Motherboard options for AMD

ade555 · 27 Feb 2024 at 07:02

Looking to get the 7800x3d and getting bit confused with some of them motherboards, reading forum and what other people went with looks to be the ASUS AMD Ryzen ROG STRIX B650E-F / MSI MAG B650 TOMAHAWK WIFI / ASUS AMD Ryzen ROG STRIX B650E-E.

I have couple of questions, at this time PCIe 5.0 makes no difference to me as the drive prices are to much and I'm not creater as such to take the advanatge, most boards will have 3-4 nvme but how does this work with pci lanes ect., can I have 4 nvme for example and use them with out limitations ect.? I don't upgrade my PC that often so will be in use for about 4-5 years now so would you say the PCIe 5.0 has any advantage over the PCIe 4.0? I have been using MSI boards for few years now and never had a problem hence why I'm sort of swaying towards the TOMHAWK board.

Also just to add once the 8 series CPU comes out most likely will get that.

MeatLoaf · 27 Feb 2024 at 11:07

I got the Asus TUF B650 and find its a decent board paired with a 7800X3D.

Dreadi · 27 Feb 2024 at 11:15

I went with the b650e+f gaming for a bit of future proofing (if there is such a thing).
You can pick it up for a touch more than a b650 but reality is, almost any board will be fine with the x3d chips

Tetras · 27 Feb 2024 at 13:00

ade555 said:
most boards will have 3-4 nvme but how does this work with pci lanes ect., can I have 4 nvme for example and use them with out limitations ect.?

You can usually get 3 without limitations (or let's say, important limitations) with B650/B650E, but 4 tends to need X670. The B650E-E has 4, for example, but one of those is shared with the graphics card lanes.

ade555 said:
I don't upgrade my PC that often so will be in use for about 4-5 years now so would you say the PCIe 5.0 has any advantage over the PCIe 4.0? I have been using MSI boards for few years now and never had a problem hence why I'm sort of swaying towards the TOMHAWK board.

At the moment, a card with the full 16 lanes loses a few percent in a board that is a gen behind, but if you get a card that is cut down to 8 or even worse 4, then the performance loss can be more significant (especially if the card is light on VRAM). Personally, it wouldn't bother me and a board like the TUF B650-Plus has a PCI-E 5.0 M.2 slot, so you do at least have that. The B650E-F is not much more though, so could be worth it if you're worried.

For 4 less inhibited M.2 slots, you could look at something like MSI's X670-P (4th M.2 slot shares bandwidth with one of the PCI-E slots), or for PCI-E 5.0 graphics, the TUF X670E-Plus (4th M.2 slot shares bandwidth with 2 of the SATA ports)..

ade555 · 27 Feb 2024 at 19:04

Card in question would be rtx4080 Super, I can just stick to max 3 nvme drives been honest. Currently using 2 and will hand up using pcie 4.0 nvms due to price been honest. Thing is with hardware is always changing and new stuff always reflect in price, I don't think I will notice difference between them for what I use it, and prefer getting higher capacity for bit less.

Tetras · 27 Feb 2024 at 19:19

ade555 said:
Card in question would be rtx4080 Super

Just to be clear, in my example, I was predicting the future by using the past. In other words: the 4090 (highest-end PCI-E 4.0 gaming card) only loses a few percent on average in a PCI-E 3.0 motherboard, so my best guess is that a hypothetical PCI-E 5.0 card with 16 PCI-E lanes will only lose a few percent in a PCI-E 4.0 board.

The 4080 Super is PCI-E 4.0 and has the full 16 lanes available. I'd expect a PCI-E 5.0 5090 Super to also have the full 16 lanes.

ade555 said:
I can just stick to max 3 nvme drives

B650 or B650E should be fine in that case, though do check the tech specs carefully for hidden surprises! I've even known them say nothing in the tech specs and bury the shared lanes in the user manual

ade555 · 27 Feb 2024 at 19:56

Tetras said:
Just to be clear, in my example, I was predicting the future by using the past. In other words: the 4090 (highest-end PCI-E 4.0 gaming card) only loses a few percent on average in a PCI-E 3.0 motherboard, so my best guess is that a hypothetical PCI-E 5.0 card with 16 PCI-E lanes will only lose a few percent in a PCI-E 4.0 board.

The 4080 Super is PCI-E 4.0 and has the full 16 lanes available. I'd expect a PCI-E 5.0 5090 Super to also have the full 16 lanes.

B650 or B650E should be fine in that case, though do check the tech specs carefully for hidden surprises! I've even known them say nothing in the tech specs and bury the shared lanes in the user manual

I learned that lesson in pass, while ago but looks like nothing changed