Need ideas for 5950X SFF build

I finally got my 5950X from Microcenter! I’m planning to do a balls-to-the-wall small ITX build with it, so that I can bring my overpowered workstation with me any time I might need to travel around the world. I can work out the issue of a portable display in due time.

What this means, anyway, is I would like to have 64GB of ECC RAM, and an ITX motherboard. This is troublesome for me; I already have 4x8GB + 4x16GB sticks of this type of ram (the 16GB sticks are samsung M391A2K43BB1-CRC I bought in Dec 2019) currently running in my Threadripper 1950X.

My options are:

  • Go with a 2xDIMM board, pilfer half this ram to run 32GB in it for now till I need more capacity (save money)
  • Go with ASRock Rack > X570D4I-2T and get 2x32GB SODIMMs, with room to grow to 128GB

The second option is pretty attractive, but I’m worried that I wont be able to overclock the memory with a board like that. Seems like I’ll need to read everything I can find on the X570D4I-2T board, but in case that one doesn’t pan out (which I suspect it may not, since there is already one large negative point to that board: the presence of only a single M.2. I want at least dual M.2 because it’s possible to convert M.2 into full pcie slots, which I want the flexibility for, and it would be very awkward to have to give up the boot drive in order to leverage this).

Although the prospect of being able to run 128GB via ECC SODIMM with the 5950X is great, I also find it very reasonable that even over the long expected lifespan of the system I’ll be able to squeeze by fine on 64GB max, so I’m really having a tough time now with the dilemma of which type of board to go with.

I also already have a 3080 that I’ll be slapping in here so it really will be the machine that I will want to use for everything if I can. And this means that being able to overclock the CPU and overclock the ECC memory to get the most out of it all is something that I’d like to enable. I’m doing everything I can to select as small a case as I can that will accept a 280mm AIO for the CPU and I think the GPU will be fine as-is or deshrouded with some case fans and can also be pushed to be quieter (mostly interested in a slight undervolt with it, I’ve already found that to produce very good results). All of this to say that there are many arguments in favor of the first option.

I read just a little bit about the X570D4I-2T board and at least its bios seems to have overclocking options (good), it supports all kinds of bifurcation on the x16 slot (good), has beaucoup oculink ports (wow) so my m.2 concern is actually probably misplaced, as the oculink ports should be convertible easily to way more PCIe expansion than I could ever use in an SFF…

I’m not sure if it supports 5950X though since most reports are from people using 3950X in it.
Also still unsure if its VRM is up to snuff but I think the 5950X uses slightly less power than the 3950X, yes? Might not be a real concern?

The plot is thickening.

Wow this board also does not take a 24pin PSU connector. What!? It’s not ATX12VO either. This thing is wild.

Another option is ASRock Rack > X570D4U-2L2T with the Acat X2 case.

Watch:

Yeah, it’s Linus :stuck_out_tongue:

TL:DW: ECC RAM doesn’t like overlocking. If OC-ing is way important to you, don’t bother with ECC. Technically possible, but negates the reasons for ECC in the first place: security, stability & reliability.

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Yeah I’ve seen that and I’ve drooled over that board as well. But high single threaded clocks are a requirement here. Workloads benefit from that more than anything else, and it’s what the 5950X delivers in spades.

Well, ECC and overclocking kind of go together like peas in a pod. Rather than get weird crashes, if it works, it’s supposed to give you logs you can watch of corrected errors as you push over the edge of stability. It should be a far more principled approach to seeing how far you’re getting, and getting a good margin of safety as you back your settings off.

I wouldn’t be trying to push 3800 speeds, just want to, you know, go higher than 2400. I’m pretty sure the ram I already have is capable of 3200 with a little voltage bump.

At this rate I won’t be able to do a build before my return window closes on the chip. I might borrow my friend’s NZXT H1 and build it in a B550 just to confirm the chip isn’t dead.

the coolermaster case was amazeballs for this kind of build.

If you’re looking for max memory speeds check out the b550 boards. Apparently they (some of, not all) have updated memory topology (physically different memory trace layout) vs most x570 and can clock memory higher.

Obviously if you need more pcie4 that’s a thing but if memory OC is a thing decent b550 boards may surprise you.

Yeah it’s super weird. No >1GbE on any ITX X570 boards, but I saw a few B550 with 2.5GbE. As far as I understand it, the main drawback with B550 is a halved chipset link bandwidth. E.g. only x4 3.0 lanes will be shared between 2nd M.2 and all other peripherals rather than it being x4 4.0. Realistically I don’t see me needing to run e.g. RAID0 4.0 NVMe on this but I guess the option might be nice? Nor do I see needing that bandwidth for a second GPU off the M.2, enclosure wouldn’t allow for that. I might want to run a faster NIC off the M.2 but I doubt I’d be looking to go beyond 40Gb so 4x 3.0 is fine there too.

Still trying to figure out what other differences there are in going B550 in terms of IOMMU groups or CPU overclocking or ECC support or anything else whatsoever.

