An unfortunate necessity.

[DraconisMaximus]

First some background details:

 

My Crosshair VIII Hero Motherboard just died. I confirmed that my 5800X3D is still working by swapping it into another system but replacement motherboards with my needed feature set seem to be nearly nonexistent these days.

 

I play moderate intensity games, have one 4k and two 1080p monitors, and do a lot of heavy data processing and advanced networking. My current upgrade part list comes out to about $1500 USD which is the most I can spent now. I would very much prefer not to spend that money now but I need this working and can deal with it if I have to. If it wasn’t for the RAM I wouldn’t really have an issue with it.

 

All of the components are transferring from my existing build and have already been purchased (some quite a while ago) except for the CPU, motherboard, and RAM. The PC Part Picker list of my current build / plan is here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZcKw6B

 

The case and the card reader are the closest equivalents to what I do have. My actual case is a Rosewill Thor NAS and the reader is a Graugear G-MP03CR-AU.

 

My motherboard choices are mostly driven by my high peripheral load.

 

Most available motherboards divert almost all of their nonessential PCIe lanes into a truly absurd number of M.2 slots. While there are non-storage M.2 expansions, they tend to be low in variety and of suspect quality.

 

My network is about half upgraded to 10 GbE including the paths between my desktop and my main server. I currently have an M.2 SFP+ card that caps at about 6 Gbps of actual performance. 10 Gbps onboard networking was a key target in motherboard selection.

 

I also run a lot of USB peripherals. My previous USB header expansion card died about 6 months ago and I’ve been living without half of my front I/O while trying and failing to find something decent to replace it with.

 

This motherboard (Dark Hero) has 10 GbE and two 3.0 and two Type-E headers which removes the need for an expansion card.

 

Before you say anything, I’ve had the AX1200i since my first Skylake build. I know it was overkill then and is still overkill now. I haven’t had to even think about it in any of my subsequent upgrades though; so, there is that.

 

I was troubleshooting thermal issues with the “package” temp when it stopped booting. I think the pump on my Corsair AIO my have died. It was reporting normal rates but temps were reaching 85-95 ºC at idle.

 

That is the situation. I did not want to upgrade now, but it seems like it might be the best option at this point if I am already going to be spending $700+ on a new motherboard and peripheral cards.

 

My first question is this, the Noctua NH-D15 I have had laying around from a previous project that never happened. Do you thing it is capable of cooling something in the range of a 9800X3D? It is more expensive at Newegg but comes with a MSI MAG Coreliquid A13 240 that negates the higher price. I’m not sure that is really that great of a cooler either.

 

The CPU and Motherboard prices are about what I would expect for components of that grade but the necessary RAM replacement moving from AM4 to AM5 is the bigger issue. I expect to need at least 64 GB long term to avoid bottlenecks but I really can’t afford more than 32 GB at current rates. I’m thinking it’s better to just move on than get further bogged down in a last gen socket but feel free to assault my logic.

 

Last, I did 2 Skylake builds, then jumped to Ryzen AM4 and have done 6 complete builds for myself and others. Do you have any tips for an experienced but platform limited builder when making the move to AM5?

[Dedayog]

1 hour ago, DraconisMaximus said:

First some background details:

 

My Crosshair VIII Hero Motherboard just died. I confirmed that my 5800X3D is still working by swapping it into another system but replacement motherboards with my needed feature set seem to be nearly nonexistent these days.

 

I play moderate intensity games, have one 4k and two 1080p monitors, and do a lot of heavy data processing and advanced networking. My current upgrade part list comes out to about $1500 USD which is the most I can spent now. I would very much prefer not to spend that money now but I need this working and can deal with it if I have to. If it wasn’t for the RAM I wouldn’t really have an issue with it.

 

All of the components are transferring from my existing build and have already been purchased (some quite a while ago) except for the CPU, motherboard, and RAM. The PC Part Picker list of my current build / plan is here: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/ZcKw6B

 

The case and the card reader are the closest equivalents to what I do have. My actual case is a Rosewill Thor NAS and the reader is a Graugear G-MP03CR-AU.

 

My motherboard choices are mostly driven by my high peripheral load.

 

Most available motherboards divert almost all of their nonessential PCIe lanes into a truly absurd number of M.2 slots. While there are non-storage M.2 expansions, they tend to be low in variety and of suspect quality.

 

My network is about half upgraded to 10 GbE including the paths between my desktop and my main server. I currently have an M.2 SFP+ card that caps at about 6 Gbps of actual performance. 10 Gbps onboard networking was a key target in motherboard selection.

 

I also run a lot of USB peripherals. My previous USB header expansion card died about 6 months ago and I’ve been living without half of my front I/O while trying and failing to find something decent to replace it with.

 

This motherboard (Dark Hero) has 10 GbE and two 3.0 and two Type-E headers which removes the need for an expansion card.

 

Before you say anything, I’ve had the AX1200i since my first Skylake build. I know it was overkill then and is still overkill now. I haven’t had to even think about it in any of my subsequent upgrades though; so, there is that.

