Top end gaming (not streaming) & casual 4K video editing - What MOBO?

Boizo

Boizo

Boizo

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Evening all,

Am looking to FUTURE PROOF my build...not interested in touching it for 7-8 years and will hopefully be completed by Spring/Summer next year.

Like the idea of the 9950X3D and RTX 5080 Super when released but am purchasing the more expensive components one at a time each month.

Having the absolute latest/most expensive components doesn't interest me. Would just be nice to play the latest AAA titles with ease for the foreseeable. Bear in mind the last console I had was a 360 and I play no games now.

So far after hunting for deals I have -

Corsair Frame 4000D RS ARGB case - £80.00
Corsair 2 x 32GB CL30 6000 RAM - £210.00
Samsung 990 Pro 4TB M.2 SSD - £210.00

I've no idea what 1440 actually looks like to play but am currently using a top end 4K editing monitor but only 60Hz...would like to bump this up to at least 240Hz if possible.

With that in mind I've had my eye on two MOBO's.

MSI MPG X870E CARBON WIFI​

MSI MAG X870E TOMAHAWK WIFI​


Is the carbon worth the extra?...or can you recommend another ATX board and why please?

Full on amateur here but love the creative process.
 
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I've just used that case - BF deal for the same price.

Its a nice case although the triple fan arrangement at the front makes a 360 AIO rad a tight fit at the top. The fans could be moved 90 degrees to blow in from the side which will probably give better airflow results. I didn't bother as its a fairly undemanding AM4 build (9950X/9060XT) but I would for AM5/9070XT.

There's pretty much no documentation with the case so have a good look at the (animated) online docs and make sure its right. I've used Corsair cases before and as always the air intake filters are extensive and super easy to remove/clean.
 
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Boizo said:
Am looking to FUTURE PROOF my build...not interested in touching it for 7-8 years and will hopefully be completed by Spring/Summer next year.
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Boizo said:
Having the absolute latest/most expensive components doesn't interest me.
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There's really no generic "future proof" from buying an expensive motherboard you don't need, you're just paying more for no benefit (which you said you didn't want to do).

If you're just running 1x M.2 drive and don't care about USB4, get a B850 board.

The newer features are:
- PCI-E 5.0 for graphics
- PCI-E 5.0 for M.2
- USB4
- WIFI7

Almost all B850 boards have PCI-E 5.0 graphics and at least 1x 5.0 M.2 slot.

X870/X870E boards have USB4.
 
Vestas said:
I've just used that case - BF deal for the same price.

Its a nice case although the triple fan arrangement at the front makes a 360 AIO rad a tight fit at the top. The fans could be moved 90 degrees to blow in from the side which will probably give better airflow results. I didn't bother as its a fairly undemanding AM4 build (9950X/9060XT) but I would for AM5/9070XT.

There's pretty much no documentation with the case so have a good look at the (animated) online docs and make sure its right. I've used Corsair cases before and as always the air intake filters are extensive and super easy to remove/clean.
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That's good to hear, thank you. Was looking at a Corsair 360 AIO rad but considering I'm probably going to opt for a 9950X3D after watching a few reviews/comparisons I may well choose a different AIO/fan set up which offers a better level of cooling.
 
Tetras said:
There's really no generic "future proof" from buying an expensive motherboard you don't need, you're just paying more for no benefit (which you said you didn't want to do).

If you're just running 1x M.2 drive and don't care about USB4, get a B850 board.

The newer features are:
- PCI-E 5.0 for graphics
- PCI-E 5.0 for M.2
- USB4
- WIFI7

Almost all B850 boards have PCI-E 5.0 graphics and at least 1x 5.0 M.2 slot.

X870/X870E boards have USB4.
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Thanks for the advice. Will need more than 1 x M.2 as I'll probably want approx 12-16 TB of SSD (4K media eats up storage)...plus I have many music mixes in WAV which again uses up plenty of space. 8TB M.2 SSD 's are too expensive for me at the mo but will get another 4TB when a 5.0 drive becomes available that doesn't require dry ice to keep it cool!
 
Dg834man said:
Bad idea from a warranty perspective, can get a refund within two weeks of purchase after that rma is the only option, getting doa components does happen. Save you money buy everything at the same time.
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My heart says buy what I can now, my head says I tend to agree with you! It's a tough one with prices shooting up. As mush as it would be nice to have the absolute latest gear I'm happy to wait for new releases to be announced then buy what's available now, hopefully at a discounted rate. Really do want a 9950X3D...for less than £500
 
Luke_Bowman said:
Echo this. I'd save up every month and then buy all at once, that way you can build, test, and verify everything works.
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That does make sense....need to stop getting excited every time a new component arrives and just buy it at the same time!
 
