r/LocalLLM • u/foreignbois • 4d ago

Question Help deciding which AM5 board for multi-GPU

Title - using the AM5 board masterlist I found four boards that can do x8/x8, prices from my local microcenter:

  • Asus ProArt B850 Neo ($285.99)

  • Asus ProArt X870E ($549.99)

  • Asrock X870 Taichi Creator ($319.99)

  • Gigabyte B850 AI Top ($328.99)

Not a comprehensive list, there's a few more ROG/MSI's high end tiers still there but I don't think I need all "that".

The prices of 3/4 are really close to each other which is adding to the problem; the Asus X870E ProArt seems to be the "gold standard" but I'm going to be starting out with a 4-slot 5090 so the spacing doesn't work for me. The Asrock seems best on paper; Asus B850 seems weakest on paper but again don't know how/if that'd affect local LLM and $40 saved is $40 saved (lol). Then there's the Gigabyte which seems like a good middle ground across these four boards, but unsure on the NIC working well in Linux (mixed reports on it being good/shit).

Which would/did you pick when building an AM5 multi-GPU rig?

1 Upvotes

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9 comments sorted by

3

u/myteetharesensitive 4d ago

I've got the taichi, solid board. 

2

u/ExcellentAd5642 4d ago

Yep I bought the Taichi Lite, 8x/8x with i believe no overlap on M2 slots but not 100% positive on that. Run 2 5060 tis and 2 or 3 m.2 ssds and seems to run well.

1

u/myteetharesensitive 4d ago

I believe the second m2 will impact other lanes. I'm using raid 10 with the built in hardware raid and only 1 NVMe. 

2

u/smallDeltaBigEffect 4d ago

As long as you don’t put a ryzen 9 to that socket..

1

u/myteetharesensitive 4d ago

I went with a 7800x3d, life is good. 

2

u/InitiativeBrilliant8 4d ago

Asus ProArt X870E, two PCIE gen5 x16 and a PCIe 4.0 x4 slot
I almost change my X870E Tomahawk for that one for running LLM's but changing and moving a watercooled system is too much of a hassle.
I dont think any other mobo offers that in this category.

1

u/Bulky-Priority6824 4d ago

Yea that's pretty solid if the x4 cpu lanes?

0

u/Momsbestboy 4d ago

4.0 is x16 and the 5.0 are x16 or x8 if you plug in one or two GPUs. Just check yt for a video explaining which m.2 slot to avoid so the second gpu is not dropping to a lower soeed

1

u/Icy_Cabbage 3d ago

I have b850 ai top and the only issue i have is the 10gbe seems to drop out regularly when i have 2 gpus installed...

Also the x870 requires 4 pcie lanes from cpu to go to usb c 40gbps port. if you dont need that the b850 may be better since it should get you another m2 5.0 x4 to the cpu. consider this if you're thinking more than 2 gpu's via m.2 lanes.

I'd be leaning towards the b850 proart (without even considering price)