X570, X470 or B450 for a mid-tier build

[James300]

I'm looking to build a PC in the coming months, and am in the process of buying parts where there's value, with the intent of going with a Ryzen 3600X or 3700X (Unsure about the trade-off between 200Mhz base clock or 2 cores and 30W TDP difference at the moment). I do a bit of light gaming and am looking at a 2070 level card or Navi equivalent when it's announced, am not into overclocking but might look into squeezing a little more out of my RAM

 

Would the LTT hive-mind recommend looking at an X570 chipset when they become available for PCIe 4.0 compatibility, or is there no point in getting a crazy expensive motherboard and the money be better spent on a better GPU if I'm not looking at a crazy high core count or overclocking the CPU?

[Stormseeker9]

@James300 this is my personal opinion, but if you are going for the new gen processors and you currently don’t have a board yet, I would choose X570 so I can use the full

potential of the cpu and new tech

[James300]

1 hour ago, Stormseeker9 said:

@James300 this is my personal opinion, but if you are going for the new gen processors and you currently don’t have a board yet, I would choose X570 so I can use the full

potential of the cpu and new tech

Thanks.

 

I suspected that was the case. If RX5700 prices are even within £100 of the rumours, then I would probably be forced down that route to get the most out of the GPU

[ch3w2oy]

X570 is going to be expensive.. If you don't need the features I wound get the best B450 or a mid to high end X470 ($180+).. 

 

The mid tier processors for 3rd gen shouldn't have a problem reaching stock boost frequency on any decent/good board..

 

It's not like AMD is lying about the TDP and its what you'll most likely see the majority of time.. Unlike Intel resorting TDP only for an idle CPU like a fucking chump.. 

 

Get what you can afford, I'm sure you'll be fine.. I would look at used high end X470 if you have to..

[mdizzle3]

Ive been looking at this too.

 

I am starting from scratch and was thinking of getting a mid/high end x470 (decent VRM) with the 3800x or 3900x.

 

I plan to run stock speeds (maybe a slight OC)

 

RAM Probably 3400 ish

 

GPU will be the new Navi or Vega 64.

 

I thought the x470 borard were getting some PCie 4.0 support? 

[ch3w2oy]

2 hours ago, mdizzle3 said:

Ive been looking at this too.

 

I am starting from scratch and was thinking of getting a mid/high end x470 (decent VRM) with the 3800x or 3900x.

 

I plan to run stock speeds (maybe a slight OC)

 

RAM Probably 3400 ish

 

GPU will be the new Navi or Vega 64.

 

I thought the x470 borard were getting some PCie 4.0 support? 

Some might depending on the quality, I think.. 

 

I personally wouldn't pair a 3900X with anything other than X570/B550.. If you go high end on the processor, you shouldn't get previous gen boards, especially when there's this amount of new technology going into it.. X470 will most likely inhibit the performance potential of Zen 2..

[mdizzle3]

1 hour ago, ch3w2oy said:

Some might depending on the quality, I think.. 

 

I personally wouldn't pair a 3900X with anything other than X570/B550.. If you go high end on the processor, you shouldn't get previous gen boards, especially when there's this amount of new technology going into it.. X470 will most likely inhibit the performance potential of Zen 2..

Valid point.

 

My use case is more CPU heavy rather than GPU.

 

I mainly run VM work but would like to game on the rig too.

 

Thought I'd be better off with a x470 board with great VRM rather than a low end 570 board.

[ch3w2oy]

32 minutes ago, mdizzle3 said:

Valid point.

 

My use case is more CPU heavy rather than GPU.

 

I mainly run VM work but would like to game on the rig too.

 

Thought I'd be better off with a x470 board with great VRM rather than a low end 570 board.

The low end X570 will still have VRMs capable enough for the larger CPUs.. You have to remember just because we're at 12 cores, that doesn't mean we're increasing TDP much as we also shrunk down to 7nm, which is more effecient..

 

So even with a low end X570 (which is still probably like $160-210 most likely), you will get perfectly capable VRMs with all the extra benefits that come with 3rd gen.. Unfortunately, I don't plan on many, if any, X570 boards being cheap.. 

 

Unless you're getting a used X470 Crosshair VII or something for a really good price, I don't think it's worth it.. 

[James300]

Thanks for the advice guys.

 

I'll likely go down the X570 route as long as it's not completely extortionate to help with future proofing

 

It's tempting to save a few pounds by going X470, but if Navi will work better on PCIe 4.0, then it's probably a worthwhile investment, as well as having VRM's better suited for whatever AMD may have in store for us next year!