Help buying a motherboard

[acs]

I’m in the process of fully building a new PC but first time doing it myself (my friend has done it all for me prior).

I’ve bought so far a 9800x3d, Samsung 990 2TB Pro & G.Skill 64GB 6000mhz CL30 RAM.

I’m yet to buy the gpu but I was going for a 5090 but as of today Ill probably end up going for a 5080 or 7900xtx if I fail.

The PC mainly going to be used for competitive FPS and in it will be wireless dongle keyboard and mouse, im going to switch to iems so will have dac amp for iems and mic and also PS5 controller.

This is the first motherboard I’ll ever buy myself so need some help in deciding what to buy as seems to be so much options.

I would like a future proof one and my budget is up to 4/500£ it seems like a lot of people seem to be buying X870E just not sure what best one to get and read about stuff regarding lane sharing (no idea what that is lol).

Any help much appreciated thank you


*worth noting I need help with buying a cpu cooler as well I’ve heard Lian Li Galahad 2 Trinity performance are the best so would need to get one that fits well with motherboard but not sure how chat about cpu cooler works in motherboard section as I’m new to this forum.

 

[Tetras]

For what you have described, I don't think you need to spend £400-£500 on a motherboard, because you don't need the features.

I suspect even just a B650 motherboard would be just fine for you, but perhaps something like the Strix B650E-F (is one of the cheapest boards with PCI-E 5.0 graphics) or ASRock's X870 Pro RS, if you want USB4.

Boards which costs £400-£500 usually have premium features like 5Gb/10Gb LAN, a higher number of M.2 slots which are PCI-E 5.0, LED postcode and onboard power/reset buttons, USB fast charge/power delivery and DP through USB and integrated DAC/AMP.

 

[acs]

For what you have described, I don't think you need to spend £400-£500 on a motherboard, because you don't need the features.

I suspect even just a B650 motherboard would be just fine for you, but perhaps something like the Strix B650E-F (is one of the cheapest boards with PCI-E 5.0 graphics) or ASRock's X870 Pro RS, if you want USB4.

Boards which costs £400-£500 usually have premium features like 5Gb/10Gb LAN, a higher number of M.2 slots which are PCI-E 5.0, LED postcode and onboard power/reset buttons, USB fast charge/power delivery and DP through USB and integrated DAC/AMP.

Thank you for your reply, I will have a look at these motherboards now. Regardless of what motherboard you get you won’t see any performance related upgrades/downgrades they are solely for features like usb, ethernet etc?

 

[mickyflinn]

Thank you for your reply, I will have a look at these motherboards now. Regardless of what motherboard you get you won’t see any performance related upgrades/downgrades they are solely for features like usb, ethernet etc?

Mostly yes but more expensive boards may have better vrms, power delivery but perfomance will be simmlar.

What would you be happy to spend and we can see what's best for you budget.

 

[hornetstinger]

Thank you for your reply, I will have a look at these motherboards now. Regardless of what motherboard you get you won’t see any performance related upgrades/downgrades they are solely for features like usb, ethernet etc?

One thing I would make sure you get- is a motherboard with optical out.
You don't need to spend £500, that's just nuts.

Check £200 boards are ok with 9800X3D my guess is they will be ok.

Just another "nvidia tax" style...you really don't want everyone to have to spend £500 on a basic board...just because people think you have to.

 

[acs]

Mostly yes but more expensive boards may have better vrms, power delivery but perfomance will be simmlar.

What would you be happy to spend and we can see what's best for you budget.

I’d be most comfortable spending around the 300/350 mark if a motherboard isn’t going to give any performance related boosts. I initially mentioned Upto 4/500 in the first message just cause I was unsure how far an extra £100 could get you in terms of quality.

 

[hornetstinger]

I’d be most comfortable spending around the 300/350 mark if a motherboard isn’t going to give any performance related boosts. I initially mentioned Upto 4/500 in the first message just cause I was unsure how far an extra £100 could get you in terms of quality.

Why would you think £200 board will lack quality? Mine is 8 layer and decent amount of cooling, features, and VRM

It just lacks optical out and I wish I knew HDMI would cause me issues.

 

[acs]

One thing I would make sure you get- is a motherboard with optical out.
You don't need to spend £500, that's just nuts.

Check £200 boards are ok with 9800X3D my guess is they will be ok.

Just another "nvidia tax" style...you really don't want everyone to have to spend £500 on a basic board...just because people think you have to.

Yeah I was unsure on how much extra quality you would be getting in terms of a 100/200 increase in price to make the whole of the PC better

 

[acs]

Why would you think £200 board will lack quality? Mine is 8 layer and decent amount of cooling, features, and VRM

It just lacks optical out and I wish I knew HDMI would cause me issues.

I’m not sure this is my first time buying a motherboard/pc by myself so not too confident on it all

 

[mickyflinn]

I’d be most comfortable spending around the 300/350 mark if a motherboard isn’t going to give any performance related boosts. I initially mentioned Upto 4/500 in the first message just cause I was unsure how far an extra £100 could get you in terms of quality.

