Howdy, again, First, I'm not to thrilled with this mobo. I'd still like to have more PCIe slots, even x1 ones would help. It's the best I've found so far. It might be able to do the job. I hope anyway. Naturally, this will have Gentoo on it. Network and all needs to work with Linux. Heck, I don't have enough room to put a network card on this thing if the builtin doesn't work.
This is the mobo I have picked. Link is the OEM page with CPU and memory info. https://www.asus.com/us/motherboards-components/motherboards/prime/prime-x670-p/helpdesk_qvl_cpu?model2Name=PRIME-X670-P This is where I plan to buy it. I was going to use Newegg direct but they sold out of the mobo. As I mentioned once before, I try to buy my mobo, CPU and memory from the same company. If someone has a better USA company, I'm open to ideas if the price is better. I used to also use tigerdirect, no longer in business tho. https://www.walmart.com/ip/seot/1290971138 Mobo from ASUS https://www.walmart.com/ip/seot/1693068603 CPU from Newegg https://www.walmart.com/ip/seot/1597545320 Memory from Newegg My plan is the CPU above for now. Later, I will upgrade to the Ryzen 9 7900X to get even more speed. I'll also max the memory out too. I'm unclear on the max memory tho. One place shows 128GB, hence two 32GB sticks. The out of stock Newegg one claims 256GB, which would be nice. I'm not sure what to think on memory. Anyway. If the thing is fast enough, I may do the memory first then CPU later. If I need a faster CPU, I may do it first then the memory. Biggest thing, the mobo, limited as it is, needs to be ready for those upgrades. I think I did my math right and got the specs right. More eyes the better. I'm still not real sure on hooking up a lot of drives to this thing. I may have to have a true NAS box running 24/7. My current Gigabyte 970A-UD3P is more to my liking expansion wise. Heck, my old 770t is even better than current mobos. Today's mobos are seriously lacking in everything except flashy stuff that serves no real purpose other than selling. I like the m.2 thing. Put a OS on that thing so that at least loading software etc can sort of keep up with the CPU. There are other good things but the bad sure does outweigh the good added features. Don't get me started on all that flashy LED junk. I'm fine with LEDs that indicate mobo power, errors etc. I also found this. I think it fits. Went with Samsung since it is a good brand for SSD stuff, all of them I've read. ;-) This would be for the OS. It would go in the slot closest to the CPU, which is the fastest I think and runs on its own. No sharing with something else. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Samsung-990-EVO-PCIe-5-0-NVMe-SSD-1TB-Black/5332753022 If someone knows of a mobo that has more PCIe slots, I'd love to hear about it. I'd pay a little more for one as long as I can afford it. Gigabyte, ASUS, and MSI are brands I'm fine with. There could be some I'm not aware of. Same CPU and upgrade path tho please. Memory could change also. Anyone see anything wrong with those configuration wise? I used the ASUS website but one never knows. Open to better mobo ideas, if any exist. Vendor too. Mobo comes from ASUS, rest from Newegg but all through Walmart. Better info on the memory would be good. I'm not sure and the ASUS specs talk about memory type and specs but not the max you can put in. If it is 256GB, I need to buy one 64GB memory stick and go from there. Thanks to all who help on this. I'll be glad when this nightmare is over. I've never been this disappointed in picking parts to build a rig before. Dale :-) :-)
