I am excited to be doing my first build in over 7 years!
I work in web development and prefer Linux (usually arch) for work and general use, but still love gaming and the adobe suite. I plan on using a windows VM for the latter with GPU passthrough.
My main question is about motherboard selection. I have one selected in my PC part build, but as a placeholder. I really have no idea what to look for in modern motherboards. Just looking for opinions or suggestions.
-I have no real interest in overclocking
-I may upgrade to M2 drives in the future
-I’d like to stay in a ~150 GBP (200 USD) budget or less for the board. Cheaper the better.
In my search, for whatever reason, I’ve found myself interested in these boards:
MSI - X370 Gaming PRO Carbon ATX AM4 Motherboard (or x470 I suppose)
Asus - Prime X470-Pro ATX AM4 Motherboard
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/pdbeard/saved/#view=fyJFt6
I am also interested in Wifi/bluetooth adapter recommendations that have good Linux support (if not included on the board).
My second GPU is not listed in the build. I have an older Nvidia GTX 970 for the Linux host. the 590 is for the windows VM. Hopefully that is not an issue.
The Asus X470 Prime pro basically is a decent board.
it has a good vrm and contains most of the base features that you would need.
And the Linux support should be fine.
The only downside is that this motherboard does not come with onboard wifi adapter.
In my opinion a board that would really fit your needs best from what i gather in your op.
The Asrock X470 Taichi (non Ultimate).
This particular board pretty much ticks all the boxes you ask for.
It comes with onboard wifi, has a great vrm and the linux support is also decent.
Of course the onboard wifi adapter isnt the fastest out there.
But it works, and of course you could always grab a better solution eventually.
There is also a Ultimate version of this particular board,
which basically is the same board, but with an addition of an extra 10Gb/e aquantia nic,
which now days is also supported on linux aswell.
So my recommendation if it fits your budget, take a look at the Asrock X470 Taichi.
The Asrock X370 Taichi is also a realy decent board by the way,
which you might be able to find on sale aswell.
The only thing to keep in mind is that it might need a bios update before the,
Ryzen 2000 series cpu would work.
I’m personally not a huge fan of the Msi am4 boards in general.
Allthough they have improved on their X470 boards vrm implementations,
in compairisson to their X370 preducessors.
They now use some better mosfets in terms of lower rds on.
But i’m personally still not a huge a fan of them, since its still cheapy.
Of course if you dont care for overclocking then it would be fine.
Also i’m not a huge fan of Msi’s bios really.
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Okay let me start here. Pass through is probably done far better by using the 590 for the Linux host and forgoing the 970 to windows unless this is counter productive to your plans you should try this first.
So let’s talk about WiFi… The way I see it… You could just buy a board with it like X470 Taichi or the X370 Taichi if you want to save a bit of money… Avoid MSI man avoid them till after 2020… (I wont get into why 2020 on this thread)… The bios is generally easy to upgrade however you should check if their is an unattended or “offline no CPU in board” method of upgrading like some motherboards have. It will make the process easier.
If your set on your board which is understandable … I would say do you best to avoid ANY broadcom WiFi chip based cards. Linux support while okay now still has a ton of weird issues. So look for Atheros or better yet Intel WiFi cards.
The reason I say spend the extra money is in my experience broadcom WiFi drivers can still cause Linux to lock up sometimes. Its happened as recent as fedora 29 so let’s move for atheros or Intel…
OR
I forgot you have M.2 … Purchase an m.2 WiFi card such as the Intel 9260 or 9560… That’s prolly the easiest route. Since your going AMD don’t spend the extra money on the 9560.
Reason:
3
To realize the benefits of CNVi, a compatible Intel processor and Intel companion RF (CRF) module are required.
4
System size and cost reductions are based on OEM platform design and may not apply for all systems with CNVi.
Anyways If your crazy about your comms… And want external antennas we can talk about how to do that if you want. Basically it will just require a pcie slot with antennas and wires.
I wanted to use the 590 for the windows hosts because it’s a more powerful card, and I would be playing games on the windows VM. If that doesn’t work I may look into buying another GPU.
I think I’m going to get the Asus X470 Prime pro and this Wifi adapter:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HF8K0O6/?tag=pcpapi-20
Good to know, thanks for the advice. I’m leaning toward the Asus X470 pro with a separate WiFi card. I would imagine I’d get better connectivity doing that then opting for the X470 Taichi.
Go for it on the wifi card but go read on it. Make sure it takes the plain intel drivers and not special gigabyte ones but otherwise good.
The 590 should work it will just be an interesting setup imho I hate working with nvidia on linux but I have to
Not entirely true but your option works just fine. If we want to split hairs the integrated taichi intel wifi would be better slightly only because noise protection would have been built around the circuit for being inside the MOBO… but we are literally splitting hairs. Roll with which decision makes more sense to you. I like yours because it can be upgraded … you can switch the card out to a 9260 if you wanted down the line
Also those built in antenna stands are pretty bad tbch. Ive done a lot of link analysis and matching analysis on them… they typically dont have great performance characteristics and your usually better off using the internals. You can buy better antennas though haha… anyways sorry thats me geeking out… IRL im a comms engineer so I get picky about my comms