I'm looking to buy a Microcenter bundle and I want to choose between two motherboards for my 9800X3D build. The options are the ASUS B650-E TUF and the MSI X870E-P Pro, which have a $50 price difference. Is there a more reliable or reputable option out there? Also, should I flash the BIOS before installing the CPU?
1 Answer
The Microcenter bundle is a fantastic deal! They usually have a solid reputation for customer service. Unless you specifically need the extra features of the MSI X870, like added PCIe lanes and USB 4 support, you might want to stick with the ASUS B650. Most users don't really need those extras, and the B650 is perfectly adequate for most builds. Oh, and I’d actually recommend considering the 7800X3D instead of the 9800X3D since they perform almost identically at higher resolutions. The 7800X3D tends to be a better bang for your buck unless you’re into competitive gaming.
The X870 chipset doesn’t actually offer extra PCIe lanes—it's more about USB4. Manufacturers have to make some compromises, so if you choose the MSI, just be careful about which m.2 slots you use, as using some may reduce bandwidth to USB4 or disable it altogether. But for the B650, it’s solid, just ensure you're aware of PCIe versions depending on your GPU. If you're looking at something like the 9060XT or 5060TI, keep in mind that using PCIe 4.0 instead of 5.0 can hurt performance in some cases.
Do you have any benchmarks comparing the 7800X3D and the 9800X3D? I'm curious if it's a significant enough difference to switch. And should I ignore the 9950X3D altogether?