[SOLVED] Is PCIe gen 4 worth it?

Fusion1005

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Jan 15, 2020
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For my new system, I'm debating between b450 and x570. If I go b450, I'm gonna get the msi Tomahawk Max. Idk what x570 board to get if I go x570. The deciding factor for me it's whether I need PCIe gen 4 or not. Can someone explain the advantages and future-proofing of PCIe gen 4 and whether or not it is worth the extra $50 or so to get a x570 mobo with PCIe gen 4?
 
Solution
Until we get some type of confirmation about what the upcoming 4000 cpu's will be compatible with, I would suggest the x570 at this point in time.

Less expensive B550 boards will be out soon and actually surprised they have waited this long to release them.

If you can wait another month or two, then I would suggest you do.

I have an x570, there isn't much that can be done with PCIe 4 other than storage bandwidth.
Until we get some type of confirmation about what the upcoming 4000 cpu's will be compatible with, I would suggest the x570 at this point in time.

Less expensive B550 boards will be out soon and actually surprised they have waited this long to release them.

If you can wait another month or two, then I would suggest you do.

I have an x570, there isn't much that can be done with PCIe 4 other than storage bandwidth.
 
Solution
Only you can decide whether you actually NEED PCIe gen 4. It makes absolutely no difference with GPU performance and only extends NVMe drive's current gen 3 ludicrous speeds to plaid. ;)

You will not experience a difference in day to day functionality, even if you use Photoshop or Premier or something similar. Current NVMe drives are just that fast already. My system gets over 3.2GB/s read and over 2.4GB/s write, sustained, with a single $100 PCIe gen 3 NVMe SSD drive.

If you are in the .001 percentile that necessitates the absolute highest drive IOPS and transfer speeds then you should be on an AMD Threadripper/Intel X-series platform or high-end server platform - period.
 
Only you can decide whether you actually NEED PCIe gen 4. It makes absolutely no difference with GPU performance and only extends NVMe drive's current gen 3 ludicrous speeds to plaid. ;)


That's about the best summary I've seen written about NVMe speeds!

PCIe 4.0 is good for those people doing work that moves extremely large files around. That really is about it right now. Games and programs don't load any faster than PCIe 3.0 or a good quality Sata II SSD. Save your money coming from someone with a Sabrent Rocket and x570.
 
...
Less expensive B550 boards will be out soon and actually surprised they have waited this long to release them.
...

In a manner of speaking, they are out right now. B550A chipset, characterized as a refresh of B450 with BIOS that allows operation of first NVME and first (GPU) PCIe slot at Gen 4. That's probably all the Gen 4 you'll get with the true B550 when it's out, but nobody knows.

Everybody talks about the potential of Gen 4 alongside a very few demonstrations. But all the demonstrations are using highly synthetic benchmarks to 'prove' the case for it. Even with drive transfers, that's not been compelling.

Are there ANY real-world demonstrations of it's true potential, in a way that could be appreciated by an average user in day to day computing and gaming tasks?
 
I'm referring to the B550 boards as an upgrade path relative to the 4000 series and compatibility.

There are game comparisons for SATA II SSD, NVMe 3 and NVMe 4, no real difference between 3 and 4 and a good SSD over SATA II is not much different either.
 

Fusion1005

Commendable
Jan 15, 2020
153
7
1,585
Until we get some type of confirmation about what the upcoming 4000 cpu's will be compatible with, I would suggest the x570 at this point in time.

Less expensive B550 boards will be out soon and actually surprised they have waited this long to release them.

If you can wait another month or two, then I would suggest you do.

I have an x570, there isn't much that can be done with PCIe 4 other than storage bandwidth.

I have to wait until summer anyway, cuz I have to get all As in school for my parents to allow me to get one. For rn I'm just planning it out, and I may even change some stuff out, such as a 4000 series CPU depending on the pricing.
 
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