[HELP] New PC, confused with board and ram

Specs:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
GPU: ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER OC 16GB
Display: Dell Alienware AW3225QF
PSU: be quiet! Straight Power 12 1000W ATX 3.0
CASE: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower
COOLER: Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360
Board: ?
Memory: ?

As for the board, i am VERY lost. Really no clue what asus has been thinking when they came up with so many options where it's so difficult finding any difference between the products...

ROG STRIX B650-A GAMING WIFI
ROG STRIX B650E-E GAMING WIFI
ROG STRIX B650E-F GAMING WIFI

ROG STRIX X670E-A GAMING WIFI
ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI
ROG STRIX X670E-E GAMING WIFI

ROG CROSSHAIR X670E HERO
ROG CROSSHAIR X670E EXTREME

All of the above boards use ATX except the last one using EATX where i don't know if that's compatible with the Corsair 4000D Airflow Tower.
The first three boards use the AMD B650 chipset, the rest AMD X670.
Both seem compatible with the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D.
Additionaly all boards use dual memory according to the specs page of the manufacturer.
I imagine that 650 is simply an older generation where 670 is the latest one, but i couldn't find any 660.
If you're going to explain things please be precise and detailed.
Basically i've got eight boards to chose from, just why asus, why?
Some of the boards don't support spatial audio, what is that and should i care?
Help me decide which board is the optimal choice, thank you for your service.

As for memory i'm convinced corsair is a good choice. Particularly Corsair Vengeance DDR5 2x16GB CL?
The specs page of the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D says:
Max Memory Speed:
2x1R
DDR5-5200
2x2R
DDR5-5200
4x1R
DDR5-3600
4x2R
DDR5-3600
Does that mean the cpu won't work with any ram above 5200 or will it work but not fully utilize it?
Specificaly the "2x1R", etc confuses me. What does that mean?
What ram would be optimal for the cpu and the dedicated board?
I'd like a very responsive memory, guess that's what they call timing? (CL latency)

The difference in the boards that you listed is certain capabilities. A B650 will not necessarily support all of the hardware that a X670 board will. That means things like the amount of M2 or NVMe drives, or the number of x16 PCIe slots, as well as the speed of said PCIe slots (Gen 3 vs. Gen 4, etc).

I don't have time to look up the relevant specs and compare them, that is just a broad overview. I see no reason why you would want a Crosshair board. They are the top of the line and have a lot of features that you may not need, such as the ability to run multiple graphics cards at full speed, and the number of M2 slots, SATA connectors and USB ports. If it were me, I would pick up one of the flavours of the X670 boards you have listed. That will be sure to support your graphics card at a much lower price than the Crosshair. PCIe bus speed is everything with the GPU interface.

That being said, the B650 will support your CPU and memory, so you can save a few bucks if you don't need all the bells and whistles of an X670 board. In the end, the choice is yours, but I have to ask a question: What is your budget?

As for memory, I have had good luck with Mushkin and Gskill, although Corsair is a decent brand as well and they have a great memory selection utility online that can help with compatibility for your new memory. It is important to also check the QVL list for your new motherboard to determine if the memory you want to buy is supported by the motherboard. In the end, what you want to do is buy the memory that is supported by the motherboard and CPU, in this case 5200 MHz DDR5, but buy the lowest CAS latency that you can afford. The smaller the number, the speedier the RAM. You can get decent memory at a reasonable price, but if you want maximum performance, you'll need to get memory with the lowest CAS latency you can get. Keep in mind that this is only noticeable in benchmarks. In day to day use you will never notice the difference in CAS latency, other than some things might feel a bit snappier, and some of your games might have a few more frames per second at lower CAS latencies, but that depends on the game and the system.

I guess my advice would be to buy what you can afford, depending on your desired performance level. If you want to max everything out, buy the Crosshair, but it's really no better performance wise than a standard X670, it just has a few more bells and whistles, and probably overclocks better. With the price of the hardware you have listed, I would not suggest overclocking anyway, unless you can afford to replace things.

Good luck on your search, and if I can find some time tonight I will look at the specs of the boards you have listed and reply more.

