In short, these new B550 motherboards are certainly a significant upgrade from the now two-year-old B450 platform. The ~20% premium doesn’t sound too unreasonable given those upgrades. © Unfortunately, reaching the top of the mountain translates to the ROG Strix B550-E’s steep pricing brought upon by the “ROG Tax” and the B550 chipset itself. Socket: AM4 | Chipset: AMD B550 | Form Factor: ATX | Voltage Regulator: 12+2 phases | PCIe x16: (1) v4.0 (x16), (1) v3.0 (x4) | USB Ports: (2) USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), (4) USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), (2) USB 2.0 | Warranty: 3 years. That same VRM can be found on the $130 B550M Bazooka. It’s one of the more well-appointed B550 motherboards, though that also means it’s expensive. The ASUS ROG Strix B550-I Gaming Motherboard is a small packet with big punch, a mini ITX motherboard that offers feature-sets usually found in the higher-end X570 motherboards. Plus, CPU support and overall board quality was almost always worse, making them an easy pass. Offering robust power delivery and effective cooling, ROG Strix B550-A Gaming is well-equipped to handle 3 rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ CPUs. The best result we’ve recorded to date of any AM4 motherboard was the Aorus Xtreme at 55C while the worst result technically comes from the MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge WiFi which had to throttle the CPU during this test for its own survival. There’s more features onboard as well. The MSI B550M Bazooka comes in at $130, slightly more than the B450 Tomahawk and it features the same VRM. If you’re after a B550 board in the compact Mini ITX form factor, you only have a handful of choices, but Asus’ ROG Strix B550-I Gaming stands out. It also is a great way to test the power design of the B550 motherboards, one area that some manufacturers might attempt to cut costs. But again, this is to be expected when lots of high-end features get jammed onto such a small board. Before we get into testing, let's briefly discuss why B550 motherboards are more expensive than what most were expecting. However, it still offers an additional M.2 slot which supports PCIe 4.0 x4 bandwidth, front USB Type-C and the thickened copper PCB, though it does drop USB 3.2 Gen 2 and two of the SATA 6Gbps ports. And active VRM cooling means you shouldn’t have to deal with the heat issues we saw with the Asus Prime B550M-A Wi-Fi and our 3900X. Is there some b550 vrm tier list so I can compare them with b450 and x570 motherboards. Please refresh the page and try again. The MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk comes up trumps with 4.4 GHz across all of … Therefore having seen strong demand for B450 boards priced over $100, motherboard makers are confident that B550 can command higher price points, allowing them to make better, more expensive motherboards. That being the case the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Pro and Master were extremely impressive, as was MSI’s B550 Tomahawk. You don’t want to do lots of research to choose the best B550 motherboard, only to find out after you buy it that it won’t boot with your existing CPU. For this discussion we’ll use the MSI B550 range as a point of reference for a number of reasons: they had some of the best quality B450 boards with the Tomahawk and Pro Carbon, we have two of their new B550 boards for testing, and they also provided us with a detailed breakdown of their entire B550 range, including VRM configurations and pricing. MSI’s MAG B550 Tomahawk delivers a well-balanced feature set at a competitive price. AMD B550 AORUS Motherboard with True 12+2 Phases Digital VRM, Enlarged Surface Heatsinks, PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot, Dual PCIe 4.0/3.0 x4 M.2 with One Thermal Guard, 2.5GbE LAN, RGB FUSION 2.0, Q-Flash Plus Supports AMD Ryzen™ 5000 Series/ 3rd Gen Ryzen™ and 3rd Gen Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Graphics Processors On the surface those prices are quite shocking, but when you start to dig into what these boards offer, you may realize the price increases aren’t nearly as extreme as they first appear. There are plenty of cheaper B550 based options than the Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master, but if you’re looking at flagship mainstream parts, you likely already know that you are set with a single GPU and PCIe 4.0 M.2 module. AMD B550 ATX motherboard features dual M.2, PCIe 4.0, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A