Optimal cost/effectiveness for motherboards
Optimal cost/effectiveness for motherboards
When working with Blender, utilizing two GPUs makes sense instead of relying on SLI or NVLink connections.
Due to the intense reactions surrounding B450 boards at the Zen 2 launch, they had to modify the BIOS to accommodate larger AGESA libraries within a 16MB ROM space, removing the GUI and non-essential functions. This would have been manageable if it hadn't increased the workload for development and testing teams, resulting in numerous issues. After about six months, things improved somewhat, but the situation remains concerning—especially on a 200$ board that was marketed as high-end. The same problems or even more severe ones could arise with upcoming CPU support. SLI isn't really useful for gaming, and workstation users don't need it either.
This SLI certification seems more of a marketing trick. You can modify nVidia drivers to bypass it and it should function across different boards. However, if they truly want SLI, the options are either the 210$ Gigabyte Elite Wi-Fi or the 280$ ASRock Taichi. I’m not sure which is better; Gigabyte doesn’t match that price point, and the Taichi might be too costly.
It's essentially a Pro WiFi board with additional M.2 slots, but it comes at an even higher price. The reviewer notes it has similar features to another model but adds one extra heatsink. They mention Taichi’s 280$ version includes more M.2 ports and a CMOS clear button on the panel. Other nice features like POST code display and power reset are present, though they seem like marketing fluff. Despite these extras, the board is overpriced—especially compared to Gigabyte options. They clarify they own a Z390 Pro Wifi board worth around 180$, but the X570 version feels too expensive. Using a 16MB ROM chip on high-end boards isn’t justified, especially given the known issues it could cause in the future. This isn’t necessarily a bad choice for Gigabyte, but this particular model seems out of place at this price point.
That's the dimensions of the Rom. The chip can hold 128 MB. I believe you've confused two different things. If this is the problem, then the Tomahawk Max faces the same criticism as the Rom—being much smaller than the 128 MB BIOS chip.