Question 1

Where is the M.2 slot on this board? Don't see one in the schematic or in the photos.

Accepted Answer

It is located directly below the x4 PCIe slot.  I purchased a 256GB M.2 card, and I use it for the OS and programs. I have another 1TB conventional hard drive that I use for storage. It seems to be a decent motherboard.  The only complaint I have is the boot time.  The BIOS doesn't offer a fast boot option, so it always runs internal checks during boot up.  Booting takes longer than I would like.

Question 2

Since PC Part Picker says there might be a compatibility problem, will this motherboard work with a Ryzen 5 3600x?

Accepted Answer

Yes it will. If you look at the box for this motherboard, you will see in the bottom left corner on the front, there is a little orange square and it says "Ryzen 3000 series ready" or something along those lines. I used this motherboard and just the regular Ryzen 5 3600 for my first build and they were both compatible. From what I found in my research, if an MSI motherboard has MAX in the name, it's 3000 series ready. The words in that orange box just kind of confirm that. Hope this was helpful.

Question 3

can I use a NIVIDIA graphics card with this board?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  This board has a single PCIe 3.0 slot that can use either a Nvidia or an AMD video card.  I recently built my brother a computer using the B450M PRO-VDH MAX motherboard and used a Nvidia video card.  Works fine.

Question 4

I just built a Ryzen 5 3400g based system with this mobo.  The BIOS screen at power up came up with the option to press F1 for Setup OR F2 for reset.  It also stated the BIOS had been updated which was to be expected for 3000 series compatibility.  I pressed F1 and the screen went blank.  Rebooting made no difference.  I am guessing the BIOS setup program was messed up somehow?

The keyboard caps and num lock still work, there's light under the mouse, and periodically the screen refreshes to show DVI connection mode as if a signal is being sent to the screen although it is still blank.  I read through the manual to see if the BIOS can be flashed directly from the mobo but unless I missed it, it seems both options shown require a bootable PC to used.

Anyone else have this problem and is there anything that can be done to fix it short of returning the mobo?  If it comes to a return I'll be returning the CPU too just in case it was damaged.

Accepted Answer

I just did a similar build with a 3400G.  The VDH MAX was a replacement for a previous board that did not have the updated BIOS.  (an older MSI model, sans MAX)  Your situation is giving more options than i saw when i had a board with an incompatible BIOS.  I got nothing but a black screen and a CPU POST error light.  I was instructed by MSI to either use a 2nd or 1st Gen Ryzen CPU to flash it to a current BIOS.  I went to all the trouble of doing that, having to take a CPU out of a production machine.  All to no avail.

The MAX board that you have and that i got, worked just as expected.  Not sure what's going on unless it has a BIOS that didn't get updated, or it is otherwise defective.  If you don't have a 1st or 2nd gen CPU lying around to see if anything differently happens, i would just return the board as defective.

Question 5

Will this Mobo support ryzen 3000 straight out of the box?

Accepted Answer

Just purchased this board and installed the ryzen 3600 straight out of the box with no issue.

Question 6

Does this motherboard come with an I/O shield?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if "new" not "open box."  It's the basic stamped sheet-metal kind with embossed markings.   No color coding or printing.

Question 7

What software do I need to control the RGB fans that came with my case?

Accepted Answer

MSI has free software (dragon center) to control the MB, video card, and ram.  Corsair has their own free software called iCue for aio coolers and fans. I use both of these on my rig but they always want to overwrite each other. Sometimes they cant detect hardware. I constantly have to reset. I think you'll find most of the RGB software is like this. A bit wonky. Maybe there is an aio for this stuff but I've wasted so much time screwing around I haven't brought myself to do more research.

Question 8

What is the maximum current supplied by each system fan header?

Accepted Answer

According to MSI Support, the max current is 1 amp. The best bet if you’re concerned about going past that would be to use a secondary controller and plug directly into the PSU.

Question 9

if I use a AMD RYZEN 5 3rd gen cpu with this board can I use DDR4 2400 from crucial?

Accepted Answer

You can, but you won't get the most out of your CPU.  Ryzen chips perform better with higher speed memory.

Question 10

I noticed that the M.2 slot is directly where the GPU would be, would there be any issues with the fitment of a M.2 SSD there?

Accepted Answer

No there is plenty of space for an M2, but you need to mount the M2 before installing the video card.

Questions & Answers