Question B650 motherboard's which one

[Tech Junky]

How would that SSD compare to the WD sn850x overall is team group good quality ?

I've used their RAM but not their drives. I've used other brands with the same controllers though and their cache depletes quickly and sometimes runs hot and will throttle quicker. I haven't had any issues with their RAM. I guess I'm just a bit pickier about drives and their performance.

 

[NS99]

I've used their RAM but not their drives. I've used other brands with the same controllers though and their cache depletes quickly and sometimes runs hot and will throttle quicker. I haven't had any issues with their RAM. I guess I'm just a bit pickier about drives and their performance.

Thank you, WD SN850x it is

 

[NS99]

The ASRock B650 steel legend looks to be about the best value in its class, that or even one of the x670 models, But there is like no or very limited stock here in Canada, looks to be the same in the USA, Hopefully ASRock will restock them.

 

[Iron Woode]

The ASRock B650 steel legend looks to be about the best value in its class, that or even one of the x670 models, But there is like no or very limited stock here in Canada, looks to be the same in the USA, Hopefully ASRock will restock them.

I was looking for that board and Canada Computers didn't have it listed. My first choice is the Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite Pro AX which I can get for around $260 CDN. CC does have DDR5 32GB kits on sale - Corsair Vengence 6000 CL36 for $139 with a $10 off coupon but that sale ends in 13 hours.

 

[Tech Junky]

ASRock will restock them

Maybe but, they might just be clearing out stock with the new boards coming soon.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I have been using ASRock for years with multiple builds and never had an issue with them. I've used the steel legend with Intel and other models for different purposes. Currently using the PG Lightning with a 7900X. Picked it up for $160 on Amazon as someone returned it without upgrading the uefi which is probably why they returned it. It did take testing 2-3 versions before finding the right one that worked 100%.

Stoked you bumped this thread. The PG Lighting is what I have zeroed in on. I trust your judgement implicitly, so unless someone has a more compelling board near $150 I think I'm sold.

 

[NS99]

Maybe but, they might just be clearing out stock with the new boards coming soon.

Thank you for your input in this thread, i started looking at ASrock due to your post as I wasn't really familiar with them, thats kinda what i was thinking too clearing out stock

Here is a couple of my options right now the X670e pro RS is $295 the X670E PG lightning is $310 and the X670E steel legend is $374

the only other boards in stock up here is a B650 PG lightning for $200 and a B650 Pro RS for for $214.

Out of the 3 X670e boards do you have favourite 1, it will probably come down to the best sale price

I'm in no hurry to buy I have the CPU, MB and GPU yet to get, hopefully there will be some good back to school sales lol

 

[Tech Junky]

favourite

I go off the best allocations for resources and the x670e had the best specs in the right places and happens to be their only x board model. If you look for "used" options on Amazon you should be able to get them down to ~$200 as the prices spiked a bit after I grabbed mine last Aug.

I would grab the models you're interested in and compare them on ASRock site and also on PCpartpicker. PCP is useful for true opinions instead of the fluffy reviews you might run into in other places.

I had the Intel SL and it worked fine for years but, for this AMD version I needed more slots.

bumped

NP.

 

[NS99]

I was looking for that board and Canada Computers didn't have it listed. My first choice is the Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite Pro AX which I can get for around $260 CDN. CC does have DDR5 32GB kits on sale - Corsair Vengence 6000 CL36 for $139 with a $10 off coupon but that sale ends in 13 hours.

Hey another Canadian lol, I've been watching memory express, new egg and canada computers for sales, plus a few other, I got the TeamGroup T-FORCE DELTA RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 6000MHz CL30 from Canada computers for $129.99, and the be quiet pure power 12m 850w for $135, from the newegg daily deals I got a NZXT kraken elite 280 RGB liquid cooler for $150, there like $350 reg. also got off the daily deals WD sn850x 1TB for $125 reg like $210, and a case off amazon the NZXT non RGB for $95 that was the cheapest I found. down the road I'll add the 120 RGB fans to the front. So watch the sales, thats the only time I buy, the prime days and other sales that week sucked though, Right when I started looking to buy my parts, Canada computers had the 7800x3d on sale for $400, I didn't realize it was a good buy, it been $500 since, so I figure I'll be waiting for that for a while to come on sale, or I might step up and get one of the new Ryzen 9's depending on the bench marks of those.

