AMD's new 800-series chipsets are officially here, but are they worth the upgrade? We'll dive into performance, features, and pricing of the X870E motherboards from Asus, Asrock, Gigabyte, and MSI.
AMD X870 Flagship Roundup: Zen 5 Motherboards Are Here
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poshflamingos
Posts: 181 +390
LMAO @ $400+ motherboards
The only people who buy any of these are the kind of people who eat crayons.
The only people who buy any of these are the kind of people who eat crayons.
Starfals
Posts: 183 +142
I thought my 330 euro Steel Legend from Asrock was bad... but these boards are even worse lol. At these prices, you gotta be crazy to even consider them. Whats even more funny is... they are barely any different or better than the older stuff. I do see a few interesting things, but nothing worth the extra 200-300 bucks LOL.
P.s. I got that board cus it was either that or 500 euro board from Asus... yeah, it was long time ago. Now people got a huge choice. There are many options out there. Anyways, the new boards are just as meh as the new CPU's from AMD. This whole "generation" is a total skip. Even the X3D versions. They wont be a ton better than the older stuff too.
P.s. I got that board cus it was either that or 500 euro board from Asus... yeah, it was long time ago. Now people got a huge choice. There are many options out there. Anyways, the new boards are just as meh as the new CPU's from AMD. This whole "generation" is a total skip. Even the X3D versions. They wont be a ton better than the older stuff too.
Theinsanegamer
Posts: 5,993 +11,414
My P8Z77 v pro had a quality 16 phase VRM for $220. nowadays $200 gets you a 4 phase turd. This will just result in more people keeping their PCs for longer, if they have to pay this much for parts.
So if you want a good VRM you eat crayons. Gotcha.
MarcusNumb
Posts: 217 +378
In the discount season, from 230 to 300usd/euros I can get an amazing Motherboard. But if you want to flex and you can, go ahead. The more I read about new GPUs, CPUs or MOBOs, the longer I want to keep my current rigs. Nowadays there are much more important things to pay, like groceries...xD
PCI Express connectivity is what costs. PCIe 5.0 is expensive but also future proof. I expect to use my current motherboard with Zen6 and I also expect PCIe 5.0 is not outdated when Zen6 comes out.
VariableSpike
Posts: 328 +381
Well I'm sure glad I got my x670e taichi on discount considering the boards here may as well not be any different than being reskinned...
poshflamingos
Posts: 181 +390
Buddy, there are $150 motherboards with VRMs good enough to handle a 7950X/9950X or a 14900K. If you don't wanna bother looking at reviews to figure out which $150 one to buy, you only have to step up to the low $200-ish range for pretty much every motherboard at that price to handle any CPU without you having to think about it (which is already a waste of money, just check mobo roundup reviews right here on techspot and get yourself a good $150 one).
This "hurr I need good VRMs" thing is complete placebo to entice suckers. No CPU in existance requires the VRM headroom of these nonsensical high-end boards.
"Other than the toned-down look, the Taichi and Taichi Lite are the exact same motherboard."
That's incorrect. From the paragraph above.
"The VRM is covered by large heatsinks connected with a heat pipe, and despite this, Asrock still included a small active fan. However, we couldn't hear the fan during testing. ".
Lite version doesn't have the heatsinks or fan.
Taichi actually didn't increase in price which is pretty good. I can't speak for other mobos. I still have a x370 Taichi.
That's incorrect. From the paragraph above.
"The VRM is covered by large heatsinks connected with a heat pipe, and despite this, Asrock still included a small active fan. However, we couldn't hear the fan during testing. ".
Lite version doesn't have the heatsinks or fan.
Taichi actually didn't increase in price which is pretty good. I can't speak for other mobos. I still have a x370 Taichi.
You don't need more VRMs but more phases run cooler. I am willing to pay extra for less noise and less heat.
There is more to high-end mobos than just VRMs. Some care about audio quality. Realtek ALC4082+ESS9218 is only available on high-end mobos.
Sure, there is diminishing returns in the higher end of most products. My current mobo is 7y old so to me it's not a big deal to pay $4xx for mobo that I'll feel confident will be supported with BIOS updates and have what it takes for any future CPUs.
yRaz
Posts: 7,115 +11,053
Yeah, I don't see what people need all these VRMs for. Not only are the individual VRMs of today MUCH higher quality than they were even 10 years ago, we didn't need 16 of them. My Asus m2n32-SLI deluxe had 8 and that was considered the best AM2 board available at the time and had 3 generations of CPUs on it. Athlone X2, phenom x3 720BE and an FX 8150.
poshflamingos
Posts: 181 +390
There is no benefit to running cooler if the VRMs aren't hitting CPU-throttling temps. Whether your VRMs are running at 80ºC or 70ºC or 60ºC makes no difference whatsoever on how your PC performs or how noisy your fans get.
Audio quality is the biggest noob trap on these boards. A $25 Apple USB-C DAC will give you better audio quality than any integrated Realtek adapter on any motherboard will ever be able to.
Likewise, for things like USB ports or networking, you can get a PCIe adapter for what you need for a much lower price than the premiums these high-end boards ask for.
You don't need a high-end motherboard for that. Someone who bought a good B350 motherboard in 2017 can, to this day, just drop a Ryzen 5950X or 5800X3D on it with no problems.
Eldrach
Posts: 164 +167
Well, these are quite future proof - and we still have one more generation to go for this socket. I think the main reason for considering one of these will be future updates. Asus at least are known for ditching their lower end motherboards after around 2 years of updates, while still pushing updates for their high end series for 4 years+.
As for the insanely fast rearports - I’m curious to hear what people are plugging into them. Not usb-c screens..they’ll be connected to the gpu..does anyone use external drives anymore? There’s no keyboard/mice that requires this..even usb 2.0 is fast enough for that.
