SLI enabled AM4 boards and other AMD board questions

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Bigbacon

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Trying to confirm this, but i dont think it is true. Many places say any 370x board support SLI but it doesn't seem like that is true.

Is there an easy list somewhere that says which AMD AM4 boards support SLI?

Torn on if I really need a board to support it but at the same time, I may cave and SLI again.

Outside of SLI what is the difference really between all these chip sets?

I originally looking at a B450 board but there are other choices in the same price range, 370, 470. So much marketing gook in al lthe item descriptions I am lost.

I do want overclocking abilities.
 
With the move of the PCI-E controller onto the CPU, the chipset has very little to do with whether or not a board is SLI capable. The important thing for SLI is two PCI-E slots directly connected to the CPU with at least x8 bandwidth. Some boards can have a single x16 slot with an x4 slot that is connected to the chipset, which wouldn't be SLI capable.
 
All you need is for whatever PCI slots you're using to be at least 2.0 x8 to enable SLI. "SLI certified/enabled/etc" boards haven't been a thing for nearly a decade.
 
ok. how do I know if they are controlled by the CPU?

like one board just says this

"AMD Ryzen series CPUs (Summit Ridge and Pinnacle Ridge)
- 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (single at x16 (PCIE2); dual at x16 (PCIE2) / x4 (PCIE4))*"
- 4 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slots
- Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™**
 
It has more to do with how the motherboard allocates the PCIe lanes. In the board above, it says dual at x16 and x4. One board I had dropped the second x16 slot completely when I installed an NVMe drive even though it was an X370. There doesn't seem to be any set specifications for how the PCIe lanes are allocated, so you have to read what the " * " says in the descriptions or in the manuals.

Things to look for are what the boards do when a PCIe NVMe drive is used or if two NVMe drives are used or when a SATA3 m.2 is used for that matter. Or if any PCIe lanes are available after running dual cards. Each board is different.
 
I think i may just forgo the sli thing then. Too hard to know unless it just says sli but those boards are few and or expensive.


the boards I was looking at outside of wanting SLI are pretty cheap and cover everything else I would want.

guess I'm trying now to stay under or around 100 bucks for either a 370, 470, or 450 chipset board.

Next thing I will need to research then is ram because that is a complete clusterfuck of information IMO.
 
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edit: just read that you do, in fact, want to overclock:

If you want to overclock an 8-core CPU or any future-generation 8+ core CPU's then you need to look at the VRM's on the board... board makers have been skimping badly on VRM's and that will impact overclockability as well as potential future CPU compatibility. If you're staying 6-core or under then you probably don't have anything to worry about and can get any board. Personally I'd go with a x370 board as you technically *can* do multi-GPU on a lesser chipset but you lose PCI-E lanes. This might not matter so much on NVIDIA but will matter a lot for AMD.

I personally have an Asus Crosshair VI Hero wi-fi but I'm also fortunate enough to have a microcenter near me. I'll probably be looking to go threadripper at some point however.
 
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I was going with a 450 tomahawk.

Either that or im scrapping the whole amd idea and going intel.

Im not spending 200plus on a board or i dont want to.

Tempted to not either bother at all. I originally started thinking of doing this vecause i was afraid division 2 would require cpu extensions i didnt have. Beta works.

Not that i cant spend the money. I coukd drop 2k right nkw no problem i just dont want to.
 
It depends on the goal of your overclock. I think you should be able to run precision boost without any issue. You aren't going to be able to push your chip to the limits like a CH 7 though. Either way it would be diminishing returns with the extra power usage and heat generated. Your board should be fine.
 
Actually... Jusst ordered. Ended up with the MSI x470 Gaming PLus. It was a reburb through newegg for 99 bucks. 15 less than t he tomahawk and like 35 less than new and it is supposed to have a better VRM setup.

now all I'm missing is my video card water block and new fittings although not sure if I really need new fittings but it would help route the tubing better than it is currently routed.
 
random question, power/power supply related.

This motherboard has your normal ATX power connector plus an 8pin and 4 pin connector. Are you required to use all 3??

It looks like my PSU doesn't have the extra 4 pin, just the ATX and the 8pin.
 
Bigbacon said:
This motherboard has your normal ATX power connector plus an 8pin and 4 pin connector. Are you required to use all 3??

It looks like my PSU doesn't have the extra 4 pin, just the ATX and the 8pin.
Click to expand...

No, you don't need the extra CPU power connector for any currently shipping AM4 processor; and I rather doubt that you'll need it in the future.
 
pitingres said:
No, you don't need the extra CPU power connector for any currently shipping AM4 processor; and I rather doubt that you'll need it in the future.
Click to expand...

So my psu has both now that i have it out of the case.

Shoukd i use both or just tge 8 pin?
 
the x470 gaming plus is a super cheap x470 board that actually uses a similar vrm design as the b450 tomahawk. both use 4+2 vrm but the tomahawk has better vrm heatsinks which would actually make it a better ryzen 7 overclocker than the gaming plus.
 
Manual doesn't say. I just plugged them all in.

Set multiplier to 42 and hit save. all is well so far. Memory XMP/AMP'd/Whateverthehellitscalled to 3200mhz no problem like it should have.

CPU sits at around 100-104F during gaming but seems to jump from like 82 to 100 all the time.
MOS always seems to sit about 100F but I don't have my side panel on that has a fan that blows right right those things.

When you OC these things, do they stop doing any kind of throttleing? Before OC'ing it just jumped around between base and boost clock all the time. I also can't seem to get it back to doing that even if I just set it back to default.

edit:
After longer playing, like 3 hours. MOS got up to like 125f or so @4.2ghz

have to do some more testing after Iput the side of the case back on which should help produce much better air flow over everything.

No crashes yet though!
 
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