Intel and AMD are head to head-yet again, and both companies have released fantastic products this year. Intel has launched the 13th-generation Core i-series processors this year, while AMD has released the Ryzen 7000-series processors. The performance of flagship processors of both these companies is similar; however, AMD is at an advantage here, as it can perform similarly with a lower number of cores, and the efficiency of AMD processors is much better too. This article will review the best motherboard for Ryzen 9 7900X, so stay tuned.
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is the best processor after Ryzen 7 7700X; theoretically, it is just a cut-down variant of Ryzen 9 7950X. Instead of 16 cores, it comes with 12, which is why the thread count is reduced to 24 but puts high performance to the table, hence requiring a good enough CPU cooler. The base clock rate of the processor is even higher than the Ryzen 9 7950X, at 4.7 GHz, while the boost clock is 0.1 GHz lower, at 5.6 GHz. The boost clock is defined only for a single core, so most processor cores will likely hover around the 5.0 GHz mark.
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Best Motherboard For Overclocking Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme Read More | See On Amazon |
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Best Looking Motherboard Gigabyte X670E Aorus Xtreme Read More | See On Amazon |
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Best Performance Motherboard ASrock X670E Taichi Carrara Read More | See On Amazon |
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Best High-End Motherboard Biostar X670E Valkyrie Read More | See On Amazon |
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Best Flagship Motherboard MSI MEG X670E GODLIKE Read More | See On Amazon |
AMD was late regarding 600-series chipset motherboards, and now we know why. The 600-series chipsets were planned for the Ryzen 7000-series launch, and the B650 and X670 chipsets are available for these processors. These two chipsets come with the latest features like DDR5 memory and PCI-E 5.0, which means that you can use the fastest available DDR5 RAM kits with this build. The DDR5 memory is inevitable in all these motherboards, as Ryzen 7000-series processors cannot run with DDR4 memory. The PCI-E 5.0, although, won’t be present in every motherboard.
A quality B650 motherboard will be more than enough for most high-end users, even for a powerful processor like AMD Ryzen 9 7900X. What wouldn’t be enough is the less powerful GPU, so do not cheap out on that and try to procure a high-end GPU. However, if someone wants the best features, the X670 motherboard is the only choice, as was the case with the previous-generation motherboards. The performance of X670 motherboards will be better, as they are expensive compared to B650 motherboards and come with better VRM and thermal solutions.
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How to buy a motherboard for Ryzen 9 7900X
Ryzen 9 7900x is such a powerful processor, and you shouldn’t make any mistakes while buying a motherboard for this beast. Otherwise, by picking the wrong board – the processor might not reach its full limits to show its wonders. Always keep these factors in mind before buying a motherboard.
Form Factor
People buy whatever appears attractive to them, whether a motherboard, GPU, or CPU cooler, without considering the implications, such as incompatibility due to form factor variances. ATX, micro ITX, E-ATX, and other form factors are available for motherboards.
Similarly, PC chassis exist in various form factors; thus, if your motherboard is of E-ATX form factor and the case is of mini-ITX form factor, the motherboard would not fit. This will become an issue for you, and you will need to replace the motherboard or get a bigger case. As a result, before purchasing a motherboard, ensure it is compatible with your chassis.
VRM
The voltage regulating module, sometimes the VRM, is a vital ingredient of the PC motherboard. It is responsible for regulating the voltage provided to the CPU. As a result of all of this, the VRMs grow hot, eventually causing them to burn. Many manufacturers design and provide custom cooling heat spreaders for motherboard VRMs to nullify this.
This enables the CPU to reach its full capacity and even exceed it through overclocking. Therefore, confirm that the manufacturer offers sufficient VRM cooling for your desired motherboard.
Chipset
The chipset is the first and most crucial aspect of a motherboard. Now, for a high-end CPU like AMD Ryzen 9 7900x, look at x670 chipboards since only x670 chipset will be a great fit for this processor. The majority of x670 chipset motherboards offer a wide range of functionality and a top level of aesthetics and quality. Most x670 motherboards offer excellent VRM cooling systems that let your CPU operate at its peak.
Compatibility of Processor
The processor’s compatibility is important for it to operate; motherboards do not support every iteration of the CPU throughout time. Technology has advanced significantly, and processors have gotten far more powerful; each generation brings a new set of requirements and a shift in CPU sockets.
