Help, I'm going mad!

[sWiZzLe]

I need an upgrade as most of my pc components are now well over a decade old!

I mostly use my pc for gaming and video editing.

I've pretty much decided to get a 9700x, mainly due to it's lowish temps.
As always, some Corsair Vengeance RAM, probably 32GB.
And a 2TB Samsung M.2 drive.
Oh and although I would normally go for a Noctua cooler, I've be recommended the Thermalright Phantom Spirit instead.

Anyway... I'm trying to choose a motherboard and I'm going quite mad!
I have been using the filter on OCUK to select:
4x 6GB Satas
1x or 4x PCIe slots (for my soundcard)

I'd prefer to get a recent chipset as this could be my final build (being an old fart), but prices seem to be utterly ridiculous!

So that brings me this: MSI X870 Gaming Plus WIFI

Never really used MSI although I have friends who use them.
But when I search the forum for this mobo, people often seem to say, swap it out for a B650/850. Why is that?
Don't the "B" boards have issues with Lane Sharing? Do I even need to worry about that?

I see a lot of people on here recommending this: Asus ROG Strix B650E-F. May I ask why?

Oh and now I'm wondering if my PSU is compatible, cable wise

I hate buying motherboards!

 

[Tetras]

But when I search the forum for this mobo, people often seem to say, swap it out for a B650/850. Why is that?

Is just too expensive for what it is.

Don't the "B" boards have issues with Lane Sharing? Do I even need to worry about that?

More of an issue with X870/X870E nowadays due to USB4. Does depend on how many M.2 slots you want and at what speed.

I see a lot of people on here recommending this: Asus ROG Strix B650E-F. May I ask why?

It was one of the cheapest (probably the cheapest, most of the time) boards with PCI-E 5.0, that was the main reason. Since the newer gen boards, there's not really one recommendation I'd say, but B850 Tomahawk is getting there.

Oh and now I'm wondering if my PSU is compatible, cable wise

Should be.

 

[sWiZzLe]

Thanks for the reply,

Regarding the PSU, I just noticed the 12v power has an 8 and 4 pin, compared to my single 8 pin. But I'm assuming I only need to use 8 pin unless I have two cables, which I think I have.

I currently has a Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB PCIe NVMe M.2, which is fast enough for me! Anything solid state is fast enough when you've lived through the 5400rpm age

Very tempted to go with the Asus ROG Strix B650E-F now... as it's Asus and can't remember my main pc ever having anything that Asus!


One last question, I was originally thinking about getting the 9800X3D until I discovered that it's pretty pointless for 4k gaming. So then I thought I'd get the 9950x, but it does have quite a silly price tag. Then there's the 9900x and the 9700x.
Which one of those would you go for if you had the money and mainly gamed at 4k and some video editing?

 

[Tetras]

Regarding the PSU, I just noticed the 12v power has an 8 and 4 pin, compared to my single 8 pin. But I'm assuming I only need to use 8 pin unless I have two cables, which I think I have.

Normally you only need 1x 8 pin on a new board, but many of them do have 2x 8 pins. The 8 + 4 config is getting rarer on new boards, I think, but was somewhat common a few years back.

Very tempted to go with the Asus ROG Strix B650E-F now... as it's Asus and can't remember my main pc ever having anything that Asus!

It is still a good board, but seeing as the main reason to buy one was it being cheap(est) entry into PCI-E 5.0 graphics, there are now cheaper B850 alternatives. That said, Asus have gone into silly season with their latest boards and they want 300 quid for the equivalent B850.

At this point, I expect it'll be alright, but fair warning: you might need to flash the BIOS (it has flashback, so you don't need to buy a 7000 CPU).

One last question, I was originally thinking about getting the 9800X3D until I discovered that it's pretty pointless for 4k gaming. So then I thought I'd get the 9950x, but it does have quite a silly price tag. Then there's the 9900x and the 9700x.
Which one of those would you go for if you had the money and mainly gamed at 4k and some video editing?

Simple answer: if your video editing is using the CPU and causing you long waits, I'd just get the 9950X. Your gaming performance will still be hugely improved on what you have now and you'll have 16 fast cores that'll make short work of whatever you throw at them.

On the other hand, if you are not using the CPU heavily and/or don't use the kind of software regularly that keeps you waiting, get the 9800X3D anyway because it is by far the best gaming CPU and CPU bottlenecks are getting more of an issue than you might imagine, even at 4K.

If you'd rather just save and get the 9700X instead, that's fair enough, it'll still be a great upgrade.

The 9900X, the six core CPUs (2x6) are hard to recommend because they're a bigger compromise on gaming performance. It is like the "hedge my bets" CPU where you're trying to keep satisfactory gaming performance, while bumping up your multithreading. Personally, I don't think they make much sense for gaming PCs (i.e. get 8 for gaming only, or 16 if you're a mixed productivity user), but for a pure workstation, sure, they can be a good option.

 

[LeMson]

Don't buy a CPU based on temperature. Get a 9800x3d based on performance for god's sake

 

[hornetstinger]

I need an upgrade as most of my pc components are now well over a decade old!

I mostly use my pc for gaming and video editing.