 

I was troubleshooting thermal issues with the “package” temp when it stopped booting. I think the pump on my Corsair AIO my have died. It was reporting normal rates but temps were reaching 85-95 ºC at idle.

 

That is the situation. I did not want to upgrade now, but it seems like it might be the best option at this point if I am already going to be spending $700+ on a new motherboard and peripheral cards.

 

My first question is this, the Noctua NH-D15 I have had laying around from a previous project that never happened. Do you thing it is capable of cooling something in the range of a 9800X3D? It is more expensive at Newegg but comes with a MSI MAG Coreliquid A13 240 that negates the higher price. I’m not sure that is really that great of a cooler either.

 

The CPU and Motherboard prices are about what I would expect for components of that grade but the necessary RAM replacement moving from AM4 to AM5 is the bigger issue. I expect to need at least 64 GB long term to avoid bottlenecks but I really can’t afford more than 32 GB at current rates. I’m thinking it’s better to just move on than get further bogged down in a last gen socket but feel free to assault my logic.

 

Last, I did 2 Skylake builds, then jumped to Ryzen AM4 and have done 6 complete builds for myself and others. Do you have any tips for an experienced but platform limited builder when making the move to AM5?

WHy on God's green earth do you  need a $700  motherboard?  Yes, I read what you wrote but I do not buy that a $700 is necessary for your stated needs.

 

Cut board back, then you can afford 64GB RAM.

[thrasher_565]

well the 5800X3D can be  sold same with the ddr 4 stuff. so that in-cress the budget a bit.

up to you on psu.

i would think a d15 would cool that cpu. if it has an am4 mount think it works for am5 too try it first then upgrade later if need be.

as for best mb with all the things not my expertise. with pcie slots you can get more of w/e you need so long as the gpu dose not block them all. 

case is a bit old but if you like it then its fine. looks like you need micro card  reader and front usb. you can get something that sits on the desk for that stuff but might not like that. dvd is nice. 

 

i dont no some mb fine with 4 stick of ram some not also depends on speed ill let some one els help with that. 

Edited April 7 by thrasher_565

[Tetras]

50 minutes ago, DraconisMaximus said:

 

My network is about half upgraded to 10 GbE including the paths between my desktop and my main server. I currently have an M.2 SFP+ card that caps at about 6 Gbps of actual performance. 10 Gbps onboard networking was a key target in motherboard selection.

Most of MSI boards have 5 Gb LAN, even the cheaper ones. Gigabyte's AI Top B850 is fairly cheap (ha) for 10 Gb.

 

B850-E Strix would be an alternative to consider, if you prefer Asus (5Gb LAN).

 

52 minutes ago, DraconisMaximus said:

 

Most available motherboards divert almost all of their nonessential PCIe lanes into a truly absurd number of M.2 slots. While there are non-storage M.2 expansions, they tend to be low in variety and of suspect quality.

 

I'm not sure what you're looking for here? How many secondary PCI-E slots do you want and for what?

 

56 minutes ago, DraconisMaximus said:

 

My first question is this, the Noctua NH-D15 I have had laying around from a previous project that never happened. Do you thing it is capable of cooling something in the range of a 9800X3D?

Yup.

 

56 minutes ago, DraconisMaximus said:

 

The CPU and Motherboard prices are about what I would expect for components of that grade but the necessary RAM replacement moving from AM4 to AM5 is the bigger issue. I expect to need at least 64 GB long term to avoid bottlenecks but I really can’t afford more than 32 GB at current rates. I’m thinking it’s better to just move on than get further bogged down in a last gen socket but feel free to assault my logic.

 

FYI: 48GB and 96GB kits exist.

[DraconisMaximus]

Thanks for the responses. To be clear the "unfortunate necessity" is having to buy any hardware at all.

That was the push I needed to keep digging. My head was swimming from reading through PCIe overlap specs that are not documented on PC Part Picker.

I swapped the motherboard in the list for a ASRock X870 Taichi Creator. I think that the PCIe lanes should all be usable at 16x for a 9000 series chip as long as leave the 4th M.2 slot open but if anyone can check my work, that would be great. https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X870 Taichi Creator/index.asp

 

I will stick with the D15 for now. I am aware that 48 GB and 96 GB kits exist. It's just that eternal game of will prices improve or worsen in 6 months. My understanding is that mixing kits of DDR5, even two of the same model (e.g. 2 of the 32 GB kits currently on the list) is a bad idea. I've had issues on DDR4 with this previously and it sounds like DDR5 is worse.

[Tetras]

On 4/8/2026 at 12:32 AM, DraconisMaximus said:

I think that the PCIe lanes should all be usable at 16x for a 9000 series chip as long as leave the 4th M.2 slot open but if anyone can check my work, that would be great. https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/X870 Taichi Creator/index.asp

 

It appears that way, yes. They can be a bit sneaky burying this stuff away in the manual (or even not documenting it at all!).