Motherboard for Ryzen 7800X3D

[Flogger23m]

Looking to get a Ryzen 7800X3D, and am looking for a motherboard & 32GB RAM kit (2x16GB ideal I assume?). Looking for some suggestions that would fit my criteria.

Looking for a board with a shorter boot time, I know some AM5 motherboards/DDR5 have really long boot times and I would like to avoid those if possible. Going to use 2-3 NVM-e SSDs, and will want to run at least two of those at full speed. Will also be using the motherboard audio as I don't have a DAC/sound card audio set up currently. Price range I am looking for is around $250 ideally, I know that is limiting and don't mind going over slightly but don't want to spend $300-400 either. Will be for gaming/general use and paired with an RTX 4070.

For reference my current ASRock X370 I used with four CPU upgrades and from pressing the power button to being in Windows is around 31 seconds; 17 seconds for BIOS boot. I would ideally want something close to that for boot times and want something that will be supported well.


I have been looking at this ASRock X670E PG Lightning for $230. ASRock website for this model.

Is there any shortcoming with this ASRock board, because the price seems low for what it is and I don't see any other X670Es in that price range. Does anyone have experience with that board?

I've gotten recommendations for the GIGABYTE B650 AORUS ELITE AX although that appears to be a regular B650, and is currently only $10 cheaper than the ASRock offering.

Any other motherboard recommendations? Are there any types of RAM I should avoid for boot time/EXPO issues? I will use the QVL list for any RAM kits but a number of those are out of stock or expensive on boards I have been checking. Just wondering if there are issues like Ryzen initially had with preference for Samsung B Die kits.

 

[sk3tch]

From the title it doesn't seem like it - but this thread will be gold for you:

https://hardforum.com/threads/x670e-mobo-for-7800x3d-and-other-recommendations.2030180/

IMO you're on the right track. I have a B650E board with 7800X3D and a X670E board with 7800X3D - they're all intents and purposes the same for how I use them (gaming). Luckily the X670E was an open box steal at Micro Center (X670E Taichi new for $300 - I guess some dude in the back mislabled it - guy that checked me out was like WTF - it was still sealed, lol).

FWIW - I LOVE ASRock this gen. They have been killing it.

 

[Flogger23m]

From the title it doesn't seem like it - but this thread will be gold for you:

https://hardforum.com/threads/x670e-mobo-for-7800x3d-and-other-recommendations.2030180/

IMO you're on the right track. I have a B650E board with 7800X3D and a X670E board with 7800X3D - they're all intents and purposes the same for how I use them (gaming). Luckily the X670E was an open box steal at Micro Center (X670E Taichi new for $300 - I guess some dude in the back mislabled it - guy that checked me out was like WTF - it was still sealed, lol).

FWIW - I LOVE ASRock this gen. They have been killing it.

I'm going to have to look into the PG Lightening. As long as I can run 3x SATA drives without disabling SATA slots or lowering the GPU to PCI-E 8x instead of 16x I think I would be okay with that. I have a feeling there may be something like that given the price. B650Es look to be around $190 at their lowest, so only $40 less. Most seem to be $210-220.

I'll end up with 2x NVM-e SSDs and 2X SATA drives, with occasionally plugging in a few extra drives.

Edit: How bad is the Realtek ALC897? I do plan on upgrading my headset, but probably will be something around $150-200. Will a Realtek ALC897 be a problem or is it fine for regular consumer speakers/headsets?

 

[LigTasm]

I'm going to have to look into the PG Lightening. As long as I can run 3x SATA drives without disabling SATA slots or lowering the GPU to PCI-E 8x instead of 16x I think I would be okay with that. I have a feeling there may be something like that given the price. B650Es look to be around $190 at their lowest, so only $40 less. Most seem to be $210-220.

I'll end up with 2x NVM-e SSDs and 2X SATA drives, with occasionally plugging in a few extra drives.

Edit: How bad is the Realtek ALC897? I do plan on upgrading my headset, but probably will be something around $150-200. Will a Realtek ALC897 be a problem or is it fine for regular consumer speakers/headsets?

The 897 is an interface update of the 892 afaik, and is middle of the road for onboard sound. The ALC1200 is "better" but unless you're investing $1000 into your sound system you'll never know. The X670E PG Lighting is a great board though, no reason to shy away from it. The Gigabyte is a good board too, I used that one in my friends 7800X3D build and had no issue with it.