and Type-C, 1 Gb Ethernet. Then we have the B550 Aorus Master matching the X570 Aorus Xtreme with a peak temperature of 55C. Here the B550 Taichi takes a leading position in every part of the test, except for the CPU physics test, where it loses to the ASUS B550-F by a sliver of a margin. Prime B550-Plus caters to daily users and all builders looking for well-rounded specs and a range of options for performance tuning via intuitive software and firmware. However, through further testing we’ve found that the results in a poorly ventilated case are actually worse, so we guess this isn’t an absolute worst case scenario, no pun intended. Other features include USB 3.2 Gen 2, 2.5 Gigabit LAN, front USB Type-C, M.2 shields, better PCB, pre-installed I/O shield, much larger VRM cooling to go with the bigger VRM, a better board layout and just a higher quality motherboard in general. There’s really no comparing the two generations as they’re in completely different tiers, and pricing reflects that. Looking at overclocked results with the Ryzen 9 3900X running all cores at 4.3 GHz using 1.4v. For example, the entry-level Asus TUF Gaming X570 Plus which launched at $190 dropped a few months later to $165, and has remained there despite rave reviews. In our case the MSI MAG B550 has only the first PCIe x16 that supports PCIe 4.0, while the other slots are PCIe 3.0. Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 3000, 4000 G-Series and 5000 Series Desktop Processors; 14 Power Phase Design, Digi Power, Dr. MOS; Supports DDR4 4733+ (OC); 1 PCIe 4.0 x16, 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 2 PCIe 3.0 x1, 1 M.2 Key E for WiFi; Graphics Output Options: HDMI, DisplayPort; AMD CrossFireX™; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio Codec), Nahimic Audio; 6 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe … If you’re planning on building with an APU, you get a trio of video ports, and the analog audio jacks light up. That means the closest ATX model to the B450 Tomahawk would be the B550-A Pro, it costs $140, or ~20% more, but again you’re getting more motherboard. For about $30 less, you can pick up MSI’s MPG B550I Gaming Edge Wi-Fi. The plan was to revisit the testing with the Ryzen 9 3950X, given the 3900X was the most high-end AM4 CPU available at the time of testing, but after all the 3950X doesn't use that much more power than the 3900X, so we didn’t bother. We know that putting a twelve core Ryzen 9 3900X is probably overkill for the majority of people who will be looking to base their system around a B550 motherboard, but it's also a great test of the attention to detail in the power department. Asus’ ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi delivers premium features including SupremeFX Audio, Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200, solid power delivery and more. From the looks of it, for a little over $100 you’ll be able to buy a motherboard that supports PCIe 4.0 along with high-end AM4 CPUs. This motherboard has a formidable cooling diagram onboard including an aluminum duvet, M.2 Defend Frozr technology, and total fan alter. Features: One of the features that provide the B550 chipset with an edge over the B450 chipset is its support for the new PCIe 4.0 slots. Boards like the MSI B550-A Pro will be the real killers, at $140 that looks like a very solid board and we can’t wait to check it out along with entry-level boards from Gigabyte, Asus and Asrock. The VRM uses many of the same components, there’s just more of them and doublers are now included, creating a 10-phase vcore VRM with 25% more current capacity. Popular components in PC builds with the Asus TUF GAMING B550-PLUS Motherboard. AMD’s B550 chipset brought high hopes of PCIe 4.0 support at low prices, given the high cost of most X570 boards and the appealing low price of many previous-generation B450 motherboards. It also has fewer USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, although it does have more Type-A ports than Asus’ ITX board. The previous-gen B450 Tomahawk hit shelves at around $110 and through the course of its life typically sold for somewhere between $110 - $120. It steals 8 lanes from the primary x16 slot and splits them between the bottom 2 m.2. 