[SOLVED] Motherboard Suggestions...

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
I previously upgraded my old HP (Elite HPE-500f...Phenom II X6) PC as much as I could, now I need to upgrade the motherboard and processor (+DDR4 memory). This is my first time so I want to make sure I select a compatible motherboard which is easy for a first-timer and has room for expansion.

It's been crashing, but even when it's working fine rendering videos takes forever. I don't play video games, optimizing it for video (recording, editing, rendering) and CAD (3D Printing) is the goal.

What I currently have installed and will be using-
  • 500GB Samsung SSD
  • WD Blue 1TB HDD
  • WD Green 1.5TB HDD (might remove to rebuild old HP)
  • NVIDIA GeForce 1050ti
  • Multi-Card Reader (PCIe)
  • Corsair CX650 PSU
I've already purchased-
  • Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz C16 LED
  • Crucial P1 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD - CT1000P1SSD8
I thought I purchased a Ryzen 7 2700X AMD50 Gold Edition but for some reason NewEgg isn't showing it. I purchased the Corsair memory thinking I was going to order an MSI Performance Gaming X470 Gaming Plus motherboard, but when I went to it wasn't on sale.

I figured at the regular price for just a little more I can get an X570 which would work better with a Ryzen 7. Am I correct?

1) So, needing to order a processor, which of the following 3-
  • Ryzen 7 1700X
  • Ryzen 7 2700
  • Ryzen 7 2700X
2) Pairing it with an ATX motherboard. I was wondering if adding a second 1050ti (I just bought mine last year) would be beneficial for me or would that be more for gaming applications? So possiblly a second PCI slot?

3) Seeing X570 boards accept faster memory I could send the 3200 back and get 3600 for roughly the same price, but for example reading details on the MSI X570 Gaming Plus it mentions higher speeds (up to 4400) 'by A-XMP OC MODE' and then 3200 and below 'by JEDEC.' I know what overclocking is (and don't plan to do it) but haven't looked up those specifications so im not sure what exactly that is saying.

4) Knowing what I'm using the PC for as well as the Ryzen 7, keeping the budget in mind (under $200...$150 even better :p ), am I better off with an X470 or X570? Or are B350/B450 boards even an option (compatibility, performance wise)?

I read about the X470 MSI board I mentioned above being first-timer friendly. I'll likely add another PCIe M.2 SSD. Reading reviews on motherboards has made me hesitant (problems, BIOS updates, etc), but at the same time I'm sure it's like other reviews- the good ones far outweigh the bad but just aren't reported.

X470/X570 (B350/B450) suggestions (RGB preferred but not at a sacrifice of performance)?

Thanks,
Tim
 
Last edited:
Solution
I previously upgraded my old HP (Elite HPE-500f...Phenom II X6) PC as much as I could, now I need to upgrade the motherboard and processor (+DDR4 memory). This is my first time so I want to make sure I select a compatible motherboard which is easy for a first-timer and has room for expansion.

It's been crashing, but even when it's working fine rendering videos takes forever. I don't play video games, optimizing it for video (recording, editing, rendering) and CAD (3D Printing) is the goal.

What I currently have installed and will be using-
  • 500GB Samsung SSD
  • WD Blue 1TB HDD
  • WD Green 1.5TB HDD (might remove to rebuild old HP)
  • NVIDIA GeForce 1050ti
  • Multi-Card Reader (PCIe)
  • Corsair CX650 PSU
I've already...
I previously upgraded my old HP (Elite HPE-500f...Phenom II X6) PC as much as I could, now I need to upgrade the motherboard and processor (+DDR4 memory). This is my first time so I want to make sure I select a compatible motherboard which is easy for a first-timer and has room for expansion.

It's been crashing, but even when it's working fine rendering videos takes forever. I don't play video games, optimizing it for video (recording, editing, rendering) and CAD (3D Printing) is the goal.