AM4 socket motherboards are suggested for Ryzen CPUs from Gen 1 through Gen 5, and AM5 socket motherboards are recommended for Ryzen 7000 series. If you want to build a Ryzen 7000 series pc, you’ll need a motherboard with an AM5 socket.
I/O Features and Connectivity
One of the key factors of a motherboard is its ability to provide I/O connectivity; otherwise, the motherboard is useless. But everything has a price, and having a lot of new connectivity options demands a rather big budget. As a result, high-end motherboards are considerably more costly than entry-level ones.
When selecting a motherboard, you must consider the I/O connections to experience some of the most recent capabilities, such as Gen2 USB 3.2 Type A and C ports, WIFI6E, Gen5 PCIe x16, and M.2 slots.
Best Motherboard for Ryzen 9 7900X Reviews
Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme is the flagship for the all-new AMD CPUs with the newly designed AM5 socket. As Asus’s flagship motherboard, they must put the best aesthetics and high-end features onto the board. We recommend it as the Ryzen 9 7950X Motherboard because of its performance, but if you can afford it, it’s also a great option for Ryzen 9 7900X.
The motherboard is designed beautifully with unique LED-decorated heatsinks covering the most important parts of the motherboard. Much of the board is covered with flashy heat sinks, leaving only the AM5 socket, DDR5 slots, and two PCIe 5.0x16 slots. It also features a high-power delivery system 20+2 power solution rated for 110 amperes for extreme overclocking capability.
Spec-wise, you get PCIe 5.0 support for both GPUs and SSDs. To run both GPU and SSD on PCIe 5.0, you have 16 lanes for the PCIe 5.0 graphics card and 8 lanes for two PCIe 5.0 SSDs. It has two onboard M.2 slots and another three using the bundled ROG PCIe and GEN-Z.2 card, where it uses the secondary PCIe 5.0x16 slot to expand the storage support. You can add five M.2 drives, four of which can support PCIe 5.0).
As for USBs, it supports dual USB 4.0 Type-C and USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. It also features a USB 3.2 Gen 2 front panel USB connection with support for Quick Charge 4+, allowing you to access charging to up to 60 watts for the front panel Type-C port. It also features a 10 Gbps LAN controller and the latest Wi-Fi 6E. Storage shortage concerns will likely never exist since it has six SATA III 6Gbps ports for expanding your storage and a hefty amount of M.2 slots.
For the aesthetics department, it offers two addressable Gen 2 RGB headers and includes a customizable LED display on the heatsink called AniME Matrix. It also has six fan headers to easily allow users to customize their cooling solutions, be it fans, pumps, sensors, etc.
Dual PCIe 5.0 slots aren’t the only highlight. It also features a high-end VRM with diagnostic LEDs and SupremeFX 7.1 Surround Sound audio for impeccable sound processing and output. It also includes Asus’s Q-Design feature called the Q release button for PCIe, DIMM slots, and an M.2 Q latch to secure or loosen the drive using your fingertips easily.
The Gigabyte X670E Aorus Xtreme is a flagship AM5 socket motherboard with a wide range of premium features. It is built for extreme overclocking with an 8-layer PCB and an advanced thermal design.
It features an 18+2+2 phases digital VRM Dr.MOS power design rated at 105 amperes, similar to Biostar’s Valkyrie motherboard, and uses dual 8-pin EPS power connectors. The Aorus Xtreme supports PCIe 5.0 connectivity for GPU and M.2 SSDs. The GPU will populate 16 lanes, but the bandwidth will drop to 8 lanes per slot if you decide to populate two of the M.2 PCIe 5.0x4 slots. Additionally, it has two more PCIe x16 slots that support PCIe 4.0x4 and PCIe 3.0x2. To sum it up, you get four M.2 PCIe 5.0x4 slots.
For audio, it uses one of the older Realtek ALC1220 audio codecs like the Biostar Valkyrie but offers a better front-panel codec. You also get a bundled ESS SABRE USB DAC. As for network connectivity, it uses a high-end Marvell AQtion 10GbE 10 Gbps LAN and an integrated Intel Wi-Fi 6E.
