It’s very important that you select a good motherboard when building a PC with any of the new AM5 CPU’s (7800X3D, 7950, etc.) Or with any CPU, really…
Well-respected motherboard manufacturers are releasing inexpensive B650 models that do not have the level of quality needed to support these CPU’s, especially not with the demands this sim puts on a PC. Naming conventions can be confusing, and you really need to research product tests before making a decision on which board to buy.
This is a good video that does some good testing, and he finds boards you absolutely should NOT buy.
Just look at this chart to get an idea of how different these boards are.
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Did you mean to say Zen 4 rather than Zen 5?
Regardless, I would guess it’s applicable to both the current Zen 4 and the upcoming Zen 5 too.
Quite surprised at the results anyway and how different the MBs perform. Wouldn’t have expected there to be such massive differences in temps personally. Another thing to bear in mind when choosing a MB.
Good info and interesting thread 
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While I absolutely agree, for the 7800X3D, most of these motherboards would probably have been fine. The 7950X that they tested draws a lot more power in the worst-case (as this test is).
The boards that maxed out at 90 W and 100 W should probably be entirely avoided even for a 7800X3D, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest would work great in practice.
To be clear I wouldn’t recommend anyone buy any of the failed boards in this test! But if you already have one with a 7800X3D I also don’t think you should return it immediately, either. Reviews seem to not get it above 100 W even in multi-threaded benchmarks and stress tests:
Kitguru: 93 W in Cinebench
hwcooling.net: 80 W in HandBrake encoding
AnandTech: 82 W peak in Prime95
The $200-$250 class B650 motherboards are pretty much the safe space for 7800s. You’re likely best off with a straight B650 chipset. A B650E is fine but only your next CPU would know.
RAM compatibility is paramount, you can’t just grab anything for AMD. The QVL : learn it. If it’s right you turn on expo and it’s exactly what it says on the RAM blister pack. If it’s wrong it’s a BF headache.
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I understand what you’re saying. But it seems like we’ve been seeing quite a few 7800X3D owners here complaining about excessive temps that shouldn’t be with its relative low TDP.
One of the main points I got from the video was the importance of a quality VRM section, which many of those cheap boards do not have. I guess my point is that, just like other component choices, research the motherboard and select one that has tested well.
Yeah, I get AM5 and Zen 5 confused sometimes.
Fixed previous posts and thread title.
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Not the end of the world.
Good thread.
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I’m not on those $150-$200 boards, the $200-250 ones are the place to be. Typically you are sticking with a 7800x3d because of what it is. Those buying the top CPU/4090, They’e ready to jump to the next one before they finish setting the new one up.
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Any AM5 based motherboard with a “M” designation at the end of the name indicates it’s an entry level motherboard. Except for the first two motherboards in the OP’s list above, they are all low end.
I would not recommend any of those motherboards for simming.
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Another good research video:
I wanted that gaming dragon board but then decided to cover it all up in a North mesh case and go ‘grown up’. Mainly because my daughter is pretty much the mother of dragons and has hundreds of them…It was one of my 2 or 3 top ‘normal budget but decent’ choices.