Colapops said:
Save 200quid straight away and get a 9800 x3d? like said a good B850 is plenty.
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That's the only other option really but I do love video editing and at present it sounds like my PC is taking off when I try rendering vids! Am sure it's capable but like I say, I don't want to be touching this build for a fair few years.
 
Boizo said:
Will need more than 1 x M.2 as I'll probably want approx 12-16 TB of SSD (4K media eats up storage)...plus I have many music mixes in WAV which again uses up plenty of space. 8TB M.2 SSD 's are too expensive for me at the mo but will get another 4TB when a 5.0 drive becomes available that doesn't require dry ice to keep it cool!
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I see, then getting a higher-end board makes more sense, though even most B850 (full size) boards have 3x M.2 slots.

Be aware that even top-end X870/X870E boards can have lane sharing with their M.2 slots, so they're not necessarily any better than something like MSI's B850 Tomahawk (which has 4). Note that if you need SATA ports, 4 is the most common, with some boards having just 2!
 
Boizo said:
That's good to hear, thank you. Was looking at a Corsair 360 AIO rad but considering I'm probably going to opt for a 9950X3D after watching a few reviews/comparisons I may well choose a different AIO/fan set up which offers a better level of cooling.
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That will fit OK - as will all Corsair 360 AIOs and most others.

The issue is really if you blow air in from the front (3x120) immediately under the radiator (3x120) at the top then not much of that air circulates inside the case before being exhausted and that leads to problems with local hotspots like the VRM/graphics card etc. Edit - unless you link the cpu/case fans to the same sensor which is a bit of a bodge.

There's a frame, vents, blanking plate etc for mounting 120mm fans on the side of the case in the box. That way you can blow air into the case from there and it'll flow around rather than get sucked out immediately :D
 
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Vestas said:
That will fit OK - as will all Corsair 360 AIOs and most others.

The issue is really if you blow air in from the front (3x120) immediately under the radiator (3x120) at the top then not much of that air circulates inside the case before being exhausted and that leads to problems with local hotspots like the VRM/graphics card etc.

There's a frame, vents, blanking plate etc for mounting 120mm fans on the side of the case in the box. That way you can blow air into the case from there and it'll flow around rather than get sucked out immediately :D
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Perfect...thank you. I'll be revisiting this thread when the time comes....apart from the MOBO, cooling is the only other thing I haven't nailed down.
 
Boizo said:
Perfect...thank you. I'll be revisiting this thread when the time comes....apart from the MOBO, cooling is the only other thing I haven't nailed down.
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I got the Corsair Nautilus 360 on a deal. Fits with the whole black box, sits in the corner with one LED visible (power button) theme of the case etc.
 
Tetras said:
I see, then getting a higher-end board makes more sense, though even most B850 (full size) boards have 3x M.2 slots.

Be aware that even top-end X870/X870E boards can have lane sharing with their M.2 slots, so they're not necessarily any better than something like MSI's B850 Tomahawk (which has 4). Note that if you need SATA ports, 4 is the most common, with some boards having just 2!
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Interesting...some top advice...thank you! Is it possible with the correct adapters to connect a few of these internally and leave them in the case?...they are quite small...have a few laying around and will do until I get some more SSD's. https://www.amazon.co.uk/WD-Elements-Portable-External-Drive/dp/B06W55K9N6?th=1
 
Boizo said:
Is it possible with the correct adapters to connect a few of these internally and leave them in the case?
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In theory, yeah, but I wouldn't recommend it. One of those bricks rolling about could take out nearly everything in your PC.

How many M.2 slots/SATA ports are you looking for exactly? You can add SATA ports/M.2 slots with a PCI-E card, though there's very limited lanes available so it might not be viable if you have already filled every M.2 slot.
 
Tetras said:
In theory, yeah, but I wouldn't recommend it. One of those bricks rolling about could take out nearly everything in your PC.

How many M.2 slots/SATA ports are you looking for exactly? You can add SATA ports/M.2 slots with a PCI-E card, though there's very limited lanes available so it might not be viable if you have already filled every M.2 slot.
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Ahh, ok, that's me selling them then. M.2 's will be for SSD's and WIFI if required. So 3-4 x 4TB.
 
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