25 votes, 12 comments. Whether that experiment pays off, we'll know eventually. © 2020 TechSpot, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This is pretty important stuff and should be listed. There are a number of AMD X570 boards that have fallen in price since release, though admittedly pricing and availability is very messy at the moment due to the pandemic. Do note that X570 boards were tested some time ago using earlier AGESA versions, so there might be some small discrepancies there. TECHSPOT : Tech Enthusiasts, Power Users, Gamers, TechSpot is a registered trademark. That increased per-lane throughput allowed AMD to reduce the number of lanes between the chipset and CPU from six PCIe 2.0 lanes to four PCIe 3.0. So what are some of the reasons why the B550 version of the Tomahawk costs ~$60 more than the B450 version? The main reason why the B550 range costs more than the B450 is simple: it’s way better. With all latest tech in PC industry like PCI-e 4.0 support, WiFi 6, Intel 2.5 Gb Ethernet, Audio USB Type-C and more, this board gives a completely immersive pc experience. The only difference here is that the B550 AORUS PRO requires a slightly higher Vcore of 1.4V for our Ryzen 3 3300X to clear an hour-long Realbench stress test without any signs of instability, while the MEG X570 GODLIKE requires a lower Vcore of 1.38V to clear the same stress test. There are other considerations (and complications) if you’re choosing the best B550 motherboard, as well. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing... You need to be a member to leave a comment. There will also be cheaper A520 boards, but unless something really special happens, we’ll largely ignore those for future tests as we did with the A320 boards. This is where branding can get a little tricky as the Tomahawk name doesn’t target a certain price point. Not only do these B550 boards support PCIe 4.0 graphics cards and storage, but they will also offer a more seamless transition to Zen 3 processors in the future. Powered by AMD Ryzen AM4 processors, the MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS offers perfect balance between appearance and performance with Wi-Fi, Extended Heatsink Design, Core boost, Pre-installed I/O Shielding and Mystic Light. Below are our tested picks for the best B550 motherboards, at various price points and form factors. Best AMD AM4 B550 ATX motherboard, lightning PCIe 4.0, lightning M.2, Extended heatsink, USB 3.2 Gen 2, M.2 heatsink, powerful overclocking, MSI PRO At $230, it’s on the pricier end, but $100 less than Gigabyte’s B550I Aorus Pro AX, while still delivering two M.2 slots (one around back), Wi-Fi 6 and 2.5Gb Ethernet. For B550, I chose 4.2 GHz at 1.35 V as the most intensive load I could manage in long tests without thermal throttling the CPU. In the meantime, the new AMD B550 chipset can be viewed as another nail in Intel 10th-gen Core series coffin. Then in terms of features, you’re getting an additional M.2 slot which supports PCIe 4.0 SSDs, and of course, the primary PCIe x16 slot supports PCIe 4.0 as well. For this test we'll be mirroring the setup we used with the X570 motherboards as we want to compare that thermal data. The most expensive MSI B450 board was the Pro Carbon and it sold for around $130 - $140. Also consider that upcoming A520 motherboards look to be far more affordable, though you’ll likely be foregoing PCIe 4.0 with these lower-priced boards, which is a key selling point of AMD’s latest platforms. The ASUS ROG Strix B550-E Gaming motherboard is Asus’ cream of the crop motherboard for its B550 line-up. New York, The B550 Tomahawk, for example, isn’t just the B450 Tomahawk with the newer chipset. You might wonder how does a $280 B550 board manage to match a $700 X570 board from the same company? Just note that one of the six ports is a USB 2.0 Type-C port designed for audio. If you need Wi-Fi, buy a motherboard with Wi-Fi at the time. For recording temperatures we're using a digital thermometer with K-Type thermocouples and we’ll be reporting the peak rear PCB temperature. At long last AMD more budget-oriented B550 motherboards will finally go on sale. So you’ll still be able to purchase B450 boards for some time after the B550 release. Equipped with a PCI-e 4.0 slot as w Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 3000, 4000 G-Series and 5000 Series Desktop Processors; 8 Power Phase Design, Digi Power; Supports DDR4 4733+ (OC); 1 PCIe 4.0 x16, 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 2 PCIe 3.0 x1, 1 M.2 Key E for WiFi; Graphics Output Options: HDMI, D-Sub; AMD CrossFireX™; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1200 Audio Codec), Nahimic Audio; 6 SATA3, 1 Hyper M.2 (PCIe Gen4 x4), 1 M.2 … The MPG B550 has a formidable 12 2 1 segment