0-20k Motherboard buying advice

greenhorn

greenhorn

Enclave Plus
Juggernaut
I have a GTX 1080 i bought with the intention of doing an egpu setup, but i realised that my ryzen 3 tiny has neither the slots nor the performance to do justice to it. I was looking at 12th gen tiny PC and they cost almost as much as a new assembled one. So looking at new/used assembled options.

I'm a bit out of date. The last assembled build I did was 15 years ago and I'm sure things have moved on. I'm a bit confused by the motherboard options.

My needs. Cheapest cpu mobo combination that will not bottleneck the gtx 1080 for 1080p gaming - single player only
What I don't need
Overclocking
Onboard wifi or fancy audio
RGB or any bling or support for aftermarket accessories like aio, fans etc

What i like
Reliability
Smaller form factor for smaller cabinets
Future proof - ideally ddr5 with a socket that will support a 12th gen or equivalent amd with a few more generations possible
Good warranty support
Fast and more usb ports
At least 2 or more nvme and sata ports with as little lane sharing as possible
What do you guys recommend
 
20k is too low of a budget for a decent DDR5 CPU + mobo. IMO get R5 5600 (12-13k) + cheap B550 mobo (6-7k). VFM B550 mobo is MSI B550M Pro VDH WiFi (10k), which has 2x M.2 slots, 4x RAM slots, WiFi+BT & good enough VRM for the price to support something like 5800X3D in the future. Cheap mobos have 1x M.2 slot, 2x RAM slots & VRMs enough for R5 5600 but nothing more.
 
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You could get a decent B660 mobo like the MSI PRO-A along with an i3 12100F and that would be ideal for gaming for quite a long time. A valid upgrade from that would be an i5 13600K or i5 14600K. Or you could extend your budget to 30k and pick up a Ryzen 5 7600 + a cheap B650 mobo. AMD promised support for their current AM5 socket (which the Ryzen 5 is on) until 2026, maybe it could extend even more. So you could drop in a CPU upgrade when the last supported series for AM5 comes out.
 
greenhorn said:
No I am not counting cost of RAM - this is purely CPU +MOBO budget
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If you take the 2nd link, it'll be a shade over 20K.
If you went with a 12400F, it'll be a little closer to 22K - but it would mean that, logically, your next upgrade would be replacing the 1080 with something more modern. With decent cooling, you can upgrade CPU all the way up to the 14900K. Typically CPU upgrade cycles last a whole lot longer than the GPU ones, especially with more and more game studios intent on releasing unoptimized games at the bleeding edge of FPS. Good luck with your search!
 
What's the recommend motherboard brand these days? I see asrock available which used to be forbidden fruit as they were the best but not available. My past two boards were Asus (a7n8x vm) because they were high quality but their warranty service was a gamble due to rashi. Switched to gigabyte (ga-m61smes2) due to that.

While I am inclined to go with Intel because their lower end processors seem good value (90's athlon fanboy me just died a little saying that) but I'm open to going with amd for old times sake.
 
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greenhorn said:
What's the recommend motherboard brand these days? I see asrock available which used to be forbidden fruit as they were the best but not available. My past two boards were Asus (a7n8x vm) because they were high quality but their warranty service was a gamble due to rashi. Switched to gigabyte (ga-m61smes2) due to that.

While I am inclined to go with Intel because their lower end processors seem good value (90's athlon fanboy me just died a little saying that) but I'm open to going with amd for old times sake.
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I have an MSI board for my i5 12400. Very happy with it. Asus has compromised QC post pandemic, is my perception
 
greenhorn said:
What's the recommend motherboard brand these days? I see asrock available which used to be forbidden fruit as they were the best but not available. My past two boards were Asus (a7n8x vm) because they were high quality but their warranty service was a gamble due to rashi. Switched to gigabyte (ga-m61smes2) due to that.

While I am inclined to go with Intel because their lower end processors seem good value (90's athlon fanboy me just died a little saying that) but I'm open to going with amd for old times sake.
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AsRocks pulls some shady stuff & have some low quality mobos as well, but those are fine at low end. It becomes a problem mainly at high-end on Intel side where the power draw is very high vs AMD. I generally recommend whichever is VFM, usually that's MSI or Gigabyte.

The i7 12700 is a 170-180W CPU & i5 13600K draws close to 180W now. The i7 & i9s can break 250W power draw.

mobo VRM B660 i7 12700.png
 
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OMEGA44-XT said:
AsRocks pulls some shady stuff & have some low quality mobos as well, but those are fine at low end. It becomes a problem mainly at high-end on Intel side where the power draw is very high vs AMD. I generally recommend whichever is VFM, usually that's MSI or Gigabyte.

The i7 12700 is a 170-180W CPU & i5 13600K draws close to 180W now. The i7 & i9s can break 250W power draw.

View attachment 192314
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So does that mean my decision of buying Amd was a good decision?
 
greenhorn said:
with a few more generations possible
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I havent read the rest of the thread, but this requirement alone disqualifies Intel from your options. They love changing sockets every generation or two.
Even if you decide to upgrade, I'd say AMD so that you have the choice of upgrading the board or not. It's not forced upon you by big blue.
 
captivating said:
I have purchased x670e and 7950x3d
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I will say 7950X3D is not a good CPU for anyone, 7950X is a bit better for productivity while being cheaper & 7800X3D is better for gaming, and also cheaper. X670E is an enthusiast board & overpriced IMO. If you are indeed someone who needs those high number of PCIe lanes, then yes, it will be worth it. PCIe 5.0 is good for futureproofing. I feel a good ATX B650 mobo is enough for most, but I'm more into value-for-money stuff.

1709868630049.jpeg
 
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