everything at the same time, MS office, browser, blue stack, youtube streaming FHD video, VLC playing 1080p video CPU hits about 60 C and memory usage hits ~97% and BSOD "thread stuck at device driver"

Googled. Did what they suggested (update windows, drivers, scan disks), and don't want to stress again to see if I am getting BSOD.

Given the temp I got with simple CPU Z bench, I don't think I should bother about OC (there is a simple option in BIOS, called OC genie which set clock speed @3.75).

For those who are buying this motherboard, update to latest BIOS version. With older BIOS, there is no support for XMP. Of course, you can OC to get it, just that there is no XMP enabled with older BIOS.

nac said:
~18k for CPU+MB+RAM. This is the one I bought B450M Pro VDH
And spent about 3k for case.

Idle around 40 C. I did bench using CPU Z, the one came with MSI driver CD. CPU temp shot up to 63 C, and this is the score I got in that.

*i.imgur.com/NKy8EAt.png

HW info is not reading any temp. Only with MSI supplied utilities I am getting temperature readings. My usual work load, CPU hits around 50 C, memory usage hits around 75%. With bluestack running usage goes about 85%. When running everything at the same time, MS office, browser, blue stack, youtube streaming FHD video, VLC playing 1080p video CPU hits about 60 C and memory usage hits ~97% and BSOD "thread stuck at device driver"

Googled. Did what they suggested (update windows, drivers, scan disks), and don't want to stress again to see if I am getting BSOD.

Given the temp I got with simple CPU Z bench, I don't think I should bother about OC (there is a simple option in BIOS, called OC genie which set clock speed @3.75).

For those who are buying this motherboard, update to latest BIOS version. With older BIOS, there is no support for XMP. Of course, you can OC to get it, just that there is no XMP enabled with older BIOS.

Could you please post a screenshot of the temp and voltage readings you got on using hwinfo?

It seems quite odd that hwinfo doesn't show any temperature for your build.

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

W

Memory usage is high because out of 4gb ram almost 1gb is getting reserved by integrated gfx of 2200g.Good thing though is that ram prices are starting to come down slowly.Maybe after 3-4 months a 4gb ram will cost ~2k.

quicky008 said:
Could you please post a screenshot of the temp and voltage readings you got on using hwinfo?
It seems quite odd that hwinfo doesn't show any temperature for your build.

Yeah, me too thought it's weird.
Ok, there were lot of blank rows which I thought that's the end of the info. Seems like I needed to scroll down to see the whole information. Now I have hidden the blank rows and here are the info you asked for.
*i.imgur.com/OKMfy8K.png

whitestar_999 said:
Memory usage is high because out of 4gb ram almost 1gb is getting reserved by integrated gfx of 2200g.Good thing though is that ram prices are starting to come down slowly.Maybe after 3-4 months a 4gb ram will cost ~2k.

It seems like by default, 512MB is reserved. Doesn't seem to be using any more than that. May be my usage is not pushing beyond that limit.

I can play 4k video without any stuttering. With Intel 945G and later with GT710, I couldn't play those videos. Now it's running fine. Of course, it's downsampled as I have 1080p monitor.

Again BSOD

There is nothing heavy running this time, just a couple of browser tabs.

Are you running Windows 10 or 7?which psu are you using?

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

Win 10
Antec VP450p

W

Which win 10 version(run winver & post the screenshot here)?

how old is that psu?do the voltages on all rails seem stable?

Going by the google search, it's pointing to drivers. Not hardware.

When I installed drivers, I installed MSI Live Update 6 utility which scanned and updated some of the drivers/utilities (don't remember what are those drivers/utilities). Scanned for system information and chipset driver installed is 17.x, AMD has released 18.x few days ago. I may give it a try.

When I launched Bluestack for the first time, there was this pop up suggested to enable AMD-v which I did. Don't remember remember if the issue happened after I enabled or even before I enabled. Some of the suggested fix is to disable virtualization.

Win 10 Pro Version 1803 (17134.376). It's up to date.

PSU is about 2yrs old, it's part of the upgrade. I don't know if the voltages on the rails are stable. But my doubt is not on any hardware. If I can check that using any software, I can do that. If I have to do a test using muliti/amp meter or something, than NO. I don't know how to do that and I don't have a multi meter.

use it with vt disabled for a while,check if the problem still occurs or not.

There is a feature I can use, but coz of this issue I gotta diable? That's a bummer.

I upgraded to latest graphic driver Adrenalin 18.xx. I followed what AMD suggested, even though when I installed (of course after uninstalling old one), it said Crimson ReLive which is the older version. I checked the downloaded setup file, which says 18.xx. I don't know why it says the installed one is old but the one I installed is new. AMD doesn't seem to have an option to uninstall chipset driver alone and there is no way to check the version I installed in windows device manager other than using MSI utility which still says the installed version is 17.4xxx. But graphic card version is correctly displayed in Radeon software.

As of now, installed new graphic driver and still enabled virtualization. If the issue again pop up, I will disable AMD-v.