I've pretty much decided to get a 9700x, mainly due to it's lowish temps.
As always, some Corsair Vengeance RAM, probably 32GB.
And a 2TB Samsung M.2 drive.
Oh and although I would normally go for a Noctua cooler, I've be recommended the Thermalright Phantom Spirit instead.

Anyway... I'm trying to choose a motherboard and I'm going quite mad!
I have been using the filter on OCUK to select:
4x 6GB Satas
1x or 4x PCIe slots (for my soundcard)

I'd prefer to get a recent chipset as this could be my final build (being an old fart), but prices seem to be utterly ridiculous!

So that brings me this: MSI X870 Gaming Plus WIFI

Never really used MSI although I have friends who use them.
But when I search the forum for this mobo, people often seem to say, swap it out for a B650/850. Why is that?
Don't the "B" boards have issues with Lane Sharing? Do I even need to worry about that?

I see a lot of people on here recommending this: Asus ROG Strix B650E-F. May I ask why?

Oh and now I'm wondering if my PSU is compatible, cable wise

I hate buying motherboards!

I play gaming, and use a 7700. Cost less than £200.

Don't overspend on a CPU, it would probably make sense to get more affordable model, wait until "last gen" cpu is available for the system then get it. Ie I'll wait until the 16 core zen7 is a couple of hundred quid. That'll prolong the life of my Am5/32GB DDR5/650E for several more years.

Don't overspend on motherboards either. I'm happy with mine PG Riptide however if I knew about HDMI audio issues (with all motherboards/GPU, I'd have ensured I bought version with optical out

 

[Blackwhite]

B650 E will be more than enough.
What resolution do you play?

 

[sWiZzLe]

I play gaming, and use a 7700. Cost less than £200.

Don't overspend on a CPU, it would probably make sense to get more affordable model, wait until "last gen" cpu is available for the system then get it. Ie I'll wait until the 16 core zen7 is a couple of hundred quid. That'll prolong the life of my Am5/32GB DDR5/650E for several more years.

Don't overspend on motherboards either. I'm happy with mine PG Riptide however if I knew about HDMI audio issues (with all motherboards/GPU, I'd have ensured I bought version with optical out

I can't keep waiting, I've been doing that for years.

Admittedly I don't really need the CPU for editing as Premiere uses the GPU

B650 E will be more than enough.
What resolution do you play?

Mostly 4k, depending on the season/temperature - same goes for HDR! HDR seems to turn my monitor into a radiator!



Cheers for all the advice. I've decided to just go with the 9800X3D... although as soon as I decided and went to place my order, I discovered the motherboard is out of stock Bugger!

I was actually going to be idiotic and buy the 9950x, then I thought.... if I got the 9800X3D, I could get a Noctua cooler
Let's do that!

 

[Blackwhite]

In 4K IMO 9800X3D is a waste of money

 

[sWiZzLe]

In 4K IMO 9800X3D is a waste of money

Probably, but I had money to spend and it has been spent on just that!

 

[sWiZzLe]

Completely forgot to thank you for the recommendations, I'm absolutely loving this.
Loaded up Cyberpunk (not at 4k... coz path tracing <3) and now I can finally play with lots of people wandering about and it's lovely and smooth

Stalker 2 compiling thing now takes seconds, YAY!! … and runs so much better! I did have a worry when I started playing it as it kept crashing. But a friend recommended a mod and it hasn't crashed since. But the draw distance is now insane

Everything runs better and the CPU runs surprisingly cool. The only time I've seen it get to 90 degrees is when I benchmarked it shortly after (badly) setting up Fan Control and I had left the CPU fans at 0% (to identify fans).
Who needs fans when you have a Noctua xD

Cheers

 

[Nelly]

I need an upgrade as most of my pc components are now well over a decade old!

I mostly use my pc for gaming and video editing.

I have been using the filter on OCUK to select:
4x 6GB Satas
1x or 4x PCIe slots (for my soundcard)

So that brings me this: MSI X870 Gaming Plus WIFI

Never really used MSI although I have friends who use them.
But when I search the forum for this mobo, people often seem to say, swap it out for a B650/850. Why is that?
Don't the "B" boards have issues with Lane Sharing? Do I even need to worry about that?

Be careful when buying their 800 series motherboards, with MSI having an 8-pin power connector at the bottom, as it makes it impossible to install an internal soundcard there.

You can always go with an external DAC, but myself having a Sound Blaster ZxR, I can't imagine any cheap external coming close to the sound quality the ZxR has, but only one way to find out, I'll be buying one soon enough.

 

[sWiZzLe]

Be careful when buying their 800 series motherboards, with MSI having an 8-pin power connector at the bottom, as it makes it impossible to install an internal soundcard there.

You can always go with an external DAC, but myself having a Sound Blaster ZxR, I can't imagine any cheap external coming close to the sound quality the ZxR has, but only one way to find out, I'll be buying one soon enough.

Bit late mate, but I already have a soundcard installed on that slot! My ancient Asus Xonar Essence STX <3

Maybe it's not a problem with the motherboard, but more a problem with the size of your case

 

[Nelly]

Bit late mate, but I already have a soundcard installed on that slot! My ancient Asus Xonar Essence STX <3

Maybe it's not a problem with the motherboard, but more a problem with the size of your case

I think you will be alright with that soundcard, its not fully shielded where the PCI-E connection is.