New AM5 "workstation+gaming" build w/ 9800X3D | Looking for reccomendations

Hello all,

I was at my local Micro Center where I was able to pick up a 9800X3D. I figured I may as well take the opportunity since it was in stock and I’ve been considering putting something new together. Whenever the 9950X3D rolls around that could be a consideration to swap to.

Part of my consideration for this build is connectivity to home lab stuff. I see things like the ProArt board having 10GbE and all the USB connectivity. USB4, probably plenty of interesting stuff I could get for that. My homelab stuff is mostly 100Gb and 25Gb.

I have some components (mostly storage) that I was hoping would help to drive some suggestions for the rest of this build or peripherals. Let me go through General Guidelines information first:

  • Budget - Unlimited, but looking for what makes sense. Willing to spend more on things if it’s worth it or matches a good use case.

  • Where do you live? Currency? - USA. USD.

  • Is there a retailer you prefer? - No

  • Do you need or already have peripherals? - Considering new options. I am considering a 4K OLED monitor like the AW3225QF or ASUS PG32UCDP. I’ve hesitated on this because going from 38" down to 32" feels sad but probably worth getting over it. I’m also thinking it’s time to ditch ultrawide in favor of 16:9/3840×2160. Current main display is a AW3821DW. Not sure what all the 4K OLED high refresh options are today.
    Thinking of a new keyboard as well. My current Ducky ONE has weird issues where it doesn’t register keystrokes sometimes. Annoyingly gone through the firmware updates for it with “mixed” success. It seems to come and go as an issue so I’ve just sort of put up with it haha.

  • What will you be using your Glorious computer for? - Gaming and if possible some “workstation” things related to GenAI and HPC. Just for learning/experimentation with what I have at my disposal.
    I am currently working in this space in a non-technical role but would like to work on that in my free time to make myself more valuable in my current role and potentially future ones (slapping GenAI on my LinkedIn has gotten me lots of fun offers). Previous roles were all technical. Enterprise storage focused.

  • Do you overclock or want to get into overclocking? - I have done so in the past but it’s not all that important to me. It would be on interest to invest in cooling options to make this something I can pursue in the future.

  • Do you plan on going for custom water-cooling now, or in the future? - Nah not that far though, not custom. Air cooling or an AIO would be more my speed.

  • Operating System. Do you need a new one? - I want to force myself to use Linux. At worst dual boot.

Gaming Questions:

  • What kind of settings do you like or what FPS do you want to play at? - Highest settings while attempting to maintain 144 fps / Hz. If I have difficulty getting that (hello Cyberpunk on release) I favor fps/refresh rate.

  • What resolution will you be playing at? //or would like to play at. - 4K if I get a high refresh rate OLED monitor. The AW3821DW is 3840x1600. I also have two other displays. An AW3418DW and a Dell 4K monitor that I put into portrait. Obviously gaming is only on the single 38" display. I am thinking of overhauling this display setup.

  • What kind of games do you like to play? - Everything. From indie to Quad AAAA games or whatever they want to call themselves these days. Been doing a lot less gaming these days though.


Ok so here’s some components I already have and can use:

  • GPU - RTX 3080 TI while I wait to see value prop of RTX 5000 cards.

  • Storage - Have a lot of stuff here.
    1x Optane 905P 1.5TB
    8x Optane P1600X 118GB
    12x Samsung 990 Pro 2TB
    a few PM1725 1.6TB HHHL cards
    A boatload of U.2 NVMe drives both Gen3 and Gen4.
    A few mechanical drives with decent capacity (20TB+). Probably use externally.
    Have a few ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 Gen5 Cards I can use. Seems like out of the motherboard options available these would probably go unused.

  • Networking
    I have a CX4 25Gb and 100Gb cards which I could potentially use.

  • Audio
    I have a Schiit Stack

I am thinking out of the storage I have available the 905P could be used as an OS drive. I’d be interested in picking up a few T705s. The P5800X is of interest as an option but eh I suppose I’d just use the 905P.