What I currently have installed and will be using-
  • 500GB Samsung SSD
  • WD Blue 1TB HDD
  • WD Green 1.5TB HDD (might remove to rebuild old HP)
  • NVIDIA GeForce 1050ti
  • Multi-Card Reader (PCIe)
  • Corsair CX650 PSU
I've already purchased-
  • Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz C16 LED
  • Crucial P1 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD - CT1000P1SSD8
I thought I purchased a Ryzen 7 2700X AMD50 Gold Edition but for some reason NewEgg isn't showing it. I purchased the Corsair memory thinking I was going to order an MSI Performance Gaming X470 Gaming Plus motherboard, but when I went to it wasn't on sale.

I figured at the regular price for just a little more I can get an X570 which would work better with a Ryzen 7. Am I correct?

1) So, needing to order a processor, which of the following 3-
  • Ryzen 7 1700X
  • Ryzen 7 2700
  • Ryzen 7 2700X
2) Pairing it with an ATX motherboard. I was wondering if adding a second 1050ti (I just bought mine last year) would be beneficial for me or would that be more for gaming applications? So possiblly a second PCI slot?

3) Seeing X570 boards accept faster memory I could send the 3200 back and get 3600 for roughly the same price, but for example reading details on the MSI X570 Gaming Plus it mentions higher speeds (up to 4400) 'by A-XMP OC MODE' and then 3200 and below 'by JEDEC.' I know what overclocking is (and don't plan to do it) but haven't looked up those specifications so im not sure what exactly that is saying.

4) Knowing what I'm using the PC for as well as the Ryzen 7, keeping the budget in mind (under $200...$150 even better :p ), am I better off with an X470 or X570? Or are B350/B450 boards even an option (compatibility, performance wise)?

I read about the X470 MSI board I mentioned above being first-timer friendly. I'll likely add another PCIe M.2 SSD. Reading reviews on motherboards has made me hesitant (problems, BIOS updates, etc), but at the same time I'm sure it's like other reviews- the good ones far outweigh the bad but just aren't reported.

X470/X570 (B350/B450) suggestions (RGB preferred but not at a sacrifice of performance)?

Thanks,
Tim
Right. Be careful with that RAM I had that set and had nothing but issues with it, loads of BSODs with my 2600.

2. X570 is really for 3000 Ryzen chips. You won’t see much benefit over an X470. However personally I bought a 570 due to upgrading later down the line.

3. SLI does not work with anything below a 1070 from the 1000 series GPUs. Adding another 1050Ti won’t do anything. Also you’d need a motherboard that supported SLI if you had cards that could do it.

4. Faster memory with the newer chips. However 3600 was easily doable on X470. Would advise swapping to Corsair Dominator RAM that’s listed compatible with Ryzen, again I had vengence RGB Pro that just BSOD and caused loads of issues to the point where it would crash, reboot then crash as soon as it hit the desktop until it promoted me to repair windows.

5. Depends what board you want. X570 is the better platform and has the longest compatibility but has features you may not use like PCIE 4.0.

I like Gigabyte and MSI boards, had an asrock and was ok and plenty love Asus. But don’t want to suggest until you decide what you want.
 
Solution

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
Ok, that makes things easier. No SLI, sending the RAM back and going with an X470. NewEgg id where I first saw that RAM suggested with the MSI board, but ive read in comments before about their suggestions not being compatible... which is why I'm here.

So I'm looking for Ryzen 7 1700x/2700/2700x, X470 and Ram combo that will work best together (I checked out the Corsair Dominator...Platinum?)

Or just looking more would I be better going with Ryzen 5 3000 series and an X570... which I could upgrade the processor later.

I am not sure which is better. Either will be far superior to what I have now.
 
Last edited:

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
Right. Be careful with that RAM I had that set and had nothing but issues with it, loads of BSODs with my 2600.

2. X570 is really for 3000 Ryzen chips. You won’t see much benefit over an X470. However personally I bought a 570 due to upgrading later down the line.

3. SLI does not work with anything below a 1070 from the 1000 series GPUs. Adding another 1050Ti won’t do anything. Also you’d need a motherboard that supported SLI if you had cards that could do it.

