Asus Prime X570-Pro a good choice for an SLI / NVLink build?

[GuruMeditationError]

I'm looking to upgrade to a board that supports SLI and found this article that says the Asus Prime X570-Pro is the way to go for 2 card SLI / NVLink 

https://pcgearlab.com/motherboard/best-motherboards-for-sli/

Should I trust this article, or is there a better board for SLI for around the same price or not too much more expensive?

 

I was also looking at the MSI MPG X570 Gaming Carbon but it's reported to have heat issues and boot problems, according to this article:  https://reviewsgarage.com/best-motherboards-for-sli/

Basically looking for an AMD board that'll support SLI with two Nvidia cards (can't be AMD cards, has to be 2 x Nvidia).

Is the Asus Prime X570-Pro really the way to go?

 

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/PRIME/PRIME-X570-PRO/

 

 

 

[WhitetailAni]

Any particular reason you want to use SLI? It has little support in modern applications and if you're after raw GPU horsepower just get a 3080 or 3090.

[GuruMeditationError]

Just now, FakeKGB said:

Any particular reason you want to use SLI? It has little support in modern applications and if you're after raw GPU horsepower just get a 3080 or 3090.

Yeah, it's for a dedicated Nvidia 3D rig so I'm tied to 2000 series Nvidia cards. 3000 series doesn't support it. 

[WhitetailAni]

1 minute ago, GuruMeditationError said:

Yeah, it's for a dedicated Nvidia 3D rig so I'm tied to 2000 series Nvidia cards. 3000 series doesn't support it. 

The X570 Pro does seem like a good choice.

 

Side note, the 3090 supports SLI, though you have to get a 3090-specific SLI/NVlink bridge for it.

[GuruMeditationError]

Just now, FakeKGB said:

The X570 Pro does seem like a good choice.

 

Thanks, I was thinking the X570 Pro might be the way to go but many a time I've posted here about a motherboard to be recommended something better...

...wondering if there might be something better for around the same price or not too much more expensive.

[Haro]

There's nothing inherently wrong with the board if you want to go for it, the Prime X570-Pro is quite decent and can handle really any AM4 CPU, and yes, the board does have PCIE Gen 4 Switchers and is certified for SLI, meaning it does indeed support it, there's nothing really wrong to point out with it, though do note that the board may need a BIOS update if you're putting a Zen 3 CPU in it, and since it doesn't have the BIOS Flashback functionality you will need an older, supported CPU to update the BIOS. 

As for the Carbon, don't bother with it, it's an overpriced mess of a board and I wouldn't consider it in the slightest. 

[GuruMeditationError]

1 minute ago, Haro said:

There's nothing inherently wrong with the board if you want to go for it, the Prime X570-Pro is quite decent and can handle really any AM4 CPU, and yes, the board does have PCIE Gen 4 Switchers and is certified for SLI, meaning it does indeed support it, there's nothing really wrong to point out with it, though do note that the board may need a BIOS update if you're putting a Zen 3 CPU in it, and since it doesn't have the BIOS Flashback functionality you will need an older, supported CPU to update the BIOS. 

As for the Carbon, don't bother with it, it's an overpriced mess of a board and I wouldn't consider it in the slightest. 

Thanks, that's really helpful...I'd be starting off with a cheaper CPU so the BIOS update wouldn't be a problem, but it's good that you mentioned it otherwise I probably would have gone for a budget Zen 3, if there is such a thing...?...I know nothing about AMD CPU's, I've been using intel for a few years now.

[Haro]

1 minute ago, GuruMeditationError said:

I know nothing about AMD CPU's, I've been using intel for a few years now.

Keep in mind; X570 only supports Zen+ Zen 2 and Zen 3 CPUs (The latter might not be supported out of the box as mentioned above) so you'll need either a 2000 series, i.e a 2600/2700X etc or a 2000 series APU (APUs end with a G), i.e 2200G/2400G etc, a 3000 Series APU i.e 3200G/3400G or a Zen 2 CPU, i.e 3600/3700X etc, or 4000 series CPUs, otherwise known as Zen 2 APUs, though those may need a BIOS update to work with the board depending on how old it is, since they have a different AGESA code than Zen 2 CPUs who aren't APUs, or 5000 series CPUs and APUs, though again as stated above, those may need a BIOS update to work with the board.

Both Zen+ and Zen 2 CPUs (except Zen 2 APUs) are guaranteed to work out of the box with X570. 

[GuruMeditationError]

1 minute ago, Haro said:

Keep in mind; X570 only supports Zen+ Zen 2 and Zen 3 CPUs (The latter might not be supported out of the box as mentioned above) so you'll need either a 2000 series, i.e a 2600/2700X etc or a 2000 series APU (APUs end with a G), i.e 2200G/2400G etc, a 3000 Series APU i.e 3200G/3400G or a Zen 2 CPU, i.e 3600/3700X etc, or 4000 series CPUs, otherwise known as Zen 2 APUs, though those may need a BIOS update to work with the board depending on how old it is, since they have a different AGESA code than Zen 2 CPUs who aren't APUs, or 5000 series CPUs and APUs, though again as stated above, those may need a BIOS update to work with the board.

