It’s not often I make a thread, but in this case I really need some help. Planning for a new, (somewhat) low-power build with a Ryzen 7600. I need a microATX motherboard, because I got a GPU, a USB PCI-E card and potentially a sata controller (although not sure on that, build can go without it).
I am planning to slap some m.2 SSDs on it, I was hoping for 3x m.2 slots, but 2x slots would do.
The only microATX motherboard that seems to fit my needs (at least from what I could find on pcpartpicker) was Biostar B650EGTQ. I’m not familiar at all with biostar motherboards and idk if they have proper iommu groups. I would appreciate any inputs on that.
I want to find a motherboard that gets at least some firmware updates and doesn’t have wifi at all and has proper support for pcie passthrough. I would also highly prefer it have no RGB at all, but I can compromise here. And no Asus boards please. If there is any better option than this and has wifi, I can maybe compromise there too.
As long as it’s microATX and isn’t an A chipset, I’m fine. I would prefer a B650E, but B650, X670 and X670E are all acceptable. The Asrock B650M PG RIPTIDE is also on my radar, but it’s so limited compared to the biostar.
The microATX standard seems to get the shortend of the stick so much more with each newer generation. Manufacturers either go for huge boards with everything and the kitchen sink, or ITX with barely enough to start the computer up.
Just had a look at SuperMicro H13SAE-MF - 4 SATA ports, 2 m.2, 2 PCIe x16 slots…
Perhaps the Gigabyte B650M-C can be something?
Biostar has a reputation for bad quality so I’d choose pretty much anything over them.
[Edit]Scratch the Gigabyte one, yes it works but for some unknown reason you need a mounting bracket for the second and third m.2, and it only supports up to 2260, not 2280 which is the current standard for SSDs… At that point their B650I ITX offering is more appealing with 3xm.2 and 1xPCIe 16…
Looks cool and supports ECC, but I’m interested in a desktop platform, because I want a 65w 6 core CPU or lower TDP. Which is why I selected the 7600 as opposed to 7600x or 7700x. I’m willing to trade ecc for low power consumption (especially since I’m not planning for a 24/7 operation, I need to be able to power it off when not in use).
I’ve still been looking, but it looks like I might be compromising entirely on the 3x m.2 and just go with 2 slots instead, making me gravitate towards the asrock b650m pg riptide.
I’m thinking of waiting a bit before buying the m.2 ssds though. I’m crazy enough to be doing root on nfs on a desktop and for the VM passthrough an iscsi lun, lmao. And there might actually be some good benefits for doing that. But I’ll probably need a second high-speed NAS too, which I’m not really looking forward to (maybe I can get an older ryzen downclocked to <35w, or maybe buy an intel i3 or i5 T series).