 

[sk3tch]

I'm going to have to look into the PG Lightening. As long as I can run 3x SATA drives without disabling SATA slots or lowering the GPU to PCI-E 8x instead of 16x I think I would be okay with that. I have a feeling there may be something like that given the price. B650Es look to be around $190 at their lowest, so only $40 less. Most seem to be $210-220.

I'll end up with 2x NVM-e SSDs and 2X SATA drives, with occasionally plugging in a few extra drives.

Edit: How bad is the Realtek ALC897? I do plan on upgrading my headset, but probably will be something around $150-200. Will a Realtek ALC897 be a problem or is it fine for regular consumer speakers/headsets?

Sound is good. I can definitely tell the ALC4080 on my X670E Gene is better. As LigTasm said - I wouldn't let audio sway you unless it's a $50 swing. You can always get an external solution when you get realy serious.

 

[Flogger23m]

The 897 is an interface update of the 892 afaik, and is middle of the road for onboard sound. The ALC1200 is "better" but unless you're investing $1000 into your sound system you'll never know. The X670E PG Lighting is a great board though, no reason to shy away from it. The Gigabyte is a good board too, I used that one in my friends 7800X3D build and had no issue with it.

That is what I was thinking. Around black Friday/December I will look into a new headset and will probably look into an external USB DAC anyways.

Anyone have the MSI PRO PRO X670-P WIFI? Seems comparable and $30 cheaper.

From what I can tell:

• The ASRock is a X670E and has one Gen 5x4 M.2 slot for SSDs, although two of the M.2s are Gen 4x2 and Gen 3x4. The MSI has four Gen4x4.
• MSI has a better ALC4080 Codec compared to the ASRock's Realtek ALC897.
• The MSI has six SATA slots rather than four.
• The MSI comes with what appears to be not so great Realtek wireless which I don't plan on using; ASRock comes with nothing but has an M.2 slot should I decide to add one.
• The MSI has less USB ports on the rear, six Type-A which is a bit limiting.

Not too sure about build quality. Checking over the BIOS both seem to get frequent BIOS updates, but am unsure about how the MSI is on boot times and stability. I am reading a number of people having stability issues with EXPO but those were with older BIOS versions.

 

[LigTasm]

That is what I was thinking. Around black Friday/December I will look into a new headset and will probably look into an external USB DAC anyways.

Anyone have the MSI PRO PRO X670-P WIFI? Seems comparable and $30 cheaper.

From what I can tell:

• The ASRock is a X670E and has one Gen 5x4 M.2 slot for SSDs, although two of the M.2s are Gen 4x2 and Gen 3x4. The MSI has four Gen4x4.
• MSI has a better ALC4080 Codec compared to the ASRock's Realtek ALC897.
• The MSI has six SATA slots rather than four.
• The MSI comes with what appears to be not so great Realtek wireless which I don't plan on using; ASRock comes with nothing but has an M.2 slot should I decide to add one.
• The MSI has less USB ports on the rear, six Type-A which is a bit limiting.

Not too sure about build quality. Checking over the BIOS both seem to get frequent BIOS updates, but am unsure about how the MSI is on boot times and stability. I am reading a number of people having stability issues with EXPO but those were with older BIOS versions.

MSI boards have been very good the last few gens. That being said, if I had to choose a board right this second it would be the ASRock B650E Tachi Lite.

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

Going to use 2-3 NVM-e SSDs, and will want to run at least two of those at full speed.

By "full speed", do you mean you want PCIE 5.0-level bandwidth on both slots? That's going to limit your options down to mostly higher end stuff.

My MSI X670E Carbon does take some time to boot every time. I leave my system on, so I don't notice it much, but I think if you actually shut down and cold booted frequently, it would be a factor. I'm not sure how easy it is to actually get the memory stable without a really good kit, while foregoing the memory training or whatever it's doing, though. I probably wouldn't have gotten this board, but it was $200 open box (vs MSRP $430-470), so I bit lol. I'm not sure what boards have exceptionally fast bootup while still being very stable with memory timings, so others will have to comment, otherwise my opinion on everything else I've put into that thread that was linked towards the beginning (maybe a bit too verbosely).

 

[Flogger23m]

By "full speed", do you mean you want PCIE 5.0-level bandwidth on both slots?

