Good current motherboard + ram for upcoming Zen 3?

2StepSteve · 10 Oct 2020 at 23:23

I've started to look myself at components for Zen 3.

The concerns about RAM and motherboard shortages / selling out for Zen 3's release, I think it's very real and likely to happen. There are no new chipset releases for Zen 3, so people will be buying up what's already on offer. The few new motherboards coming out I doubt will be tried or tested for a while. The decent current offerings of boards, I would bet money on selling out in the lead up to 5th Nov.

Combine this with the fact that there are a lot of people like me, with rigs that are 5-7 years old; this Zen 3 release will push them over the edge to upgrade.

I bought today the Crucial Ballistix Gaming 32GB 3600MHz CAS16 variant (that was mentioned earlier in this thread), but went for the RGB model for prettiness (£166). Seems like very decent RAM for the price and can be pushed.

Next up is the motherboard.. leaning towards a X570 Thomahawk.. I think. Trying not to rush too quickly. But again, I'm not going to be hanging around for too much longer to place the order!

Absolutely Clueless · 11 Oct 2020 at 03:24

2StepSteve said:
I've started to look myself at components for Zen 3.

The concerns about RAM and motherboard shortages / selling out for Zen 3's release, I think it's very real and likely to happen. There are no new chipset releases for Zen 3, so people will be buying up what's already on offer. The few new motherboards coming out I doubt will be tried or tested for a while. The decent current offerings of boards, I would bet money on selling out in the lead up to 5th Nov.

Combine this with the fact that there are a lot of people like me, with rigs that are 5-7 years old; this Zen 3 release will push them over the edge to upgrade.

I bought today the Crucial Ballistix Gaming 32GB 3600MHz CAS16 variant (that was mentioned earlier in this thread), but went for the RGB model for prettiness (£166). Seems like very decent RAM for the price and can be pushed.

Next up is the motherboard.. leaning towards a X570 Thomahawk.. I think. Trying not to rush too quickly. But again, I'm not going to be hanging around for too much longer to place the order!

Don't say this! I'm already waiting for Zen 3 reviews before purchasing my whole system (will likely but a crappy GPU while waiting for a 3080). I hope prices don't go up much...

I can't justify the 5900X for a gaming only system, so unless the 5800X is mega, I'll probably go for the i7-10700K or maybe i9-10850k. For some reason, I feel like 6-cores isn't enough...

Rom · 11 Oct 2020 at 18:04

If im going to get a pcie 4 M2 drive, should i only be looking at x570 chipset for the extra pcie lanes?
Or will a b550 be fine?

Looking at Tomahawks or the Strix currently

Mr Oblong · 11 Oct 2020 at 19:03

2StepSteve said:
I've started to look myself at components for Zen 3.

The concerns about RAM and motherboard shortages / selling out for Zen 3's release, I think it's very real and likely to happen. There are no new chipset releases for Zen 3, so people will be buying up what's already on offer. The few new motherboards coming out I doubt will be tried or tested for a while. The decent current offerings of boards, I would bet money on selling out in the lead up to 5th Nov.

Combine this with the fact that there are a lot of people like me, with rigs that are 5-7 years old; this Zen 3 release will push them over the edge to upgrade.

I bought today the Crucial Ballistix Gaming 32GB 3600MHz CAS16 variant (that was mentioned earlier in this thread), but went for the RGB model for prettiness (£166). Seems like very decent RAM for the price and can be pushed.

Next up is the motherboard.. leaning towards a X570 Thomahawk.. I think. Trying not to rush too quickly. But again, I'm not going to be hanging around for too much longer to place the order!

Absolutely Clueless said:
Don't say this! I'm already waiting for Zen 3 reviews before purchasing my whole system (will likely but a crappy GPU while waiting for a 3080). I hope prices don't go up much...

I can't justify the 5900X for a gaming only system, so unless the 5800X is mega, I'll probably go for the i7-10700K or maybe i9-10850k. For some reason, I feel like 6-cores isn't enough...

I think mobo availability will be good. There's loads of models between B550 and X570 and the production is really mature for both.

jigger · 11 Oct 2020 at 20:26

Mr Oblong said:
I think mobo availability will be good. There's loads of models between B550 and X570 and the production is really mature for both.

The shop seems to selling the boards fast. The two I was looking at are low and out of stock.

Mr Oblong · 11 Oct 2020 at 21:11

jigger said:
The shop seems to selling the boards fast. The two I was looking at are low and out of stock.

Interesting. I still reckon stock will be coming through before the chips in most cases.

But I take your point...and have bought my board already!

GregI · 11 Oct 2020 at 21:29

There won't be any shortages of RAM or motherboards, not for the good stuff anyway.

RAM: Most think spending more than £50 on RAM is overkill. They will just buy the bottom of the barrel Corsair 3200C16 stuff and be done with it or maybe they will go for some E.Die from Crucial. B-Die will always be available at ok prices for people who know what to look for e.g. not many will think to just buy Patriot Viper 4000/4400 and just set primary timings to beat out any other kit

Motherboards: There is so many different brands and boards this will not be an issue. Boards like the X570 Tomahawk are only popular with enthusiast which make up a very small number of people. Most will flock for popular stuff like Asus TUF and any board > £180 will stay in stock fine.

jigger · 11 Oct 2020 at 21:34

Mr Oblong said:
Interesting. I still reckon stock will be coming through before the chips in most cases.

