Mobo for Ryzen 2700X?

[Morne]

Hi guys

So if I'm planning on building a modest multi-GPU rig, what mobo can I get if my CPU is a Ryzen 2700X?
I've had a quick look and seem most of these only come with 2 or 3 slots for gpu. I'd probably only have 1 GPU in there, but would like to know I have the option to add more later

Looks like the X470 chipset boards are the new ones

Or should I be looking at something else?

Budgets are tight!

[Muhammed_Hamed]

the 2700X has 24 PCIe lanes, and in many Mobos 4 of these are used by chepset for things like M.2 and other devices
So you are only left with 20 PCIe lanes, on 2/3 slots
For optimal results you should run your cards at x8 at least, x4 will affect loading your scene into VRAM, but mostly you will be fine with 3 cards
X470 Boards are very cheap, I would recommend the Maximus Hero which is at 250 USD
It is probably the best/most expensive Board for this platfrom, and it should handle 3 cards without issues in future (x8,x8,x4)
If you want something cheaper, see the X470 Strix at 160 USD, but for 3 cards and considering how cheap boards are for this platform go for the Maximus Hero

[Morne]

Thanks for that.

Do you get boards that support 4 or more GPUs for the 2700X?
Or do I need to look at a different CPU then?

[Muhammed_Hamed]

I don't think there is a board that has more than 3 full sized, PCIe slots for this platform
An affordable solution for 4 GPUs would be 1920X(very cheap now) and something like X399 Gaming pro Carbon
Or look for an i7 6850k and an X99 board that has 4 PCIe slots, but these are quite rare now
With TR, you will have up to 5 slots(with a specific Mobo), so you can fit 3 cards on Mobo and maybe use 2 Ryzer cables for the other 2 cards or just use 4 cards directly on board
On Intel's side, X299 for example , you can have up to 7 slots and again you can only fit 4 on Mobo, so if you want to make use of all slots you will need riser cables(Anything above 5 cards will not work out of box, you will need to do some work)
Then with 2 Xeons, you can have up to 7,8,10 and 11 slots without the need for risers
With Thunderbot 3 support on some high end Intel Mobos, you should be able to use eGPUs(up to 4 through an external box)
There are more ways to run multiple cards, but I would not recommend, like PCIe clusters or running cards on x1 slots, things get complicated and there will be a performance hit

[Muhammed_Hamed]

hmm there is a 1900X as well, that is an 8 core, the cheapest TR if you can find it

[Morne]

Yeah I don't think I will have budget for a Threadripper. It's a modest PC that will start with probably only 1 GPU

Entire budget for pc (including screen, keyboard, mouse and Win 10) is only around 2250 Euro

[Muhammed_Hamed]

Threadripper 1900X >> 350 Euros
MSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon >> 320 Euros
32 GB DDR4 RAM 3000 Mhz >> 220 Euros (must be 4 RAM stick for quad memory channel)
Be quiet Dark Rock Pro >> 80 Euros
Be Quiet Silent Base 801 >> 140 Euros
Be Quiet 1000W 80 plus gold >> 220 Euros
970 EVO 500 GB >> 110 Euros
Seagate Barracuda 4TB >> 80 Euros
1070Ti 8 GB >> 500 Euros

This should be cheaper than 2k Euros, so you still have money left for monitor, keyboard, windows and other things
And btw, no cheap parts as everything is within your budget,
this system can equip up to 4 cards whenever you think about adding more, you don't need to change power supply

[Morne]

On that X399 board, will any of these also work?
Threadripper 1950X
Threadripper 2920X

And between those 2 CPUs, which is is the better choise (also taking into consideration, speed, heat, power usage etc)


And then, between a 1900X and a 1920X, how much difference are there, seeing that the 1920 is a lot more expensive than the 1900

[Muhammed_Hamed]

On that X399 board, will any of these also work?
Threadripper 1950X
Threadripper 2920X

All TR CPUs should work just fine on this board, so the 1950x, 2920x, 2950X should be all fine
Even the 2990wx and 2970wx will work, but without OC
And like any Mobo, you should update the bios when you get this Mobo

And between those 2 CPUs, which is is the better choise (also taking into consideration, speed, heat, power usage etc)

The 1950x is a better value, and it will be faster in CPU rendering.. it is a very good deal @600 Euros
the 2920x has a slight advantage in single threaded tasks(Can turbo up to 4.4 GHz or so with XFR2) while the 1950X can Turbo up to 4.1/4.2 I think

And then, between a 1900X and a 1920X, how much difference are there, seeing that the 1920 is a lot more expensive than the 1900

I recommended the 1900X for the budget you wrote above, the 1920X should be like 150-200 more Euros and it has 4 more cores
It is all about how you will use your system really, if you will be doing GPU rendering most of the time and your are tight on budget the 1900X should be your choice
If you will be doing any CPU rendering as well, you might want to look into how much you gonna spend really
Talking about my experience personally, 3 weeks ago I bought the 1950X at 600 Euros with the exact same components I wrote you above
Same case, Same CPU cooler, Same Power supply(850watt though)
The board is an Asus X399 Strix though, but you should go for the MSI board so you can fit 4 GPUs in future

[Muhammed_Hamed]

The RAM I used is 32 GB 4 sticks x 8GB Gskill TridentZ RGB @3200 MHz
not the cheapest RAM, but TR benefits from higher memory speeds and I have been using this RAM for many other builds. It works nicely
About the Case, it has a built-in fan hub like what you see in the first picture, and it comes with 3 Silent wings fans, which are silent and still has an amazing peformance
I dislike RGB, and I'm not willing to waste my money on it really .. Same fans in the case, are used on the CPU cooler, the Dark Rock Pro 4.. I have used this cooler in many builds, works nicely/silently and you can overclock with it to 4 GHz without issues

[Morne]

If I eventually stick 4 GPUs in there, where do I put my M2 drive?

[Muhammed_Hamed]

Morne You don't install the M.2 drive in PCIe(anymore)
This board has 3 mounts for NVMe, between the PCIe slots(Same for most other boards, released in the last 3 years) .. See number 10 in the picture

[Muhammed_Hamed]

You won't be able to install the Wifi card though, with 4 GPUs, which I think you will not mind much

[Morne]

Isnt that last GPU slot mostly useless, because if you plug in a card there, you can't plug any cables into the headers at the bottom?

[Muhammed_Hamed]

Nope, I have done 4 GPUs on variety of Mobos including this one
you can place a card in there, on top of the cables, the cables will bend slightly but you should be totally fine(MSI knows about this issue and solved it long time ago)
This last slot actually allows you to use bigger cards, (more than 2 slots in width) without issues as there is no other slots below it
So it is very common that people use this slot specifically even if they only have 3 or 2 cards only