There is this feature which I am not aware of virtual resolution. This message popped up before, but I could read the message fully it disappeared few times. When it showed last time, it again disappeared before I could read the whole message. Out of curiosity I googled and read the whole message. Now I am using my FHD monitor as 2K display. Tried 4k, but it's too small to read. Now I am toying with this idea of dropping the idea of getting 4k display and get a 2k one. With this feature I can use it as a 4k monitor.

Next BSOD.

This time it's akikmpag.sys

Out of 3 fix, 2 are already done. Third one is replacing the file. But I can neither copy paste the file nor rename the file. I tried changing the ownership from System to my user id and given full control to my user id. Nothing works.

W

Always use DDU Display Driver Uninstaller Download version 18.0.0.2 to uninstall gfx drivers,it is much more efficient than standard uninstall(do read the instruction before).

Using lcd/led monitor at any resolution other than its native resolution is not a good idea.I still think issue is with win 10/driver conflict.

W

Check this thread,it might even be an issue with ram brand(though I still don't believe it completely):
Video TDR Failure (atikmpag.sys) on Windows 10 | Community

Yes, I used DDU latest version and in safe mode. Instruction suggests not to use DDU all the time, only when there are issues. Since I have issues, I used it.

So using 2k monitor as 4k is not a good idea... Okay.

Tried OC genie from windows environment using MSI command center utility. It sets core @ 3.75ghz and fan speed @ 100%. This 6-7% core OC gives about 6-7% performance gain. This few seconds bench doesn't shoot up temperature any more than NON OC bench. Couple of degrees isn't much. Don't know if this is like Ryzen master which don't remember OC settings after shutdown. Here is the snapshot.

*i.imgur.com/PWWLNvj.png

Don't know why GPU always stays @ 400mhz whether idle or playing 4k video. It stays the same. Even 4k doesn't call for higher clock speed, what will? Don't feel like setting it other than AUTO in BIOS. Will check that this weekend.

W

Don't OC unless you feel the need for it(aka you are hitting cpu usage above 70-80% regularly). As for gpu frequency 4k videos not necessarily stress gfx that much,try with a game.

have you been able to stop the random crashes and bsods?

Set GPU clock @ 1100mhz and checked there isn't seem to be any difference when playing 4k video. @ 1100mhz GPU always stay there like it did @ 400mhz, may be @1100 GPU usage chart doesn't show many peaks and troughs like 400mhz did. Average temp, graphic usage, graphic memory usage all are about the same with both 1100mhz and 400mhz.

Tried to push by running handbrake for about 4 minutes. CPU stayed below 50% and GPU didn't even hit that much, may be about 10-20%. So decided to run Passmark benchmark and ran bench. After 3-4 unsuccessful attempt I googled and learned that it's coz of dual monitor and running other app at the same time. Non-OC CPU score is about 5% less than the average and OC score is about average.

Compared with my old rig scores, performance gain in %
Single Multi
vs E2160 150% 490%
vs E8400 80% 280%

whitestar_999 said:
Don't OC unless you feel the need for it(aka you are hitting cpu usage above 70-80% regularly). As for gpu frequency 4k videos not necessarily stress gfx that much,try with a game.

Probably I could never need that. My CPU doesn't seem to hit that much and stays there for long. I run HWinfo to check the usage for the day, but because of BSOD (and also manual restart without remembering that I am running HWinfo) I don't know what's the average usage over an extended period of time.

quicky008 said:
have you been able to stop the random crashes and bsods?

I tried the suggested fix I could do. But still I experienced BSOD. So formatted the disk and installed OS from scratch and there is no BSOD for more than 24hrs. Since it's random I am keeping my fingers crossed.

W

I just remembered something.I read some amazon.com review about a gigabyte ryzen mobo which has this strange issue of sudden crash which needed cmos to clear(bios reset) to start again & apparently it was caused by hwinfo running in background(it does interact with hardware sensors on mobo after all).

This sounds rather worrying - are these crashes caused by some issue in the motherboard itself or the cpu?

Sent from my XT1068 using Tapatalk

whitestar_999 said:
I just remembered something.I read some amazon.com review about a gigabyte ryzen mobo which has this strange issue of sudden crash which needed cmos to clear(bios reset) to start again & apparently it was caused by hwinfo running in background(it does interact with hardware sensors on mobo after all).

That's strange. I will try that if/when I see next crash.

quicky008 said:
This sounds rather worrying - are these crashes caused by some issue in the motherboard itself or the cpu?

No, it's a driver issue. Not hardware.

Formatted and clean installation of OS fixed it, been using it for about 1.5 months now without that crash.

If anyone interested in load/usage/temp, here is the snapshot of HWINFO.

*i.imgur.com/lYDIXqf.png

I am not gamer, but recently installed PUBG/emulator and played. @ Balanced & Extreme graphic settings I am getting upto ~ 60fps (low may be around 30 fps, not so sure) and avg. temp is around ~58 C
@ HD and medium settings temp is over 60C and @ FHD and low/medium around mid 60s. Since I don't like to see temp over 60C, I settled for Balanced and extreme.

which version of win 10 are you running at the moment?