But I take your point...and have bought my board already!

Im waiting to see what BIOS updates are released before I decide.

jigger · 11 Oct 2020 at 21:58

GregI said:
There won't be any shortages of RAM or motherboards, not for the good stuff anyway.

RAM: Most think spending more than £50 on RAM is overkill. They will just buy the bottom of the barrel Corsair 3200C16 stuff and be done with it or maybe they will go for some E.Die from Crucial. B-Die will always be available at ok prices for people who know what to look for e.g. not many will think to just buy Patriot Viper 4000/4400 and just set primary timings to beat out any other kit

Motherboards: There is so many different brands and boards this will not be an issue. Boards like the X570 Tomahawk are only popular with enthusiast which make up a very small number of people. Most will flock for popular stuff like Asus TUF and any board > £180 will stay in stock fine.

5 Asus tuf boards in stock.

Absolutely Clueless · 11 Oct 2020 at 23:23

GregI said:
There won't be any shortages of RAM or motherboards, not for the good stuff anyway.

RAM: Most think spending more than £50 on RAM is overkill. They will just buy the bottom of the barrel Corsair 3200C16 stuff and be done with it or maybe they will go for some E.Die from Crucial. B-Die will always be available at ok prices for people who know what to look for e.g. not many will think to just buy Patriot Viper 4000/4400 and just set primary timings to beat out any other kit

Motherboards: There is so many different brands and boards this will not be an issue. Boards like the X570 Tomahawk are only popular with enthusiast which make up a very small number of people. Most will flock for popular stuff like Asus TUF and any board > £180 will stay in stock fine.

Thanks for this. Do you know any 3600Mhz 32GB RAM B-Die kits off the top of your head?

GregI · 12 Oct 2020 at 11:15

Absolutely Clueless said:
Thanks for this. Do you know any 3600Mhz 32GB RAM B-Die kits off the top of your head?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/Team...00C16-3600MHz-Dual-Channel-Kit-MY-002-8P.html

Should come back down to £199 soon.

golden751 · 20 Oct 2020 at 16:24

Pretty much all Crucial ballistix 3200mhz+ RAM is equivalent to e-die. I'd get ballistix 3600mhz cl16 and overclock to whatever the sweet spot is for zen 3.

Devious · 20 Oct 2020 at 16:48

I went for the 32GB 3200 C16 and it seems happy at 3600.

Vogon · 20 Oct 2020 at 17:16

Well today I have been mostly gently dremeling and drilling my new Lian Li O11 Dynamic, swapping tubes and fittings on the Alphacool Eisbaer 360 AIO, and figuring out how best to utilize the fans for case airflow.
X570 Tomahawk is now ready for Zen 3 if I can get one !
Nice to hear the Crucial should clock well, but possibly it'll be fine at 3600, unless the fabric clocks are higher than Zen2. But I might be able to tighten the timings

LePhuronn · 20 Oct 2020 at 17:55

clv101 said:
And I see zero evidence of reason there will be newer boards coming out any time soon.

*Asus X570 Crosshair Dark Hero and B550 Strix-XE Gaming entered the chat*

Brumboy · 21 Oct 2020 at 10:27

Also going to order the Ballstix 3600 CL16 set.

Can't seem to find 16GB x 2 sets anywhere, only the RGB version is for sale but that's almost £30 more.

16GB should be enough for now right? I guess I can always buy extra in the future if needed.

Going to buy a B550 Gaming Edge WiFi too, seems to be a good option for the price.

Mr Oblong · 21 Oct 2020 at 11:53

Brumboy said:
Also going to order the Ballstix 3600 CL16 set.

Can't seem to find 16GB x 2 sets anywhere, only the RGB version is for sale but that's almost £30 more.

16GB should be enough for now right? I guess I can always buy extra in the future if needed.

Going to buy a B550 Gaming Edge WiFi too, seems to be a good option for the price.

Yep, adding more in future (if you ever need to) is a very easy thing to do.

Brumboy · 21 Oct 2020 at 11:56

Mr Oblong said:
Yep, adding more in future (if you ever need to) is a very easy thing to do.

Yeah I know. Just the decision to add it now "just incase" or wait!

Mr Oblong · 21 Oct 2020 at 12:02

Brumboy said:
Yeah I know. Just the decision to add it now "just incase" or wait!

I've gone for a 2x16GB kit because I saw a really good deal, so I get it.

But most of the time, going for an initial amount works out well- you may never need it!

Brumboy · 21 Oct 2020 at 12:38

Mr Oblong said:
I've gone for a 2x16GB kit because I saw a really good deal, so I get it.

But most of the time, going for an initial amount works out well- you may never need it!

Which set did you get and how much was it?

Yeah that's what I'm thinking