Both Zen+ and Zen 2 CPUs (except Zen 2 APUs) are guaranteed to work out of the box with X570. 

Brilliant, thanks. 

I think I've hit a bit of a bump in the road though...according to this review the memory I have is too fast for the board, which is a pretty major stumbling block: 

"We advise that up-to 3600 MHz and CL16 is fine, after that frequency value a 2:1 divider kicks in, and that can have an effect on the Infinity Fabric bandwidth, inter-core CCX bandwidth."   https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_prime_x570_pro_review,20.html

It means buying new memory as well as the board and the new CPU. 

[Haro]

5 minutes ago, GuruMeditationError said:

It means buying new memory as well as the board and the new CPU.

You misunderstood what was said, the quote above is talking about IF (Infinity Fabric) clock, the IF (also known as the I/O Die) does many functions, one of those is connect the different CCXs and CCDs (if the CPU has more than 1 CCD) since they can't communicate with each other. 

Now ideally, you'd want to keep a 1:1 ratio with the memory clock and the IF clock, i.e if you have, let's say 3200 MT/s / Mb/s (whatever you want to use) which is 1600 MHz/s, you'd want your IF clock to be the same, so in this case it'd be at 1600 MHz/s, now on  Zen 2 CPUs (excluding Zen 2 APUs), whose IF clock you can control and change, you usually can't push your IF clock at 2000 MHz/s, meaning you wont be able to run your CPU's IF at 1:1 with your 4000 MT/s memory, which has performance penalties, so ideally you'd want to step your memory clock down to something the IF match at a 1:1 ratio, i.e 3600/3800/ whatever highest frequency you can go to whilst keeping a 1:1 ratio with the IF and you can try tightening the timings when you step down the frequency a bit. 

What was said above doesn't have to do with the board. 

[GuruMeditationError]

1 minute ago, Haro said:

You misunderstood what was said, the quote above is talking about IF (Infinity Fabric) clock, the IF (also known as the I/O Die) does many functions, one of those is connect the different CCXs and CCDs (if the CPU has more than 1 CCD) since they can't communicate with each other. 

Now ideally, you'd want to keep a 1:1 ratio with the memory clock and the IF clock, i.e if you have, let's say 3200 MT/s / Mb/s (whatever you want to use) which is 1600 MHz/s, you'd want your IF clock to be the same, so in this case it'd be at 1600 MHz/s, now on  Zen 2 CPUs (excluding Zen 2 APUs), whose IF clock you can control and change, you usually can't push your IF clock at 2000 MHz/s, meaning you wont be able to run your CPU's IF at 1:1 with your 4000 MT/s memory, which has performance penalties, so ideally you'd want to step your memory clock down to something the IF match at a 1:1 ratio, i.e 3600/3800/ whatever highest frequency you can go to whilst keeping a 1:1 ratio with the IF and you can try tightening the timings when you step down the frequency a bit. 

What was said above doesn't have to do with the board. 

That sounds really complicated...it's basically underclocking the RAM? I don't really understand what the ratio is or how to match it...are there online guides I can look at for that?

[Haro]

Just now, GuruMeditationError said:

I don't really understand what the ratio is or how to match it

To simplify the matter, simply run your memory at something like 3600 or 3800, in the BIOS there is an option to match the IF clock to the memory clock, or you can manually set it to half of 3600 or 3800 (so 1800 or 1900 if you IF can hit 1900 MHz/s) after that, if you'd like, you can try tightening your timings since you're not running at 4000 MHz/s, running 4000 MHz/s memory with something like a Zen 2 CPU will hurt the performance since the IF can't run at the same frequency as 4000 MHz/s memory, so it's best to run the memory at something slower so the IF can match it. 

[GuruMeditationError]

1 minute ago, Haro said:

To simplify the matter, simply run your memory at something like 3600 or 3800, in the BIOS there is an option to match the IF clock to the memory clock, or you can manually set it to half of 3600 or 3800 (so 1800 or 1900 if you IF can hit 1900 MHz/s) after that, if you'd like, you can try tightening your timings since you're not running at 4000 MHz/s, running 4000 MHz/s memory with something like a Zen 2 CPU will hurt the performance since the IF can't run at the same frequency as 4000 MHz/s memory, so it's best to run the memory at something slower so the IF can match it. 

Okay, cool, so it's not super-complicated; just a case of choosing the option to match speeds in BIOS?

[Haro]

1 minute ago, GuruMeditationError said:

just a case of choosing the option to match speeds in BIOS?

Yes if you want to put it that way. 

[GuruMeditationError]

1 minute ago, Haro said:

Yes if you want to put it that way. 

Cool...at first it sounded like overclocking, which I still haven't really managed to get my head around.