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Cerberus-X late 2024 : Moving to AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D and X870 AM5 platform (12th December 2024)
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First of all, I'm sorry for the delay, but time is missing currently.
Let's start with some background : Back in October 2024 I decided to move back to mini ITX, aiming for the impressive motherboard Asrock Z890i Nova paired with an Intel Core Ultra 265K. My target was to assemble everything within my Sliger S620. However 2 unforeseen factors made me change my mind completely :
- Despite my PC building experience, I was unable to start my Arrow lake setup. Most probably it was linked to a mismatch between handling manual and physical board...but even so, it is the first time in 26 years that I'm building some computers..
- AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D was better than expected. I was not fond of previous 3D VCache processors as they were all worse CPU versus non 3D VCache, except on gaming. However Ryzen 7 9800X is better than Ryzen 7 9700X is all possible ways (except the price..)
Before moving to the Cerberus-X, here are some photos of my Intel Arrow Lake setup :
Within one evening, I decided to abandon my Mini ITX Intel Arrow Lake S for an AMD AM5 ATX setup.
Why AM5 on ATX? Well simply, because I thought (still the case) that AM5 mini ITX boards are not to my taste, at all. I've had the recurrent debate between Mini ITX and ATX motherboards since I owned my Cerberus-X...answer is always the same, ATX motherboards are always better than mini ITX by a vast margin (especially true since the rise of m.2 storage). I would even say that I would consider Mini ITX MB only if it can lead to a significant space saving, and even.
Basically between Sliger S620 with a mini ITX motherboard and a massive CPU cooler and N-ATX v2 with ATX motherboard with a 120W CPU cooler I would prefer the later. This is my personal compromise.
Let's come back to my AM5 setup, within my beloved Cerberus-X :
- CPU : AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- Motherboard : MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk (fully passive cooling, 5Gb ethernet, allowing 2xm.2 x4 gen 5 at the same time, without hurting GPU bandwidth)
- RAM : Corsair Vengeance DDR5 2x24Go 7600MTS, actually operating at 6200MTS on my setup
- GPU : Nvidia RTX 4080 FE
- PSU : Corsair SF1000
- SSD #1 : Western Digital SN850X 2 To
- SSD #2 : Samsung 990 Pro 4 To
Let's start with the motherboard : the MSI MAG X870 Tomahawk.
This is my first MSI motherboard. Generally I'm oscillating between Asus and Asrock.
I selected this motherboard for several reasons :
- Build Quality (PCB 8 layers, strong VRM)
- Full passive cooling
- m.2 bandwidth disconnected from GPU. This is the only AM5 motherboards (to date) that offer 2 m.2 x4 Gen 5 directly connected to the CPU (at the price of USB4 connection)
- All m.2 slots are equipped with heatsink
- Debug LCD & Clear CMOS / Bios flashback external buttons
- 5Gbit ethernet and full bandwidth wifi 7 connection
- Ratio quality/functions/price is the best of AM5 motherboards
Overall, my experience with this motherboard was pretty smooth.
I played a little bit with the RAM setup and I was able to boot at 8000MTS, gear 2...but the boot failure rate was too high for my taste. I stick to 6200MTS gear 1 as it was rock solid!
Important point : beware to use only the “overclocking” menu to access AMD PBO. Basically AMD PBO can be accessed by “advanced” or “overclocking” menu...however only the “overclocking” menu is leading to a fully functional PBO panel (some kind of bios bug)
As you supposed, I deactivated USB4.0 in order to gain the full bandwidth on my 2 m.2, directly connected to the CPU.
As backup, I'm using the front USB type connector, up to 20Gbps and 27W fast charging (if you connect the gray PCIe connector at the bottom of the motherboard). Please note fast charging is working well on Iphone but not at all on Android devices (need to disable fast charging, limiting charge to around 10W). I'm using the extension port above the GPU to get this additional 20 gbps type C port.
Here a small tour of my setup :
That's all for today.
I'll continue with the quiet air cooling of the Ryzen 7 9800 X3D, that is finally way more challenging than expected.