energy form, which facets 12 digital energy phases, dual energy connectors, and uncommon Core Boot technology. MSI and Gigabyte have done an excellent job with the specific models we checked out today and we're very keen to review the base models to see how they handle the 3900X. Now, we're not trying to defend any price hikes, we’re always pushing for better pricing, but we like to do so while being realistic in our demands. The VRM heatsinks are also larger and you get a better quality PCB with 2 ounce thickened copper. This is why pricing for the new B550 boards wasn’t well received: the B550 Gaming Carbon WiFi is coming in at an eye watering $220, while the new B550 Tomahawk will set you back $180. Best B550 Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi, Best B550 Motherboard (if Price Is No Object): Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master, Best Mid-Range B550 Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk, Best Mini ITX B550 Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix B550-I Gaming, We check over 130 million products every day for the best prices, AMD has confirmed the chipset will support future Zen 3 processors, Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi review, Cyberpunk 2077 Hotfix 1.05 Launches with Major Bug Fixes, Microsoft Reportedly Moving Its Servers to Custom Chips, Best Holiday Tech and PC Hardware Deals 2020: CPUs, SSDs and More. The B550 Aorus Master is a very capable board, loaded up with premium features like Wi-Fi 6 and high-quality VRMs. Superman/Witcher star Henry Cavill upgrades to an Nvidia RTX 3090, Cyberpunk 2077 v1.05 fixes a laundry list of issues, Freebie week: Ubisoft is handing out free games and DLC every day this week. That board is similar in many ways, but trades a couple video ports for a PS/2 port and more audio jacks. You’ll have to live with just six USB ports on the rear IO, but that’s par for the course with these small B550 boards. For Razer Chroma ecosystem support We expect this list to grow once we test more of these mainstream AMD motherboards. Read: Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master review, Socket: AM4 | Chipset: AMD B550 | Form Factor: ATX | Voltage Regulator: 13 phases | PCIe x16: (1) v4.0 PCIe x16; (1) v3.0 (x4) | USB Ports: (2) USB 3.2 Gen 2, Type-A and Type-C (10 Gbps), (2) USB 3.2 Gen 1, Type-A (5 Gbps), (2) USB 2.0, Type-A | Warranty: 3 years. Whatever the use case, there’s a B550 motherboard to suit. We're also not reporting Delta T over Ambient, instead we maintain a room temperature of 21 degrees as this is by far the most accurate way to conduct this testing. As we saw with the latter, you often stood to save a mere $10 while losing CPU and memory overclocking in the process. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, If you bought a Ryzen 5 3600 a year ago, there's a real possibility that you might want to buy a Zen 3 part with more cores, but we guess that’s a story for later in the year. So in theory the B550 Tomahawk has 83% of the X570 Tomahawk’s current capacity. The B550-UD3H is the only motherboard under Gigabyte’s eponymous Ultra Durable line, but as the $95, this one comes with the bare essentials for a … Denn falls ihr einfach irgendein B550 Mainboard kauft kann es sehr gut sein, dass ihr zu viel Geld für zu wenig Features ausgebt (zumal viele B550 Mainboards zu nahe am Preis von X570ern sind). One point that users are very keen on, is the support of the PCie 4.0 standard. AMD’s B550 chipset brought high hopes of PCIe 4.0 support at low prices, … The ASUS B550 series motherboards are PCIe® 4.0-ready and features a robust power design, cooling controls, and AI Noise-canceling Microphone software. You actually get all of the lanes directly from the CPU so storage nuts should love it, but gamers probably won't like there gpu at x8 if they use those slots. B550 motherboard use a 10+3 phases pure digital PWM + Low RDS(on) MOSFETs design to support the 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ CPUs by offering incredible precision in delivering power to the motherboard's most power-hungry and energy-sensitive components as well as delivering enhanced system performance and ultimate hardware scalability. There seem to be other X570 boards around that $160 price point, too. The option to add M.2 KEY Wi-Fi later could be handy if your needs change and this is cheaper than buying a discrete Wi-Fi PCIe card so there is still value in the “Wi-Fi upgrade” option ASRock incorporated int the B550 Extreme4.