AMD Ryzen 3900X & 3700X Tested on X470

[PaddieMayne]

If youre talking a normal Single Card gaming system then id say High End X470 all day long.

 

[Assimilator]

With this data, and the data from our PCIe gen 4.0 scaling article, we are happy to report that you can save yourself anywhere between $70 to $150 by choosing an X470 motherboard over an X570 variant.

Until the retailers figure out that X570 isn't selling well, while the "obsolete" X470 and X370 models are flying off shelves... then we'll see an "adjustment" to the prices of the latter and Ryzen will no longer be the value-for-money platform. X470 is essentially a money-printing machine for motherboard manufacturers right now, and I reckon it will probably become AMD's most-sold chipset, particularly since the A- and B-500 series are only expected in 2020.

 

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Until the retailers figure out that X570 isn't selling well, while the "obsolete" X470 and X370 models are flying off shelves... then we'll see an "adjustment" to the prices of the latter and Ryzen will no longer be the value-for-money platform. X470 is essentially a money-printing machine for motherboard manufacturers right now, and I reckon it will probably become AMD's most-sold chipset, particularly since the A- and B-500 series are only expected in 2020.

Makes you wonder what was AMD thinking slapping on such a price premium for a feature that's borderline useless today.
Then again, X470 was already pretty fully featured, they needed a differentiator. The thing is, if I am to switch, I'm tempted to pay the premium (the upgrade will be good 3 years or more after all), but I really, really, really dislike the fan on the southbridge.

 

[Xzibit]

Makes you wonder what was AMD thinking slapping on such a price premium for a feature that's borderline useless today.
Then again, X470 was already pretty fully featured, they needed a differentiator. The thing is, if I am to switch, I'm tempted to pay the premium (the upgrade will be good 3 years or more after all), but I really, really, really dislike the fan on the southbridge.

X470 boards run PCIE 2.0 thru chipset. The Entry level X570 boards = mid-range X470 with none of the connectivity sharing downgrades.

You can run 2 NVMEs + 6 Sata drives without sacrificing 2 Sata. Unless you want a 3rd NVME

 

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X470 boards run PCIE 2.0 thru chipset. The Entry level X570 boards = mid-range X470 with none of the connectivity downgrades.

You can run 2 NVMEs + 6 Sata drives without sacrificing 2 Sata. Unless you want a 3rd NVME

Hey, I said "borderline"

 

[Assimilator]

Makes you wonder what was AMD thinking slapping on such a price premium for a feature that's borderline useless today.
Then again, X470 was already pretty fully featured, they needed a differentiator.

It's marketing, pure and simple - X570 is nothing more than a vehicle to sell Ryzen 2 CPUs. An entire platform being released makes for better marketing hype than just a single product, and AMD's marketing team certainly nailed it this time around.

The thing is, if I am to switch, I'm tempted to pay the premium (the upgrade will be good 3 years or more after all)

AMD has stated that AM4 will support all future processors through 2020. Reading between the lines, that means a new socket in 2021, so any board you buy has at best 2 years of life. I also expect PCIe 4 will actually become useful around 2021, so I'm saving my cash for a big bang upgrade then; circumstances dictate that I need to build a new system right now, but it will be fairly modest (3600 at best, more likely a second-hand Zen+ or Zen).

but I really, really, really dislike the fan on the southbridge.

Don't we all?

One of Gigabyte's top-tier models has a heatpipe instead of a fan, I expect (hope) to see this feature appear on new revisions of other boards - back in the nForce/P45/X58 days, heatpipes were the rule rather than the exception and I honestly don't know why more manufacturers didn't use them for X570. I wonder how many RMAs are gonna be due to dead fans...

 

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It's marketing, pure and simple - X570 is nothing more than a vehicle to sell Ryzen 2 CPUs. An entire platform being released makes for better marketing hype than just a single product, and AMD's marketing team certainly nailed it this time around.

I disagree. These CPUs working on previous boards would have gained AMD enough praise. Throwing expensive motherboards with a SB fan to the mix just seems to throw a monkey wrench into an otherwise flawless execution.

AMD has stated that AM4 will support all future processors through 2020. Reading between the lines, that means a new socket in 2021, so any board you buy has at best 2 years of life. I also expect PCIe 4 will actually become useful around 2021, so I'm saving my cash for a big bang upgrade then; circumstances dictate that I need to build a new system right now, but it will be fairly modest (3600 at best, more likely a second-hand Zen+ or Zen).

Not an issue for me. Even if something else gets released in 2021, it will probably not be worth an upgrade from Zen2.
Also, don't you just love it when 3600 is the "modest" option?

One of Gigabyte's top-tier models has a heatpipe instead of a fan, I expect (hope) to see this feature appear on new revisions of other boards - back in the nForce/P45/X58 days, heatpipes were the rule rather than the exception and I honestly don't know why more manufacturers didn't use them for X570. I wonder how many RMAs are gonna be due to dead fans...

I dug up P45's southbridge, ICH10 was a 4.5W part. Less than half of what we're looking at here.
My problem isn't so much the fan dying, as it becoming loud/whiny. Many seller will not RMA a board because of that.

 

[Xzibit]

I dug up P45's southbridge, ICH10 was a 4.5W part. Less than half of what we're looking at here.
My problem isn't so much the fan dying, as it becoming loud/whiny. Many seller will not RMA a board because of that.

Get a Noctua PWM 60mm fan as a replacement

 

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Get a Noctua PWM 60mm fan as a replacement

Not available over here, I'm afraid. And yes, I would fix that. But not everybody can.

 

[Assimilator]

Also, don't you just love it when 3600 is the "modest" option?

Hells yeah!

I dug up P45's southbridge, ICH10 was a 4.5W part. Less than half of what we're looking at here.

It's the north bridges that generated heat on the platforms I mentioned, and despite X570 being a south bridge, it dissipates north bridge levels of power. Unfortunately I can't seem to find any docs on what exactly P45 generated, but it was definitely the hot one in the systems (most X58 boards had a simple passive heatsink on the ICH10R).

Man, looking back at those P45 boards makes me shudder... so much bling. RGB is bad, but it's definitely nowhere near those dozen-different-colours brass-heatsinks-everywhere monstrosities.

Get a Noctua PWM 60mm fan as a replacement

Which probably won't fit with the board's aesthetic. Or will block PCIe cards. Or won't be able to be mounted securely. Or...

I like DIY and Macguyvering as much as the next guy, but I'm not willing to spend my time, money and effort on essentially fixing a poor design choice.

 

[mtb scotland]

I'm interested to know the VRM temps with the x470 gaming m7 and the 3900x.