Trying to figure out what motherboard to pair with my 6900XT and a 5950X, been "out of the loop" for a while

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So I recently got around to go for upgrading again after a "longer hiatus" from having gotten X99 when it was brand spanking new and also again getting the 5th gen CPU's when they came, mostly because I was using it for both gaming and a lot of rendering (3D modelling, CAD, rendering music, etc), so I needed some form of workstation-grade capable hardware.

 

Now I find myself once again getting around to upgrading, so I managed to snag myself a nice 6900XT and I'm wondering what motherboard to pair with the Ryzen 5950X. But I'm "so out of the loop" that I'm not entirely sure where to start looking anymore, and seeing mixed info on what motherboards and chipsets support ECC and which ones that don't. I would probably prefer having ECC due to rendering etc, as I'm sure many of you can understand, so the whole confusion when getting back into tech stuff again is maybe slightly obvious, but I am going AMD this time around. I tried searching and looking for answers but it honestly didn't make me any less confused.

Was taking a gander at the ASUS ROG Crosshair motherboards, but they almost seemed over the top, but the WIFI I/O ports at the back were a nice one (though I am not averse to a WIFI PCI-card if it is included). Though slightly pricy for what they seemed to offer.

 

So tl;dr:

• Which chipset should I be focusing on?
  • B550 or X570?
• Which MOBO?
• Support for ECC or not?
  • Fitting MHz for it?
  • Most likely getting 64GB of RAM, may or may not also be used for Star Citizen as well (but ignore that part), but rendering has a tendency to be more efficient with 32 and up.
  • Focus on ECC or just go for non-ECC ram?
• Preferably one that fits a Noctua NH-D15

Any and all help making up my mind is greatly appreciated

[Shimejii]

if you are getting a 5950x, get x570. I dont see a point in getting a 700$+ CPU and losing out on certain features.

 

id say get a 3200 mhz kit, getting 64 gb of 3600 mhz and getting it to work first try without a ton of tinkering is unlikely.

 

 

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37 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

if you are getting a 5950x, get x570. I dont see a point in getting a 700$+ CPU and losing out on certain features.

 

id say get a 3200 mhz kit, getting 64 gb of 3600 mhz and getting it to work first try without a ton of tinkering is unlikely.

 

 

 

I was sort of favoring a 3200 kit of 64, as it's usually a "safe bet" frequency to be at, but I'm unsure if I should go for ECC or just take the hit of faults as the net sum after all the parts are in, is something more efficient to begin with and the faults/sec not mattering so much anymore (also harder to find wider selections of ECC RAM to start with)

[Cyracus]

45 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

get x570. I dont see a point in getting a 700$+ CPU and losing out on certain features

On the other hand if tweaking and overclocking matter to you x570 can't do bclk overclocking while b550 can

Basically x570 is pcie gen4 compatible, support sli/crossfire, and more usb3.2 2x1 ports.

b550, aside from OC stuff, is pcie gen 3 and has a mix of usb 3.2 1x1 and 2x1 ports.
You can get really good boards on either chipset. Would recommend actually hardcore overclocking on youtube for mobo analysis

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2 minutes ago, Cyracus said:

On the other hand if tweaking and overclocking matter to you x570 can't do bclk overclocking while b550 can

Basically x570 is pcie gen4 compatible, support sli/crossfire, and more usb3.2 2x1 ports.

b550, aside from OC stuff, is pcie gen 3 and has a mix of usb 3.2 1x1 and 2x1 ports.
You can get really good boards on either chipset. Would recommend actually hardcore overclocking on youtube for mobo analysis

Hmm interesting, I did bclk overclock the current setup as well as tuning the ratio until I got it to the point I was seeking, but I'm not entirely sure I would bother with the new setup, quite frankly because I'm not sure if I would or wouldn't do it. With the previous setup I could do "safe parameter" clocking and know what was a good zone to be in, because of familiarity with Intel and how it responded to clocking etc, with AMD I'm sort of fresh to it, so not sure what to expect and what it favors etc.

[Cyracus]

1 minute ago, Mainfold said:

with AMD I'm sort of fresh to it, so not sure what to expect and what it favors etc.

Tomshardware says it's rather similar to intel https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclocking-amd-ryzen,5011-3.html

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2 minutes ago, Cyracus said:

Tomshardware says it's rather similar to intel https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclocking-amd-ryzen,5011-3.html

Won't a 6% increase from ratio-clocking it be sufficient then for safe clocks without cranking up thermal output when using an NH-D15 without BCLK-tuning access?

[xg32]

x570 dark hero is hands down the mobo of choice

 

4x16 is quite cheap atm

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=cl14+3200+2x16

 

wouldn't touch bclk on x570, but that board does have per core tuning, also gonna be on a d15.

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2 minutes ago, xg32 said:

x570 dark hero is hands down the mobo of choice

 

4x16 is quite cheap atm

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=cl14+3200+2x16

 

wouldn't touch bclk on x570, but that board does have per core tuning, also gonna be on a d15.

Dark hero sure has a juicy price-tag, just about one of the most pricy ones. But I have been looking at it and almost thinking "well if I'm gonna get one, maybe the price will be worth it". Just so uncertain if it might be a tad "over the top" and not sure if it's a necessary one or not. So does it respond better to per core voltage tuning or just ratio?

[xg32]

7 minutes ago, Mainfold said:

Dark hero sure has a juicy price-tag, just about one of the most pricy ones. But I have been looking at it and almost thinking "well if I'm gonna get one, maybe the price will be worth it". Just so uncertain if it might be a tad "over the top" and not sure if it's a necessary one or not. So does it respond better to per core voltage tuning or just ratio?

tbh i don't think it matters THAT much, like at max 100mhz, i've seen ocs on youtube that's like 5.0 2 core, 4.9 4 core, 4.8 8 core and 4.6 16-core, though i'm aiming for 4.7/4.5 to keep things cool, pbo with curve optimizer on the other boards really does a good job on ocs already, just not as fun.

 

it has better ram oc per buildzoid, no fan (x570S uses less power), the VRM is completely overkill (even compared to the taichi and master, i'm not even buying for the VRM), afaik the taichi had a couple of minor downgrades since launch, and that's a 300dollar board already, master has issues, the old hero really isn't an option just 50dollars less than the dark hero. It just checks all the boxes for me

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10 minutes ago, xg32 said:

tbh i don't think it matters THAT much, like at max 100mhz, i've seen ocs on youtube that's like 5.0 2 core, 4.9 4 core, 4.8 8 core and 4.6 16-core, though i'm aiming for 4.7/4.5 to keep things cool, pbo with curve optimizer on the other boards really does a good job on ocs already, just not as fun.

 

it has better ram oc per buildzoid, no fan (x570S uses less power), the VRM is completely overkill (even compared to the taichi and master, i'm not even buying for the VRM), afaik the taichi had a couple of minor downgrades since launch, and that's a 300dollar board already, master has issues, the old hero really isn't an option just 50dollars less than the dark hero. It just checks all the boxes for me

If auto-tuning can pin it close & good, that always allows for using it first then fine-tuning after I suppose, which is always nice. The "no chipset fan" thing is a nice touch, unlike most X570's, so that was immediate intriguing thing when looking at it. Love the blue-purple hue lighting too... not that I will see it inside a "murdered-out" out silence case though haha

 

So, thus far I am leaning towards it + double DC 32GB 3200MHZ kits (was looking for the kingston fury ones but they seem to be sold out everywhere), from what I'm finding so far, anything less than CL 16-20-20 seems sold out or way too expensive for what they offer

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Went for the Dark Hero after further considerations