I'm considering a new motherboard for my build and I'm torn between the MSI B850 GAMING PLUS WiFi6E, which doesn't have a PCIe 5.0 slot, and the MSI PRO B850-P WIFI, which does. I have an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, an NVIDIA RTX 4070 GPU, and I'm running 32GB of DDR5 RAM. My storage includes a single NVMe SSD that supports PCIe 5.0. I plan to upgrade to an RTX 6070TI or RTX 6080 in the future, and I want to avoid having to replace my entire motherboard just for a new GPU. Is it really worth the extra cost to get the motherboard with PCIe 5.0?
2 Answers
Honestly, going for PCIe 5.0 probably isn't a big deal right now, but since you plan on upgrading later, it might be a smart move. It could be worth the extra bucks just to future-proof your setup a bit, even if the difference isn't huge today.
If you're not in a hurry, I’d say go for the PCIe 5.0 option. It makes a slight difference now, and with the prices of B850 boards being decent, it doesn't hurt to have that upgrade path. Plus, PCIe 5.0 could serve you better with future GPUs.
Yeah, but when it comes down to price, like 138 euros vs 184 euros, that adds up fast! Plus, don’t forget you still need to get your cooling setup!