I dont understand what you mean by "Yes the ram cannot go above 5200mhz. The "xR" means that you can only have the denoted rank so 1xR would mean 1 rank ram stick 2xR means dual rank etc". The boards support dual memory, is this realted?

My budget is 4300$, less is better.
I will not overclock any system components (eventually the cpu but most likely not).

After taking time to look closer it turns out the ASUS ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming and ASUS ROG Strix X670E-E Gaming interest me most because of their higher quality. However both of them are advertised with WIFI in their titles which i strongly dislike, why are there no versions without wifi?! I'm not buying a highend gaming pc to play over wifi, ofcourse it's going to be ethernet so i neither need nor want wifi on my board.
Now after checking reviews for these two boards i'm worried.

"Internet disables itself during gameplay - B650E-E/Intel i225-V
Has anyone else come across this issue? So far it's only happened while playing a game. My internet will lose connection after a random amount of time"

"I chose the X670E-E because it has 2x PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, which was concealed by the fact that in parallel operation the slot is limited to x8 and the second one even only to x4! Here the marketing slogans do not fit reality and I find it shabby that you are completely wrongly enlightened here, because in fact you don't have 2 PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, but only one!"

"I bought 64GB of RAM with AMD EXPO profile and yet the computer needs about 1 minute at EVERY start until I even see the BIOS logo! I've looked at all the settings, but there's nowhere to speed it up a bit. For the rest of the start-up process, the computer only needs 20-30 seconds, but the first minute is WAY TOO LONG and definitely unnecessary! And that just can't be for a premium board as the X670E-E".

These reviews don't make me want to buying any of the boards really.
However, if the x670e-e has no connection issues and no boot-time issues and i could use the first pcie slot for the 3070TS and use the third pcie slot for my soundcard without lowering the actual pcie performance of eitherone that would do the trick for me.
The x670e-e is very expensive but if it solves the randoms connection losses that are present with the B650E-E i would buy it, otherwise the B650E-E would probably be fine and alot cheaper.
How do i find out if the performance of the first pcie slot where my gpu is mounted will be lowered if i plug my soundcard into the thrid pcie slot? Does it make any difference using the soundcard with pcie x16 or x8?

I will check the QVL list for the board to determine if the memory i want is supported by the board once i decided which one is the best choice, thanks for explaining QVL.

Thanks for the heads up, just watched gamers nexus "PCIe 3.0 x8 vs. x16: Does It Impact GPU Performance?"
Seem like going x8 for the GPU is fine.

The ROG STRIX X670E-E GAMING supports:
Vendors Part No. Size XMP/EXPO Support RAM Speed Supported Speed SS/DS Chip Brand Timing Voltage Socket Support
CORSAIR CMK32GX5M2B5200C38(ver 3.43.01) 2x 16GB XMP 5200 5200 SS Micron 38-38-38-74 1.25 1,2
CORSAIR CMT32GX5M2B5200C38(ver 3.43.01) 2x 16GB XMP 5200 5200 SS Micron 38-38-38-74 1.25 1,2
CORSAIR CMK32GX5M2X5200C38(Ver 3.43.01) 2x 16GB XMP 5200 5200 SS Micron 38-38-38-84 1.25 1,2
CORSAIR CMT32GX5M2B5200C40(Ver 3.43.01) 2x 16GB XMP 5200 5200 SS Micron 40-40-40-77 1.25 1,2
CORSAIR CMH32GX5M2B5200C40(Ver 4.43.02) 2x 16GB XMP 5200 5200 SS Samsung 40-40-40-77 1.25 1,2
I see only XMP here no EXPO, does that mean the ram will only run at 4800 on AMD boards? After all corsair advertises the ram with "works best with intel motherboards".
Also the ram seems to be the RGB version which i absolutely have no interest in.
If i get the CORSAIR VENGEANCE (2x16GB) DDR5 5200MT/s CL40 even when it's not listed in QVL, what's going to happen? EXPO won't be a thing will it, but dual memory will work anyway?

Is there a website that can verify hardware compatibility so i can be sure the VRM covers of the board i want to get is compatible with the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360?
Completely forgot about case fans, any recommendations that will fit in the Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower?
I've got good experience with Be Quiet Pure Wings 2.