Ok that’s a lot of info. Sorry. Let’s keep going.

Here’s components I am considering for this. This is where I’d love suggestions based on what I have and what I may acquire for this build.

  • CPU Cooler
    Not sure. Suggestions please!

  • Case Options
    Fractal North XL
    ProArt PA602

  • Motherboard Options
    ProArt X870E
    STRIX X870E-E
    Aorus X870E Xtreme AI TOP (what a name)
    AsRock X870E Taichi

  • Memory
    Not sure. Going by @wendell sweet spot recommendations- going 2x 48GB @ 6000? ECC would be nice. Not sure who to go with to get to that recommendation. Kingston?

  • PSU
    Not sure. Modular. 1000w? SilverStone?

Going with all ProArt stuff (AIO, case, motherboard) is definitely an interesting consideration. Wonder if there’s some sort of combo deal for doing that other than a double thumbs up from ASUS.

Well anyhow I’m sure this is all way too much info. Appreciate anyone taking the time to read and offer suggestions. Thanks!

As for a cooler, I really like the Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Black edition.

Pricing is on the high side but I like their Air Coolers a lot :wink:

Thanks for the suggestion. I’d say out of any air cooler options it’d probably look the nicest.

I am honestly leaning more towards just doing a whole everything ProArt build. Obviously not cost efficient but aesthetics are winning me over. Their AIO choices/cost are still a bit lol worthy though.

Do you think getting the Noctua NH-D15 G2 LBC is worth it for OP? This is the 2nd gen D15 made specially for AM5, i suspect it will shine if/when the 9950X3D upgrade comes.

https://noctua.at/en/nh-d15-g2-lbc

https://noctua.at/en/nh-d15-g2-performance-data

Oh that was actually the one I was looking at as opposed to the vanilla NH-D15. Seems like out of Noctua choices it’d be the best option.

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Honestly should be as good as most of the other options. I remember seeing something in a Hardware Unboxed video that X3D cpus aren’t too dependent on speed/latency for gaming (that extra cache coming in clutch)

Yeah straight up just copying off of what I’ve read on the forums here and what Wendell has commented on. So far the hardest part is finding what is actually in stock.

@CybeastRaystriker sure that would probably work, I just like the looks of the Chromax Black is all, I also own a few of the older Noctua coolers as well.

I generally don’t think noctua is ever “worth it” unless you just absolutely must have the best air cooling specifically, and value matters not to you. I didn’t see it in time for my purchase (went with dark rock pro 4) but hardware Canucks had some incredibly enlightening videos on air coolers and the peerless assassin did actually seem kinda peerless for value.

If noise is a strong concern, arctic’s liquid freezer AIOs have been sitting at the top of GN’s noise normalized chart for as long as I have been watching the channel, previously with the II and now the III.

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Phantom Spirit 120. Same noise-normalized performance as G2 LBC with more clearance for a quarter the price, couple degrees cooler for a third with a fan swap.

Most likely the G2 LBC’ll continue to be overpriced and underperformant compared to decent 360 AIOs if the 9950X3D’s 230 W PPT or PBOed. In the unlikely event AMD puts the 9950X3D at 162 W PPT (or lower) probably the G2’ll continue be overpriced compared to decent dual tower air.

Same. And the air cooling niche where Noctua has a performance lead’s G2 HBC on LGA1700, which is a pretty small niche given Intel7’s ~10 nm node size. Probably LGA1851’s similar but I haven’t seen any data yet.

QuasarZone has broader air coverage and does a lot of AIOs as well. HWCooling has a fair amount of data too. Both are limited to LGA1700, though. So AM5 coverage’s mainly TechPowerUp, Canucks, and occasional data points from GN. ID-Cooling and Thermalright both offer pretty good entry level AIOs but, as there’s little data on pump longevity, I’d be hesitant to go under Liquid Freezer. Galahad II Trinity Perf’s only ~10% more, though.

