I'm considering upgrading to a 9950X3D from my current 10850K, especially since my local store has a great bundle deal. My main focus is gaming, and I'd also like to start creating content once I'm feeling better. Given my current situation, I'm aiming for the most affordable option without sacrificing too much quality. I'm looking at three bundles: $979 for the MSI, $1049.99 for the Gigabyte, and $1149.99 for the Asus. I need to think about storage since I run a Plex server with 6 SATA drives, but all three motherboards only have 4 SATA ports. The MSI does have a PCIe x1 slot for a SATA adapter, which could help. Should I go with the MSI for the best value, or should I consider investing a bit more for the Gigabyte?
3 Answers
I had a bad experience with two MSI boards from the MicroCenter deals, so I ended up switching to the ASUS TUF and Gigabyte options. No issues with those yet. Just be careful with the MSI, but it seems to fit your needs pretty well. It doesn’t have native RGB lights, but it allows for RGB headers if you want to add some lighting.
I wouldn't recommend the Asus ROG board. Just a heads up, dropping from a 10-core 10850K to the 8-core 9950X3D might feel like a downgrade, but the performance per core on the AMD chip is way better. It’s great for gaming, especially with the 3D V-Cache. Stick with the MSI; you’ll avoid problems with PCIe lanes that you might encounter with the Gigabyte if you add more NVMe drives later on.
I have the MSI board with a 7800X3D, and it works great. Just keep in mind it might not have some features like Load Line Calibration for overclocking, which could matter depending on whether you go with the 9950X3D or 9800X3D. But for general use, it’s solid!
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