New build – which motherboard?

[rockonbazza]

Hi,

My build so far is RYZEN 5 5600X, GTX 6GB 1660 SUPER, 16GB 3200Mhz Ram, Corsair CX 650W PSU. The only stumbling block I have is the motherboard – Website I am using offers Gigabyte choices only.

I am trying to select a motherboard that is future proof (for a while at least – I got bitten on my last build years ago and could’nt upgrade the CPU much at all, hence my concern ref what mobo to get).

Options are –

Gigabyte B550M AORUS Elite Motherboard
Gigabyte B550M AORUS PRO-P Motherboard with USB Type-C
Gigabyte B550 Gaming X Motherboard
Gigabyte X570 Gaming X Motherboard
Gigabyte B550 AORUS Elite AX V2 Motherboard

I have listed them in price range, with the B550 AORUS Elite AX V2 costing £60 more than the first one in the list. They all have Q-flash Bios.

On checking the boards on Gigabyte website, there is so much info on the boards, a lot of which is very similar, so I am getting confused as to which would be best? (Other mobo’s availabe are £66 – 250 more – with the next in the list being MSI B550 Tomohawk ATX which would no doubt stretch my tight budget, and hard earned dosh to the limit, but is up for consideration).

Any suggestions, and advice, would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[Dave Rice]

Any of them TBH, they are all very good quality with top notch features.

I’ve used the Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE a couple of times in gaming builds, one of which was fully blinged up with LED lighting controlled by the motherboard.

They all have 2 x M2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe slots, decent power, capacitors, loads of USB, etc.

So, do you need a Type C connector, built in WiFi or a full ATX board for more slots? That’s the only differences worth thinking about I can see.

[rockonbazza]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for th quick reply, and its put my mind at ease knowing they are all good boards.

I am not worried about wifi (have used ethernet cable for past 10 years), nor more slots really, as I just need graphics and 2 x ram slots so micro should be ok. Not sure what a Type C connector is for, however I only use mouse, keyboard and headphones – plus the odd controller, and occasionally charge my phone so I guess I dont need a Type C.

Once again, Thanks.

[Ed P]

I’m toying with the idea of using a mobo that allows two M2 SSDs to run simultaneously using different lanes. A Raid 0 of these could really fly! (I’m always looking to improve i/o for VM use)

[Dave Rice]

I’m not sure about what controls RAID as the (Ryzen 5000) CPU only supports a single M2 slot, the other is from the motherboard chipset. RAID from the chipset goes through DMI which is the same bandwidth as PCIe 3.0 x 4. Intel is the usual nightmare, I think it’s really Xeon only.

From what I’ve been reading it’s still early days and is software RAID only with all sorts of cludges and gotchas rather than hardware RAID.

[keith with the teef]

See this article here if you are feeling ballsey and grabing your self a cheap B450 with unlock bios for next gen kit..

New AGESA BIOS Updates enables AMD Smart Access Memory functionality for X470 and B450 (guru3d.com)

https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/new-agesa-bios-updates-enables-amd-smart-access-memory-functionality-for-x470-and-b450.html

No big deal as far as I am concerned. I trawl MSI mobo support each day looking for the enhanced bios to drop.

[Ed P]

The X570 chipset supports multiple M2 cards for the Ryzen 3000. The ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus ATX Motherboard is one I’d have in mind, but I’ll confess that I have no idea if the M2s could go in a Raid zero. :scratch:

[Dave Rice]

The problem with that is there’s no more bandwidth for two M2 than one M2, so you still need to use 1 CPU and 1 chipset (and RAID 5 is out). But let’s face it, it’s insanely fast even if there are cludges going on – good You Tube using X570 here.

You do need to get 1TB+ drives or you’ll be making up the capacity / speed difference before getting the RAID 0 advantage. At least we now know that you don’t have to shell out for the very top end chipset!

But how it affects IOPs I’m not sure. We know it nearly doubles bandwidth tests but I don’t think you can assume IOPs will follow. I confess that I don’t really understand what drives IOP rates.

[Ed P]

Apparently that is not the issue. Gigabyte say NO as one M2 is connected directly to the CPU and corruption is thought to be an issue. However for a price it is a problem that can be solved by installing a Hypercard link.

Maybe – – –  if I win the Lottery! :yahoo:

[Dave Rice]

I always say to my customers any problem can be solved, it’s just how deep your pockets are.

[Author]

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