 

[NS99]

I go off the best allocations for resources and the x670e had the best specs in the right places and happens to be their only x board model. If you look for "used" options on Amazon you should be able to get them down to ~$200 as the prices spiked a bit after I grabbed mine last Aug.

I would grab the models you're interested in and compare them on ASRock site and also on PCpartpicker. PCP is useful for true opinions instead of the fluffy reviews you might run into in other places.

I had the Intel SL and it worked fine for years but, for this AMD version I needed more slots.


NP.

Thank you, yeah I think you put me onto PCpartpicker as well I use that quite a bit. I'm always leary of buying used, even open box as i seen a few steel legends for that.

 

[Tech Junky]

always leary of buying used

Just use a retailer with a no questions return policy like Amazon.

 

[NS99]

I go off the best allocations for resources and the x670e had the best specs in the right places and happens to be their only x board model. If you look for "used" options on Amazon you should be able to get them down to ~$200 as the prices spiked a bit after I grabbed mine last Aug.

I would grab the models you're interested in and compare them on ASRock site and also on PCpartpicker. PCP is useful for true opinions instead of the fluffy reviews you might run into in other places.

I had the Intel SL and it worked fine for years but, for this AMD version I needed more slots.


NP.

I don't understand all the spec differences in them like allocations for resources etc lol I'm looking at the basics like PCie express 5.0 M2 5.0 and how many extra slots, VRam, heat sinks, ports etc, i do a lot of youtubing lol.
Should add I can get the B650e Taichi Lite for $360, I'm watching for a sale on that one as well
Thanks for the info

​

 

[Iron Woode]

Hey another Canadian lol, I've been watching memory express, new egg and canada computers for sales, plus a few other, I got the TeamGroup T-FORCE DELTA RGB 32GB (2x16GB) DDR5 6000MHz CL30 from Canada computers for $129.99, and the be quiet pure power 12m 850w for $135, from the newegg daily deals I got a NZXT kraken elite 280 RGB liquid cooler for $150, there like $350 reg. also got off the daily deals WD sn850x 1TB for $125 reg like $210, and a case off amazon the NZXT non RGB for $95 that was the cheapest I found. down the road I'll add the 120 RGB fans to the front. So watch the sales, thats the only time I buy, the prime days and other sales that week sucked though, Right when I started looking to buy my parts, Canada computers had the 7800x3d on sale for $400, I didn't realize it was a good buy, it been $500 since, so I figure I'll be waiting for that for a while to come on sale, or I might step up and get one of the new Ryzen 9's depending on the bench marks of those.

CC did have the corsair ram for $125 but it was a very limited time deal. I didn't see it until it was almost over and I didn't have the money.

there is also Aliexpress. They have some good deals but always be cautious.

I am in London, Ontario.

 

[NS99]

CC did have the corsair ram for $125 but it was a very limited time deal. I didn't see it until it was almost over and I didn't have the money.

there is also Aliexpress. They have some good deals but always be cautious.

I am in London, Ontario.

Cool, I lived in Ontario from the mid 90's until early 2000's I knew the area pretty good, I'm in Nova Scotia now

 

[Tech Junky]

spec differences

That's what matters if you're planning things out and loading every available resource.

Lookup the bandwidth chart for PCIE. Each gen doubles the bw per lane allocated.

Look and pay attn to the slot x numbers because even though they physically might be x16 in length they can be wired for x1/4/8/16 in terms of lanes. I found a couple of oddball boards that were wired for x2 even.

