MSI X870E Tomahawk or ASRock X870E Taich Lite for 9800X3D

martos123 · 2025-01-18T11:19:20+0000

I'm looking for a board for a 9800X3D build and am torn between these two boards. There is £100 between them, but they look to have alrgely similar specs. Any thoughts or reccomendations would be appreciated.

loonyk · 2025-01-18T11:50:50+0000

X870E Nova is a beast! Have it paired with 9800x3d

martos123 · 2025-01-18T12:09:42+0000

loonyk said:
X870E Nova is a beast! Have it paired with 9800x3d

I was looking at that one, but doesnt seem to be in stock. The Taichi Lite appears to be the next board up if i'm understanding things right?

loonyk · 2025-01-18T13:16:55+0000

looks like it. both motherboards have good pcie lane arragement. I've used MSI boards before and never had issues. TBH My X870E Nova is my first motherboards from Asrock. So far very happy

Meddling-Monk · 2025-01-18T13:19:12+0000

From a quick look, the Taichi Lite does not have an Ez-Release mechanism for the top PCIe slot. Are you going to be using an air cooler? Because if so, getting the GPU out once it's in is going to be problematic.

martos123 · 2025-01-18T14:07:48+0000

Meddling-Monk said:
From a quick look, the Taichi Lite does not have an Ez-Release mechanism for the top PCIe slot. Are you going to be using an air cooler? Because if so, getting the GPU out once it's in is going to be problematic.

I'll be water cooling on my current loop, so won't be a problem there.

I'm erring towards the MSI at the moment, just can't see what the extra £100 is giving me.

martos123 · 2025-01-18T14:10:21+0000

loonyk said:
looks like it. both motherboards have good pcie lane arragement. I've used MSI boards before and never had issues. TBH My X870E Nova is my first motherboards from Asrock. So far very happy

I've got an Asrock X570 in my current setup and it's not missed a beat.

Meddling-Monk · 2025-01-18T14:18:35+0000

martos123 said:
I'll be water cooling on my current loop, so won't be a problem there.

Nice!

martos123 said:
I'm erring towards the MSI at the moment, just can't see what the extra £100 is giving me.

It looks like the extra £100 goes towards an LED readout for BIOS/Boot instead of 4 x coloured LEDs and 1 more PCIe Gen 5 slot instead Gen 4. You're right, that's a HUGE markup there for not a lot more. It's not even like the Asus Proart going to £499, as that one has onboard 10g, and all the same bells and whistles at least (and their version of Ez-Release).

martos123 · 2025-01-18T15:19:48+0000

Thats pretty much my thoughts. I'll only need one PCIe Gen 5 slot for a GPU so no need for the other.

Rapster · 2025-01-19T09:19:02+0000

X870E Nova does come in stock occasionally at different retailers, you just have to keep an eye out for them. I managed to snag one over Xmas in the UK whilst away for the holidays. It went out of stock after a couple of hours so you have to be quick.

Manta21 · 2025-01-19T11:44:13+0000

I have a Nova x870e with a 9800x3d,solid board and quite heavy.

Rapster · 2025-01-19T11:45:40+0000

That's right, was surprised as to how heavy the Nova was, reminded me of some workstation motherboards from back in the day.