I was worried that x8 PCIE for GPU would impact performance, but the difference is only minimal so it's not a concern.

As for space i bet the next years we'll see alot new pc cases being introduced to the market, there is need for change.
Personal opinion, GPUs are way to large.

Well, when i sort the memory list by the following filter: EXPO+XMP, 5200 Ram Speed, size 2x16 GB, there are only seven results and four of them are kingston which i have bad experience with, a bad brand that won't last for long.
The remaining options are:
ADATA AX5U5200C3816G-DCLARWH Samsung 36-36-36-76
ZADAK ZD5-SPR52C50-32G2W2 Micron 38-38-38-84
ZADAK AH5U32G52C5029BAA-2 Micron 38-38-38-84
Corsair isn't listed when filtering with EXPO, filtering by XMP shows five results but if i target and AMD board i shouldn't buy any of these right? Well i've got zero experience with ADATA and ZADAK.

All in all the board reviews aren't that good for the pricetag, i've also read comments such as "am5 is a beta platform" or "ddr5 isn't stable yet".
Maybe it's better to wait 1-2 years then the nvidia 50 series will be released and ddr5 will be broadly adopted.
It's a shame the asus boards make everything so complicated because the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D appears to be a very efficent CPU.

- - - Updated - - -

Just to be sure, specs for the Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case say:
Compatible Liquid Coolers: H55, H60, H75, H80i, H90, H100i, H105, H110i, H115i, H150i
The specs also state: Radiator Compatibility: 120mm, 140mm, 240mm, 280mm, 360mm
Will the Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 fit? I asume so, corsair just lists theyr own coolers as compatible to get people into buying their coolers rather than other vendors?

- - - Updated - - -

Is it a hard requirement for ram/memory to be listed in QVL or am i fine getting the Corsair Vengeance DDR5-5200 2 x 16GB CL40-40-40-77 which isn't listed?

Some help with determing compatible case fans is also appreciated.

Q93627 said:

I dont understand what you mean by "Yes the ram cannot go above 5200mhz. The "xR" means that you can only have the denoted rank so 1xR would mean 1 rank ram stick 2xR means dual rank etc". The boards support dual memory, is this realted?

It means that the RAM is not supported by the CPU at speeds any faster than 5200 MHz. You can overclock the memory to something like 6000 if you like, but you run the risk of damaging the on die memory controller in the CPU. "Rank" means the way that the chips are manufactured on the memory's board. A 1 rank module will have chips on one side of the board (usually) and a 2 rank module will have chips on both sides of the board. As far as I know there is no discernible difference in performance between the two. This is not related to dual channel memory.

After taking time to look closer it turns out the ASUS ROG Strix B650E-E Gaming and ASUS ROG Strix X670E-E Gaming interest me most because of their higher quality. However both of them are advertised with WIFI in their titles which i strongly dislike, why are there no versions without wifi?! I'm not buying a highend gaming pc to play over wifi, ofcourse it's going to be ethernet so i neither need nor want wifi on my board.

The X670E-E Gaming is the better choice of the boards you have listed. Don't freak out about the WIFI. It can be turned off with no ill effects. Your main Ethernet connection will always work, unless you shut that off, of course. I have the WIFI shut off on my board and I have had no problems at all. Where you do run into dropouts is when you are using WIFI, in my experience. I prefer to use an Ethernet cable as the connection is much more reliable. The reason that most manufacturers are making boards with WIFI is that it is the new fashion, and people are getting resistant to running cables to a switch or router. It can be a PITA to run cables from another floor or room in your house if your house is not wired with Ethernet. Most aren't, so WIFI is an option for those people. Don't stress about it, it's just an option that you will probably never use if you don't like it.

Now after checking reviews for these two boards i'm worried.

Keep in mind that reviews for things are usually written by people without a good understanding about what they are reviewing. I don't put a lot of stock in them, to be honest, because you don't know the expertise level of the person writing the review. And it may not be the hardware. It might be Windows causing the problem, or a driver.

"I chose the X670E-E because it has 2x PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, which was concealed by the fact that in parallel operation the slot is limited to x8 and the second one even only to x4! Here the marketing slogans do not fit reality and I find it shabby that you are completely wrongly enlightened here, because in fact you don't have 2 PCIe 5.0 x16 slots, but only one!"