As long as the PCI-E 5 M.2 can run at full speed and PCI-E 16X for the GPU that would be good. Gen 4 M.2 is fine for the other SSDs, I really doubt I'll get SSDs to really push Gen 5 anyways but it is nice to have one as I would plan on keeping a motherboard for 5-6 years.

My MSI X670E Carbon does take some time to boot every time. I leave my system on, so I don't notice it much, but I think if you actually shut down and cold booted frequently

Thanks. Seems like MSI has a slower boot time overall this generation. Are you on the latest BIOS? I cold boot frequently. Seems like some boards, if I recall the PG Lightening had (or has?) issues sleeping with EXPO on according to one newegg review. I assume newer BIOS fixed that.

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

As long as the PCI-E 5 M.2 can run at full speed and PCI-E 16X for the GPU that would be good. Gen 4 M.2 is fine for the other SSDs, I really doubt I'll get SSDs to really push Gen 5 anyways but it is nice to have one as I would plan on keeping a motherboard for 5-6 years.

With X670E you can have two NVME PCIE 5.0 slots running full throttle, and then two 4.0 slots also running full throttle, without sharing any bandwidth. This MSI board does that, while also still have 6 SATA ports and X16 on the GPU slot. Nothing shares bandwidth. That actually leverages all/most of the features of X670E. But it's very expensive (unless you get this stupid deal I got).

On the other hand, if all you really want is one PCIE 5.0 NVME slot, you can literally go out and buy a ~$120 ASRock B650 and you'll still get one, along with two 4.0 NVME slots. You'll be limited to PCIE 4.0 for the X16 slot, but that's not going to be a factor for quite a while, especially if you're staying with budget GPUs.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qc...i-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b650m-pro-rs-wifi

You'd basically save half the cost and then can just use the rest of it towards an external sound card. Maybe something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Streaming-Programmable-Surround-GameVoice/dp/B08ZD59L8H
That way you wouldn't have to worry about integrated sound in general on any of your future motherboards to begin with.

riev90 I think this fellow had an ASRock B650 board and said it booted quite quickly?

 

[Flogger23m]

With X670E you can have two NVME PCIE 5.0 slots running full throttle, and then two 4.0 slots also running full throttle, without sharing any bandwidth. This MSI board does that, while also still have 6 SATA ports and X16 on the GPU slot. Nothing shares bandwidth. That actually leverages all/most of the features of X670E. But it's very expensive (unless you get this stupid deal I got).

On the other hand, if all you really want is one PCIE 5.0 NVME slot, you can literally go out and buy a ~$120 ASRock B650 and you'll still get one, along with two 4.0 NVME slots. You'll be limited to PCIE 4.0 for the X16 slot, but that's not going to be a factor for quite a while, especially if you're staying with budget GPUs.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qc...i-micro-atx-am5-motherboard-b650m-pro-rs-wifi

You'd basically save half the cost and then can just use the rest of it towards an external sound card. Maybe something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Streaming-Programmable-Surround-GameVoice/dp/B08ZD59L8H
That way you wouldn't have to worry about integrated sound in general on any of your future motherboards to begin with.

riev90 I think this fellow had an ASRock B650 board and said it booted quite quickly?

Thanks, I am looking into that one. Price is just very good for what it is.

I am looking at this G Skill RAM kit, Model F5-6000J3038F16GX2-FX5, as you get $20 off with a 7800X3D right now ($70 off total). I like the lower profile heat spreaders and $340 for the CPU and $90 for G Skill seems like a good value.

The G Skill website lists the ASRock X670E and MSI 670-P I was looking at as supported. The B650 Pro RS is supported. I assume that includes B650M Pro RS?

And this kit seems to be SK Hynix, I assume those will work fine with EXPO and a 7800X3D? Just making sure there isn't a preference for RAM type like in the early days of AM4, XMP could only be obtained with Samsung B-Die.

 

[riev90]

I am looking at this G Skill RAM kit, Model F5-6000J3038F16GX2-FX5, as you get $20 off with a 7800X3D right now ($70 off total). I like the lower profile heat spreaders and $340 for the CPU and $90 for G Skill seems like a good value.

The G Skill website lists the ASRock X670E and MSI 670-P I was looking at as supported. The B650 Pro RS is supported. I assume that includes B650M Pro RS?

