Motherboard Recommendation for 5950x

Morgan MLGman · April 19, 2021

4 hours ago, Krodmandoon said:

10Gig lan would me nice for in home streaming, but I don't do that too much, and I plan to make my old computer a HTPC. I don't know if I can justify the 600 dollar price tag for my usage tho, this is such a hard choice. As far as I/O goes tho, the Crosshair HERO has the same rear panel options, It's just lacking the second front panel Gen 1. I could just get an add on card for that tho. I appreciate your opinion here, do you think I would look silly putting a 5950x on the MEG, Master, or HERO? If not, with the greater I/O options of the HERO, I think that makes it the clear winner.

Those are all great boards, I think it doesn't matter much as they're all overkill in terms of VRM design and overclocking even for a 5950X, so the only things that differ are features. Choose the cheapest one that suits your needs feature-wise and you're good.

Alex Atkin UK · April 26, 2021

On 4/19/2021 at 8:02 PM, Krodmandoon said:

At this point it seems I need to choose between the Crosshair and the Creation, then between the MEG Ace and the Aorus Master. Then pit those 2 winners against each other in a battle of "What makes sense to put a 5950x into".

You're far better off getting a cheaper board, just make sure the bottom x16 slot goes through the chipset and stick a 10Gbit adapter in there. On-board LAN goes through the chipset too anyway and the only way to do external is Thunderbolt, plus they're much more expensive.

I just got an ASUS X570-F myself (got it in a bundle as it was the only way I could get a 5950X) putting an ASUS XG-C100C in the bottom slot.

Granted I'm now having problems with Windows only doing 7Gbit down, 1.2Gbit up, but that's an OS issue that crops up all the time on this forum. Had it several times myself where any network cards speed reduces to a percentage of what it should be for no obvious reason and it magically fixes itself after a few Windows Updates..

I confirmed the card does 9.4Gbit down, 9.2Gbit up in Linux and I also had it in a ASRock Z390 Taichi via an M.2 to PCIe adapter last year where it worked full speed in Windows, before returning that board due to it developing coil whine.