Valkyrie and Corsair seem to have decent high end performance but 2-3x is a lot to spend for slight LGA1700 improvements and little AM5 data.

If USB4 down and x8/x8 are needed, yes, otherwise no reason for X870E. Unless 10 GbE down’s a requirement Asus is probably the worst choice, followed by Gigabyte.

For DDR5 ECC UDIMMs, yes, but there’s limited value to bus EC4 in addition to EC2 scrubbing and read+write CRC. Other than limited support from Asus ECC means ASRock boards.

+1. Or any of the other 2x48 Vengeance M-dies.

The build’s power total and noise targets are the definitive answer to the first but 1000 W is plausible. Silverstone would be… odd.

Asus’s brand tax commonly extends to cutting quality as well as putting up prices. I don’t know of rigorous PA602 reviews but am not seeing anything that’d incline me to set optimistic expectations. I’ve built a couple non-XL Norths and they’re kinda junky and thus badly overpriced. Fractal seems less enthusiastic of exploiting its customers than Asus, but that’s a low bar. I don’t know of other vertical striped front alternatives, though.

Would you mind elaborating/expanding on/or providing links to resources on DDR5 ECC? I ask as it sounds like there’s a lot of nuance and I’d like to understand.

Edit: Been doing my own research and reading on partial vs full ECC support, I see. Also understanding how DDR5 introduced on-die error detection. I am understanding better now how the overall support for ECC with DDR5 and how it’s positioned in the consumer market. So basically it’s good on Asrock for what they’ve done to fully embrace system wide ECC. Or at least being one of the first?

Having that 10GbE trumps all. However I am confused as it seems like ASUS stepped up and does indeed fully support end-to-end ECC?

https://www.asus.com/support/faq/1051605/

Something I’m missing here? Or is it this from later updates? Assuming this has been an ongoing thing. Assuming this applies to X870E as well. Seems to be the case: https://forum.level1techs.com/t/x870e-ecc-support/

Sounds like going with a 360 AIO makes the most sense here.

As for power I’m just winging it really. Assumption being I want to ensure enough power for dual GPUs one day if I want to go that route for whatever reason.

Nothing is truly a “requirement” but I’m willing to pay for the privilege of 10GbE and USB4.

Sorry I’m mobile and accidentally replied too quickly. Hence tons of edits.

ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 360? Opinions on that choice?

I’ve mostly used JEDEC’s unpaywalled documents, DDR5 DRAM datasheets, assorted interviews and whitepapers, various articles in peer reviewed journals, and looks into coding theory. Don’t know of any one thing that’s a straightforward explanation. The takeaway I’ve gotten from all that is DDR4 EC4 and DDR5 EC2+CRC protect against different faults in different ways but it appears quite difficult to construct an argument of reasonable strength that one’s likely to show greater overall reliability than the other.

The case for DDR4 EC4’s much clearer with the lack of scrubbing and read CRC hole. Also seems like some folks like to lean on ECC as a crutch for not doing memory testing during build validation or periodic retesting. Retesting’s infeasible in high rel but is no big deal for desktop, workstation, or homelabbing.

An oddity of the Level1 forums is there’s lots of obsessing about DDR ECC but so far I’ve yet to read anybody getting their freak on about GDDR.

Both links note incomplete support in Asus’s high end and the Asus one says ECC’s only supported for on QVL memory. I dunno if, for example, KSM56E46BD8KM-48HM is QVL for any Asus board (it’s not on any of the ones I just checked, including X870E ProArt) or if Asus expects SECDED to happen for off QVL ECC UDIMMs. From what I’ve read people have tried to get clarification and gotten conflicting answers from Asus support. There’s been some user efforts to check support but the ones I know lack fault injection and verification of reporting.