What stood out for me was the x1 slot is Gen 4 and I could squeeze a 10ge card into it if needed and get full bandwidth from it.

With storage in mind having the dedicated bw per slot that doesn't change when you add cards makes bifurcation of slot 1 and easier proposition than having to lose the use of another slot toml maintain proper bandwidth for multiple drives hanging off slot 1. Slot 2 still would provide enough bandwidth for a GPU if needed.

 

[Tech Junky]

@NS99

The block diagram info in the manual for each MOBO will tell you where things are being allocated to. It's also important that anything off either chipset will be bottlenecked to x4 bandwidth.

So, as seen here you get 2 slots direct to the CPU x16 // x4 and 1 M2. From there you lose bandwidth even though they're rated at Gen4 if there's more than one device in use as they'll compete for bandwidth.

PCIe slots:
PCIE1 (PCIe 5.0 x16 slot) is used for PCIe x16 lane width graphics cards.
PCIE2 (PCIe 4.0 x1 slot) is used for PCIe x1 lane width cards.
PCIE3 (PCIe 4.0 x16 slot) is used for PCIe x4 lane width graphics cards.
PCIE4 (PCIe 4.0 x16 slot) is used for PCIe x1 lane width cards.

 

[NS99]

@Tech Junky

Thanks that is great info really appreciate it, and for explaining it out, I didn't know that.

So if I understand it right

The x670e Pro RS has 1 5x16 slot ( not sure how many lanes) 1 m2 5x4 and 1 m2 4x4 slots on the main chip

the x670e Steel legend has 1 5x16/8 slot 1 m2 5x4 and 1 m2 3x4 on the main chip then 1 m2 4x4 on the 1st chip, you'd think they would have those m2 3x4 and 4x4 slots switched

So looking at that I think the Pro RS has the edge

however The Pro RS has a 14+2+1 Power Phase, 60A with 1x8 and 1x4 power connector
The steel legend has a 16+2+1 Power Phase, 60A with 2 1x8 power connectors with Nichicon 12K Black Caps (100% Japan made high quality conductive polymer capacitors
Do put any stock or thoughts into that, I feel both should be ample anyhow

 

[Rigg]

Stoked you bumped this thread. The PG Lighting is what I have zeroed in on. I trust your judgement implicitly, so unless someone has a more compelling board near $150 I think I'm sold.

I did a search for "PG Lightning" on the forums when you were asking about the B650 PG lightning in the build thread. I noticed @Tech Junky mentioned in another thread that he has the X670E PG lightning and not the B650 PG lightning you're looking at. That shouldn't dissuade you from buying it though. Just wanted to clear up the apparent confusion.

 

[NS99]

I did a search for "PG Lightning" on the forums when you were asking about the B650 PG lightning in the build thread. I noticed @Tech Junky mentioned in another thread that he has the X670E PG lightning and not the B650 PG lightning you're looking at. That shouldn't dissuade you from buying it though. Just wanted to clear up the apparent confusion.

Thank you , yes as we went along here I kinda figured he had the X670E boards, The more the learn and understand this stuff I think the only B650 board I'd get would be the Steel legend, their still about $270 but out of stock , the X670E Pro RS is $100 off right now for $295 thinking that might be the way i go

 

[Tech Junky]

@NS99

For the other stuff like phases and caps and such it doesn't matter to me as much. The number of phases slide up the scale as you get more features packed onto a board.

What matters is if the board survives power up and sustained use within the return window. It's either going to work or die. Reviews usually will indicate the odds of success.

ASRock is nice about using standard connectors for things like adding thunderbolt using the simple 5 pin header where others might use some 14 pin or some combo plug setup.

Since 2015 when I got into building again I've used at least 10 different models and brands but, keep coming back to ASRock for the features and price. They offer a good mix of features and flexibility.

 

[Rigg]

@Tech Junky

Thanks that is great info really appreciate it, and for explaining it out, I didn't know that.

