AMD Mobo questions

[Max]

I'm about to pull the trigger on a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU and am looking for motherboard & memory RAM suggestions. These will be used for a desktop rebuild for my current ATX midtower.

My current SSD is a SanDisk 500 GB. Should I consider an M2 drive as well? Does that replace or accompany the SanDisk? Never used one before.

Any other considerations needed for a swap out from Intel CPU/MOBO to what I'm planning?

Thanks 

[jigsaw]

M2 can be used in conjunction with SSD/mech drives. I have a M2 boot/OS and mech for games/storage. (may do a SSD raid for games/storage at some point).

Caveat for mixing with the M2...  check your mobo manual to see if it might disable some of the SATA ports.

fyi, I saw a bigger difference in boot time and app launching when I went from mech to ssd than when I went from SSD to M2. YMMV

[Mayhem]

I Currently run 2 500bg SSDs in raid 0 (2x RW no Redundancy - loose one drive you loose it all) and 3 - 3tb HDD in a Raid 5 (1xW 2xR 1 drive failure redundancy).

Raid 5 with Mechanic HDD is still too slow specially if you need to write to them.

It was a PITA making Game Saves in Fallout 4 to my raid 5 array due to the size of the saves and it lock the game in the write process.

I would recommend another SSD or at least a raid 10 array (x2W x4R 1+ drive failure redundancy) mechanical HDD for games and their save files. Keep the slower with redundancy for simple data archival storage.

My new system which I now have all the parts for is going to run 2 2tb M.2 PCIE4 NVME SSDs (I'm debating putting these in raid 0 but from what I can tell you only get a performance boost in sustained reads and writes) and 4 - 4tb 7200rpm NAS grade SATA drives in raid 10.

Most AMD motherboards do not natively support raid 5 but they do support raid 10. You can still do a Stripe Set With Redundancy in windows.

You also have different kinds of SSDs even on M.2 such as M.2 Sata and M.2 Pcie NVME SSDs.

I would defiantly do your research on this.

[Brooke]

---- Motherboard ----

I like Gigabyte motherboards.

For that processor, I'd be tempted to get a GIGABYTE B550M DS3H motherboard for $95, as I think it would be good for the job.  If you feel like spending twice that, I'd get a Gigabyte X570 Aorus Elite, but I'm not sure it would provide you with anything you'd notice compared to the B550M.

I would flash it up to the latest bios before installing the OS.

---- RAM ----

I'd get DDR4-3200, 2 sticks, with CL (CAS latency) of about 16.  I'd get a brand I recognize as being decent (Corsair, Crucial (made by Micron), G.Skill, etc. and not Happy Panda brand).

I do not care at all about a heatsink on the RAM.  Totally superfluous.

Motherboard might require enabling XMP in bios settings to run your RAM at its maximum speed.  Motherboard in bios screen should show you what speed the RAM is running at.

---- SSD ----

I don't think you need to get another SSD.  Unless you are doing something special or it is nearing end of life, it is probably fine.

If you want to get another SSD, I'd get an NVMe M.2 SSD, probably a Western Digital Blue, and install the OS on that -- lower price than Samsung EVO and still plenty fast enough unless you are doing something unusual.

[Bizman]

Speaking about SATA and M.2 SSD's, the latter are faster. The question is, can you really benefit from the speed. For what I've read the speed differences are well measurable but rarely noticeable by the user. Same goes for RAID, in my opinion only RAID 1 (mirroring) is worth the cost and even that is questionable with sufficient backups.

Thus since you already have a relatively new SSD I'd use that until it fails. A second or two shorter boot time doesn't usually make any difference so spending extra money for new technology or RAID arrays just because they're faster may not be worth the cost.

[Shuffler]

While I run Intel, I like the Gigabyte boards too. They deal with heat very well also.