A partial exception’s @Susanna, who’s confirmed reporting on X670E ProArt but I forget which DIMMs she’s got. Given ProArt’s positioning I’d hope X870E isn’t a regression but, for example, the Hardware Unboxed video in the X870E thread just linked found the X870E Hero lacked support when Asus’ specs say it has support. Asus has a consistent history of similarly dishonest behavior, particularly with ROG. Hence my remark about limited support.

Gigabyte starting to do ECC for desktop ATX is new and I didn’t think to look for it when going through their 870s. From some checking I’m only seeing ECC on X870E Aorus Master and Xtreme.

I would say so. Also IMO good on AMD for not chipset locking ECC like Intel does. Though not cripplewareing a CPU+DRAM feature by bundling it with an unrelated chip in the name of monetization is, admittedly, a low bar.

ASRock isn’t perfect either but at least they’re honest enough to have taken ECC off their motherboard specs when AMD broke it in AGESA (that was shortly after Zen 4 launch) and then put ECC back into the specs once an AGESA fix was available.

Past time to populate a max power draw column in the build spreadsheet, total it up, and look at supply noise maps, then. 1000’s underspec for a 2x400 W-ish config like 3080 Tis.

Wrote about that one already.

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I use my desktop in much the same way. I have a 7950X on an X670E Pro Art mobo, a Noctua NH-D15 cooler, a 7900XTX, 64GB of ECC UDIMM RAM all in a Fractal Torrent case. I have replaced all the fans with the new Noctua NF-A14x25 PWM fans, 8 in total, and it is a monster. I have a 1000 watt Seasonic Prime TX PSU. The only way to get more performance would be to go to a Threadripper. Yes, I use the 10G ethernet, the USB4 connections, all 16 cores and 32 threads, and all the stock built in AI overclocking crap, PBO and such. It’s solid and works flawlessly on Linux.

Take all that for what you want with regards to your own build.

Ah so YMMY situation even if advertised. Roger that. It’s really not a big deal either way. I just only had a vague understanding and wanted to learn more.

CMK96GX5M2B6000C30 seems like a good choice so far. I saw that the CMH96GX5M2B6000C30 was on the ProArt’s QVL which as far as I can tell is just the RGB version of the same memory. I’d prefer none.

Mmm yeah guess you’re right. Wouldn’t do it with 3080 TIs but looking at blackwell, if anything, power requirements are just going to get even higher. Well at least it’s not the same kind of power requirements of a BG200… lol

Would I really put dual blackwell GPUs in this thing? That seems extremely unlikely. If I somehow did, on top of some additional generous add-ins, the max power calculation would look to be around 1400w. Being more realistic with myself, 850w is probably going to be more accurate.

So I guess a 900 to 1000w PSU would end up being more than enough.

Noctua NH-D15 Multi Socket PWM Chromax CPU Cooler - Black

Using it on my 7800X3D with only one fan. AMD chips are easy too cool.

Yes. Pretty good odds it’s the same PCB assembly and testing with slightly cooler operation without the LED heating. It’s unclear to me how often QVL’s functionally meaningful for DDR5, particularly with non-ECC UDIMMs, versus being something support can use to nope out.

They might tend to drop slightly for responsible builds, actually. 12VHPWR/12V-2x6 is rated for 660 W absolute max, so a single 12+4 can power a 330 W GPU at the usual 2x minimum safety margin. On the leaked TDPs, that excludes 5080. So instead of two ~320 W 4080s being the upper bound it’ll probably end up something like two ~310 W 5070 Tis.

Connections which run dGPU power levels often implement more like a 2.5x margin, including PCIe 8-pin, EPS, and IEC. That’s ~265 W max, so like 5070 max rather than maybe 4070 Ti-ish. If Nvidia permits dual 12+4s then some 5080s and 5090s may be viable, depending on quality of load balance.

Don’t guess, use the build power total and expected operating points to assess noise maps and efficiency curves. Typical selection criteria yield a 1300 or 1500 W rating for an 850 W sustained load.