Motherboard/ram to pair with 9800X3D
Posted by CalvinAndHobbesQuote@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 10 comments
Hi,
I am looking for a motherboard and RAM to pair with my 9800x3d. I mainly play games like factorio, stellaris, and satisfactory. I've been doing some research off and on for the past week or so, but it feels like there are a lot more tradeoffs to consider than I'm used to, so I thought I'd just type up what's important/not important to me and ask for feedback about the motherboard and if it's worth spending extra for CL-30 ram.
Important:
m2 slots - I tend to slowly overtime accumulate storage, and I currently have a 2TB m2 SSD. Over the life of the new computer I'd probably pick up another m2 ssd or two. I don't particuarly care if they are the utter fastest possible, but I know there's complicated stuff with bifurcation and chip-sets, and don't want to starve other components by adding.
USB-c port: at least one or two. Specifically the form factor so I can plug in devices directly without an adapter.
2.5gb nic at very least: I get 2g speed for my ISP, and fiber is being rolled out near me.
64gb of ram: I have 32gb now and often run out. I often play multiple games at the same time, or have one or two backgrounded. I also struggle with rampant firefox tab usage. I do know that I need to use two sticks, so I'd want a 2x32gb kit.
Not important:
Socket upgradability. I love the idea of a mid generation refresh of CPU, and set myself up to be able to do it this time, but I never do it.
Overclocking: Love the idea of overclocking, never actually do it.
USB-4: I don't even know what this would be for.
A ton of usb ports: Maybe 5, just the standard stuff.
mATX: I have a full sized case, and a smaller board might even look weird.
Unknown:
PCI 5.0/lanes - I have a 3080. I do a staggered refresh on components and buy graphics cards and cpu/mobo out of sync. My next gfx upgrade would likely be the 6080 or 7080, or amd equivalent. No idea if 5.0 is needed.
Budget:
I'm expecting to pay hopefully less than $200 for the ram. For the motherboard I've looked at anything from $100 to $320 ish. It would need to have a compelling reason to go above $200. I've considered b650, x670(e), or even x870(e) if there's a strong sale.
psimwork@reddit
I would look at a X870 board. With today's pricing, I would grab a Gigabyte X870 EAGLE WIFI7, but that does go over your $200 budget. For what it's worth, the ASRock X870 Pro RS WiFi has been selling at $209 nearly since it's been released.
You could also do a B650E or X670E board, but if you're going to be doing a 9800X3D, the X870 has a better chance of not needing a BIOS update before it will boot up.
I say all of that because I've been recommending people pay extra for the PCIe5 graphics card slot recently. It's not super important, but I've also been strongly suspicious that the eight-lane limitation that is currently on the RTX 4060/4060 Ti is going to move into the xx70 tier soon (if not with the 5070). So even though you intend to get a 6080/7080, there's always the possibility that you could end up with a 6070/7070, and if the eight-lane limitation has moved into the xx70 tier, you would not want a PCIe4 board.
CalvinAndHobbesQuote@reddit (OP)
The $200 is definitely not a hard limit. I do also know that some of the x670s have pcie5 (not mandatory, but some do), that could also be a path. I was dreading flashing the BIOS until I saw the whole flashback thing... that's pretty cool.
psimwork@reddit
AFAIK the only time you'll see PCIe5 for the graphics card slot is on X670E (similar to B650E). You could definitely use X670E (or B650E) if you're comfortable with the BIOS flashback process, but as X870 has been selling for a similar price to X670E/B650E recently, I've been recommend to just go with X870 to potentially avoid the hassle.
CalvinAndHobbesQuote@reddit (OP)
I've seen this argument, is there any validity to it?
Also, I was just thinking that I could go with a bundle that didn't have the ideal RAM situation, and then swap it out in a year or two when I get a new job.
Maybe something like this?
https://www.newegg.com/p/13-145-517?Item=13-145-517&cm_sp=product-_-from-price-options
psimwork@reddit
What does that even mean? They reduced the chipset count to 1 doesn't mean anything. I'm assuming they are referring to max USB ports, and I dunno - that seems like a REALLY small thing to complain about.
X870 also includes a PCIe5 graphics card slot whereas the X670 did not.
I would agree with this, albeit X870 is commonly cheaper than X670E.
I don't recommend X870E at all.
I'm not seeing that as a bundle? I'm also not seeing the advantage of a $320 X870E motherboard over a $220 X870 motherboard, but YMMV.
CalvinAndHobbesQuote@reddit (OP)
No idea, which is why I was trying to get another take on it, lol.
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CORSAIR Vengeance RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6400 (PC5 51200) Desktop Memory Model CMH32GX5M2N6400C36
Motherboard + ram for $320.
It's CL36, but I don't know if that matters since I'm not planning on overclocking.
psimwork@reddit
Well FYI in order to use 6400MHz RAM properly, you'll need to overclock the Infinity Fabric to 2133MHz in order to have it in-sync with the RAM clock.
If they're not in-sync, the benefits that come with the faster RAM is lost by being out-of-sync with the Infinity Fabric.
Apparently people are having good luck overclocking Ryzen 9000-series Infinity Fabric to 2133MHz, but I haven't looked into it much.
CL36 is fine. The performance difference between CL36 at 6000MHz and CL30 is pretty minimal. CL30 is best (again, at 6000Mhz - I think the lowest it goes for 6400MHz is CL32), but the difference really shouldn't be noticeable.
CalvinAndHobbesQuote@reddit (OP)
I saw people talking about that, but I was wondering if that doesn't work, can you downclock the ram to 6000MHz to match the rest? The main benefit would be that it comes "free" with this.
psimwork@reddit
I don't honestly know. I haven't tried. Sorry, duder - I can't competently offer advice on that bit.
CalvinAndHobbesQuote@reddit (OP)
No problem, fair enough. I'm now checking out the regular x870 of the same deal before it goes away: https://www.newegg.com/p/13-145-521?Item=13-145-521&cm_sp=product-_-from-price-options
$220 for motherboard and ram seems nice, but I have a suspicion that there's a reason the x870e was posted as a deal instead of that one, I just need to figure out what it is, haha.