Probably some good uses - although I can’t really think of any
As for the insanely fast rearports - I’m curious to hear what people are plugging into them. Not usb-c screens..they’ll be connected to the gpu..does anyone use external drives anymore? There’s no keyboard/mice that requires this..even usb 2.0 is fast enough for that.
Probably some good uses - although I can’t really think of any
Backup internet connection from phone in cases wired connection fails? Not necessary to use wires if modem/router is in other room?
brucek
Posts: 1,947 +3,075
I wouldn't be shocked to hear that there are desktop users without ethernet wiring. WiFi has grown a lot more capable over the years, and not everyone, or their spouse, wants to run a physical wire halfway around a room or even from another room to make it happen. And other than the latest and greatest, it's not like it's a massive additional expense - I doubt a run of the mill WiFi chip goes for more than a few dollars at volume. There's probably already less useful parts in the box at that price.
But sure, yes, of course they'll use that and anything else to drive up the price to whatever people will pay.
Gastec
Posts: 587 +305
Just like it makes no difference if you make two slices of toast a day or twenty sclices of toast a day, it's all the same for the pre-sliced bread. Also heat output being equal to the amount of real power drawn is a fake statement in the non-existing branch of physics erroneusly called Thermodinamics.
kiwigraeme
Posts: 2,381 +1,688
All those M2 slots are nice, but really need a big advance in them ie 8Tb options for an OK price. Only really specific use cases to populate those slots. Considering you can buy 18TB refurnished spinning rust drives for $200
I really like that GPU unlock-button many 800 series boards have.
Good to see M.2 heatsinks on most boards now.
Good to see M.2 heatsinks on most boards now.
Because high-end boards are expected to have WiFi in this time and age.
If you don't need it, buy low-end.
There's tons of improvements if you actually look and read specs.
Intel Killer LAN 2.5G got replaced by a much better Realtek 5G NIC.
WiFi7 instead of WiFi6.
GPU Ez-Release button which is a trend on all new boards due to massive GPUs (and that is not changing)
Better VRM cooling
Just to name a few
Wow, this feels like a sidegrade act by design. New features like USB4 and Wifi7 are not enough for those asking prices. This reminds me of going from Intel Z690 to Z790 and switching from 13th to 14th Gen.
What else ist new?
- Boot times still kinda suck. 22-23 seconds on average, even if ok for most users, is not a great result for a 2 stick 32GB DDR5 config with high end hardware. We are talking fully 2nd Gen DDR5. It certainly won't get faster with other configs like 48GB or 64GB and you still need to hibernate a lot in 2024, when an old DDR3 2013 4790k or DDR4 2019 R5 3600 can boot in 6-10 seconds.
- Memory problems. Even with latency traded in, some rigs like the ASRock board can't reach the advertised memory speeds with the new Ryzen 9000 with top notch memory. Why is that still a thing when using a very modern pricey board, memory and a brand new CPU design? Can money buy comfort or Not?
- I know it's not important (for most users) but why does MSI fail to drive ECC, when it is supported by design? Their reaction to that, if happend like described in the article, is absurd.
- Concerning the new features: Any new standards or protocols (like USB4, WiFi 7 or 5G Lan) that you can also get with a PCI-E card (or even on some 600 Gen boards with a release date from this year) do not feel like a genuine USP or a legitimate reason for those price hikes. It's certainly not comparable like e.g. introducing a brand new PCI or DDR memory standard.
So I feel the 800 series are way overpriced (X870 and B850(e) won't be cheap either, I assume). Customers are not stupid (mostly) and the new boards will face the same fate as the initially overpriced Ryzen 9000 (non3d) CPUs: Drop MSRP really really soon or stay on the shelf.
What else ist new?
- Boot times still kinda suck. 22-23 seconds on average, even if ok for most users, is not a great result for a 2 stick 32GB DDR5 config with high end hardware. We are talking fully 2nd Gen DDR5. It certainly won't get faster with other configs like 48GB or 64GB and you still need to hibernate a lot in 2024, when an old DDR3 2013 4790k or DDR4 2019 R5 3600 can boot in 6-10 seconds.
- Memory problems. Even with latency traded in, some rigs like the ASRock board can't reach the advertised memory speeds with the new Ryzen 9000 with top notch memory. Why is that still a thing when using a very modern pricey board, memory and a brand new CPU design? Can money buy comfort or Not?
- I know it's not important (for most users) but why does MSI fail to drive ECC, when it is supported by design? Their reaction to that, if happend like described in the article, is absurd.
- Concerning the new features: Any new standards or protocols (like USB4, WiFi 7 or 5G Lan) that you can also get with a PCI-E card (or even on some 600 Gen boards with a release date from this year) do not feel like a genuine USP or a legitimate reason for those price hikes. It's certainly not comparable like e.g. introducing a brand new PCI or DDR memory standard.
So I feel the 800 series are way overpriced (X870 and B850(e) won't be cheap either, I assume). Customers are not stupid (mostly) and the new boards will face the same fate as the initially overpriced Ryzen 9000 (non3d) CPUs: Drop MSRP really really soon or stay on the shelf.
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Eldrach
Posts: 164 +167
Well - it’s a high end update. Wifi 7 is a nice addition and almost has the same delay as cabled connections if you’re fairly close to the router. Plenty of other cheaper options for motherboards if you dont need these features
I wouldn't buy any _without_ wifi.. My primary gaming PC is in my lounge room, and the less ugly cables I have to run is a bonus. I don't have any trouble streaming 4k videos direct from my NAS, or suffer slow transfers from other devices in my home.
I'm not a fast-twitch online gamer, but for everyday gaming or general use wifi is 100% fine.
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