[Drano]

I've always had good luck with Asus boards. Currently running an X570-E Gaming with a 3900x. Lots of features. PCI-E 4, a couple of NVME M2SSD slots. Good for overclocking if that's your thing. Also if updated to the latest BIOS you can use the new 5000 series CPUs.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[Denniss]

The B550M DS3H has rather weak VRMs, better go with MSI B550 boards. Is there a special need for mATX boards?
M.2 is just a formfactor, there are also M.2 SATA SSDs.
Avoid WD Blue NVME SSD ad all cost - cheap cacheless design. WD Blue is good at SATA though but on NVMe its their cheap brand.
Sandisk has good and bad/slow/cheap SSDs, if you have a Sandisk plus (cacheless) then get a better one. Their Ultra3D SATA SSD is the sister of the WD Blue SATA SSD.

[Mayhem]

Speaking about SATA and M.2 SSD's, the latter are faster.

Umm no,  M.2 is just the form factor or the connection type and it comes in two flavors .... SATA and NVME. M.2 Sata is limited to the same speeds as your typically Sata III SSD where as NVME hits full PCIE speeds.

My laptop Has an M2 Sata and Sata III connector. When the mechanical drive it came with died I replaced it with a Sata III SSD and tossed in an M.2 Sata drive which has the same preformance as the sata III drive. My Laptop does not support M2 PCIE NVME SSDs.

My new desktop however has 2 Hyper m.2 slots and both support PCIEx4 NVME drives but only one supports Sata. It also has 8 Sata III connectors.   

yes you will notice the speed difference between 7200rpm Mechanical Sata drives and Sata SSDs. You will also notice a speed increase when putting two Sata III SSDs in Raid 0. You Will notice the speed difference again if you upgrade to a M.2 NVME PCIEx3 or PCIEx4 SSD.

However, a lot of people are claiming the performance gains of putting 2 M.2 pcie nvme cards in raid zero is minimal.

I have 3 - 3 tb 7200 RPM HDDs in a Raid 5 array which should give me 2x read performance and 1x write with a single disk failure fault protection. When I moved my Falllout 4 Save file location from my SSD raid 0 Array to my HDD raid 5 array saving my game took 10 times longer and would actually lock up my game for few seconds.

Again Spend the time and do your research or get a Computer Geek friend to help you out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA
https://www.velocitymicro.com/blog/nvme-vs-m-2-vs-sata-whats-the-difference/
https://youtu.be/Ffxkvf4KOt0
https://youtu.be/GgH0LPU9oes

[Bizman]

Umm no,  M.2 is just the form factor or the connection type and it comes in two flavors .... SATA and NVME. M.2 Sata is limited to the same speeds as your typically Sata III SSD where as NVME hits full PCIE speeds.

Thanks for the clarification. Obviously I meant NVME which is faster than SATA. The abbreviations can be puzzling and I guess when you go buying a new mobo and an M.2 SSD you get NVME.

[100Coogn]

I've always had good luck with Asus boards. Currently running an X570-E Gaming with a 3900x. Lots of features. PCI-E 4, a couple of NVME M2SSD slots. Good for overclocking if that's your thing. Also if updated to the latest BIOS you can use the new 5000 series CPUs.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

That's a really good board.  I have the Asus X570-F (didn't need Wi-Fi).
Running two M.2 NVME drives and two WD Black 6TB HDD's.

Coogan

[Drano]

Yeah I didn't either but the F model wasn't available. Got a better deal on a bundle of that mobo and the 3900x at a Microcenter a half hour away in PA than I could get anywhere online. That was literally the day before the lock down. Place was a mad house!

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[100Coogn]

Went with the 3800x, for simple financial reasons.
Still trying to get my hands on a RTX 3080.   Damn scalpers... 

Coogan

[Drano]

Tell me about it! I purposely didn't buy a video card in March knowing the new ones would be coming out in October and I'd just figure that out then. Then that launch happened! Maybe I'll be able to get a 4000 series in a couple of years? Lol

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[100Coogn]

I wish you luck.  I think we should pre-order now.   

Coogan