Hi guys, I would really appreciate some help and feedback on my issue please.

I am looking at a new Desktop build for a vMix/Editing desktop PC, but after watching the vMix videos, reading through the site and going through many specs of motherboards, I am simply at a loss.

I am planning on a 14th Gen i9 14900k CPU, 2 x 32GB DDR5 ram, 3060ti (I have this currently so will upgrade in the future), 3 x M.2 Samsung drives. I will also be installing a Blackmagic Decklink Quad HMDI card. My first focus is on the vMix specs, then on editing.

I am in need of a motherboard that has at least 2 x 16 PCIe slots that both run directly to the CPU, and if I can get 10gb ethernet and WiFi 6E/WiFi 7 all the better. But the PCIe slots are the most important. And also to have one of those M.2 drives running to the CPU as well without sharing the PCIe x 16 slot lanes. The other M.2 drives can go to the chipset.

The rest of the build I can work out, but I need to get the Motherboard correct.

Any suggestions to a motherboard that can nail this spec or close to it I would be very grateful.

Many thanks

Thanks TCPHX, I'll check that one out. vMix support have come back to me as well to look at the ASUS Maximus Z790 range to start with, so I can now look into these which is a great help. Once I have found one I'm happy with I'll post it here.

I'm also attempting to build a vMix live production rig that'll handle a Quad Decklink and an RTX4060. This means I need a mainboard that has a 16x slot that works at 16x and another slot that operates at 8x. This is incredibly difficult to find on brand new boards.

A common setup is multiple 16x slots, but only one has 16x lanes and the rest are 4x lanes. Another less common but still available on higher end Z790 Intel or X670 AMD boards are two 16x PCIe 4.0 slots, but they can be configured to operate at 8x - which I think should be fine as the RTX4060 isn't going to hit any bandwidth limits at PCIe 4.0 8x. Problem is, that also takes out one of the M.2 SSD slots (usually the 3rd or 4th SSD slot).

If you look for boards with Crossfire/SLI support, or boards with at least three 16x slots, that'll make finding one that'll do 8x/8x easier.

I also want at least two PCIe 4.0 4x lanes for my SSDs, so need a CPU that has at least 24x PCIe lanes all up to accommodate 16x for the GPU and 8x for the Decklink.

Ryzen 7000 series CPUs have 28x lanes (4x for chipset, so 24x spare), whereas the 14th-gen Intel CPUs only have 20x lanes (1x 16 +4 or 2x 8 +4). So if you're going for maximum PCIe lanes, you probably want to get a Ryzen 7000 series CPU, not an Intel. You can hook up SSDs to the PCIe lanes on the chipset (usually get an extra x4 or x8 lanes) too and apparently there's not much, if any, performance hit.

The other option (which might be cheaper all up) is using a refurbished workstation like from Lenovo/Dell/HP off eBay or Facebook Marketplace. They are "only" PCIe 3.0, but have dual full PCIe 16x slots and even dual CPUs with heaps of cores. Just gotta be careful you get one with a PSU that'll handle an GPU with 8-pin power, some of the lower-end spec workstations don't have any PCIe power plugs!