Good AM5 motherboard that is stable with strong VRM and no coil whine to pair with Ryzen 7 7800X3D

Wolverine2349 · Apr 6, 2023

I may switch to a Ryzen 7800X3D from Intel and what would be a good AM5 motherboard that is stable and has no coil whine to pair with it?

I had an Asus X670E-E Strix and it had annoying coil whine at idle and under load near CPU area. And have heard similar things about other Asus B650E and X670 -A/-F/-whatever Strix variants.

What would be a good board?

Want something that also runs cool and is stable and has more than enough VRM for mild overclocking if possible.

Features are not that important though must have at least 2 M.2 slots to CPU direct and Gen 5 PCI-E X16 top slot.

So basically B650E and X670E chipsets.

Also absolutely no onboard chipset nor VRM fan

UltraMega · Apr 6, 2023

Edit:

I don't think coil whine on motherboards is really an issue these days. Sounds like a B650 would be perfectly fine for you. Just avoid cheap AsRock and MSI boards and you should be fine.

Dekatris · Apr 6, 2023

I have never experienced coil whine from a motherboard. The only time I ever had any was with my RTX 2080, and it was at a pitch that was usually completely drowned out by game sounds.

That said, I don't think there is any AM5 board that can't handle a 7950X at full tilt under ambient cooling. I also don't see any real utility from most X670 boards for the average user, so unless you specifically need a feature from an X670 board, get whatever B650 board has all the features you need.

zayd · Apr 6, 2023

I've just purchased the MSI X670E Carbon WiFi and it will be a sufficient enough comparator to your Strix board.

Alexshunter · Apr 7, 2023

Coil whine is terrible, should be under warranty such products for exchange.

Yuke · Apr 7, 2023

Only look at features you need.

Akadaka · Apr 7, 2023

I haven't heard of coil whine on Motherboard's recently however my Corsair HX1000 Platinum has it & it's annoying as hell... so I don't blame you for being cautious.

Blameless · Apr 7, 2023

You'll struggle to find an AM5 board that isn't overkill, VRM wise, for a 7800X3D. There are a grand total of zero motherboards that meet your criteria that wouldn't deliver all the current a 7800X3D will ever realistically draw, and not have another 200-300% margin on top.

Most boards won't have any meaningful coil whine, but you won't know for certain until you try one.

Wolverine2349 · Apr 7, 2023

Blameless said:
You'll struggle to find an AM5 board that isn't overkill, VRM wise, for a 7800X3D. There are a grand total of zero motherboards that meet your criteria that wouldn't deliver all the current a 7800X3D will ever realistically draw, and not have another 200-300% margin on top.

Most boards won't have any meaningful coil whine, but you won't know for certain until you try one.

Is that just true of all B650E and X670E.

I have heard there are so very low end ones that have crappy VRMs. I imagine those are B650 or maybe some rare X670 non-E chipset versions.

In general are motherboards since Ryzen 7000 and Intel 12th and 13th Gen have far far and away more robust and overkill VRMs than Ryzen X570/B550 Ryzen 5000/3000 series boards and Intel 11th Gen and prior? I know for sure there were lots of mediocre or sometimes even poor VRMs even on mid range boards of X570/B550.

And is it possible to manually overclock the 7800X3D or is it multiple locked meaning best you could do for static frequency is set it to low 4.2GHz base and no higher? As I have heard dynamic frequency is part reason for coil whine on AMD boards and making it static and fixed mitigates it?

Wolverine2349 · Apr 7, 2023

Wolverine2349 said:
In general are motherboards since Ryzen 7000 and Intel 12th and 13th Gen have far far and away more robust and overkill VRMs than Ryzen X570/B550 Ryzen 5000/3000 series boards and Intel 11th Gen and prior? I know for sure there were lots of mediocre or sometimes even poor VRMs even on mid range boards of X570/B550.

And is it possible to manually overclock the 7800X3D or is it multiple locked meaning best you could do for static frequency is set it to low 4.2GHz base and no higher? As I have heard dynamic frequency is part reason for coil whine on AMD boards and making it static and fixed mitigates

Blameless · Apr 7, 2023

Wolverine2349 said:
In general are motherboards since Ryzen 7000 and Intel 12th and 13th Gen have far far and away more robust and overkill VRMs than Ryzen X570/B550 Ryzen 5000/3000 series boards and Intel 11th Gen and prior? I know for sure there were lots of mediocre or sometimes even poor VRMs even on mid range boards of X570/B550.

Baseline VRMs have improved, but in general, even 'mediocre' VRMs are more than sufficient for most any AM4 or AM5 processor, until you get into fairly extreme OCing scenarios.

The second 7800X3D build I'm planning is going to use a $120 dollar motherboard because it has all the meaningful features I need, and it's modest VRM is still total overkill.

Wolverine2349 said:
And is it possible to manually overclock the 7800X3D or is it multiple locked meaning best you could do for static frequency is set it to low 4.2GHz base and no higher? As I have heard dynamic frequency is part reason for coil whine on AMD boards and making it static and fixed mitigates it?

The 7800X3D is pretty heavily locked down. With few exceptions, there is no manual multiplier control, no manual voltage increase, and no ability to exceed the default power limits. Some boards have special features that can bypass some of these limiters, but the 7800X3D is almost as limited as the 5800X3D was.

I can't recall the last time I heard coil whine from any motherboard, but I almost invariably enable all VRM phases at all times and manually set VRM PWM frequencies. I'd expect features like phase shedding to have a much larger impact than CPU frequency itself. CPU load will matter, but frequency in and of itself has very little impact.