I’m assuming Wendell is referring to the NR200, to which I completely agree, I am trying to justify the modest additional size of the case because I would love to not have to deal with a pcie4 riser.

I also don´t think that B550 boards are really that ideal,
in regards to iommu groupings.
My recommendation in this case likely goes to the Asus X570-i ROG Strix board.
Or the Asrock X570 Phantom Gaming itx.

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Congratulations on obtaining silicon gold :stuck_out_tongue: plenty of 5600x appearing in the UK and 5800x the 5900’s still not about. Can you post link to the motherboard you decode to use :? Cheers.

For memory overclocks, the Asus ROG Crosshair VIII Impact is very interesting, too. However, it is mini-DTX instead of mini-ITX, so it will not fit sandwich-layouts, and the placement of the two m.2 slots (hint; they are their own breakout board) means you would need at least 80mm height for the cooler. That said, there are quite a few decent cases for it, if you can get past that hurdle. You’re looking at something like the N-Case M1 or similar for this.

Though, you will need some beefy cooling for your 5950x regardless so…

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The Impact is indeed also a good option for overclocking.
But it’s not cheap of course.

Cooler master.

280mm cpu cooling. No riser card/cable. Triple slot gpu. Reasonable airflow. Quietest itx I’ve ever built.

I think there is a slightly larger uatx version but I haven’t built in that

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I’ve seen people suggesting the Crosshair VIII Impact, so I felt the need to chime in.
It’s a no go if you want to use sandwich layout cases because the 5950x requires lots of cooling and you can’t fit coolers larger than the socket area on that motherboard due to the SoDIMM.2. Also some sandwich layout cases straight up do not support it.
But if you want to go for the Cooler Master NR200 I think it’s a great choice if you pair it with a good tower cooler or a watercooler.

All the Noctua coolers that fit on this motherboard need to be rotated 90° so they’re not in the classic front to back airflow orientation. This is due to the mounting brackets conflicting with the VRM heatsink near the bottom of it (I have an L9x65 on it and it’s rotated aswell).

I have nothing but good things to say about this motherboard, beside the lack of 2.5G LAN and the kinda awkward layout.

I think my list is shifting slightly, Newegg reviews kinda got me spooked off the Gigabyte and the AsRock, so I’m comparing between the 2 ASUS options again. If the Impact could fit in an NR200, then this is certainly a contender so long as the SODIMM.2 card does not interfere with 280mm radiator placement.

Sadly though, the NR200 is missing a front panel USB-C port. It would take some modification to install one to use with the header which seems to be present only on the Impact board.

The unreleased Meshlicious case has a USB-C front port but the impact wouldnt work in there. I’m also looking up info on B550 options…

The NR200 coupled with the Impact would give you USB-C in the back, and a radiator with slim fans should work with no worries, radiator with Thick fans is a bit more worrisome (breakout board is ~78mm if memory serves, so really tight).

The Impact is such a lost opportunity for me when it comes to m.2 slots, it could have allowed four m.2 (two on SO-DIMM, 1 in front, 1 in back) - instead it offers no extra over the breakout board, which means it severely limits the cases it can go into. Such a shame. :frowning: Not saying it is a bad board or anything, just dissapointed when the form factor lends itself to extra m.2, that they didn’t take advantage of that.

As for B550, I would choose either the Gigabyte Aorus B550I Pro AC or the Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming. Both have Flashbacks, Aorus is better for APUs (up to three simultaneous screens) while Asus is probably the better option here with two USB-C ports.

Actually you kinda hit the nail on the head there. What I’ve done is borrow my friends H1 and I’ve got the machine running now, on this B550i Aorus. I also have a Strix on backorder from BLT.

I don’t believe the Strix has flashback, I’d love to be proven incorrect, but otherwise it’s probably its strangest omission. I have the Ryzen 3600X on hand to upgrade the bios if I need to.

So far the Aorus behaves very poorly with ECC RAM, it freezes when trying to save and reboot the BIOS, so that’s a no go. Yesterday I got half of my old B-die 4x16GB kit from my 8700K clocked up to 3600 CL18 and thereabouts. Digging the added responsiveness vs 2400 (its XMP). I can’t believe I basically forgot to tune this ram and had been running 64GB of it stock in my 8700K system for 3 years.

Now, 32GB is a necessity for compiling my work project. Not being able to go 128GB is gonna sting a little but I think squeezing by with 64GB in 2 DIMMs is ok for the no-compromise case volume. It’s a bit unrealistic to have any less than 1GB per thread available.

Overnight memtest came up fine and realistically, given how much Ryzen loves memory clocks, depending on how fast I can make the ram go, I suppose I can just say eff it and run regular ram…

What else is interesting… well, the H1 understandably produces untenable temps under cinebench with PBO enabled, but otherwise this Aorus board is the little cheap board that tames the beast capably. Onboard audio is super buzzy, it’s rather disappointing.

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