Help, I'm confusing myself !

Topdonkey · 26 Feb 2021 at 19:45

So, I'm gathering bits to build a computer whilst i wait to find an RTX3070 in stock (yes I'm dreaming, I know!)

I've bought a Ryzen 5 5600x and a Sabrent rocket pci-e 4.0 1TB SSD and am about to buy some hyper x Fury 32gb memory and I wanted a Micro ATX case to try and keep the build small (I'm not after RGB's or LED's and would prefer an understated small case with solid panels really, and was going to go with a superflower HX650 power supply ?

Now comes my problem, I cant find a MATX motherboard that is compatible with the PCI-E 4.0 SSD I've bought, they all seem to be ATX sized ?, I was thinking that I'd get an X570 board, but I've been looking for hours now and drawn a blank on MATX sized boards, so thought I'd ask the seasoned pc experts on here if they know of any Motherboards that might suit ?

Cheers

Topdonkey · 26 Feb 2021 at 19:51

Also, Meant to say that I'd like two M2 sockets so that I have the option to add another SSD in the future if I need it (if its possible)

HoneyBadger · 26 Feb 2021 at 19:59

Google
ASRock AMD Ryzen X570M Pro4 AM4 PCIe 4.0 MicroATX Motherboard

Topdonkey · 26 Feb 2021 at 20:17

HoneyBadger said:
Google
ASRock AMD Ryzen X570M Pro4 AM4 PCIe 4.0 MicroATX Motherboard

Blimey, you found that quick !, thanks.

My next question which I'm pondering now.

Is it even worth going with a MATX setup with this processor, memory and SSD ?, or am I sacrificing performance that bigger ATX boards (in a bigger case) might otherwise offer ?, does the motherboard choice even matter too much as long as it supports the PCI4 SSD ?

Cheers

HoneyBadger · 26 Feb 2021 at 20:27

Only you can really answer that in terms of you potentially using PCIE addon cards that come with an ATX motherboard. Obviously the bigger board will have more features, but the mATX board would have the majority of what you need. If al you’re going to use is a single GPU and PCIE4 M.2 SSD then mATX variant will be just fine. Having owned ITX, mATX, ATX and EATX boards over the years, I find ATX is the best, unless going for an ultra small build. It just gives the best compromise in terms of features and expandability.

Topdonkey · 26 Feb 2021 at 21:13

HoneyBadger said:
Only you can really answer that in terms of you potentially using PCIE addon cards that come with an ATX motherboard. Obviously the bigger board will have more features, but the mATX board would have the majority of what you need. If al you’re going to use is a single GPU and PCIE4 M.2 SSD then mATX variant will be just fine. Having owned ITX, mATX, ATX and EATX boards over the years, I find ATX is the best, unless going for an ultra small build. It just gives the best compromise in terms of features and expandability.

That makes sense, Thanks again

I wont need any future expansion except for more storage, so will go the MATX route with the motherboard you found, and I'm liking the look of the Rajintek Thetis case, so i think I'm all set

pc-guy · 27 Feb 2021 at 08:45

B550 boards have PCIE 4 compatibility. ASUS tuf gaming B550m-plus is a nice board with loads of expansion possibilities. Supports PCIE4 m.2 and GPU and with additional slot for addon card should you want to expand

EsxPaul · 27 Feb 2021 at 17:30

You could also add the MSI B550 Mortar / Mortar Wifi boards to your list if you are still at the choosing stage

Topdonkey · 27 Feb 2021 at 18:27

Thanks,The B550 Mortar is a bit cheaper too, would there be any performance advantage between the 3 choices ?

The first bit of the build has arrived

it's the sabrent rocket nvme 4.0 1tb I'd post a pic of it but I don't know how

pc-guy · 28 Feb 2021 at 05:15

I wouldn’t get the B550M mortar of expansion is what you after.

msi use shared PCIE lanes implementation for the second M.2 slot and the second x16 slot. So if you populate 2 m.2 drives then you don’t have any expansion into the PCiE slots. The Tuf gaming is better.

EsxPaul · 28 Feb 2021 at 09:32

Topdonkey said:
Thanks,The B550 Mortar is a bit cheaper too, would there be any performance advantage between the 3 choices ?

Performance wouldn't really vary between them but as @pc-guy correctly pointed out, you need to think carefully about any hardware that you may want to add into the bottom x16 PCIE slot at some future point. If you end up using 2 nvme drives, that slot will become non functional.

D1craig · 28 Feb 2021 at 19:49

one thing i would look into is the RAM overclock compatibility with your motherboard. i didnt know that was a thing until i got mine, mine is hyperx 32gb 3xxxMHZ RAM and it wont accept the overclock on my motherboard - b550 rog strix itx, it just crashes until i stick it on default.

so whatever motherboard you go for check the website and see if they have a ram compatibility checker. ignore that it says compatible with all ddr4 ram as thats not a lie but its also not what your looking for. it might only run at the default which i think is usually 2666mhz. ryzen goes very well with faster RAM so the overclock does matter.