And this kit seems to be SK Hynix, I assume those will work fine with EXPO and a 7800X3D? Just making sure there isn't a preference for RAM type like in the early days of AM4, XMP could only be obtained with Samsung B-Die.

I would take that kit along with the $20 off.
That's Hynix M-Die kit and is perfect to run 6000~6400 with 1:1 divider on.

riev90 I think this fellow had an ASRock B650 board and said it booted quite quickly?

I have the HDV one and yes it can boot from cold to windows 8-9s.
(Note: the ram training will still be running 30~40s, after finished ram training, enter the bios, enabled MCR, then it would boot pretty fast)

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

I would suggest looking around to see if there are any other boards whose features are sufficient for you in the B650 price bracket. I just picked out the RS because it has 3 NVME slots and a 5.0 top slot, and seemed really feature packed for the price. But there may be others you'd be interested in. One thing I've read is the VRM cooling isn't the best, but I kind of doubt you would run into issues with a 7800X3D. It would probably take like a 7950X(3D) or something (which it would probably handle anyway).

 

[Flogger23m]

Got the G Skill Flare X F5-6000J3038F16GX2-FX5 and 7800X3D. $428.99 before sales tax. Both the $50 off and $20 combo applied and worked at Newegg. Seems like they only allow one $50 off per account but the $20 price still works as a heads up for those that may want to buy multiple CPUs. Not a bad deal on what is supposed to be one of the fasted gaming CPUs out there.

Still deciding on the boards, so if someone else has other suggestions keep them coming.

I would suggest looking around to see if there are any other boards whose features are sufficient for you in the B650 price bracket. I just picked out the RS because it has 3 NVME slots and a 5.0 top slot, and seemed really feature packed for the price. But there may be others you'd be interested in. One thing I've read is the VRM cooling isn't the best, but I kind of doubt you would run into issues with a 7800X3D. It would probably take like a 7950X(3D) or something (which it would probably handle anyway).

That might be a problem. I plan to keep this one for a few CPU upgrades and want something that can handle whatever fits in the socket and gets a BIOS update for.

 

[riev90]

I have been looking at this ASRock X670E PG Lightning for $230.
Still deciding on the boards, so if someone else has other suggestions keep them coming.

You will be using ATX case right?
If so, then go for the first board you ask in the OP.
That's a great board and fulfill your needs (future support for pcie gen 5 graphics, 3 M.2 slot for nvme (1 gen5, 1 gen4, 1 gen3).

 

[Flogger23m]

You will be using ATX case right?
If so, then go for the first board you ask in the OP.
That's a great board and fulfill your needs (future support for pcie gen 5 graphics, 3 M.2 slot for nvme (1 gen5, 1 gen4, 1 gen3).

Fractal Design S, I generally prefer regular size ATX as my case can fit them.

 

[funkydmunky]

That is what I was thinking. Around black Friday/December I will look into a new headset and will probably look into an external USB DAC anyways.

Anyone have the MSI PRO PRO X670-P WIFI? Seems comparable and $30 cheaper.

From what I can tell:

• The ASRock is a X670E and has one Gen 5x4 M.2 slot for SSDs, although two of the M.2s are Gen 4x2 and Gen 3x4. The MSI has four Gen4x4.
• MSI has a better ALC4080 Codec compared to the ASRock's Realtek ALC897.
• The MSI has six SATA slots rather than four.
• The MSI comes with what appears to be not so great Realtek wireless which I don't plan on using; ASRock comes with nothing but has an M.2 slot should I decide to add one.
• The MSI has less USB ports on the rear, six Type-A which is a bit limiting.

Not too sure about build quality. Checking over the BIOS both seem to get frequent BIOS updates, but am unsure about how the MSI is on boot times and stability. I am reading a number of people having stability issues with EXPO but those were with older BIOS versions.

Unless really going to benefit from that G5x4 M2 slot, and you shouldn't for a long while, the MSI board looks the better. MSI has 6X type A on the rear and that is limiting? Limiting for what?

 

[learners permit]

That is what I was thinking. Around black Friday/December I will look into a new headset and will probably look into an external USB DAC anyways.

Anyone have the MSI PRO PRO X670-P WIFI? Seems comparable and $30 cheaper.