As for RGB headers, the motherboard has two addressable RGB headers along with 3 RGB headers. It also has ten PWM fan headers. It supports a Type-C USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port for the front panel and six SATA III 6 Gbps ports for connectivity. You get ten Type-A ports — six USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports and four USB 2.0 ports. You also get two Type-C USB 3.2 ports, one being Gen 2 and the other Gen 2.2. The I/O also includes a Q-Flash button for BIOS updates and CMOS buttons.
As for design, it offers quite a fair amount of RGB on the heatsinks, and the Aorus branding looks sleek on this motherboard. It offers balanced features, especially compared to competitors such as Asus’s Crossfire or Biostar’s Valkyrie.
The marble heat spreader of the ASrock X670E Taichi Carrara is what catches everyone’s eye. This special edition board is ASRock’s flagship and one of the five X670E motherboards showcased by ASRock. The white marble effect makes it one of the most uniquely designed motherboards out there, and it is designed to celebrate ASRock’s 20th anniversary.
Other than PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory support, which all X670E motherboards will possess, it also boasts a 26-phase SPS Dr.MOS power delivery VRM and dual Thunderbolt 4-enabled USB Type-C support. Although the other ASrock X670E variants will be cheaper, this flagship variant will go all out on its features. It can support up to 128GB of DDR5 memory with overclocking up to 6600+MHz.
It has dual full-length PCIe 5.0 slots running at x16 and x8 and a single PCIe 5.0x4 M.2 slot. The other three M.2 slots are PCIe 4.0x4. As for USB connectivity, it sports dual Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-Cs, five rear USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, and three rear and four front USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports. It uses the Realtek ALC4082 HD audio codec and ESS Sabre ES9218 DAC for audio. It also supports Wi-Fi 6E and an Intel Killer E3100G 2.5 GbE LAN controller.
As for the exterior design, the regular X670E Taichi has a black finish, while the Taichi Carrara has a white marble finish with no difference in terms of specs. The regular X670E Taichi also sports an RGB LED on the heatsink, while the Taichi Carrara does not. Both boards, however, feature a slight amount of RGB at the bottom right.
The Type-C USB 4.0 Thunderbolt port also enables fast charging of up to 60 watts. It also rocks eight SATA III 6 Gbps ports for expanding your storage and diagnostic LED for any issues. Do note that to power this motherboard, dual 8-pin EPS power connectors would be required.
The Extreme variants of X670 come with extreme overclocking features, and Biostar’s X670E Valkyrie is no exception. This board includes all the features you need for overclocking, such as big VRM heatsinks, a debug LED, high VRM counts, and a robust power delivery system featuring a 22-phase Dr.MOS power design rated at 105 amperes.
The Biostar X670E Valkyrie supports PCIe 5.0 connectivity for GPU and M.2 SSDs. The GPU will populate 16 lanes, but the bandwidth will drop to 8 lanes per slot if you decide to populate both PCIe slots with graphics cards. It has dual PCIe 5.0x16 slots and one PCIe 4.0x16 slot. Additionally, it has two M.2 slots supporting PCIe 5.0x4 and another two M.2 slots at PCIe 4.0x4.
As for connectivity, this motherboard includes an Intel 1225V 2.5 Gbps Ethernet LAN chip and six SATA III 6 Gbps ports. It also features USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 Type-C ports, one rear and one in the front. As for Type-A ports, you get a great deal of nine USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports. Although no WLAN module is included with the board, it does include two coaxial antenna jacks. Alternatively, you can also install a PCIe M.2 Wi-Fi card.
As for audio, it uses a Realtek ALC1220 7.1 CH audio codec and also comes with a pair of addressable RGB headers. Biostar also has its proprietary RGB utility called AURORA to adjust the RGB. Additional to the debug LED for debugging any issues, it also features some extra buttons that help power the board, update the BIOS or reset the CMOS.
Design-wise, it is an 8-layer PCB motherboard with fully covered heatsinks and a beautiful black brushed look with some RGB flair on the heat spreaders.
Overall, with its black-gold color scheme and minimalistic RGB that illuminates Valkyrie and wings on the heatsinks, it is a very simplistic and premium-looking motherboard that many would like to have.