So if I understand it right

The x670e Pro RS has 1 5x16 slot ( not sure how many lanes) 1 m2 5x4 and 1 m2 4x4 slots on the main chip

the x670e Steel legend has 1 5x16/8 slot 1 m2 5x4 and 1 m2 3x4 on the main chip then 1 m2 4x4 on the 1st chip, you'd think they would have those m2 3x4 and 4x4 slots switched

So looking at that I think the Pro RS has the edge

however The Pro RS has a 14+2+1 Power Phase, 60A with 1x8 and 1x4 power connector
The steel legend has a 16+2+1 Power Phase, 60A with 2 1x8 power connectors with Nichicon 12K Black Caps (100% Japan made high quality conductive polymer capacitors
Do put any stock or thoughts into that, I feel both should be ample anyhow

This might make it a bit clearer if the block diagram isn't. Look at the the slots and storage sections in the specs.

ASRock X670E Steel Legend

Supports AMD Ryzen™ 9000, 8000 and 7000 Series Processors; 16+2+1 Phase Power Design, SPS; 4 x DDR5 DIMMs, Supports Dual Channel, up to 7600+ (OC); 1 PCIe 5.0 x16,, 1 PCIe 3.0 x16,, 1 PCIe 3.0 x1; Graphics Output Options: 1 HDMI, 1 DisplayPort; Realtek ALC1220 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec, Nahimic...

www.asrock.com

ASRock X670E Pro RS

Supports AMD Ryzen™ 9000, 8000 and 7000 Series Processors; 14+2+1 Phase Power Design, SPS; 4 x DDR5 DIMMs, Supports Dual Channel, up to 7600+ (OC); 1 PCIe 5.0 x16,, 2 PCIe 4.0 x1,, 1 M.2 Key-E for WiFi; Graphics Output Options: 1 HDMI, 1 DisplayPort; Realtek ALC897 7.1 CH HD Audio Codec, Nahimic...

www.asrock.com

I'd say having a 2nd 4.0x4 M.2 connected directly to the CPU (Pro RS) is more desirable than a 3.0x4 (x16 physical) PCIE slot and some extra USB connected directly to the CPU (Steel Legend).

Theoretically the steel legend's VRM will run a bit cooler because of the extra 2 Vcore 60a powerstages. In practice its probably not much of a difference. I don't have any temp testing, but I highly doubt the steel legend runs significantly cooler. Either should be more than ample. The upgraded caps might give the board a bit more longevity but I'd file that under "nice to have" vs "selling point". The secondary 4 pin vs 8 pin doesn't matter. A single 8 pin would be adequate.

Thank you , yes as we went along here I kinda figured he had the X670E boards, The more the learn and understand this stuff I think the only B650 board I'd get would be the Steel legend, their still about $270 but out of stock , the X670E Pro RS is $100 off right now for $295 thinking that might be the way i go

That comment was for @DAPUNISHER. He's thinking about buying a B650 PG lightning for the 7800X3D I sold him. His post was saying @Tech Junky 's endorsement of the PG lightning was weighing his decision. I was just trying to clear up that TJ appears to have the X670E PG lightning and not the B650.

You really need to have some specific requirements to spend the money on X670(E) over B650(E). In all likelihood, paying over $200 for a motherboard is probably not a good investment for a 7800X3D/7800XT based gaming system. 800 series boards are also right around the corner. I'll have to more carefully reread the thread tomorrow instead of skimming to offer solid advice though.

 

[Tech Junky]

You really need to have some specific requirements to spend the money on X670(E) over B650(E). In all likelihood, paying over $200 for a motherboard is probably not a good investment for a 7800X3D/7800XT based gaming system. 800 series boards are also right around the corner. I'll have to more carefully reread the thread tomorrow instead of skimming to offer solid advice though.

If in the right place / right time and under $200 it makes sense to go for the higher tier controller. The problem though seems to be Canadian pricing / inventory skews the pricing.