From what I can tell:

• The ASRock is a X670E and has one Gen 5x4 M.2 slot for SSDs, although two of the M.2s are Gen 4x2 and Gen 3x4. The MSI has four Gen4x4.
• MSI has a better ALC4080 Codec compared to the ASRock's Realtek ALC897.
• The MSI has six SATA slots rather than four.
• The MSI comes with what appears to be not so great Realtek wireless which I don't plan on using; ASRock comes with nothing but has an M.2 slot should I decide to add one.
• The MSI has less USB ports on the rear, six Type-A which is a bit limiting.

Not too sure about build quality. Checking over the BIOS both seem to get frequent BIOS updates, but am unsure about how the MSI is on boot times and stability. I am reading a number of people having stability issues with EXPO but those were with older BIOS versions.

I've got two of the 670P wifi boards. Really nice no frills board with good audio. Got one running a 7700X for my wife and mine with a 7800X3D. Boards not at all finicky about ram either. I'm running an expo kit my wife's has an xmp kit and neither one really cares. Been very good stable/ reliable boards so far no issues at all from the start. Has bios flash back as well so no cpu required to update bios for the X3D chip.

 

[FiveDollarBill]

I run the Ultra Durable Gigabyte B650M DS3H with a 7800X3D, 32GB G Skill flare X5 memory and a 7900 XT. It boots cold to windows login in 17.6ish seconds. My experience with the platform seems to be at odds with what I see from a lot of other forum dwellers. I’ve found it to be very stable, I’ve had minimal issues nothing compared to some of the nightmare scenarios I’ve seen here. I updated the bios for the board the day I got it, using the X3D Ryzen and it worked fine. It worked fine before I updated it but I had concerns since it was around the launch, when 7800X3Ds were spontaneously combusting on Gamer’s Nexus.

I got the board for two reasons:

1. It was one of the cheapest AM5 motherboards at the time I purchased it.

2. It was in the top five for performance among all AM5 motherboards at the time.

I’ve been running it since April and it’s been smooth sailing. Only issue I ever had was questionable performance when using the drivers from gigabytes website on the previous windows installation. When I formatted and reinstalled I used the chipset drivers from AMD’s website and things were good.

 

[crazycrave]

I have the Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite Ax that came paired with the 7600x from Best Buy as a combo deal back in July for $289.98 plus tax, used my stock 3700x RGB cooler on the 7600x and have used two different brands of memory without any issues, right now it has GSKill Trident Z5 Neo RGB 2 x 16Gb / 6000Mhz Cl 30 Xepo settings.

I have all 3 NvMe's filled with two Gen 4 x 4 1Tb each and one Gen 3 x 4 Sumsung 970 Evo Plus 1Tb as the slow drive.

I just use them as game drives and also run one SATA SSD for Windows, also have a WD Black 4Tb P10 Game drive USB 3.0 and a Seagate Backup Plus 2Tb USB 3.0, it all works out for me as to have 3 drives for fast game storage, it will take a Gen 5 NvMe if you feel wanting, and the heat shields for the NvMe's do a great job on all my drives with no need toi buy any for your drives and Gen 5 heat rated.

It is going to take sometime training the memory on 1st boot up and every time that you make changes to it in the bios, other than that it is just as fast on boot up as my MSI B550 Mortar with 5600x.

 

[KickAssCop]

Can't recommend MSI X670E Tomahawk enough. Running this and it has been solid af.

 

[StoleMyOwnCar]

That might be a problem. I plan to keep this one for a few CPU upgrades and want something that can handle whatever fits in the socket and gets a BIOS update for.

It's not really that it won't power the higher power chips:

View: https://youtu.be/lTBnzUF6EbE?si=OJsI1DPTA2SbS77u&t=164
As far as I can tell, the VRM config on the one he's reviewing and the Pro RS looks the same. But disclaimer, I'm far from an expert on that, it's just the little square blocky thingies and the cylinders look about the same in number near the socket. It's just the Pro RS (the M size anyway) they for some reason seem to have ended the heatsink early, before it gets to the VRMs? So I'm assuming the VRM cooling will be worse. Which will not be an issue for the 7800X3D and probably its next in line at the same budget range. For what it's worth if you don't mind having one less NVME slot, the one he's reviewing is the same price as the Pro RS anyway.