@Malneb has explained this better than I could.

"I bought 64GB of RAM with AMD EXPO profile and yet the computer needs about 1 minute at EVERY start until I even see the BIOS logo! I've looked at all the settings, but there's nowhere to speed it up a bit. For the rest of the start-up process, the computer only needs 20-30 seconds, but the first minute is WAY TOO LONG and definitely unnecessary! And that just can't be for a premium board as the X670E-E".

It may be that the user who wrote this is not aware of the "Fast Boot" option in BIOS, or they have a drive issue. A drive issue can cause a slow boot. My ROG STRIX X570-F Gaming boots to BIOS in about three seconds, and into Windows in about 15. I simply cannot believe that the X670 would take a minute to boot into BIOS unless something was set wrong, or there was some kind of hardware issue.

These reviews don't make me want to buying any of the boards really.

People tend to complain, and the complaints are louder than the good reviews. In my experience, ASUS builds damn good boards. I have been using them for years and I have never had an issue that I didn't cause myself by doing something silly.

However, if the x670e-e has no connection issues and no boot-time issues and i could use the first pcie slot for the 3070TS and use the third pcie slot for my soundcard without lowering the actual pcie performance of eitherone that would do the trick for me.

I don't know what sound card you are using, but most of them that I have seen have a PCIe x1 connector on them. They don't consume a lot of bandwidth, but as Malneb says, you will drop your PCIe x16 down to X8. With the bandwidth of PCIE 5.0, I doubt that will be a concern, as long as your GPU supports PCIe 5.0. The RTX 3070 Ti (which is what I assumed you meant, there is no TS model that I can find, or did you mean the 4070 TS?), does not support it, but the 4070 TI Super does. Your fist post listed the 4070 model, and that is most likely the best card to buy. It's on my upgrade list too.

How do i find out if the performance of the first pcie slot where my gpu is mounted will be lowered if i plug my soundcard into the thrid pcie slot?

The only way to know is to plug them in and see if GPU benchmarks are affected, or find a review where someone has done exactly that. In my motherboard, I have a serial/parallel PCIe x1 card plugged into my third slot and my GPU still runs at x16 according to CPU-Z, so your results may vary, and you may not have an issue at all.

Does it make any difference using the soundcard with pcie x16 or x8?

No. The sound card probably runs at x1.

I will check the QVL list for the board to determine if the memory i want is supported by the board once i decided which one is the best choice, thanks for explaining QVL.

The memory that you listed in the post below (Kingston and Adata) may not be the best choices in your opinion, and I might agree, but you are not necessarily limited to 5200 MHz RAM. You can buy something like 6000 MHz or 6400 MHz from a better brand and just underclock it by running it at 5200. There is no harm in doing that at all. You don't necessarily need the EXPO profile, either. You can set the RAM to however you want in BIOS, you just have to do it manually instead of a one click solution. Personally, I prefer to do it manually because I always fiddle with the timings on my RAM anyway. In your case, I don't think it really matters if you buy EXPO RAM or not. The results will be the same if you buy non-EXPO RAM and just set it up manually.

And remember, the QVL is just a guide that tells you that the specific RAM has been tested and verified to work in that board. It does not stop you from using other RAM that is not on the QVL. I do that all the time with my machines. I just make sure that the RAM is rated to work with AMD boards (it will usually say), and I buy a decent brand like Mushkin, Gskill, or Corsair. My current RAM is certified AMD compatible, but it is not on the QVL and I haven't had any issue with it at all. In fact, I have the timings lower than the spec, and it performs great.

Basically, you can over analyze this and get wound up if you aren't careful, and there is really no need. If you buy the X670E-E, you are going to get a solid board with lots of capability, and if you choose good RAM, you are going to have a very good computer and a pleasurable experience using it.

One last thing: Make sure that you buy a GPU support bracket of some kind to go into your case. That 4070 is going to be heavy and it will place stress on your PCIe connector, even if it says that the connector is reinforced it's always a good idea to have that extra support bracket. My 3070 Ti weighs a ton and sags if I don't use the bracket. Just a pro tip from lil' ol' me.