4. Faster memory with the newer chips. However 3600 was easily doable on X470. Would advise swapping to Corsair Dominator RAM that’s listed compatible with Ryzen, again I had vengence RGB Pro that just BSOD and caused loads of issues to the point where it would crash, reboot then crash as soon as it hit the desktop until it promoted me to repair windows.

5. Depends what board you want. X570 is the better platform and has the longest compatibility but has features you may not use like PCIE 4.0.

I like Gigabyte and MSI boards, had an asrock and was ok and plenty love Asus. But don’t want to suggest until you decide what you want.

Over the past 12 months I've probably seen the BSoD about 20-25 times. Frustrating, especially because for some reason it won't restore t my Restore Points...I have to completely Reset it each time.

Any thoughts on MSI Performance Gaming X470 Gaming Plus motherboard, since you mentioned liking MSI?
 
Over the past 12 months I've probably seen the BSoD about 20-25 times. Frustrating, especially because for some reason it won't restore t my Restore Points...I have to completely Reset it each time.

Any thoughts on MSI Performance Gaming X470 Gaming Plus motherboard, since you mentioned liking MSI?

The memory I have now is dominator platinum RGB AMD I’ve had no issues since installing it. In the process of getting a replacement kit of the vengence RGB just to check it’s not a bad kit then selling it.

Wouldn’t bother with 1st gen Ryzen now. Either go 2000/3000 series. 3000 is more “future proof” and personally I’m probably gonna upgrade to a 3700X when I can get one on sale in a few months. But you’re not losing a ton of performance.

I had an MSI B350 board before the one I currently have cos I was running an APU during the mining days after selling my RX 580 for a lot more than it was worth. Worked fine but I never pushed it but the BIOS was tidy. I have a Gigabyte X570 now and the BIOs is different but I need to learn it, it came with the IO shield preinstalled which was nice and came with a ton of features and enough VRM to choke a horse but it is a £220 board. Intending to push my 2600 and RAM as far as I can with it over the next week (just got my new cooler). Hard to tell the difference as the MSI was a £80 board at the time and the gigabyte is close to triple the price.
I believe buildzoud have a first impressions of pretty much every X570 board recently though on his own channel and gamers nexus which you might want to look at.

X570 vs 470 vs B450
 

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
Right. Be careful with that RAM I had that set and had nothing but issues with it, loads of BSODs with my 2600.

2. X570 is really for 3000 Ryzen chips. You won’t see much benefit over an X470. However personally I bought a 570 due to upgrading later down the line.

3. SLI does not work with anything below a 1070 from the 1000 series GPUs. Adding another 1050Ti won’t do anything. Also you’d need a motherboard that supported SLI if you had cards that could do it.

4. Faster memory with the newer chips. However 3600 was easily doable on X470. Would advise swapping to Corsair Dominator RAM that’s listed compatible with Ryzen, again I had vengence RGB Pro that just BSOD and caused loads of issues to the point where it would crash, reboot then crash as soon as it hit the desktop until it promoted me to repair windows.

5. Depends what board you want. X570 is the better platform and has the longest compatibility but has features you may not use like PCIE 4.0.

I like Gigabyte and MSI boards, had an asrock and was ok and plenty love Asus. But don’t want to suggest until you decide what you want.

As I was just here thinking about it, and like you said, long term it's better to go with the X570 sho
The memory I have now is dominator platinum RGB AMD I’ve had no issues since installing it. In the process of getting a replacement kit of the vengence RGB just to check it’s not a bad kit then selling it.

Wouldn’t bother with 1st gen Ryzen now. Either go 2000/3000 series. 3000 is more “future proof” and personally I’m probably gonna upgrade to a 3700X when I can get one on sale in a few months. But you’re not losing a ton of performance.