Don't need to spend that much

Have a read if this it may help you decide .

X870 vs B850: Choosing the Right Motherboard for Your Build

Comparing X870 vs B850 for your next custom PC? Learn more about these two AMD Ryzen chipsets in our latest blog post.

www.velocitymicro.com

Gigabyte B850 GAMING X WIFI6E (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Gigabyte B850 GAMING X WIFI6E (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Asrock B850 Riptide WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Asrock B850 Riptide WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

MSI MAG B850 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI (AMD AM5) B850 ATX Motherboard

Order MSI MAG B850 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI (AMD AM5) B850 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[acs]

Don't need to spend that much

Have a read if this it may help you decide .

X870 vs B850: Choosing the Right Motherboard for Your Build

Comparing X870 vs B850 for your next custom PC? Learn more about these two AMD Ryzen chipsets in our latest blog post.

www.velocitymicro.com

Gigabyte B850 GAMING X WIFI6E (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Gigabyte B850 GAMING X WIFI6E (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Asrock B850 Riptide WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard

Order Asrock B850 Riptide WiFi (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

MSI MAG B850 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI (AMD AM5) B850 ATX Motherboard

Order MSI MAG B850 TOMAHAWK MAX WIFI (AMD AM5) B850 ATX Motherboard now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Thank you for this, will read through now

 

[acs]

Don't need to spend that much

Have a read if this it may help you decide .

which brand would you pick yourself based off the ones you linked from personal experience or am I to chose off aesthetics myself you think?

 

[Tetras]

Yeah I was unsure on how much extra quality you would be getting in terms of a 100/200 increase in price to make the whole of the PC better

If you don't need the extra features then the answer is nothing.

I'd only spend more if you know that you need them.

There's a detailed comparison spreadsheet linked to here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/xvvl9b/comment/ir6koh8/

I’d be most comfortable spending around the 300/350 mark if a motherboard isn’t going to give any performance related boosts. I initially mentioned Upto 4/500 in the first message just cause I was unsure how far an extra £100 could get you in terms of quality.

For performance, generally speaking: if the motherboard has a strong enough VRM to support your CPU without overheating then performance is the same.

A basic board for £100 should be fine for gaming, but I'd personally look at a decent B650 board around £130-£150 as a minimum, so that you get reasonable heatsinks and enough expansion (M.2 slots, PCI-E slots, USB ports, etc).

If you want the latest features like USB4 and PCI-E 5.0, then go for X870, but there's no need to spend a lot.

Hardware Unboxed did a roundup of X870/X870E boards and the VRM was sufficient on all of those boards (from cheapest to most expensive) to handle the highest-end CPU.

 

[mickyflinn]

which brand would you pick yourself based off the ones you linked from personal experience or am I to chose off aesthetics myself you think?

I would choose The Asrock Riptide or the MSI tomahawk which are pretty much the same , both are pcie5 so depends on which you prefer the look of.

If you want usb 4 then x870 should be considered.

 

[acs]

If you don't need the extra features then the answer is nothing.

I'd only spend more if you know that you need them.

There's a detailed comparison spreadsheet linked to here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/xvvl9b/comment/ir6koh8/

For performance, generally speaking: if the motherboard has a strong enough VRM to support your CPU without overheating then performance is the same.

A basic board for £100 should be fine for gaming, but I'd personally look at a decent B650 board around £130-£150 as a minimum, so that you get reasonable heatsinks and enough expansion (M.2 slots, PCI-E slots, USB ports, etc).

If you want the latest features like USB4 and PCI-E 5.0, then go for X870, but there's no need to spend a lot.

Hardware Unboxed did a roundup of X870/X870E boards and the VRM was sufficient on all of those boards (from cheapest to most expensive) to handle the highest-end CPU.

I was initially thinking the X870 were my best bet but think the b850 now look like a good middle ground based off the link Micky gave me

 

[Tetras]

I was initially thinking the X870 were my best bet but think the b850 now look like a good middle ground based off the link Micky gave me

Yeah, for your usage they look fine.

 

[Quartz]

One thing I would make sure you get- is a motherboard with optical out.

This is unnecessary as you can get a USB optical adapter. Do a search for 'USB A to TOSLINK optical audio adapter' I have one branded Cubilux.

The PC mainly going to be used for competitive FPS and in it will be wireless dongle keyboard and mouse,

Won't wireless be a handicap?

 

[acs]

This is unnecessary as you can get a USB optical adapter. Do a search for 'USB A to TOSLINK optical audio adapter' I have one branded Cubilux.



Won't wireless be a handicap?

Sorry I should have specified but the keyboard and mouse just for work stuff, the gaming will be on controller wired

 

[hornetstinger]

This is unnecessary as you can get a USB optical adapter. Do a search for 'USB A to TOSLINK optical audio adapter' I have one branded Cubilux.



Won't wireless be a handicap?

Did a quick search, do they pass Dolby Digital & DTS?

 

[Quartz]

Did a quick search, do they pass Dolby Digital & DTS?

I've no idea. I don't use mine much - I mainly play music through my USB soundbar.