The "want something that can handle anything this socket throws out" thing sounds nice on paper, but just consider it realistically. Are you planning to upgrade the CPU every gen? Will you ever be getting anything outside of the "<N>800X3D" performance bracket? You clearly care about budget since you don't want to spend too much on the motherboard. The whole "well I hope it has a good sound chip" is going to keep hamstringing you for every upgrade unless you just get some budget set aside to get a sound card, and this is one way you do it. Even an internal sound card would probably be fine; I think some cases have a riser mount so you could just buy a cheapo riser and move it well out of the way of the GPU's airflow.

I think just in terms of getting up and running, the B650M boards are a phenomenal value for anyone doing the 7800X3D. They're so cheap that I wouldn't care if I had to replace the board the next time I did a CPU upgrade (but you probably won't, unless they drop the ball on the BIOS update). I see so many folks grabbing PCIE 5.0 X16 boards, but then they only buy budget GPUs... when are they actually going to use PCIE 5.0? 5 years later? 10 years? I think by that point I would want to upgrade anyway...

 

[crazycrave]

It's not really that it won't power the higher power chips:

View: https://youtu.be/lTBnzUF6EbE?si=OJsI1DPTA2SbS77u&t=164
As far as I can tell, the VRM config on the one he's reviewing and the Pro RS looks the same. But disclaimer, I'm far from an expert on that, it's just the little square blocky thingies and the cylinders look about the same in number near the socket. It's just the Pro RS (the M size anyway) they for some reason seem to have ended the heatsink early, before it gets to the VRMs? So I'm assuming the VRM cooling will be worse. Which will not be an issue for the 7800X3D and probably its next in line at the same budget range. For what it's worth if you don't mind having one less NVME slot, the one he's reviewing is the same price as the Pro RS anyway.

The "want something that can handle anything this socket throws out" thing sounds nice on paper, but just consider it realistically. Are you planning to upgrade the CPU every gen? Will you ever be getting anything outside of the "<N>800X3D" performance bracket? You clearly care about budget since you don't want to spend too much on the motherboard. The whole "well I hope it has a good sound chip" is going to keep hamstringing you for every upgrade unless you just get some budget set aside to get a sound card, and this is one way you do it. Even an internal sound card would probably be fine; I think some cases have a riser mount so you could just buy a cheapo riser and move it well out of the way of the GPU's airflow.

I think just in terms of getting up and running, the B650M boards are a phenomenal value for anyone doing the 7800X3D. They're so cheap that I wouldn't care if I had to replace the board the next time I did a CPU upgrade (but you probably won't, unless they drop the ball on the BIOS update). I see so many folks grabbing PCIE 5.0 X16 boards, but then they only buy budget GPUs... when are they actually going to use PCIE 5.0? 5 years later? 10 years? I think by that point I would want to upgrade anyway...

My B650 is not PCIe 5 gpu ready, my Intel A770 is.

 

[FiveDollarBill]

My B650 is not PCIe 5 gpu ready, my Intel A770 is.

Doesn’t seem to make any difference. It’s not like it’s the fastest gpu around because of it, it’s not even in the top 10. If you care about performance you aren’t running an Intel gpu.

 

[crazycrave]

Doesn’t seem to make any difference. It’s not like it’s the fastest gpu around because of it, it’s not even in the top 10. If you care about performance you aren’t running an Intel gpu.

There picking up speed with the new driver, I just tought it was an nice detail they added to the cards, been in this rat race since Ge- Force 4, had a 6800 Ultra and learn alot buying hardware as the more you spend the bigger the fall to your feelings and just find the middle road on spending, I to got took by Nvidia with Crysis and my new GTX 8800 GTS 320mb as only to drop the 8800 GT in our face, and I really don't care about Nvidia anymore after that as why I run AMD.

 

[FiveDollarBill]

There picking up speed with the new driver, I just tought it was an nice detail they added to the cards, been in this rat race since Ge- Force 4, had a 6800 Ultra and learn alot buying hardware as the more you spend the bigger the fall to your feelings and just find the middle road on spending, I to got took by Nvidia with Crysis and my new GTX 8800 GTS 320mb as only to drop the 8800 GT in our face, and I really don't care about Nvidia anymore after that as why I run AMD.

I got a Voodoo 3 AGP card the day it came out. Pc hardware sure was fun back in the day.

 

[funkydmunky]

I got a Voodoo 3 AGP card the day it came out. Pc hardware sure was fun back in the day.

It still is. We just grew up along with the prices.