Wolverine2349 · Apr 7, 2023

Blameless said:
Baseline VRMs have improved, but in general, even 'mediocre' VRMs are more than sufficient for most any AM4 or AM5 processor, until you get into fairly extreme OCing scenarios.

The second 7800X3D build I'm planning is going to use a $120 dollar motherboard because it has all the meaningful features I need, and it's modest VRM is still total overkill.

The 7800X3D is pretty heavily locked down. With few exceptions, there is no manual multiplier control, no manual voltage increase, and no ability to exceed the default power limits. Some boards have special features that can bypass some of these limiters, but the 7800X3D is almost as limited as the 5800X3D was.

I can't recall the last time I heard coil whine from any motherboard, but I almost invariably enable all VRM phases at all times and manually set VRM PWM frequencies. I'd expect features like phase shedding to have a much larger impact than CPU frequency itself. CPU load will matter, but frequency in and of itself has very little impact.

What exceptions does it allow manual multiplier control?

Blameless · Apr 7, 2023

Wolverine2349 said:
What exceptions does it allow manual multiplier control?

If a board has an external clock generator and appropriate settings, you can disable PBO and manually manipulate multipliers normally (up to 42x) and still reach usable frequencies.

Skatterbencher has some examples of this: https://skatterbencher.com/2023/04/05/skatterbencher-60-amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-overclocked-to-5400-mhz/

Wolverine2349 · Apr 7, 2023

Blameless said:
If a board has an external clock generator and appropriate settings, you can disable PBO and manually manipulate multipliers normally (up to 42x) and still reach usable frequencies.

Skatterbencher has some examples of this: https://skatterbencher.com/2023/04/05/skatterbencher-60-amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d-overclocked-to-5400-mhz/

Awesome. Was that even possible on the 5800X3D with proper mobo cause I heard it was completely locked and no way to overclock.

And which mobos have that.

Oh wait only up to 42X. S that means only 4.2GHz, or possible to get BCLK faster without stability issues so you can statically set more than 4.2GHz with 4.2 multiplier?

Blameless · Apr 7, 2023

Wolverine2349 said:
Oh wait only up to 42X. S that means only 4.2GHz, or possible to get BCLK faster without stability issues so you can statically set more than 4.2GHz with 4.2 multiplier?

Anything with an external clock generator allows for BCLK increases without modifying PCI-E clock. Skatterbencher shows a fixed all-core 4.8GHz OC with ~114MHz BCLK and 42x multiplier.

Wolverine2349 · Apr 7, 2023

Blameless said:
Anything with an external clock generator allows for BCLK increases without modifying PCI-E clock. Skatterbencher shows a fixed all-core 4.8GHz OC with ~114MHz BCLK and 42x multiplier.

Cool yeah I saw that. Can you increase it significantly without affecting anything except the CPU frequenmcy itself? Does anything else depend on BCLK besides the PCI-E clock that could be hurt if you move it too high above 100?

Was it even possible to do that on Ryzen 5800X3D?

Blameless · Apr 7, 2023

Wolverine2349 said:
Cool yeah I saw that. Can you increase it significantly without affecting anything except the CPU frequenmcy itself? Does anything else depend on BCLK besides the PCI-E clock that could be hurt if you move it too high above 100?

As shown ECLK1 mode will provide the CCD with an independent BCLK signal, while the SoC/IOD and can use a 100MHz reference clock.

Wolverine2349 said:
Was it even possible to do that on Ryzen 5800X3D?

Limited BCLKing OC is certainly possible with the 5800X3D, but the practical limit is in the 102-104MHz range before PCI-E devices or the SoC components themselves start to have serious issues. Some have done benching/suicide runs well past this, but the eCLK allows for a lot more flexibility on those AM5 platforms that support it.

Edit: Some higher-end X570 boards have external clock generators as well, but the gains for the 5800X3D still seem to be more modest.

Wolverine2349 · Apr 8, 2023

Blameless said:
As shown ECLK1 mode will provide the CCD with an independent BCLK signal, while the SoC/IOD and can use a 100MHz reference clock.

Limited BCLKing OC is certainly possible with the 5800X3D, but the practical limit is in the 102-104MHz range before PCI-E devices or the SoC components themselves start to have serious issues. Some have done benching/suicide runs well past this, but the eCLK allows for a lot more flexibility on those AM5 platforms that support it.

Cool thanks for the assistance.

I mean so this kind of overclocking is essentially the same and just as good as unlocked multiplier. Its just hidden and AMD does not want you to know it

And only certain mobos can do it where as all can set unlocked multiplier?

And how do O know which mobos can do this method?

Blameless · Apr 8, 2023

Wolverine2349 said:
And only certain mobos can do it where as all can set unlocked multiplier?

And how do O know which mobos can do this method?

Not all boards expose multiplier controls, but disabling Boost does cap multiplier at 42x maximum, which is the full base speed and OS power settings can keep it there, all the time, if desired.

Only boards with external clock generators can feed independent reference clocks to the CCD to bypass normal BCLK limitations. I don't have a list, but others on OCN have started one.

Celcius · Apr 11, 2023

@Wolverine2349 which motherboard did you end up going with?
I also like Asus but the ROG boards are too expensive and the Strix boards seem to have many complaints about coil whine...

Good AM5 motherboard that is stable with strong VRM and no coil whine to pair with Ryzen 7 7800X3D

Wolverine2349

UltraMega

Dekatris

zayd

Alexshunter

Yuke

Akadaka

Blameless

Wolverine2349

Wolverine2349

Blameless

Wolverine2349

Blameless

Wolverine2349

Blameless

Wolverine2349

Blameless

Wolverine2349

Blameless

Celcius

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