I had an MSI B350 board before the one I currently have cos I was running an APU during the mining days after selling my RX 580 for a lot more than it was worth. Worked fine but I never pushed it but the BIOS was tidy. I have a Gigabyte X570 now and the BIOs is different but I need to learn it, it came with the IO shield preinstalled which was nice and came with a ton of features and enough VRM to choke a horse but it is a £220 board. Intending to push my 2600 and RAM as far as I can with it over the next week (just got my new cooler). Hard to tell the difference as the MSI was a £80 board at the time and the gigabyte is close to triple the price.
I believe buildzoud have a first impressions of pretty much every X570 board recently though on his own channel and gamers nexus which you might want to look at.

X570 vs 470 vs B450

Yeah, I was just sitting here thinking X570 is best for long term, and to get the most of it go with a Ryzen 5 3600/3600X with plans to upgrade to a Ryzen 7.
 
As I was just here thinking about it, and like you said, long term it's better to go with the X570 sho


Yeah, I was just sitting here thinking X570 is best for long term, and to get the most of it go with a Ryzen 5 3600/3600X with plans to upgrade to a Ryzen 7.

Kinda expensive for that. Went with the 2600 as it’s around 10-15% worse than a 3600 but was like £80 cheaper. And I’ll just put it in a new PC for the parents when I’m done with it.
 

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
Kinda expensive for that. Went with the 2600 as it’s around 10-15% worse than a 3600 but was like £80 cheaper. And I’ll just put it in a new PC for the parents when I’m done with it.

Wow, thanks for that comparison video... definitely changed my thinking!

He said the main thing about X470 is SLI support, which I don't and won't need. After watching it I think the MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon is what I'm going to go with but the Tomahawk and Gaming Plus would be okay (which ironically is the first two I was considering when I first started upgrading a year ago). What's your opinion?

I just remembered, I ordered a Crucial NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD . I saw M.2 on X470 but from what I read it goes into a PCIe slot, below the GPU. Am I correct or does it need a dedicated M.2 slot?

Then still go with a Ryzen 7? I wish NewEgg had TDP included in the description.

All three boards are 3466MHz max, still suggest the Corsair Dominator?
 
Last edited:

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
Kinda expensive for that. Went with the 2600 as it’s around 10-15% worse than a 3600 but was like £80 cheaper. And I’ll just put it in a new PC for the parents when I’m done with it.

I'm trying to figure out which processor goes with the B450 boards but even on the MSI site and the download datasheet I can't find the TDP numbers.
 
I'm trying to figure out which processor goes with the B450 boards but even on the MSI site and the download datasheet I can't find the TDP numbers.

TDP for the chips is either 65 or 95W personally would get a 2600/2700. The 3000 series are good but unless you need the extra 10-15% there’s no point in spending twice as much.
My B350 was a mortar (Same series as the Tomahawk) and didn’t have issue with it.

For video work I’d go with the r7.

If it’s NVME the M.2 slot is a PCIE enables connector.

I’m only suggesting dominator because I know it definitely works. You should be fine with any speed up to 3600 but you can always under lock the RAM to 3466 if the board for some reason doesn’t like jt
 

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
TDP for the chips is either 65 or 95W personally would get a 2600/2700. The 3000 series are good but unless you need the extra 10-15% there’s no point in spending twice as much.
My B350 was a mortar (Same series as the Tomahawk) and didn’t have issue with it.

For video work I’d go with the r7.

If it’s NVME the M.2 slot is a PCIE enables connector.

I’m only suggesting dominator because I know it definitely works. You should be fine with any speed up to 3600 but you can always under lock the RAM to 3466 if the board for some reason doesn’t like jt

It's weird I can't find TDP numbers, thanks for the info and all of your help!

So I'm going with the MSI Gaming Pro Carbon and a Ryzen 7 2700, and I'll probably get the Corsair Dominator RAM.

After doing more digging I found the Gaming Pro board has 2 M.2 slots.

I don't know much, or really anything about Radeon GPU's...never had one. Why do you suggest the R7 over the 1050ti?

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Radeon-R7-Graphics-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/m8791vs3649
 
I m
It's weird I can't find TDP numbers, thanks for the info and all of your help!