MSI MEG X670E GODLIKE is MSI’s flagship motherboard to support the new AMD Ryzen 7000 processors. It comes with the all-new AM5 LGA 1718 socket and offers all the premium enthusiast-level features you can name. This E-ATX board features a premium 10-layer PCB design with a 24+2+1 phase VRM rated at 105 amperes.
To power this monstrosity of a motherboard, it needs dual 8-pin connectors plus dual 6-pin connectors aside from the 24-pin connector. One of the two 6-pin connectors is dedicated to the USB power delivery of up to 60 watts, while the other is for PCIe power.
This “Godlike” motherboard comes with three PCIe 5.0 slots which support one graphics card at x16 or two at x8 each. If graphics cards populate two slots, the last slot can support x4 for any RAID card or SSD storage. Additionally, it features four M.2 slots, one of which is PCIe 5.0 x 4, and the other three are PCIe 4.0 x 4. It is extremely easy to install due to the MSI Screwless M.2 Shield Frozr design.
One super unique feature of this motherboard is the M-Vision Dashboard. It is a 4.5-inch IPS touch display that gives users a glance at the system information and much more. This board also features many SATA III 6Gbps ports, eight to be exact.
As for the connectivity department, the I/O features seven USB 3.2 Gen2 Type-A ports and two USB 3.2 Gen2x2 Type-C ports, along with clear CMOS and flash BIOS buttons. The front panel features four USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A ports and two USB 3.2 Type-C ports — one being Gen2 and the other being Gen2x2, which supports up to 60 watts of power delivery.
For networking and audio, you get a Marvell Aquantia 10Gbps and an Intel 2.5GbE for LAN. It also features Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. A Realtek ALC4082 CODEC powers audio, on the other hand, along with an ESS Combo DAC, which together provide 7.1 Channel HD Audio.
Conclusion
Ryzen 9 7900x is the monster of the CPU world; it crushes every previous generation of processors and offers exceptional performance to date. And such a processor needs a decent motherboard to show its true potential, so don’t cheap out on that. We’ve collected some of the best budget options that deliver eye-popping performance results. For instance, if you want maximum visual fidelity and many connectivity options with a considerable amount of overclocking headroom, then Gigabyte X670E AORUS Xtreme and ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme are the viable choices. Both motherboards offer great performance, numerous connectivity options, and maximum visual fidelity with their impressive implementation of RGB and LED displays.
Just like that, if you want a middle ground, you can settle with Biostar X670E Valkyrie. The motherboard is cheaper than the previous two boards, providing balanced aesthetics and reasonable OC headroom.
In the end, if you want to have an absolute monster in your build, with over-the-top features and all other fancy stuff, then MSI MEG X670E GODLIKE and AsRock X670E Taichi Carrara are one of the best options out there. Both motherboards focus less on RGB and more on the real side, which is performance. Both offer top-tier features that the others don’t and provide a substantial amount of OC headroom and a cooling system. So, choose whatever fits your need and build the best.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Ryzen 9 7900x a great deal at 549$ price tag?
Yes, the CPU is a steal since it delivers amazing performance like no other. The CPU has a 5nm architecture and a boost frequency of more than 5.5GHz, which is insane.
Can we pair Ryzen 9 7900x with an entry-level motherboard?
Yes, we can couple the Ryzen 9 7900x with an entry-level motherboard, but it’s not a wise idea since entry-level motherboards have some of the poorest VRM cooling systems, preventing the CPU from meeting its full potential.
What is the best high-end motherboard to pair with Ryzen 5 7900x?
One of the greatest choices is the MSI MEG X670E GODLIKE and the AsRock X670E Taichi Carrara. Both motherboards are more oriented toward performance than RGB. Both provide top-tier features that the others do not, as well as a substantial amount of OC headroom and cooling system.
Which is the best-balanced motherboard with new features based on the x670 chipset?
If you want a balanced motherboard with the newest features and respectable performance results, consider the Biostar X670E Valkyrie. The motherboard has a good amount of overclocking capacity and visual fidelity.
Is Ryzen 9 7900x good for gaming and productivity?
Yes, the Ryzen 9 7900x is a solid budget CPU with excellent single- and multi-core performance. Furthermore, the 12 cores and 24 threads configuration helps to ensure no interruptions when gaming and crushes its rivals.