The perks of the X670E are flexibility in CPU attached devices / lanes. And Gen5 speeds are there for when it makes sense to move in that direction later on. Also, considering the AM5 socket is supposed to live for a couple more years aka more CPU generations that can drop in to add more performance later as well.


As to the new 800 series boards coming in Sept.. only difference is mandated USB4 ports on the boards. I would expect the prices to go up from where we see current HW trading at right now because of this. Considering that AICs for this sort of thing currently hove around $100 it wouldn't be a long shot that the inflation would be about the same. if the 40gbps ports aren't a high priority then waiting will be pointless.

In either case though at least going with the E version of either would be my recommendation for the extra lanes for use. Kind of like the "pay now, or pay later" if you do it right the first time you won't have to spend more time/money again later.

 

[Rigg]

If in the right place / right time and under $200 it makes sense to go for the higher tier controller. The problem though seems to be Canadian pricing / inventory skews the pricing.

Agreed. I bought a X670E Steel legend for $200 when faced with this very scenario. Paying a premium for it for a gaming rig probably isn't worth it is all I was saying. But yes if the price is the same by all means grab the higher tier chipset.

The perks of the X670E are flexibility in CPU attached devices / lanes. And Gen5 speeds are there for when it makes sense to move in that direction later on. Also, considering the AM5 socket is supposed to live for a couple more years aka more CPU generations that can drop in to add more performance later as well.

I'm aware. This doesn't usually pan out in my experience though. The extra I/O is nice but I'm kinda meh on Gen5. Remember everyone saying x570 was the way to go back in 2019 for 4.0 storage? It was a must have selling point for future direct storage games! I probably parroted this talking point myself.

As to the new 800 series boards coming in Sept.. only difference is mandated USB4 ports on the boards. I would expect the prices to go up from where we see current HW trading at right now because of this. Considering that AICs for this sort of thing currently hove around $100 it wouldn't be a long shot that the inflation would be about the same. if the 40gbps ports aren't a high priority then waiting will be pointless.

Fair points. Still, it might be nice to see what the new boards offer price/feature wise if the build isn't imminent.

In either case though at least going with the E version of either would be my recommendation for the extra lanes for use. Kind of like the "pay now, or pay later" if you do it right the first time you won't have to spend more time/money again later.

Not bad advice. There usually isn't a huge premium to go to E on either chipset. 4 of my AM5 boards are B650E.

 

[NS99]

@Rigg
You are right a X670e board for what I'm doing is probably going to be overkill for sure, So over the years I probably built 5 Pc's this will be the 6th, but every other time I just ordered and bought what ever looked good and slapped it together lol I had pretty good luck I think, I almost did the same this time, was going to do an intel build, and thought I'd actually take my time and look into the specs and such a bit better as this will be a my first really gaming PC, glad I did and glad I joined here.

So Tech Junky is exactly right, The more I learned and understood especially about the Motherboards the pricing here in Canada is a bit messed, A good B650 board will run $250 ish to $300, Maybe a little closer to $200 when on sale, But if I catch the sales right the higher end boards X670 and X670e are on sale for $280ish to $300
For example the B650 PG lightning is on sale this week for $230, X670e PG Lightning came on sale today for 24 hours for $290 So my thinking is, is if I can can get an X670e board for about 50 -60 more I'd be better off in the long run.

 

[In2Photos]

All the extra I/O for the 670 boards sounds great in theory, but how many people will actually use it? Most are going to have 1-3 M.2 drives and a single GPU in the top x16 slot. Any B650 board will handle that just fine. Now if you start doing something more than that the extra PCI lanes may benefit you. Despite the availability of Gen 5 drives I stuck with Gen 4 due to price and temps. I just didn't see the benefit of Gen 5 when I built my system almost 18 months ago, nor do I even see it now. And we still don't have any Gen 5 GPUs.

But if you can get an X670 for similar price points to B650, than by all means it makes sense to do so.