So I'm going with the MSI Gaming Pro Carbon and a Ryzen 7 2700, and I'll probably get the Corsair Dominator RAM.

After doing more digging I found the Gaming Pro board has 2 M.2 slots.

I don't know much, or really anything about Radeon GPU's...never had one. Why do you suggest the R7 over the 1050ti?

https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Radeon-R7-Graphics-vs-Nvidia-GTX-1050-Ti/m8791vs3649
I meant R7 as in Ryzen 7 for video work over a 5 lol.

a lot of boards do. Mines an ITX and they’ve managed to fit 2 m.2 slots on it.
 

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
I m

I meant R7 as in Ryzen 7 for video work over a 5 lol.

a lot of boards do. Mines an ITX and they’ve managed to fit 2 m.2 slots on it.

haha ok

I was thinking M.2 was a new thing.

Thanks again for your help and input!

Now I just have to figure out how to do it. Lol I have no doubt I can, just don't want to mess anything up.
 

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
Ordered the motherboard and processor.

Quick questions- I was just looking around at other memory to check availability and prices...thinking about ordering another in addition to the Dominator. Someone told me before, with what I'm doing, I wouldn't see much difference going to 32GB. What do you think?

What are the difference in these 3...the higher priced one specifically says for AMD but the $99.95 is the one that PCPartPicker.com linked to when I put the Gaming Pro board and Ryzen 7 in... no compatibility issues.


https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232483

https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/0RN-001W-004W6
 
Ordered the motherboard and processor.

Quick questions- I was just looking around at other memory to check availability and prices...thinking about ordering another in addition to the Dominator. Someone told me before, with what I'm doing, I wouldn't see much difference going to 32GB. What do you think?

What are the difference in these 3...the higher priced one specifically says for AMD but the $99.95 is the one that PCPartPicker.com linked to when I put the Gaming Pro board and Ryzen 7 in... no compatibility issues.


https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820232483

just ignore the stuff about Ryzen because it was back in 1st gen.
https://www.newegg.com/g-skill-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/0RN-001W-004W6
PC Part picker doesn’t ping things like RAM/motherboard comparability more just like stopping you pair a new board with DDR2 or something.

I’d personally say you’d benefit from 32 because editing large files takes up a lot and so does large CAD projects. Also think Linus Tech tips did a video on RAM I’ll look for it and edit it in here.

Just ignore the stuff about Ryzen it’s from 1sr gen
 
Last edited:

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
PC Part picker doesn’t ping things like RAM/motherboard comparability more just like stopping you pair a new board with DDR2 or something.

I’d personally say you’d benefit from 32 because editing large files takes up a lot and so does large CAD projects. Also think Linus Tech tips did a video on RAM I’ll look for it and edit it in here.

Just ignore the stuff about Ryzen it’s from 1sr gen

Oh thanks for the video! Instead of 2x16GB I'm better off with 4x8Gb to fill all DIMM slots, correct?

The reviews for the on sale $99.95 RAM specifically mentions using it with a Ryzen 7 2700 but from what I understand the compatibility is with the motherboard?
 
Oh thanks for the video! Instead of 2x16GB I'm better off with 4x8Gb to fill all DIMM slots, correct?

The reviews for the on sale $99.95 RAM specifically mentions using it with a Ryzen 7 2700 but from what I understand the compatibility is with the motherboard?
NO! You don't have quad channel support to 4 sticks runs in 2xDual channel which strains the controller and can actually decrease performance.

What do you mean?
 

TimH77

Reputable
Jul 21, 2017
155
7
4,595
NO! You don't have quad channel support to 4 sticks runs in 2xDual channel which strains the controller and can actually decrease performance.

What do you mean?

So 32GB = 2x16GB then

What I meant- when talking about RAM and compatibility, what matters is the compatibility between the RAM and the motherboard.

Processor and RAM compatibility, does it play a part or is it just RAM+motherboard compatibility that matters?